43 11.2 N 16 34.4 E

Stari Grad again. 24^th – 27^th August

We managed to unfurl the jib for some of the journey which gave us an extra knot on top the engine at reduced revs. It was only 15 miles so a short trip really. We had already decided that we would pick up a buoy this time and chose one right opposite the restaurant we wanted to visit called L’Ermitage which is on the port side as you enter the inner bay quite near to a swimming area and just past a hotel complex. We took dinghy ashore later in the afternoon to find out the times of the buses to Hvar town as Jacky planned to visit the next day. It was good to be back here – we like this place very much! Later in the afternoon we were astonished to witness massive numbers of boats arriving! First a racing fleet of mixed yachts sized from 6 – 14 metres all Croatian and with their crews mostly wearing whites! How they all managed to squeeze onto the quay we don’t know but they did. Added to that by 1900 there were 6 gullet type boats rafted out on the newly finished quay towards the entrance of the bay (quite near to where we were!). Then a flotilla of 12 boats started to arrive and they just anchored all over the place at the entrance to the harbour. Then there were several catamarans that did the same. Before dusk 8 of the flotilla boats were anchored and tied back to the trees on the south side of the bay just after the swimming area. 2 of the cats anchored and tied back to the outer wall of the disused swimming pool – very near to us! In all we counted some 16 boats at anchor and that was on top of all the buoys being full and the quay packed to bursting. Fortunately there wasn’t too much noise that night. The following morning Jacky took the bus to Hvar town and had a good 3 hours looking around. A pleasant town but she preferred Trogir and Zadar. That evening we went to the above mentioned restaurant and ate probably the best meal we have had for many years. It wasn’t just the food but the ambiance, the service and the setting were just wonderful. It was a lovely evening and we were able to sit at our table overlooking the bay and could see the boat all of a hundred yards away! There had been some strong winds forecasted so we decided to stay for 3 nights here but eventually had to leave and we headed off for the next new destination the island of Vis some 24 miles to the west.