Pula
S/V Monterey
Les Crane
Wed 5 May 2010 00:08
Wednesday May 5
Next morning, we get coffee and groceries ashore. Workmen sort out the
problem we have been experiencing with the gas supply to the stove and we
cast off at 10.30 am. A ferry follows in the distance. The wind, still
astern, freshens and we goose-wing along at 8-9 knots. We traverse the
Virsko More (sea), with the Island of Pag, famous for its cheese (similar to
Grana) off to starboard. We pass Otok Molat, Otok Ist (where the ferry
following us turns in), then through the Silbanski Kanal, past the islands
of Skardska, Premuda, Losinj and Susak. We are now in open ocean and the
wind starts to really blow, with gusts over 40. The tops are being blown
off the waves and we bring Monterey head to wind and take in the number
three reef. It's a hairy time as Monterey is heading for a lee shore with
less than a mile to go. The boat settles down and off we charge, with
rapidly steepening seas of 10-15 feet - the kind you see in the Atlantic.
As the afternoon passes, David, Dunc and I are "on the edge", but no one is
ill. The thought "why do we do this?" gets passed around, though. Towards
evening, we bring up two lights in poor visibility and spray. They are the
rock marker, Pl. Albanez and the lighthouse, Hrid Porer, off the desolate
coastal point of Rt. Kamenjac surrounded by reefs which we carefully avoid.
The seas and wind drop and spirits rise as we round the unusual submerged
breakwater outside Pula harbor and enter the outer and then the inner basin
of Luka Pula, its shipyard starkly lit with hulls and cranes looming over
us. We make for the Roman amphitheater, a beautifully preserved and
illuminated structure of reddish stone. Built in the reign of the Emperor
Claudius between AD 41 and 80, it is the sixth largest and perhaps
best-preserved Roman amphitheater in the world. We moor steer-to at the ACI
Marina and are well received at the Restoran Barbara, a simple affair and
thankfully have supper after a long and splendid day's sail. =- JW
<<attachment: winmail.dat>>