Loviste to Pakleni Islands 43:09N 16:22E
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Sun 19 Jul 2015 08:31
Anyway, all of the spots that we had thought we could anchor in, were all pretty full. Finally we went into Tarsce bay on Sv. Clement. The area in the bay where we could anchor and have enough swinging room seemed full. The Med is deep. Anchoring in 10m is a happy depth for us. That is 32.81 feet according to Siri ( Siri is amazing....but boy, the world is changing....).We would have never never considered anchoring in that in Canada or the Caribbean in our previous boats/rentals. Having 100m of chain attached to the anchor makes it possible. There was la lot of space if one were to anchor and attach a stern line to shore. The water was at least 10 feet deep almost right up to the land, so a good spot to do this and not damage the rudder. We managed to make this happen even though we were green, and were under some pressure from the crew of the adjacent super yacht Utopia, who were watching our every move.
The next night headed around the corner to anchor in 12 m on the east side of Luke Soline. Quiet, isolated. Clear clean water.
Next day, we went over to the main Island of Hvar. We went to Vela Garska, which in our cruising guide was described as an uninhabited cove. When we got there, a new restaurant has been built and had laid mooring lines. We had not taken up any offers for a restaurant mooring to date, as we were concerned about our rudder, could the lines handle our boat etc, but we were reassured that it would be no problem. So we went for it, and moored in the westerly cove. The deal is that if you use a restaurant mooring, you really should have dinner in the restaurant, and then you get the mooring for free. The area was in a pine forest in a hunting reserve. You could smell the pine scent in the air. The restaurant was located overlooking the water and a little pebble beach that they had created. All of the tables were outside, lined up along the edge of the land, and were wooden, fancy picnic tables. They were shaded by pine trees and grape vines. The food was
classic Croatian, Dalmatian plate with smoked local ham, local cheese, olives, capers, fresh rustic bread, lamb, fish, and beef grilled on an open wood fired grill. There were several families there that evening, and the kids played before and after dinner, while we sipped prosek desert wine while polishing off tiramisu. The wine was really delicious. I asked if i could take a photo of the bottle, so that I could try to find some for sale, but he said it was just a local brew served straight from the cask! It was 15 kuna a glass ( that is less than 3 dollars). I don't think they know how good that stuff is!
The next morning I went swimming with the kids after they played with their new friends, who had just left for Lastovo Island, and on the shore was a young stag eating plants on the shoreline. We swam over in that direction, marvelling at the lucky chance to see this animal, and so close up. Pavel went right up to the shore to explore, saw something, touched it, touched his face and then started freaking out, saying his face was burning! I grabbed him and swam him back to the shore, calling Vlad for help. We got him into the boat, and I ran for vinegar, thinking that he might have been stung by a jellyfish. He started to show a reaction, with his face breaking out in welts that were red with white, and he complained of getting itchy all over. We dosed him up with a large spoonful of Kid Benadryl which we had in a ziplock bag in our medicine cabinet with the dose prelabeled on it in permanent marker.( That was very helpful and I'd recommend that for other
cruisers). I poured vinegar on his face and lip, and after a few minutes, things settled down from a pain perspective and he wasn't itchy. After a while he broke out in blisters where the skin has turned white. That evening I noticed, because I felt as if I had been burned, that I had a thin line of blisters on my right hand. I looked up jellyfish and couldn't find any reference to one that lives in the Adriatic with such brutal stings. Maybe it was from a sea anemone. He is healing well, and hopefully won't get any scars.
The next day we tried to find a spot in an anchorage in these islands near a beach, but couldn't find a spot that we were happy with, so we headed to back to Tarsce, and it was wide open. We anchored in 10m and it was delightful. Delightful until about 20 charter boats headed in later in the afternoon/evening. Vlad was keeping a close eye on things, but it all ended up fine. It is a large bay with lots of space.