Solta and the charterers

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Tue 21 Jul 2015 07:41
We are learning more about the rhythms of this place. And when I say rhythms, I really mean, "where are all of these charter boats coming from and how do we get away from them"! For those not familiar with this sailing term, a charter boat is a boat rented by sailors of varying degrees of experience, for a week or two, sometimes with a professional captain. A flotilla is an organized group of boats sailing together with a set itinerary and preset entertainment plans, i.e. restaurants, see certain sights etc. The anchorages are getting more busy and we need to be on guard to avoid people anchoring too close to us, creating a risk that their boat would bash into our boat in the middle of the night when the wind shifts. Plus when we are worried about boats being too close it ruins a perfectly good night of sleep, with anchor alarms blaring and us having to get up every so often to check things out all night long. The reasonable charterers show up at an
anchorage between 3 pm and 6 pm. Get set up in a suitable spot. Are polite if they anchor near others, asking if things look OK. Swim on their anchor to ensure it is secure. Then there are the people who show up just as the sun sets, scrambling for a spot, and/or blasting into the anchorage at full speed, even though there could be swimmers in the water, and really, at that point, what is the rush. I dream that a plane in the sky will appear and write out "Slow down please". The please because I am Canadian and that it the polite thing to do. Or maybe they could just write "WTF people!".

We left Milna, and dropped anchor near the mouth of the harbour, surrounded by others with similar plans. There were a lot of boats, many more than we had seen near the town when we arrived the day before. There was a long line up at the fuel dock, and as we were leaving a large catamaran overtook us in a narrowish passage. We couldn't understand why they were in such a rush, we were travelling at 6 knots after all, and were having rude thoughts, when we realized, they were racing us to get to the fuel dock up ahead. The charters need to return the boats on Saturday. They need to refill the fuel tanks. So you can imagine what a mess it would be to refill on a Saturday am. But this was Thursday afternoon at 2 pm.....and everyone seemed to be in a panic. It can get crazy around here.

At the anchorage we ended up next to a 55 foot boat, "One Day" that we had "met" in Hvar at the restaurant mooring.I had chatted up the man on board that day and it turns out he is a professional skipper originally from Austria. He reassured us that the mooring we were at would be secure. He had been there several times before. So we had met up with him again, and he once again gave us excellent advice. We had a bit of trouble getting the anchor in, dragging a bit, and he let us know that this anchorage wasn't secure and we would drag, so we went to Necujam on the Island of Solta, where they were headed after they obtained fuel. When we arrived, the area where the cruising guides suggested to anchor was packed, and the remaining space too deep for us. We started looking around other spots in this generous harbour, and ran into One Day again. There wasn't room for us where they had found a spot, but the skipper kindly suggested that we could anchor across
the bay in 15 m and that it was good holding. So we did and it was perfect. Thank you again.

I still want to see a bit more of Solta, more than just an anchorage, but that will have to wait. The anchorages near Split, including Hvar town and area, and Solta were packed at this time of the week. We need to get one step ahead of the crowd.

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