Heading north
Rubicon
Sun 26 Jul 2015 08:45
Vinisce is a fairly large, shallow harbour with a solid mud base, great for holding the anchor. We weren't expecting that much, but found the place to feel more like an isolated anchorage, as there was a lot of space between boats, many of which housed livaboards, giving the scene a different vibe than the locations filled with charterers on short vacations. The town itself was the least quaint in our travels so far, in a non pretty, run down, weeds growing in the cracks of the sidewalks kind of way, but it did have a bakery, a few small markets, a fruit and veggie stand, and very friendly people. We took the kids to the beach at the head of the bay, a narrow, sharp pebbled affair, peopled by locals only, and Vlad and I sat in the shade of a casual beach restaurant that was directly on shore, having a refreshment, watching the kids. It was very hot. The air has become quite humid, and the moisture laden air required a swim to cool down, despite the icy
drinks. The kids warned me that the saltwater was cold, and boy they were right! It was bracing, but totally worth it, and I felt much better. Instead of slaving over a hot stove to produce the evening meal, we had pizza's right there, and headed back to the boat for a movie night.
After a few days we headed north and anchored in Uvula Stari Trogir. It wasn't my favourite. We were too far from shore. Nothing special.
Then off north again, and picked up a mooring behind the Borovnjak Islands off of Kakan Island. It had been described as a great anchorage, with perhaps 20 mooring balls, but when we arrived, it was full of at least 50 mooring balls, so little space to anchor. It ended up being Ok in the end as two events were to take place. The first was that we decided to go to the restaurant that supplied the mooring and made reservations. The mooring guy let me know that the mooring was solid, and on a 5000 kg block. I had inspected the line, and it looked to be in good repair. The second was the sudden change in the weather.
The weather forecast stated that there was a low pressure disturbance sitting on the Adriatic, and this would affect northern Croatia, which has seen about one gale a week this summer. Fortunately, we haven't had any bad weather to date...it hasn't even rained. There was mention in the Navtex weather report, for the first time since our arrival, that scattered sudden storms were possible. I looked up at the sky and said to Catherine " Look at the clouds. I won't be surprised if we get a storm today". It sure didn't seem ominous that that point, with minimal wind, and hot temperatures again. We all had a swim, and then the family relaxed down below, while I read in the cockpit. I suddenly noticed a breeze, then it was stronger, and a new noise filled the air. Vlad said out of the hatch " Is something going on?" and the storm was upon us. I just knew this was going to be a problem, so I started putting away anything on deck that could be blown off etc.
Vlad turned on the instruments. By then the wind was coming from the east at 15 knots from nothing, and the sea started to show white caps. It was like someone turned up the volume on a stereo, the wind just increased and increased and within 5 minutes it was 30 knots sustained gusting to 33, with lots of frothing waves and howling air. Boats started to rock, one boat looked like it was running aground on its mooring and took off suddenly into the near gale, at serious risk of wrapping a mooring line around its prop. Other boats started to appear in the bay looking for a place to find refuge. Two large boats that had been at anchor were long gone, leaving ASAP at the first signs of danger.
We have a course tracker on our chart plotter and on an iPad, that helps us to know if we are dragging. On a mooring, one is usually safe, however, the mooring has to be well maintained, or it could snap, and the boat on it can't be too heavy and/or create too much windage, or the pressure on the line will drag the concrete block below the surface = dragging! Our boat isn't a light 40 foot Beneteau, so there is always the chance that our boat is too heavy for these Croatian moorings. Fortunately we held like a rock, even though it was a stress worrying about it. A large shiny Dufour Yacht came into the mooring field during this event, and ended up having trouble picking up a nearby mooring, lost their fancy boat hook and ended up attaching a midships line to a mooring boy in the process. Not surprisingly this didn't work out too well and they had to cut the line and leave. I think they were considering going back to try to retrieve their boat hook and
line, and they turned back WAY too close to the moorings and nearly hit us. I screamed a few choice words at them ( They were clean, but I couldn't help it) including "That was way too close!" Vlad usually isn't into verbally communicating with other boats, but this time he didn't seem to mind! After about an hour it settled down, we came out of it golden, but it was hard to shake the nervousness of " what if it happens again". It really was chaotic.
Things settled down enough that by 7 15 pm, I figured we could go out for dinner. I called the restaurant, and they sent over a RIB to pick us up. Vlad was not comfortable enough to leave boat in case of another storm, so the kids and I were whisked over to the adjacent harbour, to the Paridiso restaurant. The plan was for us to order take out for Vlad. Fortunately, the weather settled even more and Vlad took the dingy over and joined us about 45 minutes later, right as the main courses were arriving! Scampi, grilled salted fish and a massive medium rare steak. The kids found friends to play with, and we had a lovely Croatian meal sitting under the pine trees.
Next day we headed to Zirje Island, under sail, and slowly made our way to eventually arrive at Stupica Vela anchorage. Also filled with moorings. Picked one up, and vegged. OK place, but not a place we plan to return to.
Next, to the town of Primosten, where surprise, we picked up another mooring buoy. This is a tourist town, and had a lovely pebble beach and clear clean water. The kids played on a large inflatable fun zone type of contraption and we relaxed back on the boat that evening. All was well until about 8 pm when the kids became possessed, and things weren't fun. Sometimes one just wants to take a vacation from their vacation, but all has settled down. It is now morning and I am now waiting for the weather to improve( cloudy and threatening rain) to get a few provisions on shore, take the kids for a swim and head south this afternoon to be closer to Split.
Overall, the more northern areas we explored are OK, but there are a lot more moorings, more boats, less privacy, and the water just isn't as clear as in the South. Looking forward to further exploring Solta, Brac, Hvar, Korcula and the region around Split in the coming weeks.