Croatia 2004

Log of Mareta – August 28 - September 10, 2004
(written by Con)

August 28, 2004 -- Boarding our chartered boat, we stored and secured our luggage and groceries. At 15:45, we sailed away from the Split Marina on a close reach in moderate winds to a Bay in SE corner of Polta Island. The crossing was fairly rough and Barb was quite seasick. After we set the anchor, we enjoyed our first Mediterranean swim in clear and warm waters. The anchorage was calm giving us a good night.
Our 29 foot charter

08/29   We pulled up anchor at 09:30, then motored to Hvar with light head winds. Barb slept for a few hours, the autopliot steered flawlessly. Anchored in Hvar town, a beautiful bay, with a splendid cruisader castle visible in the hill ridge above the town. We walked through the town, on beautifully paved streets, admiring the old and well kept ancient buildings. Enjoyed a delicious lunch on a terrace in the town square while watching other tourists. After lunch, pulled up the anchor and motored to a beautiful, but crowded bay on the south side of Klement Island where we anchored for the night. A beautiful cloudless day with 29 degrees temps, but little wind.

08/30   After a quiet night, we pulled up anchor and tacked towards Scedro Island, motoring the last bit due to lack of wind. There we found a beautiful little cove and lazed around all afternoon and evening, frequently dipping in the crystal clear waters to cool off, Barb is getting quite used to bathing“au natural” off the back of the boat. Annoying Germans anchored too close to us for our liking, but anchorage remained quiet during the night.

08/31   Barb got the day started with a delicious breakfast, and then we left Scedro anchorage at 08.30 and motored past Scedro Island, then put up the sails and tacked towards Korkula in light Easterly winds. After 1.5 hrs the wind died down and we continued on the engine, even thought the wind picked up again, we continued on the engine to the wind being exactly on the nose. We arrived at Korkula ACI marina at 14:30 and docked Mediterranean style, secured the boat and explored this beautiful medieval town on foot, climbing to the top of the hill behind the town giving us a magnificent view of Korkula and surrounding azure colored waters. Showered at the Marina and dressed up for a romantic dinner in one of local restaurants overlooking the Adriatic Sea. We ordered the local fish platter and to our surprise the waitress showed us a platter of dead, but uncooked fish so we could pick the one we liked best – Barb needs to get used to this type of Mediterranean cooking where the fish is served “whole”, head, fins and tail. The meal was delicious and the view, with the rising moon over the water, spectacular. After dinner we walked through the town again and treated ourselves to a delicious ice-cream for dessert.

09/01   At 08.30 we left the ACI Korkula Marina and leisurely sailed towards Orebix on Peljesak Island in light SE winds. As the wind diminished we drifted untill 11:00 while Barb worked on a presentation for Kids Up Front, then we started the engine and motored towards Mljet. After a while the wind shifted and picked up, we hoisted sail and sailed the last bit to Mljet Islet where we anchored in a large bay on the NW tip of the Island, which we appropriately named “Discovery Bay,” after a relaxing afternoon of swimming and reading we pulled up anchor and sailed around a peninsula to a smaller more protected bay. A lobster fisherman in a row boat with his partner swimming with snorkeling mask came by. The anchorage turned out to be more exposed than I had anticipated and we had a somewhat rough night.

09/02   After leaving the anchorage at 08:30, we motored to Polace on Mljet island, hiked around for a bit and befriended a small heard of goats, enjoyed a cappuccino on a terrace along the which coincidentally also featured goat liver stew as the lunch special. We through off our line around 10:30 and motored (not a breath of wind) to the top of Mljet Island between Skolj Island and Mljet. Lazed, read and swam the rest of the afternoon, then dressed up and rowed over to a restaurant on the hill we had spotted while looking for a good anchoring spot. We climbed the steep stairs, hacked out in the rocks, and managed to get the best table in the house, with a breathtaking view overlooking the bay and sea beyond. We again ordered the fish platter, now being used to the procedure, and selected a large fish. We could not finish the meal and the waitress/owner thought there was something wrong with the food, which we assured her was not. We descended the narrow stairs in the dark and silently rowed back to Mareta.


09/03   We woke up early and left around 07:00, enjoyed a nice breeze sailing to Sipanska Luka on Sipan Island, walked around the pretty town, checked out emails at the internet cafe. Pulled up anchor around 12:30 and Barb made a great lunch while motor sailing to Lopud on Lopud Island, we snorkeled, read and lazed the rest of the afternoon. The night was fairly rocky in the open anchorage.

09/04   We got up early and motored due to lack of wind to Dubrovnik (Gruz), we looked around for a suitable Marina, but only private Marina’s were found, we took on diesel and motored up the inlet the ACI Marina, which we reached mid morning. After securing Mareta we shared a cab into Dubrovnik with a couple from Barb’s childhood town in California. We walked all over town late morning and early afternoon, then took a self guided tour of the city walls giving us splendid views of the ancient town, churches and building on one side and the beautiful blue Adriatic Sea on the other side. The guided tour explained the history and details on all significant points of interest. Early evening we took the bus back to the Marina, bought groceries in the well stocked Marina store, showered and had dinner at the Marina restaurant.

09/05   In spite of the many boats in the Marina we had a quiet night, got up early and throw of our lines at 07:00. In great following winds, we sailed for 3 hours towards Mljet Island, after which the wind died down and we motored to a quiet cove on SE corner of Mljet for lunch, then we read and snorkeled for a few hours. Pulled up the anchor again and motor sailed in winds varying from light to strong to a protected and quite cove on the SW corner. To our dismay the wind shifted 180 degrees and strengthened making the anchorage a Lee shore with no protection. The bottom was large boulders and rocks, perhaps from an ancient earthquake, the anchor was stuck in a crevasse, and the noise of the anchor chain dragging over the rocks was menacing. I kept anchor watch until well after midnight, and then had a fitful sleep the rest of the night.

09/06   In the morning, to our delight, the anchor came up without any problems, we motored out of the bay, and sailed under jib alone in a strong following wind to Pomena where we tied up Mediterranean style, which we are now getting good at. We caught up on our sleep a bit, then walked around the small town until lunch. In the afternoon we rented bikes and went for a beautiful ride around the salt water lake which  contains a small island with a 12 century Benedictine Monastery on it, probably one of the most photographed sites in Croatia. The harbour master had assured us that shower facilities were included in the moorage fee, so after dinner, we packed up our toiletries and began our search for the shower facilities. To our surprise the shower was part of a small swimming pool and out in the open, I entertained a small group of tourist who had just arrived on a cruise boat, Barb disappointed them by deciding not to shower.

09/07   After a quiet night in Pomela we set sail in a stiff NE breeze (the Borra) towards Korcula Island. After two hours, the wind died down and we motored to Brna, anchored and explored the almost deserted town. Check for emails on the hotel computer, the slowest internet connection of the whole trip. Made lunch and motored out of the small harbour. Later that afternoon the wind picked up again and we sailed the last part to Vela Luka, a beautiful town at the far western end of Korcula Island. We searched for a suitable anchoring spot in this busy harbour and after securing the anchor went ashore to explore and dinner in a sidewalk café overlooking the harbour.

09/08   This quiet anchorage gave us one the  best sleeps on the boat so far. I woke up and heard the church bells chime 06:00, Barb wanted to sleep a bit longer. Quietly reading, I felt the Borra winds starting up, but did not bother to check the anchorage. Around 08:00, we heard a loud banging on the hull “anyone aboard” someone yelled. Not thinking this was for us, we ignored it, until we heard someone boarding our boat. Quickly I slipped on some clothes and met a local fisherman who waved us off as he stepped back off the boat saying: “I saved your ass.” At that point, we made the shocking discovery that our anchor had lifted and we floated zig zag style through the entire harbour with a few dozens boats, passed a passed a busy swimming beach and almost back out to sea. It was beyond amazing that we didn't hit anything were hit, or became grounded. Barb quickly dressed, we pulled in the anchor, started the engine and motored back to Vela Luka. We reanchored, rowed ashore and laughed at our luck over a fresh coffee with local delicacies. After securing a few more supplies, we motor-sailed to Klement Island where we anchored and spent the afternoon swimming, snorkeling and reading.

09/09   There was a noisy party in the anchorage, which kept us up for a bit. Pulled up anchor around 07:30 and sailed toward the end of the Island. Noticing that the wind on the other side of Klement Island was very strong, around 20 knots,  I put a  double reef in the main. After clearing Klement Island we motor sailed in strong gusty winds and rough seas towards Trogir. Barb got wet and cold and went down below, where she promptly got seasick and was uncomfortable the rest of the crossing. Just before Trogir we filled up with diesel and docked Mediterranean style at the ACI Marina in Trogir. Had lunch and cleaned up the boat, then we explored Trogir, a beautiful ancient town originally settled by the Greeks in the 3rd century BC, after which it became a Roman town in 1 AC, the narrow streets are a maze and we happy to get lost within it. We found a great restaurant for our last dinner of this sailing trip.

09/10   After a quite night we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and cappuccino at the Marina cafe waiting for the strong Borra to blow itself out. We sailed along the lee side (north) of Fumuna Island, anchored, swam, had lunch and read some more. We left around 14:30 with a brisk Southeasterly blowing us wing-on-wing back to Split, arriving at 16:30. Docking went smoothly and so the final check-out. We packed our bags, walked into town for dinner and crowd watching then back to the Marina for our last night on board waking up early for our 04:15 ride to the Split Airport.

Statistics:
Distance sailed/motored 268 NM (497 KM)

Moving hours 61.36 (average 4,3 hrs per day)

Average speed 3.9 Knots (7.2 K/H)

Max speed 9.6 knots (17.8 K/Hrs)