It ends....

....the way it usually ends - sitting in an overcrowded departure lounge of a tiny provincial airport. But we had a nice day today at the water falls. Josko arranged a taxi to take us there (possibly not a taxi but one of his mates on the make) and then he picked us up and took us back to the marina where we showered and changed and then headed for the airport. So it was all very easy.The waterfalls are fantastic - and since we were last there they've built a very attractive raised walkway around the higher parts of the river. So we swam - had a nice lunch at the restaurant and caught some final sunshine. The drive back along the coast was beautiful in the evening light - although a little scary courtesy of over competitive driving from Josko's mate. All in all it's been a great holiday - but of course now we just want to get home. The flight is 15 minutes late so they say - but the incoming flight has arrived so hopefully it won't be more.

Skradin

Waterfalls on Krka river

Sunday morning - Molash

The flight was 30 minutes late landing and annoyingly diverted to tth South termnal - although this was better for Jessie as she was heading off to London to stay with Caroline in Tooting. Becky was picked up by her Dad, then Laura and I took the shuttle to the North terminal and found the bus to the car park. We arrived home at about 1 am - and all seems well here. 

Croatia is great - but I'm not sure we'll be back for a while. We've been sailing there three times now and there are many other places to see!

Day thirteen - Drvenik to Kremik

We slept in a bit as we were all short of sleep after our stormy night in Hvar. We got away from Drvenik at about 0900 - waving goodbye to our German friends! 

Leaving Drvenik

Today it was sunny again but with an autumnal nip in the air courtesy of the North wind. We only had a short way left to go, so the plan was to anchor somewhere so that we could take it easy on our last day - have a swim and soak up some final rays. So we went back to our first night stop in Rogoznica. It was marginal for sunbathing because of the cold wind, so Becky found a more sheltered spot ashore. Laura swam over from the boat and later Jessie visited in the dinghy. There was a handy supermarket at the end of the bay - so we buzzed over there for bread, chicken and washing up liquid!

We got away soon after 1600 and the wind had picked up to 15 knots or so and so we sailed the last three miles into Kremik Marina at a good pace - which was a nice way to end our voyage in Sea Bird. After the obligatory queue for fuel, we met up with Josko (of the charter company) at home base. He was very conciliatory about our problems and offered to waive the 80 Euro cleaning fees to cover our additional marina costs etc. So we are all friends, which is good. I'm sad that it's over - but it's always good to get back to home base unscathed.

So now we are back in the marina - where for some reason we are bouncing about it which is making Laura feel rather sick. It's strange that sometimes it's subtle movement that does that rather than crashing through the swell. We have a lot of food and drink to finish up but I'm afraid some of it will go in the bin, which always goes against the grain. 

We have to be off the boat at 0900 - and we don't fly until 2050. Josko suggested we go to the waterfalls on the River Krka at Skradin, which we visited on our 2005 trip. We can leave our bags at the marina and he will send them on in a taxi to pick us up from Skradin and take us to the airport. The forecast is good for tomorrow, so hopefully we will have a good final day.

Day twelve - Hvar to Drvenik

That was some night! I have never been on board a boat in a storm like that one. Hats off to my crew - they were fantastic! None of us will forget that in a hurry. It's 0825 and it's a bright sunny morning wth a lively wind but no more. Four hours ago we were fending off a Grand Soleil 52 (expensive piece of kit) that had lost control trying to anchor far too close in front of us. What they were doing out at sea I cannot imagine as we've known about this incoming storm for days. The rain was coming down so hard you literally could not see more than a few yards and lightening was going off all around with deafening thunder. The whole scene was like one of those old movies - The Wreck of the Mary Deare or whatever. Eventually the GS52 moved off, circling around the anchored yachts trying not to hit anything and within thirty minutes things had calmed down. So we did the proper thing and put the kettle on. After tea, we retired at about 0445. 

Yesterday evening was beautiful - so we went back into Hvar after dinner and found a jazz bar. It was one of those bands that likes to encourage guest singers - so Jessie was called up - and was brilliant. As she's singing regularly now with Spread the Jam in Liverpool she is fully 'up to speed' and delivered a couple of absolutely flawless performances which brought the house down. Curiously, the singer of the band (Danielle from Zagreb) was wearing a red dress almost the same as Jessie's and also had blonde curls - they looked almost like sisters. When Jessie started to sing, this girl's jaw just dropped. She was extremely generous and funny though - which is classy because a lot of singers turn nasty if they get upstaged. I knew Jessie had improved a lot in the last couple of years but I'm rather ashamed to say that until last night I didn't realise just how much. I was blown away - and a very proud Dad. It was a highlight of the holiday for me! 

We got back to the boat about 2am and the wind was picking up. Jessie and Becky took first watch and all was quiet until a massive clap of thunder announced the arrival of the storm and then the 'Mary Deare' incident described above. We will stay here for a bit - go to the supermarket etc - then we will see what is a realistic destination for tonight.

Hvar this morning - hard to believe what we just went through!

Later: When everyone came to, we took the dinghy back to Hvar and had a late breakfast at a cafe. We picked up a few essentials at Konzum (Croatian Tesco) and then set off at about 12 noon. The wind was still pretty fresh and we were sailing up the Pakleni Kanal, heavily reefed, doing 6.6 knots - a record for the holiday under sail. "It can't last" we thought. It didn't. Once we got clear of the Kanal the sea really got up and the wind was gusting 30 knots and the direction was unstable. In the end it got too uncomfortable to sail and we had to thrash our way through the mountainous seas under power - with the boat crashing down over the swell and spray continuously drenching yours truly on the helm. The wind duly veered around to dead ahead and showed no sign of letting up - 25 knots on average. We were struggling to make 5 knots against it. Having started late, Sibenik was out of reach so, having considered Trogir, I decided on Drvenik Vela as this would not take us too far off our route for tomorrow. We sailed the last part on the genoa only - making 6 knots on a broad reach. Turning into the inlet the wind crossed the stern - another first for the holiday! 

The port here consists of a concrete wall. It's the usual stern on arrangement - but with no fixed bow lines. There is deep water in front of the wall - 15m. You have to drop anchor about 30 metres out and then let out 40-45m of chain so that the anchor bites when you are 1-2m off the wall - then you can attach your stern lines. If you don't get good holding you can't keep your stern off the wall. As we were sizing up this challenge some very cheerful German guys appeared on the wall saying that the average was 5 attempts to get this right! I now have the pleasure to tell you that Team Sea Bird nailed it on the first go. We dropped in the right place then, having taken the brave pills, reversed at speed towards the wall. We jerked to a halt about 3m off as the anchor dug in. We then had only to let out a little bit more chain and we were in business. Over celebratory beers the Germans told us we had been lucky! We then watched the next boat to arrive mess up by letting out too much chain without moving back and then hoping they could use the anchor winch to take up the slack. No chance in 15m of water! So every time they hauled on the stern lines the boat just moved back onto the wall. They then used the engine to keep off, and so could not get tension on the anchor chain. Result: up anchor and motor out into the middle to try again. 

Battling the elements

The wall features a few derelict shore power stations that look they fused the island power supply some years ago - and no water taps. Despite this modest (generous adjective) facility, a sour faced port authority woman came round demanding £18. If they had an ounce of charm or empathy, it would not rankle so much. Perhaps it's just a cultural thing - but they really make you feel unwelcome and that is never a nice feeling.

So, tomorrow is our last day. The weather looks set fine again, although the north wind is keeping the temperature down. Whatever gripes I may have expressed in these posts I have loved this and I am not ready to go home.

In Hvar

The wall at Drvenik

Day eleven - Korcula to Hvar

We left Korcula at a quarter past ridiculous in order to make the rather lengthy journey to Hvar, somewhere that mum has been looking forward to returning to for the whole trip. Unfortunately, although the wind was FOR ONCE coming from a favourable direction, it had no 'gust'-o (see what I did there) so we were back to motoring. It was nice and warm though, so still very pleasant. We stopped for lunch and a swim in a lovely anchorage off the small island of Scedro and then continued to Hvar. It became apparent that the weather was going to take a nasty turn again a la Stormy Saturday so we emailed ahead to the marina begging for sanctuary but to no avail. The harbour wall was full so we reluctantly dropped anchor perhaps a little to close into the town. A smarmy mooring fascist in his motor boat came to tell us off: 

"Anchoring is prohibited inside the port"

"Oh but sir!" we cried, "There's a nasty storm coming this evening, we must be sheltered!"
"A storm?" (first he'd heard of it, perhaps) "You will have to go to marina."
"Oh no, but it's full! Whatever shall we do?" Mum began to sob uncontrollably. (fabrication)
He shrugged in the way they do. "It is forbidden to anchor inside the port"
"So we drown?" Becky and I hugged. (fabrication)
"Yes but anchoring is prohibited inside the port." And with that he was away revving his huge engine, creating a ridiculous wake.
We anchored just outside the port and before long heard his engine again. He had a stupid hat this time.
"There is big storm coming tonight - be careful." uuuhhh thanks?

Hvar is interesting, beautiful buildings and streets. It definitely has more of a 'cool' culture than the other places we've stopped at so far meaning it is a bit more trendy and less "yachty". We went for a meal at Val Marina Restaurant which was very pleasant indeed. Not least because of our new love, Vanja the waiter. Hard to describe, really. One of a kind. Not a looker or anything, not that kind of love. (Becky says an exterior more suitable for radio, but then felt immediately bad about it because of the love - she is sat next to me swooning at the memory of him.) The other major highlight of the meal for me was the lady from another table getting up after she finished her meal and walking into the glass door. Hysterical. (Jessie)

As ever the various weather forecasts do not agree on just how windy it is going to be. Estimates vary from 20 to 40 knots which is the difference between unpleasant and unsafe - so thanks for that! I will be sleeping in my clothes tonight. Right now all the boats at anchor are pointing out to sea as there is a light onshore breeze. However the wind is forecast to shift round 180 degrees and it's hard to know how this is going to affect the spacing as that will depend on how much chain each boat has out. So we need to be alert when the wind changes to make sure that we don't swing into other boats and that our anchor continues to hold when the pull is from the opposite direction. I wish we were in a marina but it's over an hour away and I was not prepared to flog over there on the off chance of getting in. As Jessie mentioned, we emailed them to try to reserve a berth but they didn't even have the courtesy to respond. All the marinas here are run by a company called ACI - there is no competition. As a result they have a dismissive 'take it or leave it' attitude bordering on contempt. There is no service culture whatsoever. Hopefully we will be OK tonight! I would like to get to Sibenik tomorrow night - but probably we will have to stay here most of the day. We will see what it looks like in the morning.

Day ten - Polace to Korcula

Tuesday morning - and all is fine. We got away at 7am and initially had a good wind at 60 degrees off our course so we sailed a bit. But it's figured out the destination now and so it veered to dead ahead and dropped to 5 knots. I have never known this happen before - it's uncanny. Literally the only sailing we have done in 10 days has been close hauled. Still time though! The autopilot is working again - I have no idea what brought it back to life - but it's return is welcome as we have another 3 hour run on the same course. The sea is calm and the sun is shining so it's all good. 

The route into Korcula looks tricky - lots of small islands and shallow channels. We will stay there for the day as there is plenty to see there and a bit of time off the boat will do us all good I think.

Later: We successfully navigated into Korcula marina, arriving about 10.30. This place vies with Hvar for the 'Cowes' of the Croatian Island ports so it was as well to be early. Since lunch there have been yachts circling like vultures outside the entrance - but it was full hours ago. This is a truly ancient town - going back to Roman times. It enjoys a great position on a small peninsula with the sea on three sides. It was all a bit crowded earlier as there was Costa cruise ship in - but it steamed out a few minutes ago. We have had a lazy day swimming and sunbathing. 

Narrow streets in the old town

The electrician came to look at the autopilot and pronounced it OK after the most cursory of inspections. He then produced a clone of the yellow tragedy of a GPS but this time in grey. He ran off before I could test it and when I did it didn't even power up. I tried swapping the power cable with the other one and it staggered into life. Even though it's rubbish it is probably better to have it than not. We will try to get away early again tomorrow as Hvar will also be busy and more indifferent weather is forecast for Thursday.

Korcula

These looked great but not much you could eat!

Day nine - Slano to Polace

We had a much better day today - beautiful weather - and even some wind, generally against us but allowing some progress close hauled. We did not get up early as we were owed a long night in peaceful Slano after Saturday's night from hell. We motored across the bay and visited the shops. It seems like it's an upcoming place, being only 30km from Dubrovnik and on a lovely natural bay, with mostly deep water. Apparently there are plans to build a marina there. 

We set off about noon and managed to sail most of the way to Polace on Otok Mljet. This is only a few miles from Pomena where we were last week, but has a different feel. It's a large natural harbour guarded by a range of islands. We picked up a buoy in the harbour and, strangely, at that moment the autopilot decided to come back to life. I won't know if it's really working until we get back out there tomorrow but the charter guys have arranged someone to look at it when we get to Korcula - so not sure what to do about that! Unfortunately we lost the boathook picking up the buoy as it was one of those that has a handle on the end that just comes off when you use it. The boathook promptly sank in 10 metres of water so we will have to buy a replacement in Korcula - curses! 

We went ashore for a drink when we got here and to buy a few bits and pieces. We might go back later after supper....

Later: We didn't! Tiredess overcame us and we turned in. 

Polace

   

Day eight - Lopud to Slano via Dubrovnik Marina (yet again...)

Just a quick interim post in case last night's entry caused concern. Actually I was quite concerned myself! The wind veered round so that we were pretty much on a lee shore and got steadily stronger - blowing force 6 by morning. We had been forced to anchor further into the bay than was ideal because at the time we did not have control of the engine - and the depth guage was showing 1.7m. When we were briefed on the boat I was told that the depth shown was the actual depth, not the depth under the keel. Since we draw 2 metres we should have been aground. Luckily I already knew they speak with forked tongue because it went down to 0.4 in the channel on the way to the fuel station at the marina and the guys on the pumps told me it was at least 2.5 metres deep there. All the instruments are off on this boat anyhow. The log is 2 knots slow and the compass is much further out than any magnetic deviation could explain. The wind speed guage and the auto pilot joined the GPS in the sick bay last night. Whether this was related to the gearbox control failure I don't know. I can't see why it would be. Our 2005 'Bomi ship' holds the record for most rickety chartered yacht but I'm afraid Sea Bird is zooming up on the rails. It was such a good deal! I should have known - no such thing as a free lunch. Also, everyone knows what Sea Birds do to you given half a chance!  

When we arrived at the unfavoured bay last night we noticed an innocent looking beach restaurant type place with a straw roof. Little did we know that this is the Lopud night club. Herds of steaming chavs were bussed in from hotels just over the hill on other side of the island and they blasted us with trance music (and I really mean blasted) until -wait for it - 4am. In some ways this was good as sleep was out of the question and in our situation we really needed to stay alert. But it was torture. 'Always look on the bright side of life' we sang at the olympics closing ceremony. So, it didn't rain, we were warm, and we got out of there safely. Otherwise the emotions were an uncongenial cocktail of fear, anger and discomfort. 

We set off back here at about 0715 and it was very windy but the sea was moderate. The engineer has been to visit and seems confident of effecting a repair so we may be away before too long. It is sunny and hot and we are on a boat. Can't complain too much!

Later: In fact, while I was writing the above, the engineer returned with a new cable end and fitted it. He was an engineer not an electrician - so shrugged his shoulders when asked about the autopilot or the GPS. I somehow doubt that these are going to get fixed - but we can get back without them. So we had lunch at the marina restaurant, swam in the pool had showers etc - and departed for the third and hopefully final time.

When we emerged under the road bridge the wind had veered so as to be dead on the nose. In a way this is quite handy as we do not have to bother with forecasts about wind direction - we only have to decide where we want to go and that's where the wind will be coming from! However it was a decent 15 to 18 knots so we tacked effectively for a bit - and then another shift in direction enabled us to maintain a course close hauled for our chosen anchorage in a sheltered bay at Slano. This was really our first decent sail of the holiday. I was a bit unkind to Sea Bird earlier - she actually sails very well. The problem is under investment in modern equipment and a lack of basic maintenance. Here it is very peaceful in comparison to last night - no swell, no wind, 10 metres of water and (hopefully) no nightclub!   

heading back to Dubrovnik - fine but windy!

lunch by the pool at the marina

anchorage at Slano