Day four - Pomena to Dubrovnik

We didn't wake up until about 0830- long days in the open air make you tired - but in a good way. Last night I took Jessie and Becky for a drink in Pomena - but Laura was tired so stayed on board as officer on duty. First thing this morning I went into Pomena in the dinghy to get some fresh bread, taking the remains of Woger who was seriously on the turn and had to be banished. Having retrieved our line ashore from Otok Pomestak, we got away about 0915 on another sunny morning. The wind, although still dead against us, has got up to 8-11 knots and so we began tacking up the Miljetski Kanal, which is about 5 miles wide, so good long tacks. As I mentioned before, unlike the Bavaria we had last time, this boat will sail at 30 degrees off the wind on both tacks so we made reasonable progress. But the wind sometimes dies and then changes direction. We are now motor sailing to keep our speed up. There are a few more yachts about today - looking around I can see half a dozen other sails - though mostly on the horizon. The Solent this is not! 

We need to make sure we are somewhere secure tonight as bad weather is forecast for the next couple of days. Dubrovnik Marina would be perfect but we'll need to crack on if we're going to make it that far. We are all enjoying the last of the sunshine - until the weekend anyway. Hopefully we can spend the less good days doing onshore stuff in Dubrovnik. We really need to find a proper supermarket because there is a limited choice in these quayside mini-markets and our food stocks are low. We are looking forward to returning to Dubrovnik and visiting some of the places we went to last year. No trip boats for us this time - hurrah!

Later: We made good time to Dubrovnik and I decided we would be able to use the anchorage at Otok Lokrum and use the dinghy to reach the old port. But when we got there it was felt that it was a little too far for a dinghy voyage so we headed back to the marina. It was pretty dark when we arrived here but we picked up a mooring without difficulty and took a taxi into the city. We headed straight for food and then had a drink at the Troubadour hard jazz caffe - a favourite from last year. We then went to the bar that you access through a gap in the city walls. It's perched on the cliff with a great view over the ocean. It feels great to be back in Dubrovnik - such a magical city. We will see if the weather tomorrow is as bad as predicted. Either way, we will not mind spending some more time here before we move on. The ACI marina is very posh. There are some massive super rich motor yachts here. We will make full use of the facilities tomorrow to make sure we get our money's worth!

A welcome sight - the city walls of Dubrovnik

Blogging at sea!