Today we are heading for Pomena - a village on the west coast of Mljet (pronounced Mill-yet) - from where we should be able to get access to the National Park. There are a couple of salt lakes on the western part of the island that are said to be spectacularly beautiful. Given our early start, we should be at Pomena by lunchtime.
For any that may be wondering, I am not holed up down below tapping on a computer - in fact we don't have one with us. I am sitting at the cockpit table with the ipad and a bluetooth keyboard - keeping an eye ahead and at the instruments. Needless to say, the crew are stretched out on deck in the sun. But, to be fair, there is nothing else to do and, looking around me, there is one other vessel in sight about 3 miles astern and heading away from us.
Mljet is now taking shape ahead and we have about 45 minutes to run. I'm not sure where we will go tonight - perhaps somewhere on the north coast of Mljet - or, if we don't spend too long in the park, perhaps Otok Jakljan, which will give us a short run to Dubrovnik tomorrow. Laura has just brought up another plate of water melon!
Later: When we arrived at Pomena we anchored for lunch and a swim and then headed round to the town quay. There we had the usual fun with the man in charge. He advised us of 'the rules' which is basically a price list. All we really wanted to do was to fill our water tanks which cost - wait for it - £15. I don't remember it being like this on our previous visits and can only conclude that they are targeting the yachties to raise more revenue. Fair enough I suppose - I must stop moaning on about it!
Later: When we arrived at Pomena we anchored for lunch and a swim and then headed round to the town quay. There we had the usual fun with the man in charge. He advised us of 'the rules' which is basically a price list. All we really wanted to do was to fill our water tanks which cost - wait for it - £15. I don't remember it being like this on our previous visits and can only conclude that they are targeting the yachties to raise more revenue. Fair enough I suppose - I must stop moaning on about it!
Having filled the tanks we anchored in the lee of the island 'Pomestak' which makes the bay a natural harbour. We successfully executed the manoeuvre of dropping the anchor in just the right place and reversing towards the shore of the island - then taking a line from the stern of the boat ashore in the dinghy and securing it round a tree. This evening we have been sitting on deck with our Vodka and Tonics watching other people make a right hash of it and laughing uncharitably. Perhaps the sailing gods will have their revenge and we will fall from grace later on!
After we had anchored off the island we went back to Pomena in the dinghy and got our tickets to enter the Mljet National Park. The salt lakes were wonderful and worth the effort to get there. The larger lake has an island in it (I'm not sure I've been on an island within an island before) called St Mary's where there is a 12th century monastery. Our tickets included a boat trip out to the monastery. By the time we returned to Sea Bird we decided it was too late to sail on - so we are staying put for the night.
St Mary's Island
Pomena - day trip boats rafted!
our anchorage off Pomestak
Struggling with non apple gear ! Since when have you struggled with anything technical. I'm sure for someone who can swap motors out of cortinas you can get a band photo onto your blog page!
ReplyDeleteWe are in Istanbul at mo...bought a heap of turkish towels and bed covers for the new house. Thickest towels on the planet I'd say!
ah - but none of the apple phones have a delay timer on the camera - so we will need a friendly person to take the picture - but you don't hand you iphone 4S to just anyone - do you! We have nothing here that will get photos from and SD card either into the ipad or up onto the Net. Careless really - should have thought of it. Maybe we can do it at an internet cafe - if you keep tuning in you may be rewarded!
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