We still don’t have Tara out of Kremik but we’re out cruising on the Catamaran. The boat “Gemini” was repossessed from its previous owner and wasn’t particularly well cared for … so there have been a few maintenance issues but …. hey, anyone who has a boat has maintenance issues right? So far we’ve had an oil hose break spewing oil into the port engine bilge …. Back to Kremik to get a new one fitted 2 days later, and sundry stuff we’ve had to deal with. Today there was no water coming out of the starboard engine exhaust … very bad situation because the engine will overheat … and diesel engines are particularly sensitive to overheating. This is nothing new to me, I’ve overheated the diesel engine on Rhett the boat at home … to the result of a complete top-end rebuild. We discovered the problem and not wanting to squander the 6 hours and 50 miles we made north I got the toolkit out, figured out that the belt for the raw water pump was loose and fixed it.
So, since the last entry we’ve been to Murter Island, back to Primosten and Kremik for repairs, and then 50 miles north to Dugi Otok and tonight we’re in the National Park at Kornati. The scenery here is very barren. It must be a desert with almost no rain, no clouds. Even Marina is hiding from the sun (well not really but it makes for drama). National Parks in Canada are basically sanctuaries for nature. Here in Croatia they remind us of Provincial Parks like the one in Montague … it’s nice and all, but in reality it’s there for people to use and use it they do. Kornati is one of those parks, something like 1000 islands in the chain. We were at Dugi Otok today and while the kids were jumping in the water off the boat, 4 tour boats hit the harbor and a thousand people arrived for the day. We went to the Salt Lake called Mir and floated around swimming and chucking a tennis ball to each other. Around 1pm we made our way back to the restaurant for pizza and Ross had spaghetti Milanese (for the 50th time this month). We went back to Gemini and untied from the mooring ball. Our initial plan was to head north but given the late time of departure we decided to head south. We went into a small town but the moorings were all taken so we decided to motor back to another harbor immediately west. Tonight we only have one neighbor – a 60 foot powerboat that at home would be big but here is a nice family boat.
Tomorrow we’re heading for some fresh bread and provisions, then continuing North. Our plan is to do our touring of the north part of Croatia on the Cat so when we get Tara we put the pedal down and get to Venice in 4 or 5 days. Then we’ll make a B-line to southern Croatia, Montenegro and (avoiding Albania because of the unexploded under-water mines from WW2) into Greece via Southern Italy.
The water here is clean, clear and warm. Croatia is really worth a visit. It’s like the Caribbean in colour, the water is a little cooler … say 22 degrees, plus the villages are small and clean and as a bonus you can drink the tap water. Modern Croatia was formed in the mid 1990s out of the former Yugoslavia. You can see the effects of the former socialist republic bureaucratic roots (not so unlike BC where we can change the Government but the bureaucrats are basically unchanged) and how long it will take true capitalism and a service mentality to take hold. Old habits die hard. While Croatia is a cool place to go and is “in” for tourists, you must hope that they realize the opportunity they have has a limited shelf life and they must take advantage of it while they can. Only time will tell if they will.
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