Primosten to Vela Stupica to Sibenik to Kakan

July 4th and 5th we started in Primosten and beat up the passages between islands – there are hundreds of them, towards the Island of Zirje and the bays of Vela and Mela Stupika. We took a mooring ball at Vela Stupika (150 HrK or about $30) for the night and went exploring. We left in the morning after a “Joy Bath”*

We powered into Sibenik – because I needed to figure out what the heck was wrong with my T-Mobile Internet. Basically the problem was that I cannot read Croatian and the instructions are very convoluted to connect to the internet in a cost effective way …. So $50 of usage later that could have been $5, I got it figured out. A universal translator would be very effective tool.

Sibenik is located through this small inlet maybe 100 meters wide and a kilometer or two long and protected by an ancient fortification at the entrance. We needed to unlearn our “Red Right Return” navigation because it would have put us solidly on the rocks. At Sibenik we med-moored for the first time using the submerged anchor lines attached to the Jetty. It was much better with an assist from the shore … though it was 150HrK to stay there for 3 hours. Unlike 20 years ago, you don’t need to put your anchor out and then back in. They’ve placed concrete blocks with permanent lines to the shore. You back up and put a loop onto the shoreline while you pick up the anchor line and run it to your bow. In about a minute you’re securely on your mooring using much less space than docking sideways. We should do this in Canada too …. It would free up a ton of marina space.

After lunch we decided to go to the Island of Kakan based on Brian Moorhouse’s recommendation. We didn’t visit the restaurant and we didn’t use a mooring ball but we anchored. An interesting aspect of Croatia is that they collect money for anchoring too – so we basically paid $40 (200HrK) for 1 bag of garbage being removed while swinging on our own anchor. They're serious about collecting too because the Police boat visited someone who didn't pay around 11:00pm ... not something I'd want to have happen to me in a place where I cannot understand a word anyone says.
*(“Joy Bath” from using Joy dishwashing liquid. When you lather up at the back of the boat using Joy, then jump into the sea washing it off)