Time to Head North Again

Split was a great diversion, a big city, reliable internet, and we decided to bag on the $120€ marina and stay at the free quay. Apart from some rocking and rolling (literally a street band a 100 feet away played ‘till 11pm) and one drunk guy who kept telling us we had to move, all was well – turns out he used to work for the Harbourmaster, but perhaps his substance-abuse problem cost him his job. So today I’m going to spend the $120€ we saved in mooring on a new guitar (maybe a teeny bit more). This is a bit of a departure for us and I think that we will continue to do it. The ACI Marinas are all in big cities and they are EXPENSIVE  approaching $200 per night with power, water and moorage with the Catamaran. But the good news is that they’re in great harbours and the government doesn’t charge for use of these harbours ….. so maybe the new approach is to use the ACI locations, but anchor out …. Use their restaurants and other pay-for-use facilities, but keep the 1000 HRK in our own pockets.



Off to get the guitar, Jessie wants some new shoes, we need some food, wine and beer and I want to get our order in at the Marina store for the equipment we need to buy.


Split to Kremik

Marina is very keen on getting to Venice so we need to head north again. Our time in Split was fun and we definitely liked not spending the $200, but had had enough of big city life. We set off and the weather started getting rougher and rougher. We were running ahead of a rainstorm with the wind building the whole way. We motored for a great part of it, with the waves becoming more and more difficult. Once we made it half way we decided that we should either put into port or put the sails up. The kids said they wanted to put the sails up and continue. They also wanted to go all the way to Kremik because our moorage is free there. So we put some 35 miles behind us.


Kremik to Dugi Otok

Like before, Kremik was great but we also know that we need to get out of there right away before we get mired. We sailed and motored all day and made to the National Park at Dugi Otok arriving at at 8pm. The cool part was that we got there later than the fee collectors work and then we got up and left earlier than the fee collectors start work. Woo hoo – four days in a row without paying for moorage or anchorage. Marina was really stoked and said her father would be proud of us. We did 49.92 Miles today and that set a good pace. We wanted to be this far so that we could get to Sakarin beach at the top of Dugi Otok.

Dugi Otok to Veli Rat

We left early in order to get into Sakarin beach and the wind was B-L-O-W-I-N-G. We had a reefed mainsail and in 24+ knots of wind we made the 30 or so miles north in 3 ½ hours. Along with the 20-25 knots of wind came 4-6 foot rolling waves. Though when you’re in 20 knots going downwind at 8 it only feels like you’re in 12 knots, plus if the waves are moving at 10 knots you only go through a wave every 20 seconds. Contrast this to going upwind when the wind over the deck feels like 27 knots and the waves are hitting every 5 seconds. It’s good to go downwind in a blow.

We went around the corner and anchored in a hurricane hole and walked to the beach and played in the waves. Ross & Jessie were the lead troupe, and Marina and I had a great time too. We walked back to the boat and got back to the Gemini just as the weather hit. Rain and more rain.


Later that night I woke up (Marina was already up) to lightning and we were in the middle of the worst thunderstorm I have seen on a boat (or on land for that matter). At times the rain was so heavy we couldn’t see the boat beside us (next mooring ball) and I was concerned about 1) getting hit by lightning and 2) having another boat drag its anchor and crash into us. So I got the lifejackets out, put one on, and due to my preparation, staved off any chance of bad things happening. I did have to suffer a fair amount of abuse from Marina and Ross for a day or two about overreacting to the lightning storm.

I can think of very few other places I would have rather been during this storm. The water is super shallow there – like 1.5 meters, we had a big block of concrete holding us, and the biggest fetch was maybe 500 meters. Talk about a perfect hurricane hole. It has taught us that our cautious nature is a good thing.


We love this place because the beach – and also the security of the mooring. Another good thing, the weather was so crappy at night the fee collectors stayed away and we got off before 8am and beat them to the punch – ha …5 days free …. Somewhere Granddad Ray must be smiling!


Veli Rat to Losinj

Early the next morning we headed off again, this time with the objective of Losinj (Lo-schin). We hit Losinj and tried to tie up at the ACI marina or the mole but were shut out at each one. We then dropped a hook and settled in for a nice day, walking and exploring. Losinj has a vibrant city core but there are tons of abandoned buildings on the waterfront. What an opportunity if someone wanted to build a business there … assuming that Croatia joins the EU and standardizes its business practices with the Rest of the World there are amazing opportunities for development everywhere – and you don’t even need to develop wilderness areas …. You can develop underutilized areas in existing cities – total win-win.

We left Losinj for Pula and encountered building winds. Forecast for 12-24 they were more line 24-30+ and we were double reefed on the main and had a small-ish jib up. After making it part-way we decided discretion was the better part of valour and we tucked into a small bay and dropped the anchor. That was our backup plan all along but it was cinched when we got close to the island in the shallower waters the waves got big and steep. We went through a set of three where I was pretty sure that the propellers would come out of the water. Ross was loving it but shipping green water over the bows was enough to get us to turn the corner into an anchorage.

It turns out we were trend setters. We got there and one powerboat was anchored, by the time we left there were more than 20 boats anchored. By 3 in the afternoon, we needed to make a call on whether we went back to Losinj or forward to Pula. The wind had abated as predicted and we hated the idea of giving up the 15 hard-fought miles so we decided to press on. A reefed main and jib and we were headed out … then it seemed to be getting lighter – shook out the reef in the jib, still lighter, shook out the reef in the main, still lighter … eventually we were powering into Pula.

We had hoped to moor at this large marina in Pula called Marina Veruda … but they had no room – soo we anchored around the corner in Soline – deep in the bay there are fees due but at the head of the bay there weren’t – so we anchored in 5 meters of water at the head of the bay and went swimming, thoroughly enjoying the 100 Euros that remained in my pocket. The next day we got up and left Soline and powered into Pula proper, anchored out in about 15-20 knots of wind in 5 meters of water. Pula is an ancient Roman city and we wanted to see the ruins of an ancient fort, coliseum and Roman gates. I was just reading the Emperor Series by Conn Iggulden and seeing some of the Roman buildings helped bring the books alive for me. Ross, of course, understood what every piece of architecture was and what it was used for, about when it was built and who would have built it. For a kid who doesn’t think History is all that important he sure seems to sock away a lot of information.

After hoofing around Pula for the day we went back to Gemini and headed up coast to find a place to stay. We decided to go into Rovinj and anchor out by a beach just before the entrance. It appears that all of Italy holidays in August. At this point after Rovinj we thought it would be a good idea to stay at a marina – we needed water and probably a couple of showers at minimum. There is a luxury marina at Novi Grad that looked like it would fit our needs. Sure it was 100 Euro but hey, we’d been a full 7 days since we paid a fee so we could afford a splurge. We went up to the marina but they were anything but hospitable, putting us as far away from the action as possible – and while they had a pool, it was another 30 Euro’s to use it. The kids didn’t want to stay so we got our stuff and headed out, picked up a mooring ball for 15 Euros and went out to dinner.

The next day we headed for Isola in Slovenia. When the former Yugoslavia broke apart, the first to go was Slovenia. They negotiated the narrowest of coastlines so they’d have a sea-port. The Slovenian coast is a whopping 10 miles long with three cities on it. We chose to stay in Isola because we had heard the marina was excellent and the town was interesting. We came in and were immediately put into a nice large slip beside other catamarans and had a great couple of days. We were still trying to get to Venice and then hatched a ‘Plan B’ where we took a fast-catamaran (this one actually worked) to Venice and toured for the day. Everyone loved Venice but it became apparent that taking a cat there would not be practical. We went by the place we were supposed to stay arranged by Carmen Derricott from Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and the moorings are all just a boat-width apart using pilings driven into the bottom. There is no way a catamaran would fit in them.

Before our day in Venice, we had several in Isola. One of the places we ate at had a statue that as soon as I saw it I said – “that’s Cam Landell” – a friend of ours that lives in North Vancouver; so we wondered how Cam had come to model for a statue in a restaurant in Slovenia. Perhaps one of his ancestors was a chef from Isola that immigrated to Canada a number of years ago.

After Venice, I paid the bill (grrrr…. Indeed there was a 50% premium for catamarans) and we decided to head south. We checked into customs in Rovinj and I had the most helpful customs agent I have ever encountered. A few minutes later we were cleared back into Croatia and on our way. It was only 2pm and when we’re in ‘travel mode’ we can cover a number of miles pretty quickly. The kids are usually great too when we’re on the move – they can go a little further. After back-to-back 60 and 50 mile days we were out of Istria (northern Croatia) and into Dugi-Otok once more. This is the place where we experienced the violent thunderstorm, yet this time it was nice and calm and we spent a day and a half at the beach hanging out. We wanted to be in Kremik by the middle of the month so we put in after being away for two weeks to check in on the progress of exporting Tara.

Canadians – the place is Lousy with Them

After going the entire month of July without seeing any fellow Canadians, we ran into 4 sets of them all in one day. First at the mooring in Lucice, then leaving Lucice there was a Jeanneau 50 with about a dozen people from Vancouver of all places. We said our hellos and goodbyes in a few minutes powering beside each other. Then coming into Split anchored in the harbour was a Canadian boat and when we docked at the Quay two fellows Dave and Eric helped us … turns out Dave is from Victoria and Eric from Brantford – they’re brothers here waiting for the arrival of Dave’s Nordhavn 47 trawler being shipped from Southampton to Split. It will be offloaded from the ship and then they’re off to Turkey. They’ve been doing this for a number of years – and it turns out Dave bought former Royal Van Commodore Tony Liebert’s Norseman 447 from him and named it Segue …. So the Nordhavn is Segue II. They’re off to south Turkey flying back home in mid-September. We had a nice chat and they warned us about spending too much time in Greece, as the Greeks have a rather arbitrary way of assessing taxes on yachts that spend more than a short period of time (e.g., 30-60 days) in their territorial waters. The last thing we need after springing the boat from Croatia is to have it impounded in Greece while we litigate over 25% of its value being taxed in Greece as we try to pass through.

Is Venice as Good as They Say?

In a word…yes! What a unique city – not a car nor scooter to be seen and boats everywhere! Colour, activity, history, art, culture, people…everywhere you look. We gave up on taking the boat ourselves, we just could not find a marina to take the catamaran, it’s too wide. So, we booked a tour ferry, The Prince of Venice and left Izola, Slovenia at 8 am, arriving dockside at the port in Venice at 11 am. There was a tour to take with the guides…but we preferred to go it alone. First stop, a large (for Croatia and Slovenia, but not for Vancouver) grocery store and picked up large bottles of drink to keep us hydrated. It was a lovely, hot and sunny day. Contrary to what we’d been told, Venice smelled like any sea city we’ve been to, just fine and even wonderful as we passed by some of the restaurants and bakeries. The water I would not swim in, there is just too much boat exhaust, but it was “clean” other than that. We heard every language imaginable; even saw a woman in full burkah.

The sights were amazing, especially when you got to detail. Piazza San Marco, Piazzetta San Marco, the Doge’s Palace (sometimes referred to as the cake because it looks like a wedding cake), the Bridge of Sighs where convicted criminals crossed from the court in the Doge’s Palace to their prison cells on the other side, the many winged lions (a personal favourite), pigeons, a peek in a few magnificent churches, the facades of the Grand Canal, the hundreds of gondolas, the beautiful streets and alleyways (we never really got lost, how can you, you’re on an island, but we did try) and we loved many of local scenes, like flowers in window-boxes, “garages” off the canals, ornate front doors and very old and run down front doors. If you ever go, take a recording of Rick Stokes podcasts, it was recommended by some friends and was just excellent to use to get around and notice many things you may not have (like the 7th Pillar on the Doge’s Palace depicting a love story with a tragic ending), and the dialogue is rather funny too.

We took a half hour taxi/sight seeing ride back to the port, a part of the tour we decided to join in on (and pay extra for) and it was well worth it! We cruised part of the Grand Canal and also through many smaller ones, had to hold up while a procession of gondolas passed us by, everyone patient and friendly, ending at the Port Customs for a quick check through and back on the ferry. 3 hours later, back in Izola for a nice dinner, sitting harbourside reveling in the sights, sounds and “feeling” of Venice.

Jessie’s Thoughts
Venice was a really fascinating experience, with all of the culture that originated there. Some of my favorite spots were the 7th pillar because of the story, it starts out like this man loves this woman (and as Rick says) the man said “Babe, I want you!” so she says “Oh why little old me” so they get married and had a kid, and later the baby dies, and all of these pillars tell all different stories. I also love all of the little winding streets, if 2 people tried to walk beside one another there would be a traffic block. The last and most memorable thing for me from Venice was the taxi ride, because there’s no cars in Venice it’s all by boats, we did a 30min boat ride. They showed you all of the sites on the Grand Canal; the houses are beautiful, with all of the colourful flowers, and vines on the house and in the flower boxes. I think that Venice is one of the must sees before you die. :-)

Ross’ Thoughts
If you are going to Venice bring a very large wallet. If you decide to eat in any of the squares, you will spend 12 Euro for a drink. If you are smart, walk away from the main drag and the prices will become more reasonable. If you go I suggest you arrive in the winter months because in the summer the crowds are huge and everything doubles in price. The best way to see the city is from a water taxi. It will take you through the various canals and back “streets” in Venice and give you a much better view than you would see from the streets. Even though Venice is expensive, the sights are definitely worth it. If you have time, I recommend you go inside some of the cathedrals, they will blow your mind.

Photo Essay from Mid-July to Early August

Our Route the last week of July took us from Split all the way to Izola Slovenia. We've powered, we've sailed, we've had thunder, lightning, 30+ knots, dead calm and have survived it all.

Trogir from the North Entrance.

An 800 Year old Church in Trogir

Up the bell tower we go, many steps ... don't lean too hard against the railings!

The view from the bell tower .. if you look hard you can see the twin hulls and mast of Gemini.

While it may look pretty smooth here, with 15 knot winds and a 1 foot chop the boys were glad to have blockers in front.

We took the old canal around because it was smoother water .... but the bridges were a tad bit low.

Crew Morale has stayed pretty high throughout and only occasionally do we have disagreements.

Matt serving one of his many `sentences`for uttering profanity ... whistle while you work ....

Ross continues to eat several meals a day more than the rest of us. Based on some deduction we think he is now 5`11`` and who knows how much he weighs ... though he is basically solid muscle.

The Island of HVAR ... kind of like Monte Carlo with Italians instead of French.

The boys waiting for the girls outside the showers at the ACI Marina in Milna

On the other side of Brac, a long walk up the hill was the order of the day.

Hard to imagine why anyone would want to walk all the way up here to build a house (apparently it`s a Hermitage). I guess they like their privacy. It was a good half hour at pace to get up the hill -- then the museum was closed .... oh well ... it was a good walk.

Jessie is finding friends everywhere.

This might be Trogir ... but then again it might be another city -- there are a lot of medieval buildings in Croatia.

This is the city of Rovinj (Row-vin-ny) with a big and busy harbour. We anchored outside the city and had a great day swimming and then

up and at-em to get to Pula.

 Anytime is a good time to check email and voicemail -- especially when you manage to find free Internet.

Ancient Castle in Pula

Pula has one of the best preserved Coliseums in the World. It was built in the first century. Apparently it is the 6th largest remaining amphitheater in the world -- seating some 20,000 people for Gladiator battles and other spectacles. While it is smaller than some, it has much of its structure intact and using Pula, archaeologists have been able to recreate what the original structures look like. Really it`s a lot like going inside GM place or a football stadium.

Pula also sports a castle at the top of the hill ... go figure ... and we could keep an eye on the boat anchored in the harbour from here.

The forum at Pula was impressive too. This is about 1é4 of the original building, but it`s cool to stand on stairs that were raised a couple thousand years ago.  The Triumphal arch from the 1st century BC may have also been a golden gate in Roman times

At the museum at the Castle Ross found a way to satisfy that he`s been unable to play Airsoft since we left Vancouver. Go big or go home!

And to close out the photo-essay, we include two pictures of the kids doing what they love the best.

Bouncing in the waves at Sakarun on the island of Dugi Otok.