On the Move in Croatia

Ross and Jessie getting reacquainted on the SUP 

Marina and Jessie testing out the new bow cushions

After a restful night at Luka Sipan where we had a nice dinner out, we went to the National Park on the northwest side of Mljet. We had scouted out this anchorage with Mike and Matt and we decided it was top drawer. We also wanted to be in a place so we could watch the two final games of the World Cup. Jessie was rooting for Netherlands against Brasil – she was happy, and in honour of Marina’s mom Tina we were rooting for Germany over Argentina. The Brasil game seemed almost like a replay of the Germany game – where they couldn’t keep the ball out of their net. The final was pretty exciting … we felt the Germans had the majority of play in the Argentinian’s zone, but there were a number of very good chances by Argentina that made the game exciting. We were all relieved that the game was decided before PK’s though … not our favourite way to see a championship decided.

From Mljet we proceeded to Korcula – beautiful town where we anchored in a bay nearby. We went shopping in Korcula and bought phone credits … out of internet again … and then proceeded up-coast to Hvar. We had intended to visit the north-east corner of Korcula but the wind wasn’t cooperating so we (really I) made a command decision that we would go where the wind would take us … as opposed to go where we wanted … which was directly into the wind. We found a tight corner of a bay to anchor in, but were unaware of a night club that started pounding out music and a light show from midnight until 07:00 where it begins to look like a beautiful beach club once more. Needless to say we have decided to pick another bay next time in Hvar.

Moonrise at anchor in Mljet

From Hvar we sailed to Brac, the next island up towards Split. Our initial trip we turned around when we saw rainshowers and lightning and chose to spend another day on Hvar. The next morning we got up and tried again and found it a nice sail into the bay of Lucice. We were charged 40 euros to use a mooring ball  (ouch) and then dinner was another 140 Euros … I had a Caiparina drink – cost 80 Kuna or about $16. What was I thinking … I don’t ever remember ordering a Zombie at a hotel bar in Vancouver!

Anyway the next day when I made coffee we ran out of gas … no problem I’ll just switch the cylinder … ooops … they’re both empty. This became the odyssey of getting camping-gaz for our stove that we set out on for the next couple of days. The first try was to walk into Milna on Brac – about 2kms each way carrying a couple of propane gas cylinders. The marina only sold new cylinders at $110 each. I thought about it but where will I fill it, and when back in Greece I’ll just end up trading it for some beat-up old piece of crap so … plan B. Pizza! There is an outstanding pizzeria in Milna and they sell 1.0 liter beers ... so you can have a pizza and 2 beers and not feel guilty.

Panorama shot of one of the salt-water lakes on Mljet

After finding our way back to the boat we decided to go to Supetar the next morning. About 12 miles away, also on Brac, they had a picture of a propane capable gas station on their web-page. We arrived, anchored out, took the dinghy to shore. Nope. Don’t know where you can get any. Given the thousands of cruising sailboats and powerboats in and around Croatia you’d think they’d have a big need … but then again, most are chartered for less than 2 weeks and never run out. Hmmm.. Plan C was to go to Split – or a suburb of it and go to the Ina Plin – a mythical fuelling station that exists only in the minds of people that write the guide-books. Anyway, I took off with two empty gas bottles off to where we thought the LPG station was. After a couple of KMs I stopped at a Fire-hall. Who better to know where an LPG fueling station is right? Anyway they told me the bad news … I had walked about 2kms in the wrong direction but they gave me the name and address (oh yeah, I forgot my phone in a Ziplock baggie on the boat – didn’t want to get it wet). So another 2kms and there it was. The guy was helpful and said, come back tomorrow … I must have made some pathetic whimper so he called the ‘factory’ and then hopped in his little truck with my gas bottles and said come back in a half hour. I visited the local Lido – a kind of small-sized Costco/Grocery that had serious air-conditioning … that restored some of my strength. A half hour later I rescued the bottles and started my 2km walk back to Tara. Our original plan was for me to call Marina when I was at the dock but since I forgot my phone that wasn’t going to work out so well. Anyway, she was diligently waiting on deck and came to get me with a bag of trash and about 100 crushed water bottles for recycling. Once deposited we came back to Tara and headed off to Solta … About half way I looked at the AIS and saw a ferry was going to run us over in 15 minutes … came up on deck and told everyone. We then got some bread and cheese up on deck and were chit-chatting away and Ross said “Dad!” rather emphatically pointing over my shoulder at a 300 foot ferry chunking along about to hit us in a minute or so. I leapt up and altered course, waved, and then resumed our course. Technology is great but if you ignore it … how good is it, anyway. 

We anchored on Solta, started a movie – I lasted 10 minutes, Marina 20.

Hanging out with the Boys

The next couple of days we went up the coast to the top end of Mljet into the National Park. A very nice anchorage near the town of Polace, we stayed at anchor overnight and half way through the next day. One of the challenges of going 30 miles north is that you need to come 30 miles south again. We could have ventured a bit further but the prospect of coming back again – and so far our ability to pick a destination that we can sail to is … well zero. We’re either beating up wind or powering. Nothing much in between.

We did some marketing on Mljet, there is a small Suderac (mini mart chain) in town and we got some bacon, eggs, vegetables and some beer – though it pains me to say it, we might have actually figured out our capacity for beer. OMG say it isn’t true.

We sailed about half the way to Lopud – and then powered into the harbour Sunj on the south side. I was checking the weather and there was a big system – but I read the weather chart wrong – and the wind and waves are coming from the south – and the bay we’re in Sunj, is completely open to the south. At 22:30 this revelation hit and we picked up anchor and bugged out back about 5 miles to the island of Sipan. In the morning we decided to walk the 5Kms across the island to see what the wind was like on the other side. Thank goodness we moved because we had 20 knots of wind and 2 meter seas coming into the harbour. Made me happy that we did the ‘midnight move’ that’s for sure.  Later that night we went out to dinner to our favourite place and watched another World-cup match – they go at 22:00 in Croatia so it gets a bit late if the match goes to Penalties … but it is worth it to see Germany completely annihilate Brazil.

It’s getting to the end of when the boys are here so we head back to Cavtat. The waves are very high and there isn’t much wind, so we have to motor again argh! 2 meter waves and no wind makes for some potentially sea-sick passengers. Ross of course is completely unaffected. Matt and Mike were troopers but you could tell they needed a nap. Compared to a week before however they now have cast-iron stomachs – and if they spent the whole summer with us they’d have cast-iron beer-bellies.

When the waves get rough, the tough guys sleep on the floor

We made it into Cavtat and thought about parking in the main harbour but the surge was pretty high so we anchored on the other side.  Mike and Matt had a flight the next morning at 07:15 so they figured they needed to catch a cab around 05:00. I offered to take them to shore at that time but Mike reckoned he’d be up all night worrying so they took a room ashore. We bid them goodbye, had a pizza and a couple of beers and watched another football game – this one between Netherlands and Argentina. Another 0-0 tie which makes the games interminably long.

We met a couple of guys from a US boat that advised us to dig our anchor in good as the previous night many boats had dragged. We pulled hard on the anchor to set it and let out 40 meters in 6 meters of water. Sure enough during the night we had wind, rain, lightning and two of our neighbours needed to move during the night. What a drag – if you’ll pardon the pun. In the morning another of our neighbours went by us at about a knot. I hailed them and they came up – the French owner said “oh I don’t think we’re dragging … it’s just the way the boats are swinging.” I suggested that he watch a while – about 15 minutes later he picked up his anchor and moved a few hundred meters in and set his anchor again.

Unfortunately I needed to use my rain jacket regularly
during our time in Croatia

About 10 am the weather cleared a little bit and we set off for Dubrovnik. This time there wasn’t much wind and three meter waves. Geez, can we have some relief from this? About 2 hours of powering into the slop with our sails up, sails down, as well as half way we made it into Graz harbour in Dubrovnik. We’d powered for nearly 60 hours since our last fuel stop so we got some diesel at Graz and then decided to go to the ACI Marina Dubrovnik – which is a couple of miles up the river. We waited for Marina and Jessie after filling up with water and fuel, as well as a hasty cleanup of a decidedly male-occupied boat.

Entering Dubrovnik by the large yachts and cruise ships

The girls were supposed to be on a flight into Dubrovnik at 17:00 local time. I checked a number of websites and there was definitely something fishy with the flight. It wasn’t until about 21:00 that I got a text – someone lent Marina their cellphone – that they were in Zagreb. Apparently there was a blown tire on the runway at 5pm, so they diverted to Split, landed and got some fuel, flew back to Dubrovnik where there were thunderstorms, then back to Zadar because the crew needed a change, then finally to Dubrovnik at around 23:30. They arrived at the boat right around midnight … we had a happy reunion and brought them to Tara where we had some food and wine for them. By then everyone was really tired and ready for bed but our holidays are now officially underway.

We got up the next morning and bought a bunch of food, topped up the water tanks and headed off for the islands, stopping at Sunj on Lopud for the afternoon and then onto Luka Sipan which provided a secure anchorage for us. Since everyone was so tired we opted for safety and were happy that we did. We went in for dinner and Marina and I searched for a place to buy internet credits – somebody left automatic updates on their PC and downloaded a Gigabyte of OS upgrades … you forget about those pesky things when you are at home but a Windows update can wreak havoc on your Wireless Internet stick!

Arrival in Greece

05:30 wake up, 06:15 grab breakfast, 06:45 walk to airport, 07:00 check in, 07:10 walk through security, and then wait for 2 hours because you’re early. I guess it beats being panicked about whether you’re going to make the flight or not. Again our flight was on-time, we transferred to another plane in Vienna and then on to Preveza. 

Tara on the travel-lift -- ready to be splashed

A quick cab ride (the guy was driving 140Km/h on 50km/h roads to get back to the airport for another fare) to the marina and we were there. A couple of days of travelling and we were ready to start working on Tara.

Happiest day of the year for Tara -- back in the water again

We did a pretty good job of putting her to bed, not much was wrong, just the pumps that I had brought from Vancouver and the new AIS transponder that will upgrade our navigation safety systems. We put most of our kit on the boat which was being polished, and then decided to crash for a couple of hours in air-conditioned comfort.

Ross and I hanging out on the bow on our new cushions steering the
boat with our remote control for the Autopilot

We got up the next morning really early and started unpacking the boat. We got the jib on and got the pumps installed. We replaced the main furling line (again) and also put the main up the mast. My idea of putting all the halyards at the top of the mast and protecting the rope in an Ikea tote worked like a hot-damn. Going to patent this idea and sell it to all the sailors that put their boats away.

Anyway, after a bunch of hot work we put the boat in the water and she started up right away, all systems worked and we pulled into our slip with no-muss, no-fuss. We tied up and started to work on making sure all the sailing systems and stuff that we couldn’t test while we were out of the water worked. 

Fortunately for us there weren’t any nasty surprises – other than my head (bathroom to normal humans) stank to high heaven. In the end I believe it was a combination of an odor filter that needed replacement plus the shower drain having fermented. A load of bleach did a world of good for my nose.

Ross hanging out on the pulpit looking for dolphins

I had ordered some cushions for the bow and cockpit and they were going to take until Saturday. We had a lot of waiting around to do so one of the things we figured out was how much rope we have onboard Tara – and our best estimate is about 1.3 Kilometers – not quite a mile of rope but maybe 8-10ths.

Saturday morning couldn’t come fast enough for Ross and me – sitting in Cleopatra marina for a few days is enough to make you starkers. We got our cushions – not 100% satisfied but took them anyway, and pulled out of the marina. We anchored off of Preveza and I ran in and bought a 100 Euros of food to get us started and we bugged out to Lakka on Paxos.

It is amazing how much more restful it is to be anchored than in a marina … the wind is always at your nose so the ventilation of the boat works much better plus we just have more freedom to do what we want to.

We tried sailing but the wind has been constantly on the nose. In this case it was completely on the nose the whole way – e.g., Lakka was where the wind was coming from, that Ross and I gave up, sat on the new boat cushions and steered the boat with my trusty autopilot remote control. We had a good giggle about sitting on the bow for Opening day with nobody on the helm and saluting the Commodore while steering with the remote control.

We got to Lakka and then discovered to our delight that we didn’t need to be in Gouvia on Corfu until 2 days later instead of the next day – so we had a bonus day in about the nicest place anywhere, finished up outfitting the boat and getting her ready for sailing.

Tara at Anchor in Lakka on the island of Paxos

Another Year of Sailing

Ross at Whitehorse Airport

June 22^nd came quickly this year … I guess no more quickly than in other years. The pace of life just seems to hit overdrive around mid-May as the countdown to cruising season begins. This year we had all of Ross’ graduation events to deal with plus I was, as usual for this time of year, deep in negotiations for a new client. We managed to get much of it done in time and Ross and I took off for the airport with Marina driving us – each of us with a measured bag of slightly less than the 23 Kilo limit and with carry-on bags less than the 8 Kilo limit. Thankfully they didn’t check my computer bag that must have weighed 20 kilos on its own!

Ross enjoying a beer with Pasta in Frankfurt

Our routing this year was a bit goofy … Vancouver to Whitehorse for a 6 hour layover, then onto Frankfurt for a quick overnight, then to Preveza and the boat. Marina’s brother-in-law Mike lives in Whitehorse so we planned to visit him. Unfortunately he was working so he left a car for us at the airport and we drove it downtown to the firehall. As luck would have it he was on a call so we grabbed brunch at a local eatery and waited for him to return. We saw the rescue truck backing into the garage so we went and had a visit with Mike. The firehall is nicely decked out. Mike had a quick workout and we sat and watched some World-cup football for about an hour until another call came in and he had to go – life of a firefighter I guess.

At last at Preveza

We then went and visited his daughter Kestrel at their house for about a half hour – woke her up at 3pm so she is obviously a teenager. Before long we needed to get back the airport and park the car where we found it – interesting story in itself. We then checked our bags in for the long-haul to Frankfurt that left early because all the passengers and baggage were ready, and we took off.

Tara about to be lifted into the water

Eight hours later, not sure if it ever got dark because we had a polar routing, we arrived at Frankfurt – our bags came out promptly and we dragged them off to the Hilton airport hotel – expensive but quite nice and a short walk to the concourse.