2^nd July 2007 – Dubrovnik to Mljet Island, and onward

The islands of Croatia stretch along the coast from Dubrovnik at the southern end, right up to the border with Slovenia and it’s near neighbour of Italy right at the north end of the Adriatic.

Our new locally sourced yachting pilot describes 777 anchorages and harbours, but we’ve learnt there are over 1,500 islands one could sail into or go past.  Not all are inhabitable, or even approachable due to a too greater depth of water, but most we’ve seen so far are very, very pretty.

The whole coastline, mainland and islands, seem to be heavily wooded with a range of pine trees and a mixture of bush.  But on the more mountainous parts, and there are many of those, the tree line cuts out at a certain altitude.  Above that point they appear to be barren rock.

The overall architecture is only what I could call ‘medieval’. Lots of stone built or stone clad houses and buildings.  It’s strange to see these kinds of structure which you’d expect in say Bavaria, here in hot climes where they have huge palm trees and cactus growing alongside.

(shot of coastline or island)

We read that Croatia does not have many sandy beaches.  One tends to sunbathe either on sun beds on flat rocky shelves, or on man made concrete bathing platforms.  But the waters (we’ve seen so far) are so clear, and for whatever reason seems also to be free for the floating crap seen in the adjacent countries. 

We had medium breezes from the west as we motored out of the Dubrovnik ACI Marina, down the river, and turned right under the high road bridge that spans the exit. 

As we completed the turn the first Croatian islands rolled out in front of us.

Most of the bigger islands are long and skinny, and tend to be oriented in a north west to south east manner running parallel with the coastline.  Look at a map and it looks like the islands are long jagged scores in the sea, like the swipes of a big cat.  In places there are three of four islands all alongside one another, all running parallel with the coast with channels between.  Some  wide, some so small you kind of hold your breath squeezing through.

Sailing up inside these islands towards the north is not usually easy in the summer months, as the prevailing summer winds come from the northwest.  It means they tend to funnel down the straights between the islands, growing in strength where the channels narrow, and if you are heading northward like us, usually blowing right on the nose of the boat.

Anyway, this Saturday we were lucky as they were blowing from the west / south west.  This allowed us to sail up inside the first of the islands towards our first destination of Mljet Island, and the National Park area set on its northern tip.  It’s a 35 mile run up from Dubrovnik.

Have to say we had a great sail.  Flat water, winds puffing up the gaps twix the islands, and easing as we sailed into each lee.  It all made it fun, and the boat slipped along reaching 8+ knots at times.

At the top end of Mljet Island is the Nacionalni Park Mljet (and you thought you could not translate Croatian, eh).  There are a couple of anchorages in this area and we chose one off the village of Polace, in a wide but sheltered bay on the top north east side of the island.  We’d had reports it can be gusty, but when we arrived it was pretty protected.

Maybe 20 other yachts of all sizes were already anchored or tied back to restaurant jetties, but there’s room here to maybe park 100.

The woodlands fall down to the anchorage shoreside on all sides, and the village is a one lane strip running for a few hundred metres on its western shore.  By nightfall the wind we had died away, and by moon rise we sat in a dead flat calm. 

The lights of the restaurants and few bars shore-side were eclipsed by the full moon rising over the mountains behind. How lucky we are to be able to experience all this? 

We flashed up the BBQ and cooked the last pack of New Forest Farmers Shop snaggers with roasted peppers and aubergines for our evening meal.  Say so myself, not badly cooked, and a nice end to a relaxing day.  Croatia is definitely looking pretty good.

_______

Crashed into a sleep I can’t remember, and woke to a sunny dawn and the realisation we’ve had our time all wrong since arriving.  Both Turkey and Greece are 2 hours ahead of the UK, and we assumed Croatia was likewise.  We’d been wondering in Dubrovnik why it was so warm at 9 pm.  Dummies.

It was of course really 8 pm. And we’d not known.

Burbled ashore in the dinghy early and purchased two tickets (90 kunars each) to enter the National Park forested area, and chose to hike over the mountains to the other side rather than wait for a bus.

Hot as even in the shaded forest, but beaut.  Lot’s of butterflies and even some incredible black bees about same size as a sparrow.

Windy trails through forests to a series of what they call ‘lakes’.  Even took a wrong turn and laboured another 2 km to the summit of the highest mountain with super views, only to have to back track to get down to the waters edge.

By the time we did arrive at the jetty to catch a small ferry boat over to an island monastery (included in entry fee), we both felt absolutely knackered.  The old ankle injury was really throbbing, and my sweat glands working overtime.

The islands is a popular tourist spot, which has a few bars as well as the Church. Wished we’d also bought our bathers – most others had and were quickly diving in. 

The ‘lakes’ are actually sea water, and it all looked so inviting that we almost threw ourselves in fully clothed.  Was only thought of the hike back with wet dacks that stopped us.

Major case of leg throb by the time we got to the anchorage, but well worthwhile.

Then spend a very relaxing evening with Brad and Pam off Grey Dawn, Ozzies from Noosa who invited us over for a drink.  They came via Red Sea around 8 years back, and have spent last 4 exploring (and loving) Croatia.  Being Ozzies, the drink was not a solo thing, so we arrived back for bed pissed as.

Sailed on the following day (Monday I do believe through the headache) to the adjacent island of Korcula, and it’s city of same name.

________

Stunning old town, perched right on the water.  Like a mini Dubrovnik with much narrower streets and a charm of its own.  We chose to anchor (cooler we find) in the adjacent Luka Bay as opposed to going into the marina, and after spending the arvo swimming / reading / snoozing, wandered the half mile over to the city and old town. 

Of Venician origin, this small town is set within high city walls and towers that look as if they were constructed yesterday.  Inside them, narrow street and alleys are not over packed with shops, and seem to be frequented by more Croatians on holidays than overseas tourists.

We ended up eating in a open top bar overlooking the sea.  Sod the budget we thought.

Scampi and filet steak, ales, vino, and cleansing grappas along with the kind of local live music that makes you wonder why they are not really famous singers….….but the budget survived intact as it only cost 280 kunars (about 60 euros).

Skinny dipped in the dark at our quiet anchorage and again – crashed feeling pretty good.

No-one had prepared us for the beauty of the region, or the people. 

We’d been told Croatians were surly and stern, but that’s simply not the case.  The locals seem to be spending time of holidays alongside us, and laughing all the way.

We’d been told they charge you just to drop an anchor in Croatia.  Well maybe elsewhere, but not yet for us.  Price-wise it seems on par with Greece, but so many places to stop at no costs what-so-ever, we feel it’s a cheaper place to visit on a boat.

And the foods really fresh – especially the veggies.

And no-one had told us you could find this medieval stone architecture, so well preserved and of such beauty set amid palm trees either………

And as we suspect we’ll not see all we want of Croatia this time round, yet another good reason to buy a bigger boat maybe in 08, and come back from the Carib and spend more time over here?  Makes sense to me.

Cheers

JOHN  

From Sue.

Thought I’d add a paragraph and sum up the last (nearly) three months since we retired.

Obviously missed family and friends in the beginning and found it strange to think that this is now our life for a while and not an extended holiday, but it is surprising how quickly this way of life has become the ‘norm’, and the boat our home.

We are now in Croatia after a 30 hour sail from Corfu, and feel that the next month is going to be a holiday time for John and I.   We have been pushing the boat and ourselves quite hard for the last couple of months, having a timetable to keep to.  Getting to Santorini in Greece to pick up Judith and Viv, and getting through Greece to here so we can have a month here before turning round and getting to Sicily to pick up Brian, an old mate from Oz.   There is so much we have missed on the way, oh well! Will just have to see it next time around.

Apart from a massive heatwave when we were in the Ionian in Greece when all I wanted to do was go home and sit in the rain, I’m lov’in it.   Getting into the routine, meeting loads of people on the way, catching up with yachtie’s we met last year, all with loads of info about places to sail and interesting stories to tell over a beer or two.  Seeing some lovely places and meeting some great locals along the way, we have managed to get off the boat at times hire a car or scooter and been able to see some of the islands and places inland, rather than just ‘the sea’ but you don’t want to hear me wax lyrical, you want to know the ………..

Downsides

There are downsides of course!  Lugging shopping ½ mile from the supermarket, I’m beginning to look like Popeye in the muscle department – washing clothes by hand, I hav’nt done that since living in London when my Mum refused to do my washing when I went home to visit, and worse searching out the local laundries, negotiating price, and worse, it is usually a guy, and they insist on emptying your bags into plastic buckets and checking each piece, John’s jocks with not a few skid marks, and my knickers, it is so embarrassing.   When you get it back there is always some piece of underwear missing  and a favourite t-shirt which will now fit Teddy.

Overnight sails, when we have to take ‘watches’, I never seem to sleep, my eyes feel they have grit in them, and my bum aches from sitting for so long , but when we get to a new great place, it makes up for it.

Nerves, when we are anchored as happened in Turkey and a gale is predicted, we saw 60+ knots of breeze over the boat, and John was upset when I refused to cook any dinner; or we find the perfect anchorage, settle down get the beers out, and realize that the anchor isn’t holding and we are sliding out of the bay, so have to do it all over again .

Getting my haircut by sign language and a series of grunts, and I have to say the worst experience ever, I had to do my own bikini wax (it was a very scary moment) I was not going to trust that to sign language and a series of grunts.   Talking of ‘bushes’ it must be a national sport out here, I’ve seen a number of ladies in bathers sporting a nice privet hedge, even the odd Cyprus tree.

-  BUT

That apart it’s great.   Am looking forward to the Canaries and the Caribbean, and then who knows!

Sue

We got away from Gouvia Marina by 1300 on Monday.  Only held up due to late laundry from the local laundry.  Expensive at 8 euros per machine!  The pilot books say laundrettes are few and far between in Croatia, so Sue decided it made sense to get a bag wash done before we left here.  To get is all dried en-route we turned Swagman into something that looked like a Chinese laundry down below as we sailed away.

Still around 43 degrees and no breeze as we first fuelled up and then motored slowly north along the east coast of Corfu.  The channel twix Corfu and Albania narrows to about a mile in width as you get towards the top of the island.  Albanian infrastructure you can easily see and investigate with binos looks pretty basic.  The towns / buildings level with the top end of Corfu were drab and uninteresting – the countryside rocky and barren.  Strange contrast to the lushness and wealth visible on Confu close on the other side.  No wonder so many Albanians smuggle themselves out.

All the feedback we’d got was to stay away from Albania.  For those who don’t know, it existed for decades under a Mao type communist government, and really did not wish to make any strangers welcome.  We hear it is still pretty lawless, although efforts are being made to improve the economy by stimulating inbound tourism.

One chap we first met last year and caught up with in Gouvia– Steve from Miranda – visited the principal port of Albania two years back.  He said the officials although a bit OTT, were friendly enough.  But due to the high risk of robbery of the few vistors they get, even in daylight hours, the harbourmasters wouldn’t let him out of the harbour confines!  And going anywhere after dark is apparently an absolute no-no.

Steve also reminded us that only a couple of years back, some cruiser anchored in a small cove on the Corfu north coast directly opposite Corfu was awoken by some guys trying to steal his dinghy at night.  Apparently they were from Albania - and they shot him.  Not sure if it was fatal or not – but it all gives strength to the idea of giving the place as wide a berth as possible and do the leg up to Croatia in one hit.

So as we came round the top of Corfu late arvo, we first headed west away from Albania, for a planned overnight stop at one of two small Greek islands set around 20 miles north west of Corfu.  Corfu and its lush little bays looked special as we left them behind.

Both these isolated islands are described as almost places ‘that time has forgot’.  But the pilot book says both have sheltered anchorages and at least one good fish restaurant apiece.

But as always we imporvised.  As we headed west and approached the first of them, and got out into the exposed waters above Corfu, a lovely south westerly breeze filled in from no-where.  Suddenly we were not only being cooled off nicely, but actually able to sail!

The breeze held as we reached towards the craggy lumps of Orthoni and Eirkoussa, and as we were sliding along so nicely, we decided we could not give up the chance to use as much of a southerly wind as we could to get as far north as possible.  Saves fuel.  So we simply sailed past both islands, pointed the boat at Dubrovnik 220 miles away, and kept going.

It was good to feel we were actually covering some ground in one longish leg.  Sorted out all the night stuff – torches, white flares, lifejackets etc, and settled into the routine of one on and one off.  Sue shot this of me posing on my shift.

Experienced a superb night sail under starry skies with the wind continuing until well after daybreak.  Even got visited by a pod of Dolphins – the first we’ve seen since leaving Turkey – and whooshed our way northward.  For the first time since last year, began to see traces of phospherence in the wake we left behind.

The wind kept in at between F4/5 through the night, and we rolled up the rumb line towards our destination at between 7 to 7.5 knots.  I’d laid a course to keep us just outside the Albanian territorial waters, and spent most of the night isolating (so we could avoid) any Albanian fishermen who work this part of the Adriatic.  All very exciting (in a childish sort of way).

We did see a few fishing boats, but had to give more attention to the multiple ferries and liners barrelling up, down and across this stretch of sea.  Busy.  And they are big.

Operated a 4 hour shift after supper.  And Sue cooked me bacon and eggs for breakfast after dawn.  Good sailing and good tucker. Paradise.

Dawn saw an overcast sky and both Italian and Croatian weather forecasts with a gale warning for the N. Adriatic.  Seems a severe low pressure systems hovering over Balearics and spinning into gales due to effect both sides of Italy.  If and when our gale arrives it will at least be from the south west – but suspect we’ll be up to Croatia and shelter before then.  If this bad weather system does not move on further east quickly, it could mean we have NW gales in Croatia a few days time.  Not really good forecast for us, as we want to continue going NW up the coast.  C’est la vie.

Currently bucking along about 30 miles out of Dubrovnic under overcast skys, can’t even see Montenegro on our starboard side as we slide by in in the haze.  Decided not to stop by in Montenegro due to reported differences twix authorities there and Croatia.  We've a stiff south easterly helping us to make 9 knots+, so expect ETA by 1900 this evening.  We aim to spent a few days in Dubrovnic to get our bearings so will probably use the marina once we’ve sorted customs etc.  Have to do that first in the port of Gruz before chugging onward and getting a berth.  I’ll let you know what it currently costs.

Take care all

JOHN

Hired the ubiquitous scooter for a Friday night out (bit of down memory lane) in Corfu town.

But note, the marina based bike hire place refused to rent us a 125cc as apparently the legal max is 80cc with just a UK car license.  The 80 cc proved just fine, but shows differing rules for differing hire shops.

We last visited Corfu – renting a villa up in Kassiopia – some 30 years back.  The boys were still in primary school, and we came with pals Mike and Lyn plus Mikes two slightly older girls, for two weeks.

It was one of those holidays you’d find hard to forget.  In those days holiday let villas were not purpose built - and ours was clearly someone’s house emptied for the summer income.  Can’t recall the lady owners name, but she did drop in the check things out, change linen at weekends, and chat away in Greek.

The kids adopted the local mongrel (which was size 4 when we arrived and size 12 by the time we left) and the then small town square adopted the kids. 

With an age range of 8 to 14 we’d send them down to the town square for supper whilst we showered after the beach, and sipped the then-favoured Harvey Wallbangers on the front step.  Then once back and in bed, we’d in turn visit the square, ask around to find who we paid for the kids bill, and eat ourselves.  Sad old world really, as I guess one couldn’t do the same today.

Anyway, on that last visit we had visited Corfu town also, and remembered it as old and lovely.  That has definitely not changed.  Corfu town sits on a headland on the west side of the island, and as you’d expect, its architecture has been heavily influenced by the various civilisations who’ve ruled here.

The Romans, Bezantines, Venicians, French and English as well as the Greeks have all contributed something over the centuries.  If you’ve ever visited Porto in Portugal, or Cadiz in Spain, and felt the living history reflected in the buildings and people, then you’d like this place also.

After buzzing along the 6 km of main road to get there, complete with Friday night drivers anxious to get home from work, Sue was pleased to get off and wander the streets of the Campiello district - the old town.

I staggered along behind, a bit Quasimodo like, with my swollen ankle.

As dusk fell, thousands of small swallow like birds began to soar around the narrow alleys and streets, chirping away like loonies as they chased their evening meal of flying insects.  They were the same species who hitched a lift from us half way twix Italy and Libya last year – dark blue / black attractive little birds.

The locals of all ages were out lazing back in cafes or simply promenading.  The place felt alive.

We too sat back (and rested the leg) to watch the world pass by.  Sipping frappe coffee in softly cushioned rattan armchairs alongside what seemed to be the main promenade street called the Liston, seemed the only thing to do on a Friday night.

We wandered the ramparts over the bay.  It sure is a busy port laid out down below us, with ferries to and fro constantly.  We should be used to it by now, but I’m always impressed by the efficient way these boats slide in and out on time.

We then lucked upon a good restaurant set way back in the alleys.  Called the Venician Well and located in Kremasti Square, it was relatively upmarket.  The  classy iron tables and chairs laid out in the square formed from four joining alleyways looked good.  Silverware, tall glasses and white linen napkins tempted us not so much into the building, but certainly onto a table set in the square under some bourganvillia.

The restaurant took the square over.  And one could see from the setting why they chose the name.  The high crumbly but so attractive walls of the surrounding buildings and church could easily make you think you were elsewhere.

Good tucker. 

Not the cheapest, but I suspect we’ve easily blown the cruising budget already.  So no point in worrying eh?

Again, some locals made it a special night.  A large and obviously well to do Greek family arrived and chose this spot to celebrate a teenage daughters christening.  So it was ‘table for 60 people, please’ and it all started happening around us. 

Big table for all the kids right next to us.  All well turned out but same as kids worldwide.  Shouting, punching the smaller kids, and comparing merits of mobile phones.

Smaller table close by for the grandparents who sat stern faced, but smiling.  Interestingly, no one else took a seat until they’d paid their respects to the oldies.  Nice touch (especially as I’m getting older).

Eventually found where we’d parked the scooter, and slower this time, buzzed our way back to Gouvia Marina with headlight blazing.  The temperature of wind that time of night on a scooter is just so good.

Boat was still stinking hot despite fans – but a few sips of red ned before hitting the sack (plus Ibroprufin for the leg) - led to a great nights sleep. 

Roared up the windy coast road to Kassiopia on the Sunday and actually found the villa we rented.  I recall it being on a quiet laneway, but it’s now on the main road past the town!  The large back garden no longer has chickens – it’s slap back full of a big three story home.  Guess a positive gain for our landlady  from renting the old place from over the years.

The town itself has grown as you’d expect – full of boom boom bars and English breakfasts.  The price of progress – good for the locals and maybe new visitors – not the best for old sadsters like me.

On the way back from Kassiopia we stopped off on one of the eastern bays / beaches for a cooling swim and late lunch. When we came here 30 years back it had one taverna on a dirt road and a single jetty.  Nothing else.

But as heavenly lobster salad with icy cold beers only set us back 17 euros pp.  With this as our view and clean water to jump back into after we'd eaten – priceless!

Overall, Corfu’s been a lovely trip down memory lane, and great to see despite the heavy influx of tourists turning to home owners, the real thing is still as attractive as it was 30 years back. 

I’d suggest a ‘must visit’ place if ever in the region – and modifying earlier views, if we ever wished to retire to a Greek island – I’d now place it ahead of Keffalonia on the list:-)

John.