Monday, August 3, 2015
I woke up in the middle of the night thinking the boat's anchor was
loose and we ran aground. My mind was playing tricks with me. The same
thing happened last year with the Florida trip. Being back on land at
night and not constantly thinking about your vessel's position takes
some getting used to. A few more days of remembering I'm no longer on the boat are necessary before these dreams stop.
My legs are definitely feeling all those stairs I climbed yesterday! Fortunately, it's just a lazy morning now.
Terry and I walked into town to explore for our last few hours here.
We looked for a nice little café for breakfast. On our walk saw a
five piece band called Gadjo Manouche, which consisted of a bassist, two guitarists, a
clarinetist, and a female singer. Their jam was swinging! If only
there was someone else here who could swing dance.
Sadly, it started to rain, so Terry and I took cover under an
umbrella at Café La Bodega so we could continue to listen to their music.
Unfortunately, again, it ceased with the start of the rain.
Soon after a couple of breakfast sandwiches and conversation, the sun came out and
we continued to wander Dubrovnik. We saw a building that was burned down in 1991.
The owner - an artist - was safe, but he lost all of his work. After the
war, he rebuilt the building to look exactly as it was before the
shelling.
Looks like a big F-U to their opponents...
Soon, the time came when we had to head to the bus station to ride
back to Split. A long four or five hour ride, but it gave me time to
work on my earlier entries and getting them posted on my blog.
It was fun reliving the memories as I typed up my narrative. There
are so many little things that happen on trips that are such treasures,
but get easily forgotten. That's why I liked jotting down what I learned
and sensed in different places.
Upon returning to Split, I didn't initially see what all the hype
was about. Until I walked along the water in front of Dioclesian's
Palace. The main drag was beautifully built, and quite a hopping place! After getting out things situated in the apartment for the night, we looked for dinner nearby, and ate at Konoba Varos.
We split an assortment of fish as the entree, but it just wasn't the same as we had on the islands. I bit into a fish no longer than 3 inches, and no wider than a quarter inch. I didn't realize it had all the bones. I must have chewed or swallowed a fair amount before realizing I still had to slice it open and gut it before consuming.
We decided on a Posip Cara wine from Korcula. I felt at home knowing that Croatia had so many wines of its own. Reminded me of New Jersey! Though, it sounds like Croatia is certainly growing in regards to the quality of their wines, more so than Jersey.
I was feeling pretty full of food, but I hate seeing it go to waste. Terry kept on eating. My eyes wandered to observe my surroundings.
Kitty!
I tore up the small fish into bite-size pieces and threw it next to me to see if he would eat it. Sure enough, the little feline feasted! I kept throwing food, keeping an eye out so the waiter didn't see my charity.
Once I stopped, the cat started to move away. I threw more food on the ground, then she
ended up hiding on the floor behind my chair towards the sidewalk. How cute.
I looked behind me. He stared up with these eyes
you'd see on an ASPCA advertisement.
After dinner, we checked out Dioclesion's Palace. This certainly made Split worth visiting.
"Oooo-oo-oo-oo-ooo-oo-oooo-ooooo...don't worry. Be happy."
There was a main performing in large gathering space, where people sat on the steps, listening and relaxing. Then he started playing another song.
"And she said- do you come from a land down under?"
Haha. Playing both Bob Marley and Men at Work. Gotta love how common old Pop music is!
Our last night in a Croatian city. I love this country, but I must admit, I'm feeling a bit homesick. Three weeks was a good amount of time here. I can't wait to return!
Monday, August 31, 2015
Friday, August 21, 2015
Day 16: Figs, Frog legs and Fish
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Cock-a-doodle-dooooo!
Well, I can tell you that that sound is truly onomatopoeia. Maybe I should rethink that dream of having my own chicken coup if I want to sleep past 5:30 A.M.
For breakfast we an assortment of foods, accompanied by two kinds of coffee, one of which was Turkish coffee. We also had drinkable yogurt.
"You can't get it in the States," I was told. I've seen it as a sweetened kid's version, just not as an unsweetened version I saw in front of me.
Marijo's mom brought out some more figs. Mmm... The scraps sat on the table.
"Throw the scraps to the chickens."
I walked them to the chickens. They went crazy running for them!
"See, nothing goes to waste here!"
I felt like I was back at my relatives' places in Herzegovina, hearing that phrase.
"How long do the chickens lay eggs?" I asked.
"About five years. And when they stop...?" Aurora paused. "Chicken soup!"
"How long do the roosters last?"
"They all go about the same time. You don't know what gender the chicks are 'til they grow. And if we have too many roosters? Chicken soup!"
After breakfast, we drove through Metković to get to Narova Vid, home of Roman ruins. It was escavated in 1995.
"If you look, there are no heads on the emperor," Marijo began telling me, upon entering. "A new head goes on with each new emperor." Marijo was an excellent tour guide.
"Augustus romanization helped build roads. Napolean helped build roads. That Napolean was good for us in that way," he said. We continued around the museum until we exhausted all the sights.
"We're getting frog legs next. Don't think you got away from it!"
I smiled in agreement.
We walked to Duđe and Mate, a restaurant across the street, and ordered our lunch snack. The plate arrived.
"You'll like it. It tastes like chicken!" I was told.
Here goes nothing. I took a bite of what was the lower half of a frog. The meat on its legs was concentrated into small bulges around its bones.
It shockingly did taste like chicken. Very tender chicken.
We watched kids jump into the water from a small bridge. One kid even back flipped. The group of men at another table, also watching, started clapping for the boy. Another boy stepped up, hesitant, and jumped out.
"He must not be from the area," Aurora told me. I suppose the natives have had practice with their dives.
Marijo knew the man who worked there, who I presume is the owner, and asked to see their catch, so I could see them up close. He pulled out a container from the water and opened it up. Live eels, packed into the container, swimming around each other. I put my hand in to pick one up. Slimy, but surprisingly strong. I thought it would feel more like a worm. I didn't realize how thick of a spine and muscles it would have.
After this excursion, we continued on to Ston, to see an old salt bed and the Dubrovnik walls. The salt bed has been how salt was collected for hundreds of years. It's still in operating order, but it's not as financially efficient as other methods to get salt.
After wandering Ston for a bit, we sat down for drinks.
"Do you want to go up?" I was asked about the Dubrovnik walls. "We'll sit here and wait."
"Don't tempt me," I responded.
"You should be able to do it in a half hour."
"Oh... alright."
"I'm starting the timer at 2:17 P.M."
I walked around to the wall entrance. 40 kuna to enter. I was so excited. My mind started imagining myself standing there hundreds of years ago. Just walking up to the wall lookout was beautiful, but I had some distance to go. I made it to the top of one of the peaks, and then realized it was in fact possible to climb all the wall to the top of the mountain.
I can do this, right? Well, at least see how far I can go. I started running up the stairs to save time so I could get as far up as possible. But after jog-climbing, it takes a toll on your thighs. Especially when you're out of shape. I had already been gone twenty minutes. I'd have to sprint to the top and back down, and I'd still not make it down in time. I went as far as my little legs would carry me before throwing in the towel.
I need to come back here one afternoon in the future and climb to the top. With someone by my side, though. I was too lonely doing something like this all alone. While fun, because I can go at my own pace, it's better experienced with someone.
I practically ran down the steps back to the bottom. I was sweating profusely. So much that I was dripping in sweat all over. Way to go, Mer. Walking go the bathroom and wiping off as much sweat as possible mitigated the situation, but didn't solve it.
Gross.
We left Ston and drove to Dubrovnik. As we drove along the shore, I saw a schooner anchored in a cove. This was where I saw The schooner three years ago, that I had wished I could be so lucky to be on it. In this moment three years ago, I never could have guessed I'd be where I am today.
Aurora and Marijo dropped us off at the hotel and we said our goodbyes. They truly are such wonderful people for how kind they were this weekend.
The hotel had a gorgeous view of Dubrovnik. Certainly a different experience from last time I was here.
I looked at the map of Dubrovnik.
"Let's go to Fort Lovrijenac. It's right here."
And of course- more climbing! We walked up to the top for some amazing views of old town Dubrovnik. Then we came back down and went to walk the city walls. It took us about two hours, since we stopped and relaxed periodically. We neared the end and took pictures at one last look out point.
"Closing time!" A man told us.
What perfect timing!
After all the climbing I did today, I was more than ready for dinner. We decided on Konoba Jezuite, a restaurant with outdoor seating near a Catholic church. This choice was mostly because I was tired of Terry looking for the "best" restaurant, and figured most restaurants would be really good. And I just wanted to sit down and eat.
"I bet you Jezuite translates to Jesuit," I said to Terry after looking at the menu.
"Nah, I bet it's Jesus."
The waiter came around, so we inquired about the restuarant name.
"We're right next to St. Ignatius church, known for its Jesuits."
That's the nice thing about European languages as an anglophone- words often sound similar enough you can piece together a meaning.
"What do you recommend?" I asked the waiter.
"Definitely the tuna steak, since it was caught a few hours earlier."
I'm sold. As was Terry, since he ordered the same.
Olives and bread were served as a welcoming snack with our Croatian white wine. Dinner was fantastic, as always.
Though we declined on dessert, the waiter brought out two small glasses.
"Grappa with herbs for the man and a Cherry brandy for the lady."
Was it a stereotype to bring out those flavors for each if us? Probably. But I really liked my cherry brandy, so I didn't mind.
Since we were so close to such a beautiful church, we walked in and sat down with reverence. The lights were pretty dimmed, but it was still open to the public. Gorgeous architecture. After five minutes, the lights flicked off and a man came down the aisle.
"We are closing."
Perfect timing! We've been pretty fortunate with timing on this trip.
We walked around a bit more. I bought ice cream, then we started to head back to the hotel for the night. We saw a poster of the damage done to Dubrovnik in 1991-1992 during the war. A few buildings were burned down, but many were hit. As we were talking, we passed by a man who overheard our conversation as he was cleaning up his booth. He chimed in to clear up our disagreement.
"Before the war, I had close friends who were Serbs, but once the war began, everyone picked a side and it was never the same...Dubrovnik was blocked by the sea by Navy, by air by planes, and by land by the Army. We had no food or water coming in for days..."
After some research into the seige of Dubrovnik, I can only imagine the horrors that Croats living here endured from the war. The fact that they've rebuilt so much and brought Dubrovnik up as such a popular destination really shows how strong these people are, and how much they love their homeland.
Cock-a-doodle-dooooo!
Well, I can tell you that that sound is truly onomatopoeia. Maybe I should rethink that dream of having my own chicken coup if I want to sleep past 5:30 A.M.
For breakfast we an assortment of foods, accompanied by two kinds of coffee, one of which was Turkish coffee. We also had drinkable yogurt.
"You can't get it in the States," I was told. I've seen it as a sweetened kid's version, just not as an unsweetened version I saw in front of me.
Marijo's mom brought out some more figs. Mmm... The scraps sat on the table.
"Throw the scraps to the chickens."
I walked them to the chickens. They went crazy running for them!
"See, nothing goes to waste here!"
I felt like I was back at my relatives' places in Herzegovina, hearing that phrase.
"How long do the chickens lay eggs?" I asked.
"About five years. And when they stop...?" Aurora paused. "Chicken soup!"
"How long do the roosters last?"
"They all go about the same time. You don't know what gender the chicks are 'til they grow. And if we have too many roosters? Chicken soup!"
After breakfast, we drove through Metković to get to Narova Vid, home of Roman ruins. It was escavated in 1995.
"If you look, there are no heads on the emperor," Marijo began telling me, upon entering. "A new head goes on with each new emperor." Marijo was an excellent tour guide.
"Augustus romanization helped build roads. Napolean helped build roads. That Napolean was good for us in that way," he said. We continued around the museum until we exhausted all the sights.
"We're getting frog legs next. Don't think you got away from it!"
I smiled in agreement.
We walked to Duđe and Mate, a restaurant across the street, and ordered our lunch snack. The plate arrived.
"You'll like it. It tastes like chicken!" I was told.
Here goes nothing. I took a bite of what was the lower half of a frog. The meat on its legs was concentrated into small bulges around its bones.
It shockingly did taste like chicken. Very tender chicken.
We watched kids jump into the water from a small bridge. One kid even back flipped. The group of men at another table, also watching, started clapping for the boy. Another boy stepped up, hesitant, and jumped out.
"He must not be from the area," Aurora told me. I suppose the natives have had practice with their dives.
Marijo knew the man who worked there, who I presume is the owner, and asked to see their catch, so I could see them up close. He pulled out a container from the water and opened it up. Live eels, packed into the container, swimming around each other. I put my hand in to pick one up. Slimy, but surprisingly strong. I thought it would feel more like a worm. I didn't realize how thick of a spine and muscles it would have.
After this excursion, we continued on to Ston, to see an old salt bed and the Dubrovnik walls. The salt bed has been how salt was collected for hundreds of years. It's still in operating order, but it's not as financially efficient as other methods to get salt.
After wandering Ston for a bit, we sat down for drinks.
"Do you want to go up?" I was asked about the Dubrovnik walls. "We'll sit here and wait."
"Don't tempt me," I responded.
"You should be able to do it in a half hour."
"Oh... alright."
"I'm starting the timer at 2:17 P.M."
I walked around to the wall entrance. 40 kuna to enter. I was so excited. My mind started imagining myself standing there hundreds of years ago. Just walking up to the wall lookout was beautiful, but I had some distance to go. I made it to the top of one of the peaks, and then realized it was in fact possible to climb all the wall to the top of the mountain.
I can do this, right? Well, at least see how far I can go. I started running up the stairs to save time so I could get as far up as possible. But after jog-climbing, it takes a toll on your thighs. Especially when you're out of shape. I had already been gone twenty minutes. I'd have to sprint to the top and back down, and I'd still not make it down in time. I went as far as my little legs would carry me before throwing in the towel.
I need to come back here one afternoon in the future and climb to the top. With someone by my side, though. I was too lonely doing something like this all alone. While fun, because I can go at my own pace, it's better experienced with someone.
I practically ran down the steps back to the bottom. I was sweating profusely. So much that I was dripping in sweat all over. Way to go, Mer. Walking go the bathroom and wiping off as much sweat as possible mitigated the situation, but didn't solve it.
Gross.
We left Ston and drove to Dubrovnik. As we drove along the shore, I saw a schooner anchored in a cove. This was where I saw The schooner three years ago, that I had wished I could be so lucky to be on it. In this moment three years ago, I never could have guessed I'd be where I am today.
Aurora and Marijo dropped us off at the hotel and we said our goodbyes. They truly are such wonderful people for how kind they were this weekend.
The hotel had a gorgeous view of Dubrovnik. Certainly a different experience from last time I was here.
I looked at the map of Dubrovnik.
"Let's go to Fort Lovrijenac. It's right here."
And of course- more climbing! We walked up to the top for some amazing views of old town Dubrovnik. Then we came back down and went to walk the city walls. It took us about two hours, since we stopped and relaxed periodically. We neared the end and took pictures at one last look out point.
"Closing time!" A man told us.
What perfect timing!
After all the climbing I did today, I was more than ready for dinner. We decided on Konoba Jezuite, a restaurant with outdoor seating near a Catholic church. This choice was mostly because I was tired of Terry looking for the "best" restaurant, and figured most restaurants would be really good. And I just wanted to sit down and eat.
"I bet you Jezuite translates to Jesuit," I said to Terry after looking at the menu.
"Nah, I bet it's Jesus."
The waiter came around, so we inquired about the restuarant name.
"We're right next to St. Ignatius church, known for its Jesuits."
That's the nice thing about European languages as an anglophone- words often sound similar enough you can piece together a meaning.
"What do you recommend?" I asked the waiter.
"Definitely the tuna steak, since it was caught a few hours earlier."
I'm sold. As was Terry, since he ordered the same.
Olives and bread were served as a welcoming snack with our Croatian white wine. Dinner was fantastic, as always.
Though we declined on dessert, the waiter brought out two small glasses.
"Grappa with herbs for the man and a Cherry brandy for the lady."
Was it a stereotype to bring out those flavors for each if us? Probably. But I really liked my cherry brandy, so I didn't mind.
Since we were so close to such a beautiful church, we walked in and sat down with reverence. The lights were pretty dimmed, but it was still open to the public. Gorgeous architecture. After five minutes, the lights flicked off and a man came down the aisle.
"We are closing."
Perfect timing! We've been pretty fortunate with timing on this trip.
We walked around a bit more. I bought ice cream, then we started to head back to the hotel for the night. We saw a poster of the damage done to Dubrovnik in 1991-1992 during the war. A few buildings were burned down, but many were hit. As we were talking, we passed by a man who overheard our conversation as he was cleaning up his booth. He chimed in to clear up our disagreement.
"Before the war, I had close friends who were Serbs, but once the war began, everyone picked a side and it was never the same...Dubrovnik was blocked by the sea by Navy, by air by planes, and by land by the Army. We had no food or water coming in for days..."
After some research into the seige of Dubrovnik, I can only imagine the horrors that Croats living here endured from the war. The fact that they've rebuilt so much and brought Dubrovnik up as such a popular destination really shows how strong these people are, and how much they love their homeland.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Day 15: Croatian Hospitality
Saturday, August 1, 2015
I looked out to the boat next door - Six millenials sleeping on either the deck or cockpit, with the center table littered with beer cans. A man came out from below deck to walk to the stern, lean his head over, and cough into the water.
Splash. Splash.
Sigh. Two more boys followed his actions in the next half hour. This is what my generation has come to. It's so nice to be on vacation and not wake up feeling like that.
Alicia left early for her 7:45 A.M. flight. Terry and I wanted to catch a bus around 9:00 A.M. from Split.
I looked up available tickets.
"Terry, the earliest we can get is the 1:30 P.M. bus from Split to Ploče."
"Alright, buy tickets, and I'll let Aurora know we'll be late. Aurora is a friend of Terry's from NYC, who we'd be visiting today.
Terry checked our luggage at the marina so we wouldn't have to carry it with us the next few days. I was waiting by Pipi until we were ready to go.
We took a taxi to Split so we could take the bus to Ploče.
"Where are you from?" I asked the driver.
"I was born in Split, but now I live in Kaštela."
"Has Split been built up in the last decade? Or any renovations?"
"No no, we don't do that here! We'll fix old buildings to keep the culture alive."
The traffic in Split was awful. Granted, this was a Saturday morning, but I felt bad for our driver.
"Is it okay if I drop you off close to the bus stop, and you just have to walk 100 meters?" He asked. "Otherwise we'll be sitting in traffic for the next thirty minutes."
"That's fine. We don't mind walking." I'd rather not sit in traffic and take up a higher taxi bill.
Arriving at 9:45 A.M., Terry and I began to wander, looking for a place to stop and eat breakfast.
"How about this place?" I asked. It was a small cafe off of the street. Terry doesn't like going to the main street places, so we had already been walking in a residential area off the main drag.
I looked at the menu. Cafe Bistro TTOC. TripAdvisor 2015, 4.5 stars.
"Omelettes, breakfast burrito, looks good to me!"
I ordered a breakfast burrito and Terry ordered the English breakfast. As always, the bread was simply amazing. After eating and using the WiFi, we went on our way.
"I need to find an ATM. Wait here with the suitcase and I'll go look."
So I sat under a tree and watched countless people walk by. 11:00 A.M. on a Saturday and it was quite the bustling area. There were two people, a man and woman, dressed in white, making sure people didn't J-walk. A woman started to cross the street.
"No no no, walk up there," the uniformed woman told the tourist. This was a heavily commuted turn, with a sign for the ferry. I was surprised that they had two people policing the area until I counted how many violators there were. Probably one person each minute or so tried to J-walk.
We stopped again for coffee and drinks to kill some time before we took the bus inland.
The bus station was a mad house once the bus pulled up. It arrived about a half hour before the scheduled time, and people crowded in line to get as close to the front as possible. I was able to get first in line and grab a seat at the front of the bus, for the best views.
We were finally off to Ploče, driving on what appeared to be a relatively new highway system. We arrived in Ploče to see Aurora and her husband Marijo. Terry and I stepped off the bus. Terry expected the bus driver to help remove luggage, but he went off to sit down while people grabbed their luggage and went.
We arrived to a home with its own Eden in the backyard. Cats, a German Shepherd, chickens, olive trees, kiwi fruit, grapes, peppers, lemons...this is a classic Croatian home.
Our lovely friends drove us to Baćinska Jezera, a connected set of freshwater lakes. We took a boat ride around the different lakes.
Wildlife was sprinkled all around us. Baby ducks, a water snake, frogs. It was a scavenger hunt to see what you could find.
The perimeter of the lake was covered by grass. We approached the edge, and I assumed we'd then turn around, but the boat kept moving! There was a small channel, which went under a bridge that previously had doors to keep people from fishing, and connected us to another lake.
We continued through. Multiple times we passed through these narrow sections of water without grass.
"Peep peep!" the driver called, as if to tell us to look at the baby ducks, assuming his English skills weren't very good.
"Ducks didnt always used to be here," Marijo told me. "Karlovačko, the beer company, did a commercial where they brought in ducks, amd left them when they were finished with their project. They then bred and multiplied, even with native ducks. Before, you could shoot anything that moved, other than humans. Now you can't even throw rocks at them!"
He later tried to look up the commercial on YouTube, but unfortunately, couldn't find it.
We rounded another lake and came back to where we started. We exited the boat and sat down back on land for some drinks.
"What would you like?"
I looked at the drink menu. Various beers, some wines. I didn't want to drink anything with alcohol right now. I wanted something native to the area.
"Pipi? What's that?" I asked.
"Just try it!"
A bottle with a light yellow liquid arrived to the table. I examined the label.
"There's a blonde girl on the bottle!"
How perfect!
We then went for a swim. It's amazing how freshwater feels to swim in verses saltwater. I had to tread water more since my body wanted to sink, but I needed the workout. I've been eating so much in Croatia! Earlier this week, Alex asked me, what will you miss most? I told him, The food!
While swimming, Terry and I continued to talk with Marijo.
"Do a lot of young Croatians leave the country?" I asked.
"They may want more, but there is nothing they lack," he told me. Kids leave to explore more of the world, but they generally and come back.
It was a great response.
When we were back at the house, I talked about how my favorite food in Croatia was the fig. I've only eaten figs from my Great Aunt's house in the Bronx, because they don't last long once off the tree.
Soon after getting back to the house, Marijo's mom brought in a bowl of fresh figs from their tree. I was so happy! She must have heard how much I liked fresh figs.
"They're not perfectly ripe, they're a bit early, but that means they're not as sweet," Aurora told me.
I opened up one of the fruit and took a bite. I had forgotten exactly how delicious they were. Ah. I was a happy camper. Terry seemed amused by my expression.
Croatian families are known for their hospitality. As much as Terry wanted to help, he was a guest.
"No, no, relax!"
Dinner consisted of a homemade Croatian barbeque. Sausage, beef patties, chicken kebobs, a salad of cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, with a side of peppers stuffed with a cheese and grape tomatoes. And yummy bread. With Majmak.
"You can't find Majmak in the States!" Aurora told me.
"Have some more wine!" They saw Terry had an empty glass amd promptly filled it. From my last trip, I learned that it's impolite to have your guest sit with an empty plate or empty glass.
"I'm stuffed, but I don't want the food to go to waste," Terry told his hosts as he looked at his now filled glass and the food that lay untouched, ready to be consumed.
"Nothing is wasted, here. The cats love the meat, and the hens have been waiting for this bread! We'll pick up a fresh loaf tomorrow morning."
"What is considered old here is fresh in NYC!" Terry said, thinking about the differences between NYC and a Croatian home.
As Terry and Marijo talked world history, I asked Aurora about local food.
"I've loved the black risotto with cuttlefish here. I've never had it before," I told her. "What makes it black?"
"Ink from the cuttlefish."
Fascinating. Who would have thought such a thing?
Any large meal with some wine is enough to put a person into a food coma, and since Terry woke up before the sunrise this morning, he was really feeling it, so he headed to bed. I stayed an extra hour to hang out and chat.
It turns out that Aurora and Marijo lived in New Jersey for a few years while working in NYC. So naturally, we talked about my home state. Jersey tomatoes, my teaching career, and my fiancé.
"Why didn't he come?"
"He wasn't able to take off that much time from work, unfortunately," I told them.
"We're currently in a pre cana program. Traditionally, it's a year minimun between the engagement and the wedding. Is it the same here?"
"Croatia is just 45 days," they told me.
"So, if I got Alex to come to Croatia..." I joked. "but my family needs the party. We couldn't elope."
"In Croatia, family is very close," Marijo began. "The wedding is more for the family than the couple. It's the time for them to give their blessings and celebrate the marriage."
I hadn't thought of it like that, but he was right. What a wonderful day. Croatian hospitality is amazing. I'm really going to miss this.
I looked out to the boat next door - Six millenials sleeping on either the deck or cockpit, with the center table littered with beer cans. A man came out from below deck to walk to the stern, lean his head over, and cough into the water.
Splash. Splash.
Sigh. Two more boys followed his actions in the next half hour. This is what my generation has come to. It's so nice to be on vacation and not wake up feeling like that.
Alicia left early for her 7:45 A.M. flight. Terry and I wanted to catch a bus around 9:00 A.M. from Split.
I looked up available tickets.
"Terry, the earliest we can get is the 1:30 P.M. bus from Split to Ploče."
"Alright, buy tickets, and I'll let Aurora know we'll be late. Aurora is a friend of Terry's from NYC, who we'd be visiting today.
Terry checked our luggage at the marina so we wouldn't have to carry it with us the next few days. I was waiting by Pipi until we were ready to go.
We took a taxi to Split so we could take the bus to Ploče.
"Where are you from?" I asked the driver.
"I was born in Split, but now I live in Kaštela."
"Has Split been built up in the last decade? Or any renovations?"
"No no, we don't do that here! We'll fix old buildings to keep the culture alive."
The traffic in Split was awful. Granted, this was a Saturday morning, but I felt bad for our driver.
"Is it okay if I drop you off close to the bus stop, and you just have to walk 100 meters?" He asked. "Otherwise we'll be sitting in traffic for the next thirty minutes."
"That's fine. We don't mind walking." I'd rather not sit in traffic and take up a higher taxi bill.
Arriving at 9:45 A.M., Terry and I began to wander, looking for a place to stop and eat breakfast.
"How about this place?" I asked. It was a small cafe off of the street. Terry doesn't like going to the main street places, so we had already been walking in a residential area off the main drag.
I looked at the menu. Cafe Bistro TTOC. TripAdvisor 2015, 4.5 stars.
"Omelettes, breakfast burrito, looks good to me!"
I ordered a breakfast burrito and Terry ordered the English breakfast. As always, the bread was simply amazing. After eating and using the WiFi, we went on our way.
"I need to find an ATM. Wait here with the suitcase and I'll go look."
So I sat under a tree and watched countless people walk by. 11:00 A.M. on a Saturday and it was quite the bustling area. There were two people, a man and woman, dressed in white, making sure people didn't J-walk. A woman started to cross the street.
"No no no, walk up there," the uniformed woman told the tourist. This was a heavily commuted turn, with a sign for the ferry. I was surprised that they had two people policing the area until I counted how many violators there were. Probably one person each minute or so tried to J-walk.
We stopped again for coffee and drinks to kill some time before we took the bus inland.
The bus station was a mad house once the bus pulled up. It arrived about a half hour before the scheduled time, and people crowded in line to get as close to the front as possible. I was able to get first in line and grab a seat at the front of the bus, for the best views.
We were finally off to Ploče, driving on what appeared to be a relatively new highway system. We arrived in Ploče to see Aurora and her husband Marijo. Terry and I stepped off the bus. Terry expected the bus driver to help remove luggage, but he went off to sit down while people grabbed their luggage and went.
We arrived to a home with its own Eden in the backyard. Cats, a German Shepherd, chickens, olive trees, kiwi fruit, grapes, peppers, lemons...this is a classic Croatian home.
Our lovely friends drove us to Baćinska Jezera, a connected set of freshwater lakes. We took a boat ride around the different lakes.
Wildlife was sprinkled all around us. Baby ducks, a water snake, frogs. It was a scavenger hunt to see what you could find.
The perimeter of the lake was covered by grass. We approached the edge, and I assumed we'd then turn around, but the boat kept moving! There was a small channel, which went under a bridge that previously had doors to keep people from fishing, and connected us to another lake.
We continued through. Multiple times we passed through these narrow sections of water without grass.
"Peep peep!" the driver called, as if to tell us to look at the baby ducks, assuming his English skills weren't very good.
"Ducks didnt always used to be here," Marijo told me. "Karlovačko, the beer company, did a commercial where they brought in ducks, amd left them when they were finished with their project. They then bred and multiplied, even with native ducks. Before, you could shoot anything that moved, other than humans. Now you can't even throw rocks at them!"
He later tried to look up the commercial on YouTube, but unfortunately, couldn't find it.
We rounded another lake and came back to where we started. We exited the boat and sat down back on land for some drinks.
"What would you like?"
I looked at the drink menu. Various beers, some wines. I didn't want to drink anything with alcohol right now. I wanted something native to the area.
"Pipi? What's that?" I asked.
"Just try it!"
A bottle with a light yellow liquid arrived to the table. I examined the label.
"There's a blonde girl on the bottle!"
How perfect!
We then went for a swim. It's amazing how freshwater feels to swim in verses saltwater. I had to tread water more since my body wanted to sink, but I needed the workout. I've been eating so much in Croatia! Earlier this week, Alex asked me, what will you miss most? I told him, The food!
While swimming, Terry and I continued to talk with Marijo.
"Do a lot of young Croatians leave the country?" I asked.
"They may want more, but there is nothing they lack," he told me. Kids leave to explore more of the world, but they generally and come back.
It was a great response.
When we were back at the house, I talked about how my favorite food in Croatia was the fig. I've only eaten figs from my Great Aunt's house in the Bronx, because they don't last long once off the tree.
Soon after getting back to the house, Marijo's mom brought in a bowl of fresh figs from their tree. I was so happy! She must have heard how much I liked fresh figs.
"They're not perfectly ripe, they're a bit early, but that means they're not as sweet," Aurora told me.
I opened up one of the fruit and took a bite. I had forgotten exactly how delicious they were. Ah. I was a happy camper. Terry seemed amused by my expression.
Croatian families are known for their hospitality. As much as Terry wanted to help, he was a guest.
"No, no, relax!"
Dinner consisted of a homemade Croatian barbeque. Sausage, beef patties, chicken kebobs, a salad of cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, with a side of peppers stuffed with a cheese and grape tomatoes. And yummy bread. With Majmak.
"You can't find Majmak in the States!" Aurora told me.
"Have some more wine!" They saw Terry had an empty glass amd promptly filled it. From my last trip, I learned that it's impolite to have your guest sit with an empty plate or empty glass.
"I'm stuffed, but I don't want the food to go to waste," Terry told his hosts as he looked at his now filled glass and the food that lay untouched, ready to be consumed.
"Nothing is wasted, here. The cats love the meat, and the hens have been waiting for this bread! We'll pick up a fresh loaf tomorrow morning."
"What is considered old here is fresh in NYC!" Terry said, thinking about the differences between NYC and a Croatian home.
As Terry and Marijo talked world history, I asked Aurora about local food.
"I've loved the black risotto with cuttlefish here. I've never had it before," I told her. "What makes it black?"
"Ink from the cuttlefish."
Fascinating. Who would have thought such a thing?
Any large meal with some wine is enough to put a person into a food coma, and since Terry woke up before the sunrise this morning, he was really feeling it, so he headed to bed. I stayed an extra hour to hang out and chat.
It turns out that Aurora and Marijo lived in New Jersey for a few years while working in NYC. So naturally, we talked about my home state. Jersey tomatoes, my teaching career, and my fiancé.
"Why didn't he come?"
"He wasn't able to take off that much time from work, unfortunately," I told them.
"We're currently in a pre cana program. Traditionally, it's a year minimun between the engagement and the wedding. Is it the same here?"
"Croatia is just 45 days," they told me.
"So, if I got Alex to come to Croatia..." I joked. "but my family needs the party. We couldn't elope."
"In Croatia, family is very close," Marijo began. "The wedding is more for the family than the couple. It's the time for them to give their blessings and celebrate the marriage."
I hadn't thought of it like that, but he was right. What a wonderful day. Croatian hospitality is amazing. I'm really going to miss this.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Day 14: "You're Like Baywatch!"
Friday, July 31, 2015
Clouds covered the sunrise, the first time it was this dark all trip. I felt some rain drizzle down, but nothing more.
The wind was eight knots by our anchorage in the bay. Nice! This bodes for great sailing weather! Barely five minutes after putting our sails up did the wind pick up to eighteen, soon stabilizing at twenty-two.
"This is great!" Terry was like a kid on Christmas. He lives for these sailing days.
"Ems, want the helm?"
Might as well. I took the wheel. I've never steered under sail with this much power. There have been a couple times on the J24 when the winds were sustained close to twenty knots, but that was a smaller boat with smaller sails.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit worried. I looked at the panel. Sustained winds at twenty-two, going up to twenty-five. Once I saw the wind speed reach thirty! My top speed on a beam reach was 4.8 knots, which meant we were flying as fast as the boat would be under motor.
"Terry, I think we need to bring in the sails."
"You're good!" He loved when the boat heeled a lot.
"Terry, I'm getting overpowered." A strong gust pushed the boat upwind, and I started to lose control of the wheel as the wind took over.
Terry grabbed the winch handle and started pulling in the headsail and mainsail. In high wind, if you have too much sail up, the wind pushes the boat with more force than the rudder can handle, and thus gets overpowered. Our speed slowed down a bit once the sails were brought in a bit, but I felt much more in control of the boat. Today was all about team effort, since we didn't want to put the autopilot on. If the boat for overpowered, the autopilot was worthless.
We looked around at other sailboats with their sails completely down, motoring along. No one was as brave as us. The weak would call us crazy. We laugh. We're adventurous. We're sailors.
We were sailing with about half a headsail and half the mainsail, and still moving about three knots. That is crazy. We even passed a sailboat motoring with no sail.
The waves were rough. Don't get me wrong, it was fun, but the seas were roaring. Watching the nearby boats go way up and way down in the water was impressive.
As we sailed around, the wind slowly started to die down, sustaining winds barely at twenty knots and rarely with gusts above that, and within a half hour the wind was down to twelve knots.
"What happened?"
Well, it was fun while it lasted. The dinghy filled with water from getting tossed around, so Terry had to go in with a bucket to remove the water that collected inside.
All the Yacht Week boats were coming back inland. I must have seen twenty boats come back in as we were leaving the channel. They all had a blue banner with "The Yacht Week" posted on the backstay, with nationality flags of the customers flying on the boat as well.
Our lunch was leftover pasta with pesto sauce, the rest of the meat and cheese, and sliced tomatoes. We tried to consume as much as we can to minimize food we have to throw out tomorrow.
"Are there any plans for today?"
"Nope," I said. I made today a sailing day, so we can go wherever."
"How about a monastery? There's one on Brač island." Alicia looked this one up.
"Put it on the iPad charts and see how long it will take to get there and back to the marina," Terry told her. With a straight shot at the speed we were going, we would get to the marina about 4:00 P.M. Not ideal, but we decided to go for it. Sadly, this meant no more sailing, since we needed top speed attained by motoring.
I had been wearing a rashguard all week to keep my skin protected from the sun, but this resulted in my face, arms, and legs being tan, with covered areas still their pastey white color. So I took a nap while sunbathing as Terry drove to our destination.
I woke up to arrive at Uvala Blaca. We didn't see any buildings on the mountainous island, but we did see hikers.
Alicia and I went for a swim toward shore. It was a fair distance of a swim- just what we needed to work off that lunch!
When we reached the shore, we saw a man in a small boat with a motor.
"Do you know where the monastery is?" Alicia asked.
"It's further down the island."
So we swam back and drove the boat a bit further down Brač. After scoping out a few more coves, we decided to turn around and head back to the marina.
I went down below for a bit.
"Ems, come up!" Terry said in an urgent tone. I ran up.
"There's a guy in a flipped kayak who needs help," he told me as I came up. It turned out to be a sail kayak.
"Do you need help?" We yelled to him.
"Yes," he nodded. He was clearly struggling.
We tied a rope to the stern of the boat and, after two throws, were able to throw it so he could catch it.
"Tie the rope to your kayak, and we'll take your things so you can come on board." It took the man some time to tie up his kayak and get his things to us. The wind was sustained at twenty knots, and the waves reflected that. He was pretty lucky that we saw him- not many boats had passed by this area, and the ones that did were smaller powerboats. They might not have been able to tow him to shore in this crazy water.
We got him on board and drove to a cove where some people had lived. It looked like a very small private beach, nothing commercial.
"Take the rope with you to shore, with the kayak. Then we can get it back." We approached the shore, Terry watching his depths to get as close as possible without running aground. The keel is 1.6 meters. He got as close as 2 meters at one point.
"Should we swim his things to him?" Alicia and I grabbed his bookbag and oar and swam them to shore, in exchange for the rope he borrowed.
"Thank you so much," he told us gratefully. Let's just hope he doesn't go back on the water to get back where he started.
The whole thing from start to finish took about a half hour.
"I find it interesting that we were looking for a monastery, and helped out someone in need instead!" Alicia said.
Alright. Our ETA was now 5:30 P.M. Let's go!
We had three hours of motoring ahead of us. The water was still very rough in the high winds.
At one point, we raised sails since we were on a beam reach, to add some more speed to the motor.
Our last few hours.
"Might as well do some laundry before we get to the marina," Terry told Alicia and me. Croatia doesn't seem to have dryers, only washers. The wind will help us right now. We each used the kitchen sink and dish detergent to clean out some clothes for the next few days, and used clothespins to hang them on the lifelines to dry.
We turned the last corner and could see the marina. We saw a young man and his lady trying to swim against the current back to their beach. They were making no progress.
"Do you need help?"
They nodded yes. We put the ladder back down and hovered near them so they could climb on board after handing us their flotation device.
"Thank you," they said with a Slavic accent. We drove them further up to an area where people were swimming and dropped them off.
"I'll drop you off further up, so the current will push you to shore," Terry told them, and they were on their way.
"Two rescues in one day!"
Certainly an adventurous way to end a trip. We filled up on gas before pulling up to the marina. We didn't see an open berth.
"Let me jump off and we'll take the berth closest to the edge," I said. Terry neared the pier and I jumped off, barefoot. I looked around for a SailCroatia guy, but didn't see any. I walked back and Terry started motoring down the pier. I ran down the pier to follow him, wherever he ended up.
There was a SailCroatia worker with the last open berth. It looked tight. This was going to be Terry's toughest med mooring. It's a shame I was dockside and not on the boat to help.
Terry reversed back into the open spot, more quickly than I would have anticipated, but in this wind, if you went too slowly, you'd get pushed to the side and have to adjust even more.
Not a perfect moor, but he did it, and nothing was broken. We brought back the boat in one piece!
"We're still getting used to med-mooring," Terry said.
"You did great!" He told us.
We fixed up the lines to secure us in. There was another SailCroatia guy there as well.
"So where did you visit?"
Terry attempted some names, with hesitations in between, so I jumped in to help him out.
"We went to Šolta Island to anchor at Uvala Nečujam, then to Korčula, Lastovo, Stari Grad, Vis Island, the Blue and Green Caves, Šibenik, Kornati, then down to Žirje and Drvenik Veli for the blue lagoon."
"Wow, she even learned all the names!"
I think he was impressed at how easily an anglophone rattled off correct pronunciations of all the islands and towns we went to.
"She told me where to go, and we went there," Terry said with a smile.
"We even saved three people on the water!" Terry started telling them our rescue stories.
"You guys are like Baywatch!"
Haha. That was one of the best comments from our trip, I think.
After settling back in, we went to the Marina center to shower and have a drink. We ate dinner at a local Konoba, where a lot of other people had already scoped out. One last family-style dinner for the three of us, since we'd be leaving the boat in the morning.
As we walked back to the boat, we saw the moon starting to rise over Split. Our last night on the boat.
We spent about an hour or two cleaning up the boat, throwing out trash and unusued food after packing up our things. We wanted her to be in step-off condition before we retired for the night.
"Ya did good, Pipi. Ya did good, kid."
Clouds covered the sunrise, the first time it was this dark all trip. I felt some rain drizzle down, but nothing more.
The wind was eight knots by our anchorage in the bay. Nice! This bodes for great sailing weather! Barely five minutes after putting our sails up did the wind pick up to eighteen, soon stabilizing at twenty-two.
"This is great!" Terry was like a kid on Christmas. He lives for these sailing days.
"Ems, want the helm?"
Might as well. I took the wheel. I've never steered under sail with this much power. There have been a couple times on the J24 when the winds were sustained close to twenty knots, but that was a smaller boat with smaller sails.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit worried. I looked at the panel. Sustained winds at twenty-two, going up to twenty-five. Once I saw the wind speed reach thirty! My top speed on a beam reach was 4.8 knots, which meant we were flying as fast as the boat would be under motor.
"Terry, I think we need to bring in the sails."
"You're good!" He loved when the boat heeled a lot.
"Terry, I'm getting overpowered." A strong gust pushed the boat upwind, and I started to lose control of the wheel as the wind took over.
Terry grabbed the winch handle and started pulling in the headsail and mainsail. In high wind, if you have too much sail up, the wind pushes the boat with more force than the rudder can handle, and thus gets overpowered. Our speed slowed down a bit once the sails were brought in a bit, but I felt much more in control of the boat. Today was all about team effort, since we didn't want to put the autopilot on. If the boat for overpowered, the autopilot was worthless.
We looked around at other sailboats with their sails completely down, motoring along. No one was as brave as us. The weak would call us crazy. We laugh. We're adventurous. We're sailors.
We were sailing with about half a headsail and half the mainsail, and still moving about three knots. That is crazy. We even passed a sailboat motoring with no sail.
The waves were rough. Don't get me wrong, it was fun, but the seas were roaring. Watching the nearby boats go way up and way down in the water was impressive.
As we sailed around, the wind slowly started to die down, sustaining winds barely at twenty knots and rarely with gusts above that, and within a half hour the wind was down to twelve knots.
"What happened?"
Well, it was fun while it lasted. The dinghy filled with water from getting tossed around, so Terry had to go in with a bucket to remove the water that collected inside.
All the Yacht Week boats were coming back inland. I must have seen twenty boats come back in as we were leaving the channel. They all had a blue banner with "The Yacht Week" posted on the backstay, with nationality flags of the customers flying on the boat as well.
Our lunch was leftover pasta with pesto sauce, the rest of the meat and cheese, and sliced tomatoes. We tried to consume as much as we can to minimize food we have to throw out tomorrow.
"Are there any plans for today?"
"Nope," I said. I made today a sailing day, so we can go wherever."
"How about a monastery? There's one on Brač island." Alicia looked this one up.
"Put it on the iPad charts and see how long it will take to get there and back to the marina," Terry told her. With a straight shot at the speed we were going, we would get to the marina about 4:00 P.M. Not ideal, but we decided to go for it. Sadly, this meant no more sailing, since we needed top speed attained by motoring.
I had been wearing a rashguard all week to keep my skin protected from the sun, but this resulted in my face, arms, and legs being tan, with covered areas still their pastey white color. So I took a nap while sunbathing as Terry drove to our destination.
I woke up to arrive at Uvala Blaca. We didn't see any buildings on the mountainous island, but we did see hikers.
Alicia and I went for a swim toward shore. It was a fair distance of a swim- just what we needed to work off that lunch!
When we reached the shore, we saw a man in a small boat with a motor.
"Do you know where the monastery is?" Alicia asked.
"It's further down the island."
So we swam back and drove the boat a bit further down Brač. After scoping out a few more coves, we decided to turn around and head back to the marina.
I went down below for a bit.
"Ems, come up!" Terry said in an urgent tone. I ran up.
"There's a guy in a flipped kayak who needs help," he told me as I came up. It turned out to be a sail kayak.
"Do you need help?" We yelled to him.
"Yes," he nodded. He was clearly struggling.
We tied a rope to the stern of the boat and, after two throws, were able to throw it so he could catch it.
"Tie the rope to your kayak, and we'll take your things so you can come on board." It took the man some time to tie up his kayak and get his things to us. The wind was sustained at twenty knots, and the waves reflected that. He was pretty lucky that we saw him- not many boats had passed by this area, and the ones that did were smaller powerboats. They might not have been able to tow him to shore in this crazy water.
We got him on board and drove to a cove where some people had lived. It looked like a very small private beach, nothing commercial.
"Take the rope with you to shore, with the kayak. Then we can get it back." We approached the shore, Terry watching his depths to get as close as possible without running aground. The keel is 1.6 meters. He got as close as 2 meters at one point.
"Should we swim his things to him?" Alicia and I grabbed his bookbag and oar and swam them to shore, in exchange for the rope he borrowed.
"Thank you so much," he told us gratefully. Let's just hope he doesn't go back on the water to get back where he started.
The whole thing from start to finish took about a half hour.
"I find it interesting that we were looking for a monastery, and helped out someone in need instead!" Alicia said.
Alright. Our ETA was now 5:30 P.M. Let's go!
We had three hours of motoring ahead of us. The water was still very rough in the high winds.
At one point, we raised sails since we were on a beam reach, to add some more speed to the motor.
Our last few hours.
"Might as well do some laundry before we get to the marina," Terry told Alicia and me. Croatia doesn't seem to have dryers, only washers. The wind will help us right now. We each used the kitchen sink and dish detergent to clean out some clothes for the next few days, and used clothespins to hang them on the lifelines to dry.
We turned the last corner and could see the marina. We saw a young man and his lady trying to swim against the current back to their beach. They were making no progress.
"Do you need help?"
They nodded yes. We put the ladder back down and hovered near them so they could climb on board after handing us their flotation device.
"Thank you," they said with a Slavic accent. We drove them further up to an area where people were swimming and dropped them off.
"I'll drop you off further up, so the current will push you to shore," Terry told them, and they were on their way.
"Two rescues in one day!"
Certainly an adventurous way to end a trip. We filled up on gas before pulling up to the marina. We didn't see an open berth.
"Let me jump off and we'll take the berth closest to the edge," I said. Terry neared the pier and I jumped off, barefoot. I looked around for a SailCroatia guy, but didn't see any. I walked back and Terry started motoring down the pier. I ran down the pier to follow him, wherever he ended up.
There was a SailCroatia worker with the last open berth. It looked tight. This was going to be Terry's toughest med mooring. It's a shame I was dockside and not on the boat to help.
Terry reversed back into the open spot, more quickly than I would have anticipated, but in this wind, if you went too slowly, you'd get pushed to the side and have to adjust even more.
Not a perfect moor, but he did it, and nothing was broken. We brought back the boat in one piece!
"We're still getting used to med-mooring," Terry said.
"You did great!" He told us.
We fixed up the lines to secure us in. There was another SailCroatia guy there as well.
"So where did you visit?"
Terry attempted some names, with hesitations in between, so I jumped in to help him out.
"We went to Šolta Island to anchor at Uvala Nečujam, then to Korčula, Lastovo, Stari Grad, Vis Island, the Blue and Green Caves, Šibenik, Kornati, then down to Žirje and Drvenik Veli for the blue lagoon."
"Wow, she even learned all the names!"
I think he was impressed at how easily an anglophone rattled off correct pronunciations of all the islands and towns we went to.
"She told me where to go, and we went there," Terry said with a smile.
"We even saved three people on the water!" Terry started telling them our rescue stories.
"You guys are like Baywatch!"
Haha. That was one of the best comments from our trip, I think.
After settling back in, we went to the Marina center to shower and have a drink. We ate dinner at a local Konoba, where a lot of other people had already scoped out. One last family-style dinner for the three of us, since we'd be leaving the boat in the morning.
As we walked back to the boat, we saw the moon starting to rise over Split. Our last night on the boat.
We spent about an hour or two cleaning up the boat, throwing out trash and unusued food after packing up our things. We wanted her to be in step-off condition before we retired for the night.
"Ya did good, Pipi. Ya did good, kid."
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Day 13: A Boat Breakfast and Wine Pick-Up
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Bacon and eggs and toast and blueberry juice! That's how we started off our morning while anchored!
Pipi was free of her anchor by 9:30 A.M. We passed by the small town of Muna to have a look see before continuing on.
Again, such a peaceful morning, but we wanted to sail so we raised her sails. Too peaceful. The wind speed was down to 3.5 knots so we motored to sea.
As the wind crept up to a steady five knots, it was time to put the sails back up. We were moseying along at barely at a knot, but we were in no rush.
A half hour later as we were pushed further out to sea, the wind picked up to seven knots. 2.6 knots was our actual speed, and we were on a beam reach! Woo hoo!
Good things rarely last, and we lost wind after a while, way out at sea. Sadly, we had to motor all the way back to shore.
"What is that?"
We saw something floating in the water.
"A deflated floatie? A dolphin? No no, a smurf!" I guessed.
We approached the unknown object and discovered it to be an inflatable that, despite being water logged, was still drifting at the sea surface.
"Our good deed for the day- cleaning up the sea!"
"Tuna pašteta, anyone?" I said.
We had a few hours before dinner, and still had some tuna pate to finish before we left the boat.
"Can I get some cat food?" Alicia asked. She was right. The pašteta in the can could easily pass for cat food in the U.S.
We headed toward Uvala Krknjasi on Drvenik Veli for the blue lagoon. This was quite a popular anchorage, that by 7:00 P.M., at least ten boats called this area home for the night.
"Alright, think there's a store to buy wine?" Terry asked.
"Well, there's a restaurant," I told him.
"Okay, we'll buy a bottle from the restaurant!"
We took the dinghy to shore for wine. There was a small passage between two coves where boats were anchored. The depth couldn't have been more than a meter here, but it was quite lovely looking down into the transparent water and seeing what covered the seafloor.
We walked up the restaurant, which had a nice walkway from the small pier leading up to outdoor seating. After about five minutes and feeling like we were bitten by as many bugs, we decided to quickly finish our wine, buy a bottle, and head back to our boat oasis.
There was an adorably large and sweet black dog wandering the premises going from person to person. He finally retired to the floor and put his head by his paws, which were lying off a step as he looked at us with a face you'd see on an ASPCA advertisement. So darn cute. Can we take him home with us?
It certainly is a full moon tonight, shining over the glass-still water, creating a pathway toward our boat. The occasional fish jumping out and what sounds like bats squeaking are the only sounds that dominate the air.
One more full day to go.
Bacon and eggs and toast and blueberry juice! That's how we started off our morning while anchored!
Pipi was free of her anchor by 9:30 A.M. We passed by the small town of Muna to have a look see before continuing on.
Again, such a peaceful morning, but we wanted to sail so we raised her sails. Too peaceful. The wind speed was down to 3.5 knots so we motored to sea.
As the wind crept up to a steady five knots, it was time to put the sails back up. We were moseying along at barely at a knot, but we were in no rush.
A half hour later as we were pushed further out to sea, the wind picked up to seven knots. 2.6 knots was our actual speed, and we were on a beam reach! Woo hoo!
Good things rarely last, and we lost wind after a while, way out at sea. Sadly, we had to motor all the way back to shore.
"What is that?"
We saw something floating in the water.
"A deflated floatie? A dolphin? No no, a smurf!" I guessed.
We approached the unknown object and discovered it to be an inflatable that, despite being water logged, was still drifting at the sea surface.
"Our good deed for the day- cleaning up the sea!"
"Tuna pašteta, anyone?" I said.
We had a few hours before dinner, and still had some tuna pate to finish before we left the boat.
"Can I get some cat food?" Alicia asked. She was right. The pašteta in the can could easily pass for cat food in the U.S.
We headed toward Uvala Krknjasi on Drvenik Veli for the blue lagoon. This was quite a popular anchorage, that by 7:00 P.M., at least ten boats called this area home for the night.
"Alright, think there's a store to buy wine?" Terry asked.
"Well, there's a restaurant," I told him.
"Okay, we'll buy a bottle from the restaurant!"
We took the dinghy to shore for wine. There was a small passage between two coves where boats were anchored. The depth couldn't have been more than a meter here, but it was quite lovely looking down into the transparent water and seeing what covered the seafloor.
We walked up the restaurant, which had a nice walkway from the small pier leading up to outdoor seating. After about five minutes and feeling like we were bitten by as many bugs, we decided to quickly finish our wine, buy a bottle, and head back to our boat oasis.
There was an adorably large and sweet black dog wandering the premises going from person to person. He finally retired to the floor and put his head by his paws, which were lying off a step as he looked at us with a face you'd see on an ASPCA advertisement. So darn cute. Can we take him home with us?
It certainly is a full moon tonight, shining over the glass-still water, creating a pathway toward our boat. The occasional fish jumping out and what sounds like bats squeaking are the only sounds that dominate the air.
One more full day to go.
Day 12: Jammin' in the Kornati Archipelago
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
"Let's make like a bee and buzz off!" I said, jokingly.
There are bees hanging around the boat. Terry hates bees, after some bad experiences when he was younger. He's down below, hatch closed, with a towel swatting them away.
"Okay, let's get out of here."
We started motoring up.
"Ems, clean up the deck, I'll get the salon floor, and give Alicia the helm."
Gah, cleaning the deck. While the boat is moving, now. I guess I'm really getting experience in all areas of a boat. I used a bucket to collect sea water to dump on deck, and a long brush to scrub off grime.
"How does a boat get so dirty so quickly?"
After about fifteen minutes I called it quits and put everything away. We approached a very narrow channel. Alicia slowed down, as the boat in front of us. Not so bad. Then we approached another area that wasnt as clearly marked to tell yoi how shallow the water was. We had to stay near a beacon, and check our depth meter alongside the iPad chart so we wouldn't run a ground. It was some excellent eamwork with Alicia and me. Terry took pictures as we were working together.
Alicia is still at the helm. It's nice having an extra person do some of the work.
We're heading toward Levrnaka. Mountains on both sides of us are jetting up, creating a simple, yet scenic landscape.
We set anchor at Levrnaka. Not even five minutes later, I hear music playing from a commercial travel boat.
"We're jammin. I wanna jam it with you."
A few minutes pass as we get the dinghy ready.
"Every very little thing is gonna be alright." More Bob Marley.
I've felt very low stress on this trip. Very much, whatever happens, happens in regards to each day's plans. So long as we explore new areas. And Croatia has so much to explore that there's certainly no shortage.
We went to land to get ice cream at the Konoba. Four scoops: rosemary, ginger, olive, and truffle-orange. I must admit, I was hesitant to trying some of those flavors, but I was pleasantly surprised.
We saw a fisherman come in on his boat with fresh fish. There was a lobster cage as well, right outside the restaurant. Adriatic lobsters look different from lobsters found in the U.S., in that the Adriatic versions are more striped, more spikey, and didn't have claws.
"Like a bigger version of shrimp." This is in reference to the Spiny Lobster.
We finished our ice cream and looked around. A little girl tried to get onto a yacht, but the gap between the dock and the plank was too far for her little legs. She attempted, but waited for her dad to extend the plank before reaching out and climbing into it.
"Alright, let's go back to the boat."
We saw anther girl try to water ski, but gave up and her older sister tried and was successful.
We should something fun like that.
"I'm going to jump off from the perch!" I declared.
The water felt amazing. Too deep to see anything around me, but very refreshing.
"Okay, I'm going to try a dive." I looked around me, thinking of how I was going to do this. I had to jump up a foot or two to clear the back rest of the perch, while going out enough so I didn't come too close to the boat. I hesitated, then dove overboard.
"Aww, she loses points for the splash," Terry said as he imitated a judge. He took pictures with his iPhone. "You start off good, we see some nice form," he starts as he shows me the pictures. "There's the jump, and oh no, the knees are too bent, but wait they straighten out but the feet aren't close enough together."
"I want to try!" Alicia followed suit, as did Terry. Each of our dives had their own flavor and style.
After our diving practice, we headed back out to sea. As we rounded out a channel, we looked back to see huge cliffs with small caves.
"Our own private cave!"
As we neared the cliffs, something felt eerie. Too many movies were making my thoughts run wild with creating a scene. We were motoring, so Terry had full control of the boat- we didn't have to worry about a wind shadow from the island.
"I want to go for a swim by the cliffs," Alicia told us. We pulled up closer. About three boat lengths from the cliffs and 80 meters deep.
"Alright, count me in." After seeing Terry get some pictures of Alicia, I decided I'd go in as well. After a few minutes I returned to the boat.
There were only four to five knots with gusts to six now. All we did was roll around in the waves as we headed south. The seas appeared to be three feet, at least. After spending some time down below looking up some things and Skyping Alex, I started feeling a bit queasy. That's what rougher waters will do to you when you're below deck and being thrown around by the waves. We had ten knot winds and now we're down to four knots. At least with higher winds you're tearing through the water. Otherwise you're just bouncing up and down on the boat.
We saw what we presumed to be a Navy ship pass us by. I wonder if they're patrolling.
We motored back through Kornati to anchor at Ravni Žakan, but saw how crowded it was so we kept going to Žirje Island.
I thought I escaped Yacht Week, until Terry and Alicia started dancing on the back perch to Iggy Azalea. They were having fun. I decided to just hang out on the bow instead. I was feeling more relaxed.
We arrived at Uvala Mikavica on Žirje, which was more relaxed than our previous stop. Only three other boats were anchored in the same bay.
For dinner, we started emptying the cabinets and made tuna salad sandwiches.
Another nice, cool night to sleep in my cabin. Much better weather than the previous week.
"Let's make like a bee and buzz off!" I said, jokingly.
There are bees hanging around the boat. Terry hates bees, after some bad experiences when he was younger. He's down below, hatch closed, with a towel swatting them away.
"Okay, let's get out of here."
We started motoring up.
"Ems, clean up the deck, I'll get the salon floor, and give Alicia the helm."
Gah, cleaning the deck. While the boat is moving, now. I guess I'm really getting experience in all areas of a boat. I used a bucket to collect sea water to dump on deck, and a long brush to scrub off grime.
"How does a boat get so dirty so quickly?"
After about fifteen minutes I called it quits and put everything away. We approached a very narrow channel. Alicia slowed down, as the boat in front of us. Not so bad. Then we approached another area that wasnt as clearly marked to tell yoi how shallow the water was. We had to stay near a beacon, and check our depth meter alongside the iPad chart so we wouldn't run a ground. It was some excellent eamwork with Alicia and me. Terry took pictures as we were working together.
Alicia is still at the helm. It's nice having an extra person do some of the work.
We're heading toward Levrnaka. Mountains on both sides of us are jetting up, creating a simple, yet scenic landscape.
We set anchor at Levrnaka. Not even five minutes later, I hear music playing from a commercial travel boat.
"We're jammin. I wanna jam it with you."
A few minutes pass as we get the dinghy ready.
"Every very little thing is gonna be alright." More Bob Marley.
I've felt very low stress on this trip. Very much, whatever happens, happens in regards to each day's plans. So long as we explore new areas. And Croatia has so much to explore that there's certainly no shortage.
We went to land to get ice cream at the Konoba. Four scoops: rosemary, ginger, olive, and truffle-orange. I must admit, I was hesitant to trying some of those flavors, but I was pleasantly surprised.
We saw a fisherman come in on his boat with fresh fish. There was a lobster cage as well, right outside the restaurant. Adriatic lobsters look different from lobsters found in the U.S., in that the Adriatic versions are more striped, more spikey, and didn't have claws.
"Like a bigger version of shrimp." This is in reference to the Spiny Lobster.
We finished our ice cream and looked around. A little girl tried to get onto a yacht, but the gap between the dock and the plank was too far for her little legs. She attempted, but waited for her dad to extend the plank before reaching out and climbing into it.
"Alright, let's go back to the boat."
We saw anther girl try to water ski, but gave up and her older sister tried and was successful.
We should something fun like that.
"I'm going to jump off from the perch!" I declared.
The water felt amazing. Too deep to see anything around me, but very refreshing.
"Okay, I'm going to try a dive." I looked around me, thinking of how I was going to do this. I had to jump up a foot or two to clear the back rest of the perch, while going out enough so I didn't come too close to the boat. I hesitated, then dove overboard.
"Aww, she loses points for the splash," Terry said as he imitated a judge. He took pictures with his iPhone. "You start off good, we see some nice form," he starts as he shows me the pictures. "There's the jump, and oh no, the knees are too bent, but wait they straighten out but the feet aren't close enough together."
"I want to try!" Alicia followed suit, as did Terry. Each of our dives had their own flavor and style.
After our diving practice, we headed back out to sea. As we rounded out a channel, we looked back to see huge cliffs with small caves.
"Our own private cave!"
As we neared the cliffs, something felt eerie. Too many movies were making my thoughts run wild with creating a scene. We were motoring, so Terry had full control of the boat- we didn't have to worry about a wind shadow from the island.
"I want to go for a swim by the cliffs," Alicia told us. We pulled up closer. About three boat lengths from the cliffs and 80 meters deep.
"Alright, count me in." After seeing Terry get some pictures of Alicia, I decided I'd go in as well. After a few minutes I returned to the boat.
There were only four to five knots with gusts to six now. All we did was roll around in the waves as we headed south. The seas appeared to be three feet, at least. After spending some time down below looking up some things and Skyping Alex, I started feeling a bit queasy. That's what rougher waters will do to you when you're below deck and being thrown around by the waves. We had ten knot winds and now we're down to four knots. At least with higher winds you're tearing through the water. Otherwise you're just bouncing up and down on the boat.
We saw what we presumed to be a Navy ship pass us by. I wonder if they're patrolling.
We motored back through Kornati to anchor at Ravni Žakan, but saw how crowded it was so we kept going to Žirje Island.
I thought I escaped Yacht Week, until Terry and Alicia started dancing on the back perch to Iggy Azalea. They were having fun. I decided to just hang out on the bow instead. I was feeling more relaxed.
We arrived at Uvala Mikavica on Žirje, which was more relaxed than our previous stop. Only three other boats were anchored in the same bay.
For dinner, we started emptying the cabinets and made tuna salad sandwiches.
Another nice, cool night to sleep in my cabin. Much better weather than the previous week.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Day 11: The Aroma of Pastries and the Sounds of Sheep
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Ding-dong…Ding-dong...Ding-dong.
I looked at the time on my phone. 6:00 A.M. Why must every town's church bells begin ringing so early? And why won't it stop? A whole minute!
Yes, yes. I am awake. Thank you.
I slept talked last night. I woke up feeling claustrophobic in my cabin bed, as if I was trapped in the dark areas of the fortress in Šibenik. Terry told me I was yelling "Help!" so he came over and said everything was fine. That's when I realized I was awake on the boat, and not trapped in a fortress.
This silly mind of mine. But another reason why I spent most of my nights sleeping on the cockpit bench rather than in my cabin.
"That looks like a great place to run," Alicia told us about the trail nearby. She had been waiting for the opportunity for a good location and cooler weather. This was her moment!
Terry dropped her off via dinghy and came back to pick me up once I was ready to go.
We started motoring toward town then saw Alicia, waving to us, so we motored to that side instead.
Then the motor died.
"There's no more gas, is there?" I guessed.
Terry looked into the motor. "Nope. Time for the oars!"
Fortunately we were pretty close to the pier where Alicia was waiting, so it only took a couple minutes of rowing.
All three of us walked to the market to stock up on food for the rest of the week.
"How about we stop somewhere for coffee?" Terry suggested.
An aroma of freshly baked pastries wafted by me.
"What is that intoxicating smell?" I looked back. A small bakery! We walked in and bought some pastries, and then came back after the supermarket to buy two loaves of bread.
On our walk from the Konzum, we even saw a man selling whole fishes I assume he caught that morning. Nothing too big, but fresh fish by the gram.
After our grocery run, Alicia and I walked with our bags to the closest area of land to the boat, and Terry rowed his way back. He filled up the dinghy motor with gas and picked us up.
We were ready to begin the next leg of our journey, but we still needed to fill up the tanks with water. We motored to the pier where boats were moored, and looked around for someone who worked the pier.
Couldn't find anyone.
"Drop me off at the ferry dock and I'll go look for someone," I told Terry.
"Alright."
We had our fenders ready, so Terry approached the dock and I jumped off the boat. I searched for a harbor master but couldn't find anyone.
Wait, why do I need someone? I can easily be that guy. I walked back to where Terry was idling in the water, waiting for me.
"Come around to an open berth. I'll pick up the mooring line and hand it to you," I yelled to Terry.
Pipi came around, I picked up the mooring line and handed it to Terry and Alicia, and they gave me a stern line to hook into a ring on the pier. A few minutes of maneuvering lines and we were berthed.
Still no one who worked there.
"Alright, let's fill up with water!"
Turns out we were really low on water, so filling up here was a great idea. This should last us until we return to Marina Kaštela.
We then began heading toward Kornati. I raised the sails by myself and was now single manning the boat. I've gained more confidence in my sailing ability on this trip. I only need more practice with maneuvering under motor in reverse. Terry is much much better than me at handling the boat under power.
We ate lunch at sea again, having salami, cheese and bread or crackers with cherry juice from Zadar.
Terry is sleeping. Alicia on deck by the bow. I'm sailing Pipi. I could have my own boat if she had autopilot and the lines were where they are here on this boat. If I had the money...
After a couple hours, I left my shift and rested my eyes. A catamaran sailboat came close to us on the open sea water. Did they not see us? No one was on deck.
Someone came up and finally noticed how close we were. They were clearly surprised. We waved to them, and they waved back
"No, you can't have our boat!" I yelled out with a smile. "Are you enjoying yourselves?"
We yelled a very short conversation. Turns out they're french. We let them continue to overtake us before we decided to tack.
"Everybody ready?"
"No!" Terry yelled. "They're dragging a fishing line. Let them go further before we tack."
We closed up shop soon after to motor four hours to Zut. Islands started to pepper the landscape. I get why Yacht Week boats don't come up this way. Very fee villages. No party venues. Too much distance between towns. This bodes well for us. It'll be more peaceful!
Terry went to the bow to fix the bow's red light, which later ended up falling off. Then we saw that the steaming light doesn't work. Clearly this boat doesn't move at night.
We pull in closer to Zut. The water is like glass, with a gorgeous sunset behind the islands. Timed it with just enough light to anchor.
Alicia made a chicken dinner with rice and green beans, accompanied with white wine. We set up everything for dinner on the cockpit table.
"Bahhhh....bahh..." There are sheep on the hillside, running along the elevation.
"Is that a ukulele?" A guy was playing ukelele off his boat. So nice. So relaxing. Then he retired after a few songs.
Terry is asleep. Alicia is in the salon reading. I'm writing this in the cockpit. A glass of white wine next to me. A glass left in the bottle. My father and grandfather taught not to waste food. Same applies to wine, right? I'm in the Kornati archipelago. Boats anchored around me with the hum of voices socializing with each other. There's a starry sky with the moon shining brighter every day. This is the good life.
Ding-dong…Ding-dong...Ding-dong.
I looked at the time on my phone. 6:00 A.M. Why must every town's church bells begin ringing so early? And why won't it stop? A whole minute!
Yes, yes. I am awake. Thank you.
I slept talked last night. I woke up feeling claustrophobic in my cabin bed, as if I was trapped in the dark areas of the fortress in Šibenik. Terry told me I was yelling "Help!" so he came over and said everything was fine. That's when I realized I was awake on the boat, and not trapped in a fortress.
This silly mind of mine. But another reason why I spent most of my nights sleeping on the cockpit bench rather than in my cabin.
"That looks like a great place to run," Alicia told us about the trail nearby. She had been waiting for the opportunity for a good location and cooler weather. This was her moment!
Terry dropped her off via dinghy and came back to pick me up once I was ready to go.
We started motoring toward town then saw Alicia, waving to us, so we motored to that side instead.
Then the motor died.
"There's no more gas, is there?" I guessed.
Terry looked into the motor. "Nope. Time for the oars!"
Fortunately we were pretty close to the pier where Alicia was waiting, so it only took a couple minutes of rowing.
All three of us walked to the market to stock up on food for the rest of the week.
"How about we stop somewhere for coffee?" Terry suggested.
An aroma of freshly baked pastries wafted by me.
"What is that intoxicating smell?" I looked back. A small bakery! We walked in and bought some pastries, and then came back after the supermarket to buy two loaves of bread.
On our walk from the Konzum, we even saw a man selling whole fishes I assume he caught that morning. Nothing too big, but fresh fish by the gram.
After our grocery run, Alicia and I walked with our bags to the closest area of land to the boat, and Terry rowed his way back. He filled up the dinghy motor with gas and picked us up.
We were ready to begin the next leg of our journey, but we still needed to fill up the tanks with water. We motored to the pier where boats were moored, and looked around for someone who worked the pier.
Couldn't find anyone.
"Drop me off at the ferry dock and I'll go look for someone," I told Terry.
"Alright."
We had our fenders ready, so Terry approached the dock and I jumped off the boat. I searched for a harbor master but couldn't find anyone.
Wait, why do I need someone? I can easily be that guy. I walked back to where Terry was idling in the water, waiting for me.
"Come around to an open berth. I'll pick up the mooring line and hand it to you," I yelled to Terry.
Pipi came around, I picked up the mooring line and handed it to Terry and Alicia, and they gave me a stern line to hook into a ring on the pier. A few minutes of maneuvering lines and we were berthed.
Still no one who worked there.
"Alright, let's fill up with water!"
Turns out we were really low on water, so filling up here was a great idea. This should last us until we return to Marina Kaštela.
We then began heading toward Kornati. I raised the sails by myself and was now single manning the boat. I've gained more confidence in my sailing ability on this trip. I only need more practice with maneuvering under motor in reverse. Terry is much much better than me at handling the boat under power.
We ate lunch at sea again, having salami, cheese and bread or crackers with cherry juice from Zadar.
Terry is sleeping. Alicia on deck by the bow. I'm sailing Pipi. I could have my own boat if she had autopilot and the lines were where they are here on this boat. If I had the money...
After a couple hours, I left my shift and rested my eyes. A catamaran sailboat came close to us on the open sea water. Did they not see us? No one was on deck.
Someone came up and finally noticed how close we were. They were clearly surprised. We waved to them, and they waved back
"No, you can't have our boat!" I yelled out with a smile. "Are you enjoying yourselves?"
We yelled a very short conversation. Turns out they're french. We let them continue to overtake us before we decided to tack.
"Everybody ready?"
"No!" Terry yelled. "They're dragging a fishing line. Let them go further before we tack."
We closed up shop soon after to motor four hours to Zut. Islands started to pepper the landscape. I get why Yacht Week boats don't come up this way. Very fee villages. No party venues. Too much distance between towns. This bodes well for us. It'll be more peaceful!
Terry went to the bow to fix the bow's red light, which later ended up falling off. Then we saw that the steaming light doesn't work. Clearly this boat doesn't move at night.
We pull in closer to Zut. The water is like glass, with a gorgeous sunset behind the islands. Timed it with just enough light to anchor.
Alicia made a chicken dinner with rice and green beans, accompanied with white wine. We set up everything for dinner on the cockpit table.
"Bahhhh....bahh..." There are sheep on the hillside, running along the elevation.
"Is that a ukulele?" A guy was playing ukelele off his boat. So nice. So relaxing. Then he retired after a few songs.
Terry is asleep. Alicia is in the salon reading. I'm writing this in the cockpit. A glass of white wine next to me. A glass left in the bottle. My father and grandfather taught not to waste food. Same applies to wine, right? I'm in the Kornati archipelago. Boats anchored around me with the hum of voices socializing with each other. There's a starry sky with the moon shining brighter every day. This is the good life.
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Day 10: Finding Fortresses
Monday, July 27, 2015
We saw the sun set on the sea, and now it's back to rise again! Terry has been sleeping since his shift, and Alicia just went to her cabin since I've taken over to motor us to Zlarin, where we will anchor for the night.
When we approached Zlarin, we had to maneuver narrow channels, which was never the case around the islands we visited. We arrived to the small town about 10:30 A.M., ready to anchor.
"Do they have water?" Terry asked as we approached. We last filled up at Vela Luka on Friday, but since we'd be away from any marina the next few days as we sailed around Kornati, we wanted to replenish our supply.
"Yeah, water and electricity, but they don't have fuel. We need to go to Šibenik, first. Why don't we just stay at the marina there tonight instead, and we can check out the town? Then just come back to Zlarin in the morning."
We continued to motor. After seeing a fortress stand out on its own on the water, we dropped anchor and took the dinghy to shore to explore.
St. Nicholas fortress. It was abandoned by the military in 1979, so nature has taken over a bit where sun shined down.
A long staircase. The dungeon. Trap doors now covered with wood so people don't fall down them. A broken ladder between two floors. Lookout posts where cannons used to call home. Rooms with no sunlight, only dust and dirt covering an area that could only be seen by the light from a cell phone.
As I walked through, I kept trying to piece together what it once looked like, envisioning the old scene centuries ago.
It wasn't crowded at all. A few sailboats passed by and followed our idea, and some people walked the narrow path from another area to cross into the fortress territory.
After an hour or so, I was ready for Šibenik and some sightseeing in the old town. Terry and Alicia were feeling a bit more relaxed. Terry wanted to sail, Alicia wanted to sleep after the overnight sail.
"We're so close! How can we not? When in Croatia, guys!" I thought to myself. I googled reasons to convince them why we should go to Šibenik now rather than stay anchored by this fortress and head back to Zlarin.
A catamaran sailboat tried to anchor really close to us. Terry said that we were holding out ground, so we didn't need to worry. I got up an sat outside just to watch in case our neighbor came too close. He must've realized his anchorage was a bad spot because he eventually left. I looked down at the controls and saw that our depths were increasing.
"Terry, we're definitely moving."
Yes, a reason to continue the journey! We soon pulled up anchor, prepped for med mooring with fenders and lines and left the fortress bay.
We motored down the channel.
"Welcome to Šibenik!" Was written on a sign right off the water. Who are they trying to be here?
Following our route on the iPad, we saw the main marina.
"This is way too industrialized."
"The marina is so far from the old town."
Terry and Alicia weren't happy with staying here for the night, which I could understand. We needed fuel at least, before we decided our next step.
I had to drive us in to tie up to the fuel dock, and Alicia filled up. Terry wanted us to get more hands on practice with running a boat so he offered that we complete various tasks.
Okay, if the marina wasn't going to pass, I needed to fimd an alternative.
"Supposedly, there are mooring berths in the town. Let's look!"
We found a section where boats were med moored, then radioed in and saw a guy to hand us the mooring line.
"Overnight?" The man asked.
"No, just a few hours."
"Either you stay two hours or you pay to stay overnight. There's nothing in between."
"Okay. Ems, go check out the fortress, we'll go to a cafe. Meet us back at the boat by 4."
Two hours to sightsee Šibenik. Ready? Break!
I started walking up in the general direction of a fortress I saw from the water, and took out some cash. No maps, just keep going up in the general direction of the fortress. After all, nothing is higher than that in this area, so it shouldn't be too difficult. A woman on a mission will find her way, and sure enough, I found it!
St Michael's fortress provided an amazing lookout over the city. It had to have been renovated a bit, by examining various parts performance at the top. This is nothing like skyline views of building after building. This is nothing like New York City, and it's absolutely wonderful.
I continued to wander the streets of Šibenik. Space opened up from the narrow streets to a gathering space to present a cathedral. St. James, opened in 1536.
"Jedan," I said to a man at the entrance selling entrance tickets. He gave me a weird look.
"Jedna?" He answered back.
Oops. I didnt realize I had to use the female conjugation of one for a ticket.
"Language?"
"Engleski."
"You know some Croatian?"
"Vrlo loše," I replied disparingly. He smiled.
After spending some time alone in my thoughts, I continued on. I stumbled upon a water fountain that was fenced off around the edges.
Bizarre.
I looked more closely. Turtles! Just basking in the sun. There was even a sign that warned an alarm would go off if you entered the fountain. A turtle sanctuary!
I bought some ice cream and made my way back. 3:35 P.M. No sign of Terry and Alicia at the boat.
I kept walking to get some water and walked back slowly again. They were just walking the plank onto the boat.
Perfect timing!
"How was the cafe," I asked.
"We didn't go. We bought food for dinner instead," Alicia told me. "And bought some ice cream."
Great minds think alike.
The wind was maintaining a speed of ten knots.
"Let's sail here around in the bay," Terry proposed. Since there were days without much wind in the open sea, we figured we'd take whatever wind we could get.
After an hour, it was time to start heading back up the channel toward Zlarin. The channel was mostly in the direction of the wind.
"We should probably motor," I said suggesting we take down the sails.
"Oh come on, you're not up for the challenge?" Terry challenged me. Well, a dare is a dare. Can't back down now.
I was at the helm, and Alicia and Terry were each at a wench ready to work the jib sheet on their sides when we needed to tack.
This was an exercise in tacking for all three of us, and it was exhilarating! We could only stay on a tack for a few minutes before we reached a depth that required us to tack back.
After about ten minutes of fun, a cruise ship started to enter the channel, ending our tacking practice. It was fun while it lasted.
As the ship approached, we veered off the channel to stay out of its way. I was surprised by the amount of wake it peoduced as it drove by us.
We reached Zlarin and used a mooring ball to secure the boat in place and went into town. Amir told me that Zlarin was known for having authentic coral jewelry. We found a shop to look around. The polished coral was beautiful.
"Buying coral is like buying ivory," Terry said to me. "It just doesn't feel right." Suddenly my desire to buy the jewelry disappeared. He had a point.
We began looking for a restaurant for dinner. As we wandered down a narrow residential street, we passed by a group of four men and women enjoying dinner at a table right off the street. We weren't sure if they were eating at a restaurant or if they were eating at their own home. We did notice a sign very close to them with a short menu list. It looked like someone's back patio.
"I doubt they take credit cards. How much cash do we have?"
"450 kuna."
We had a budget for dinner. Probably just stick to entrées and that's it. We walked up to table where four people were sitting.
"Are you open for dinner?"
They stopped talking and looked at us.
"If you walk over there, you should see a waiter who can seat you."
Uh oh. They must have thought we were idiots for thinking this was their home. We began conversing with then.
"Where are you from?" We asked them.
"Germany. Are you British?"
"No, we're from New York City."
It turned out that they were on holiday sailing in Croatia as we were. Only, they were on their forth week of sailing. Talk about a life.
We found the waitress and sat down. We ordered some white wine, a side of anchovies, branzino with potatoes, and palačinke, all within our budget.
It turned out to be a pretty cool evening. A nice change of pace after these hot nights.
We saw the sun set on the sea, and now it's back to rise again! Terry has been sleeping since his shift, and Alicia just went to her cabin since I've taken over to motor us to Zlarin, where we will anchor for the night.
When we approached Zlarin, we had to maneuver narrow channels, which was never the case around the islands we visited. We arrived to the small town about 10:30 A.M., ready to anchor.
"Do they have water?" Terry asked as we approached. We last filled up at Vela Luka on Friday, but since we'd be away from any marina the next few days as we sailed around Kornati, we wanted to replenish our supply.
"Yeah, water and electricity, but they don't have fuel. We need to go to Šibenik, first. Why don't we just stay at the marina there tonight instead, and we can check out the town? Then just come back to Zlarin in the morning."
We continued to motor. After seeing a fortress stand out on its own on the water, we dropped anchor and took the dinghy to shore to explore.
St. Nicholas fortress. It was abandoned by the military in 1979, so nature has taken over a bit where sun shined down.
A long staircase. The dungeon. Trap doors now covered with wood so people don't fall down them. A broken ladder between two floors. Lookout posts where cannons used to call home. Rooms with no sunlight, only dust and dirt covering an area that could only be seen by the light from a cell phone.
As I walked through, I kept trying to piece together what it once looked like, envisioning the old scene centuries ago.
It wasn't crowded at all. A few sailboats passed by and followed our idea, and some people walked the narrow path from another area to cross into the fortress territory.
After an hour or so, I was ready for Šibenik and some sightseeing in the old town. Terry and Alicia were feeling a bit more relaxed. Terry wanted to sail, Alicia wanted to sleep after the overnight sail.
"We're so close! How can we not? When in Croatia, guys!" I thought to myself. I googled reasons to convince them why we should go to Šibenik now rather than stay anchored by this fortress and head back to Zlarin.
A catamaran sailboat tried to anchor really close to us. Terry said that we were holding out ground, so we didn't need to worry. I got up an sat outside just to watch in case our neighbor came too close. He must've realized his anchorage was a bad spot because he eventually left. I looked down at the controls and saw that our depths were increasing.
"Terry, we're definitely moving."
Yes, a reason to continue the journey! We soon pulled up anchor, prepped for med mooring with fenders and lines and left the fortress bay.
We motored down the channel.
"Welcome to Šibenik!" Was written on a sign right off the water. Who are they trying to be here?
Following our route on the iPad, we saw the main marina.
"This is way too industrialized."
"The marina is so far from the old town."
Terry and Alicia weren't happy with staying here for the night, which I could understand. We needed fuel at least, before we decided our next step.
I had to drive us in to tie up to the fuel dock, and Alicia filled up. Terry wanted us to get more hands on practice with running a boat so he offered that we complete various tasks.
Okay, if the marina wasn't going to pass, I needed to fimd an alternative.
"Supposedly, there are mooring berths in the town. Let's look!"
We found a section where boats were med moored, then radioed in and saw a guy to hand us the mooring line.
"Overnight?" The man asked.
"No, just a few hours."
"Either you stay two hours or you pay to stay overnight. There's nothing in between."
"Okay. Ems, go check out the fortress, we'll go to a cafe. Meet us back at the boat by 4."
Two hours to sightsee Šibenik. Ready? Break!
I started walking up in the general direction of a fortress I saw from the water, and took out some cash. No maps, just keep going up in the general direction of the fortress. After all, nothing is higher than that in this area, so it shouldn't be too difficult. A woman on a mission will find her way, and sure enough, I found it!
St Michael's fortress provided an amazing lookout over the city. It had to have been renovated a bit, by examining various parts performance at the top. This is nothing like skyline views of building after building. This is nothing like New York City, and it's absolutely wonderful.
I continued to wander the streets of Šibenik. Space opened up from the narrow streets to a gathering space to present a cathedral. St. James, opened in 1536.
"Jedan," I said to a man at the entrance selling entrance tickets. He gave me a weird look.
"Jedna?" He answered back.
Oops. I didnt realize I had to use the female conjugation of one for a ticket.
"Language?"
"Engleski."
"You know some Croatian?"
"Vrlo loše," I replied disparingly. He smiled.
After spending some time alone in my thoughts, I continued on. I stumbled upon a water fountain that was fenced off around the edges.
Bizarre.
I looked more closely. Turtles! Just basking in the sun. There was even a sign that warned an alarm would go off if you entered the fountain. A turtle sanctuary!
I bought some ice cream and made my way back. 3:35 P.M. No sign of Terry and Alicia at the boat.
I kept walking to get some water and walked back slowly again. They were just walking the plank onto the boat.
Perfect timing!
"How was the cafe," I asked.
"We didn't go. We bought food for dinner instead," Alicia told me. "And bought some ice cream."
Great minds think alike.
The wind was maintaining a speed of ten knots.
"Let's sail here around in the bay," Terry proposed. Since there were days without much wind in the open sea, we figured we'd take whatever wind we could get.
After an hour, it was time to start heading back up the channel toward Zlarin. The channel was mostly in the direction of the wind.
"We should probably motor," I said suggesting we take down the sails.
"Oh come on, you're not up for the challenge?" Terry challenged me. Well, a dare is a dare. Can't back down now.
I was at the helm, and Alicia and Terry were each at a wench ready to work the jib sheet on their sides when we needed to tack.
This was an exercise in tacking for all three of us, and it was exhilarating! We could only stay on a tack for a few minutes before we reached a depth that required us to tack back.
After about ten minutes of fun, a cruise ship started to enter the channel, ending our tacking practice. It was fun while it lasted.
As the ship approached, we veered off the channel to stay out of its way. I was surprised by the amount of wake it peoduced as it drove by us.
We reached Zlarin and used a mooring ball to secure the boat in place and went into town. Amir told me that Zlarin was known for having authentic coral jewelry. We found a shop to look around. The polished coral was beautiful.
"Buying coral is like buying ivory," Terry said to me. "It just doesn't feel right." Suddenly my desire to buy the jewelry disappeared. He had a point.
We began looking for a restaurant for dinner. As we wandered down a narrow residential street, we passed by a group of four men and women enjoying dinner at a table right off the street. We weren't sure if they were eating at a restaurant or if they were eating at their own home. We did notice a sign very close to them with a short menu list. It looked like someone's back patio.
"I doubt they take credit cards. How much cash do we have?"
"450 kuna."
We had a budget for dinner. Probably just stick to entrées and that's it. We walked up to table where four people were sitting.
"Are you open for dinner?"
They stopped talking and looked at us.
"If you walk over there, you should see a waiter who can seat you."
Uh oh. They must have thought we were idiots for thinking this was their home. We began conversing with then.
"Where are you from?" We asked them.
"Germany. Are you British?"
"No, we're from New York City."
It turned out that they were on holiday sailing in Croatia as we were. Only, they were on their forth week of sailing. Talk about a life.
We found the waitress and sat down. We ordered some white wine, a side of anchovies, branzino with potatoes, and palačinke, all within our budget.
It turned out to be a pretty cool evening. A nice change of pace after these hot nights.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Day 9: Sailing From Stari Grad Toward Šibenik
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Is the anchor holding? I thought to myself. The boat felt like it was swaying too much. Oh wait, we're moored. Every night we were anchored I woke up afraid the anchor might have slipped. This was a running fear of mine, even though we've been fine so far.
2:00 A.M. I looked outside. It was drizzling. Time to start closing hatches. It was too hot in my cabin with everything closed, so I slept above deck in the cockpit using two towels as blankets and a life jacket as a pillow, if it continued to lightly rain. A couple minutes later, the rain stopped, so I opened up the hatches again and went back to sleep. Some time later the rain resumed, except this time it began falling harder. Terry must have heard the rain as well, since he came on deck to help me close hatches again. This was the first time it rained on us since the trip began.
A few more hours of sleep and everyone was up with the sunrise. We started to drive into the port of Stari Grad just to check it out.
"The dinghy is filled with water," Terry told me as he looked behind the sailboat. Apparently the plug came off the dinghy, allowing water to fill into it.
"Loop around, let's see if we can find the plug."
It didn't help.
"Why don't we just take off the motor, since we can't find the plug," I suggested. The motor only added more weight as it dragged behind the boat.
"Found it!" Terry exclaimed. "Good idea to take off the motor. I wouldn't have been able to see where the plug was attached if I didn't move it."
Problem averted. We continued toward Stari Grad, which literally translates to "Old City." Quite a cute town. It was clearly built up with med mooring berths, but still had an old world feel to it.
As mentioned in a previous post, almoat all the berths we saw in Croatia were for med mooring. I have to say, this style makes an area look much prettier and well-maintained, in addition to being able to squeeze in more boats. More difficult to berth? Yes. But whether the pier is empty or not, the area is still more attractive than loaded up with pilings and docks, as you often see in the U.S. After a quick look around and some snaps of the camera, we continued our journey.
"Eight knots of wind in the bay!" It jumped up to thirteen knots in the sea. Being able to sail a close-hauled position with the boat moving at four knots yields some decent heeling.
Lunch is simple, consisting of bread, sausage, Gouda cheese and peaches. Keeps well on the boat and easy to prepare.
The plan for today is to sail overnight to Zlarin, near Šibenik. Since we have a fair distance to cover and an open sea to sail for most of it, this marks the best route for an overnighter. You don't want to worry about depths and islands when you're far enough out at sea.
We tacked back and forth a few times. I could see and count about seventy sailboats on the water. Between the influx of kids on boats from Yacht Week and the prime time for vacation, sailboats dotted the horizon all around.
I decided to rest my eyes in the shade provided by the bimini.
"That boat is getting really close," I heard in my half-slumber. I looked up. We were on a collision course with another sailboat.
"We're both on starboard tacks, but we are leeward, and they are windward," Terry told Alicia, who was at the helm.
When two sailboats approach each other, the boat who is sailing with the wind hitting the starboard, or right side of the boat, has right of way, and maintains course. It's on a starboard tack. When both boats are on the same tack, the boat further away from the direction of the wind has right of way, and maintains course.
We heard a whistle. An older man yelled to us, trying to convey that they weren't going to move, and that we should.
"Maintain your course," Terry told Alicia. We closed in about a boatlength from the other boat.
"Leeward! We're leeward! You have to move!"
It didn't help. Alicia tacked to avoid a collision. The unfortunate thing about the boating community is that it's pretty easy to get a boat, if you have the money. Chartering a boat is more difficult because someone is lending you their property, so they want proof of your ability. But even still, people can be either careless or ignorant of rules on the water and still be in possession of the helm.
After getting back into relaxation mode on the boat, Alicia and I made dinner. I stir fried potatoes, garlic, and onions, and Alicia prepared a tuna salad. We also added some tuna pate with toasted bread to the mix.
Sailing towards the sunset during dinner only added to the experience of eating a prepared dinner on board.
"All ships, all ships, all ships. Split radio, Split radio, Split radio. Gale warning..." was broadcast on the VHF radio.
We closed the hatches and cleaned up before any winds picked up. They reached eleven knots from eight knots during dinner. Terry took the midnight shift at the helm. I slept on the cockpit bench, with my lifejacket clipped onto the lifeline, and Alicia rested in her cabin, until the 3:00 A.M. shift. I always like sleeping in the cockpit. Fresh air and much cooler than down below. Plus, if Terry or Alicia needed help in a hurry, I was there.
By 3:00 A.M. the wind went back down to five knots and left nothing but a trace an hour or so later.
Time to motor.
At 6:00 A.M., I took over and the other two slept. The night turned out to be pretty easy. Another safe journey.
Is the anchor holding? I thought to myself. The boat felt like it was swaying too much. Oh wait, we're moored. Every night we were anchored I woke up afraid the anchor might have slipped. This was a running fear of mine, even though we've been fine so far.
2:00 A.M. I looked outside. It was drizzling. Time to start closing hatches. It was too hot in my cabin with everything closed, so I slept above deck in the cockpit using two towels as blankets and a life jacket as a pillow, if it continued to lightly rain. A couple minutes later, the rain stopped, so I opened up the hatches again and went back to sleep. Some time later the rain resumed, except this time it began falling harder. Terry must have heard the rain as well, since he came on deck to help me close hatches again. This was the first time it rained on us since the trip began.
A few more hours of sleep and everyone was up with the sunrise. We started to drive into the port of Stari Grad just to check it out.
"The dinghy is filled with water," Terry told me as he looked behind the sailboat. Apparently the plug came off the dinghy, allowing water to fill into it.
"Loop around, let's see if we can find the plug."
It didn't help.
"Why don't we just take off the motor, since we can't find the plug," I suggested. The motor only added more weight as it dragged behind the boat.
"Found it!" Terry exclaimed. "Good idea to take off the motor. I wouldn't have been able to see where the plug was attached if I didn't move it."
Problem averted. We continued toward Stari Grad, which literally translates to "Old City." Quite a cute town. It was clearly built up with med mooring berths, but still had an old world feel to it.
As mentioned in a previous post, almoat all the berths we saw in Croatia were for med mooring. I have to say, this style makes an area look much prettier and well-maintained, in addition to being able to squeeze in more boats. More difficult to berth? Yes. But whether the pier is empty or not, the area is still more attractive than loaded up with pilings and docks, as you often see in the U.S. After a quick look around and some snaps of the camera, we continued our journey.
"Eight knots of wind in the bay!" It jumped up to thirteen knots in the sea. Being able to sail a close-hauled position with the boat moving at four knots yields some decent heeling.
Lunch is simple, consisting of bread, sausage, Gouda cheese and peaches. Keeps well on the boat and easy to prepare.
The plan for today is to sail overnight to Zlarin, near Šibenik. Since we have a fair distance to cover and an open sea to sail for most of it, this marks the best route for an overnighter. You don't want to worry about depths and islands when you're far enough out at sea.
We tacked back and forth a few times. I could see and count about seventy sailboats on the water. Between the influx of kids on boats from Yacht Week and the prime time for vacation, sailboats dotted the horizon all around.
I decided to rest my eyes in the shade provided by the bimini.
"That boat is getting really close," I heard in my half-slumber. I looked up. We were on a collision course with another sailboat.
"We're both on starboard tacks, but we are leeward, and they are windward," Terry told Alicia, who was at the helm.
When two sailboats approach each other, the boat who is sailing with the wind hitting the starboard, or right side of the boat, has right of way, and maintains course. It's on a starboard tack. When both boats are on the same tack, the boat further away from the direction of the wind has right of way, and maintains course.
We heard a whistle. An older man yelled to us, trying to convey that they weren't going to move, and that we should.
"Maintain your course," Terry told Alicia. We closed in about a boatlength from the other boat.
"Leeward! We're leeward! You have to move!"
It didn't help. Alicia tacked to avoid a collision. The unfortunate thing about the boating community is that it's pretty easy to get a boat, if you have the money. Chartering a boat is more difficult because someone is lending you their property, so they want proof of your ability. But even still, people can be either careless or ignorant of rules on the water and still be in possession of the helm.
After getting back into relaxation mode on the boat, Alicia and I made dinner. I stir fried potatoes, garlic, and onions, and Alicia prepared a tuna salad. We also added some tuna pate with toasted bread to the mix.
Sailing towards the sunset during dinner only added to the experience of eating a prepared dinner on board.
"All ships, all ships, all ships. Split radio, Split radio, Split radio. Gale warning..." was broadcast on the VHF radio.
We closed the hatches and cleaned up before any winds picked up. They reached eleven knots from eight knots during dinner. Terry took the midnight shift at the helm. I slept on the cockpit bench, with my lifejacket clipped onto the lifeline, and Alicia rested in her cabin, until the 3:00 A.M. shift. I always like sleeping in the cockpit. Fresh air and much cooler than down below. Plus, if Terry or Alicia needed help in a hurry, I was there.
By 3:00 A.M. the wind went back down to five knots and left nothing but a trace an hour or so later.
Time to motor.
At 6:00 A.M., I took over and the other two slept. The night turned out to be pretty easy. Another safe journey.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Day 8: Caves, Cooking, and Cleaning Off the Stern
Saturday, July 25, 2015
"Ems, I'm going to start motoring to Biševo. You can keep sleeping."
"Ems, I'm going to start motoring to Biševo. You can keep sleeping."
I looked at my phone. 5:45 A.M. The sun was starting to rise and since we wanted to leave by 7:00 A.M., this was a good head start.
I snapped some morning pictures before we set off. As we drove out, the sea was, again, like glass. Seems to be the common theme.
Sailing around the islands is amazing when you see how the trees cover these rocky islands. They cover the landscape to create what looks like a granite- a little bit of rock mixed with dirt mixed with plantlife. And how steep the mountains dive into the sea is unlike anything I've seen.
I came up from the cabin after putting my contacts in. I looked at our course, thinking we should go more starboard.
A second later, "Ems, go starboard ten degrees, I'm too lazy to get up and push the button".
That's when you know it's bad. When you're in autopilot and are too lazy to get up four feet from the perch. I was happy to oblige, though. I could sympathize with the feeling.
We arrived to Biševo by about 8:00 A.M., Soon after mooring, a man in a small boat drove toward us.
"It's 50 kuna per person to see the blue cave, or you can't moor here and have to leave."
I read reviews where the best time to view the cave was from 10-1 P.M.
"Should we wait?" I asked Terry.
"I don't know."
"It doesn't look that much different in a few hours," the man in the boat told us.
So we climbed onto his boat and sat down. The man picked up a couple from another sailboat, and then drove to the entrance of the cave. We must have been the first tourists of the day.
We had to duck under to get into the cave as the boat slowly moved in. It now makes sense why you have to use their boats, as opposed to your own dinghy. Plus, with the edges of the cave being so sharp, a dinghy might get torn apart. Once we were in, he turned the motor off and pushed the boat along a loop in the cave. The cave had a bright blue glow, as the sunlight reflected off the sandy bottom.
"There's no swimming or diving allowed between seven and three," he told us. "Once, a guy dropped his sunglasses and jumped in the water to get them. He barely scratched his head but came out with a long cut on his head," as our chauffeur pointed to his own head.
The blue cave was quite a sight. Water shines down into one area, outside the cave, which illuminates the cave underneath and behind that area, which is completely enclosed, save the entrance.
After the blue cave, we motored onto Komiža to anchor for a swim. The three of us swam out a quarter mile to the shore. The number of fish I saw was greater than other places. Even cooler was that we had our own tiny section of a beach to ourselves.
The last stop on Vis was the green cave. Since it would take just over an hour to motor there, I cooked my chicken pasta dish for lunch. I was supposed to make it five days ago but we kept eating Croatian dinners so my cooking was unnecessary.
Soon enough, we made it to the island of Ravnik, where the green cave was located. We anchored and drove a dinghy over. The crazy thing about this cave is that there were motor boats driving into the cave. This is incredibly dangerous because you had several people swimming in that area. Having a moving propellor is bad news for any person who gets close enough. Not to mention the fumes being trapped by the motors. So unfortunate, but the green cave was still a fun excursion. There was a hole at the top of the cave that allowed sunlight to pass into the cave to create a spotlight. Quite the nifty little thing to see.
Soon enough, we made it to the island of Ravnik, where the green cave was located. We anchored and drove a dinghy over. The crazy thing about this cave is that there were motor boats driving into the cave. This is incredibly dangerous because you had several people swimming in that area. Having a moving propellor is bad news for any person who gets close enough. Not to mention the fumes being trapped by the motors. So unfortunate, but the green cave was still a fun excursion. There was a hole at the top of the cave that allowed sunlight to pass into the cave to create a spotlight. Quite the nifty little thing to see.
Cumulonimbus clouds began building up.
"You see that?" I asked.
"Yeah."
Terry went to the salon to check on radar. He came back up a half hour later.
"It's going away from us."
"Of course it is," I told him with a smile.
Terry smiled back. "I don't even know why I bothered looking." There's a running joke that my mood coincides with the weather, in that it's generally sunny when I sail or wander in a new town. There have been quite a number of coincidences...
I took the shift to motor to Stari Grad on the island of Hvar. Terry had to figure out how to extend our data package for the next week. An hour or so later he came up, with a victorious, but tiresome expression. He had to translate croatian online to jump through all the hoops entailed in extending his data package for the iPad, but he was successful!
We arrived at Luka Tiha, one of several coves in the bay toward Stari Grad, which cost us 150 kuna to moor. A man in a small inflatable drove up to us to request payment.
"Are you having a good night?" I asked.
"The night is good, every day is good! Are you Australian?"
"No, no, we live in New York City. Why, do you get a lot of Australians?"
"Yes. Too many!" He told me with an unfortunate expression. He handed us a receipt and drove off.
Alicia, Terry and I hung out on the boat, enjoyed a bottle of wine, ate a light dinner of grilled cheese and proscuitto that I cooked, and just enjoyed the life that we had.
We had discovered that there was a pull-out shower head at the stern of the boat, so we could rinse off or shower in the back.
I decided to follow suit and shower all the way at the stern of the boat.
"Alright, no one come up to the cockpit for the next few minutes!" I yelled down to Alicia and Terry, who were cleaning up dishes from dinner in the galley.
"The moon is waxing, but I've got a full moon here!" I joked. When in Croatia?
The closest boat was still far enough away that they wouldn't be able to see much of me showering off the stern. It's actually a bit chilly to shower tonight. The temperature is much nicer than previous nights. If only the nights stay this nice. That said, it was still nice to feel clean again.
Day 7: Lots Of Luck With Vis Island
Friday, July 24, 2015
Another early morning start. Alicia and I picked up more groceries from Konzum, and fresh fruits and veggies from nearby stands to last for the next week. My favorite fruit here is apricot. I've never tasted any apricot more fresh and flavorful than in Croatia.
We were out by 9:30 A.M. on a course for Vis Island. More specifically, to moor in Kut, right next to Vis town.
We were sailing slowly but surely in six to eight knots of wind, in a favorable direction. The fastest sailing is done at an angle of 90 degrees to the wind, but anything from 60-90 degrees is nice because you have speed as well as the wind blowing into you. Plus, you can get the boat to heel a bit, too, which gets exciting.
We need any extra wind we can get, since there's been record heat in Croatia. Every native says the same thing: "It's too hot! Even we are not used to this!"
Looking back at Hvar I can see cumulonimbus clouds building over the island. Every ten minutes I look back and see it progress a bit more. It's interesting to see clouds build up over large land masses, particularly when they're a safe distance away from us.
The heat necessitated a jump into the water while we were at sea. A schooner came passed us. So many exquisite boats I've seen this week. From where do they all originate, I wonder?
Terry put on his lifejacket.
"Alright, I'm going in the dinghy. Ems, take the helm."
Terry took the opportunity to use the dinghy to drive around the boat for a video and pictures. You know, to see Pipi in action.
He climbed in and started up the motor. I was ready to untie the line attached to the boat. Then the dinghy motor died. He tried it a few more times then looked at the level of gas.
"There's none left!"
"You are so lucky that didn't happen even one minute later, when you were untied from the boat!" I yelled back to him. We were only sailing at a speed of about 2 knots, but I didn't want to get out of relaxation mode and perform a man-overboard exercise to retrieve him.
Terry filled up on gas and then went on his way to get some stellar pictures of Pipi in her glory. Talk about an advertisement for SailCroatia.net. He was doing circles around the boat, before he finally came back on board.
We arrived at Vis Island about 6:00 P.M. and grabbed a mooring ball. The nice thing about them is that you know you're secure when attached. No need to worry about an anchor slipping in the middle of the night.
We drove the dinghy a short distance to the dockside, and started to walk about.
"Let's look for some shower facilities," Alicia decided, after I mentioned there were some in the vicinity. So we went on a scavenger hunt.
I didn't care. A week on this boat has made me even more low maintenance. No makeup, I bathe in the sea, and soak a rashguard in water to keep me cool. Perhaps it was good my fiancé didn't see me so grungy.
We walked by a small church. The hum of women chanting prayers came out through the opening.
"They're praying the rosary," I told Terry and Alicia. "It was tradition before Croatian mass in New York, as well, and I can tell they're praying the Hail Mary right now."
"Even in Croatian, it has the same cadence," Terry observed.
He saw a paper that was posted on the entrance door. "What's time is it? There's a mass at 19:00."
"6:53."
"Wanna go?"
"Absolutely!" I said.
Truly a godsend. I was just thinking the day or two earlier about how I was going to get to a mass on this trip.
The service barely lasted thirty minutes, but it was nice to sit in on a mass spoken in the Croatian language. I hadn't been to a Croatian mass in Manhattan in over a year. I only remembered a few phrases and main prayers. I let life get in the way of becoming fluent in Croatian. Regardless, it was a nice surprise in Kut, even if I couldn't understand most of it.
We continued to walk around the perimeter of Vis. So many great views along the water. Eventually, we decided to find a place to refresh with a drink and started to head back.
Amir e-mailed us some restaurant suggestions. I knew where two of them were but I couldn't find the third. We decided to eat at the restaurant closest to where our dinghy was tied up. By a stroke of luck, I looked over and saw the name "Pojoda," the name of the restaurant I couldn't find.
We walked into a courtyard of a restaurant, a lovely atmosphere unbeknownst to those who simply pass by the entrance.
We sat down and looked over the menu.
"What do you want to order?" I asked.
"It doesn't matter."
"Whatever you want is fine."
Three indecisive or different people traveling together. Goodness gracious.
"Are you ready to order?" The waiter came to ask.
"How big is a kilogram of fish?" I asked.
"Oh, the fish won't be exactly a kilogram. Let me show you the plate." A minute or two later he came back with a platter of raw fish, in various sizes and species.
"Wow." Talk about fresh. "Well, we've already had gof and orada, so not those. Umm..." I had no idea what to choose. I pointed to the brightly colored reddish-orange fish because it looked novel. "Let's go with that one."
"The scorpion fish. Very good."
"Also, what is brodetto?" I inquired.
"It's a tomato sauce that we are well known for making. I highly recommend it!"
"Okay, then we'll have the octopus balls [patties] with a side dish, squid brodetto, the scorpion fish, a side of Dalmatian-style swiss chard and potatoes."
"Excellent," the waiter said with a smile. I had never encountered a waiter who was so jolly and happy to help. It seemed like he was truly happy with his life and with his job. That's not to say he was much different from other waiters and waitresses, but this man had a glow about him. He felt like family.
Everything that night was delightful. Every dinner in Croatia has been simply marvelous. How on earth am I going to be able to leave this country when my time here is up?
Another early morning start. Alicia and I picked up more groceries from Konzum, and fresh fruits and veggies from nearby stands to last for the next week. My favorite fruit here is apricot. I've never tasted any apricot more fresh and flavorful than in Croatia.
We were out by 9:30 A.M. on a course for Vis Island. More specifically, to moor in Kut, right next to Vis town.
We were sailing slowly but surely in six to eight knots of wind, in a favorable direction. The fastest sailing is done at an angle of 90 degrees to the wind, but anything from 60-90 degrees is nice because you have speed as well as the wind blowing into you. Plus, you can get the boat to heel a bit, too, which gets exciting.
We need any extra wind we can get, since there's been record heat in Croatia. Every native says the same thing: "It's too hot! Even we are not used to this!"
Looking back at Hvar I can see cumulonimbus clouds building over the island. Every ten minutes I look back and see it progress a bit more. It's interesting to see clouds build up over large land masses, particularly when they're a safe distance away from us.
The heat necessitated a jump into the water while we were at sea. A schooner came passed us. So many exquisite boats I've seen this week. From where do they all originate, I wonder?
Terry put on his lifejacket.
"Alright, I'm going in the dinghy. Ems, take the helm."
Terry took the opportunity to use the dinghy to drive around the boat for a video and pictures. You know, to see Pipi in action.
He climbed in and started up the motor. I was ready to untie the line attached to the boat. Then the dinghy motor died. He tried it a few more times then looked at the level of gas.
"There's none left!"
"You are so lucky that didn't happen even one minute later, when you were untied from the boat!" I yelled back to him. We were only sailing at a speed of about 2 knots, but I didn't want to get out of relaxation mode and perform a man-overboard exercise to retrieve him.
Terry filled up on gas and then went on his way to get some stellar pictures of Pipi in her glory. Talk about an advertisement for SailCroatia.net. He was doing circles around the boat, before he finally came back on board.
We arrived at Vis Island about 6:00 P.M. and grabbed a mooring ball. The nice thing about them is that you know you're secure when attached. No need to worry about an anchor slipping in the middle of the night.
We drove the dinghy a short distance to the dockside, and started to walk about.
"Let's look for some shower facilities," Alicia decided, after I mentioned there were some in the vicinity. So we went on a scavenger hunt.
I didn't care. A week on this boat has made me even more low maintenance. No makeup, I bathe in the sea, and soak a rashguard in water to keep me cool. Perhaps it was good my fiancé didn't see me so grungy.
We walked by a small church. The hum of women chanting prayers came out through the opening.
"They're praying the rosary," I told Terry and Alicia. "It was tradition before Croatian mass in New York, as well, and I can tell they're praying the Hail Mary right now."
"Even in Croatian, it has the same cadence," Terry observed.
He saw a paper that was posted on the entrance door. "What's time is it? There's a mass at 19:00."
"6:53."
"Wanna go?"
"Absolutely!" I said.
Truly a godsend. I was just thinking the day or two earlier about how I was going to get to a mass on this trip.
The service barely lasted thirty minutes, but it was nice to sit in on a mass spoken in the Croatian language. I hadn't been to a Croatian mass in Manhattan in over a year. I only remembered a few phrases and main prayers. I let life get in the way of becoming fluent in Croatian. Regardless, it was a nice surprise in Kut, even if I couldn't understand most of it.
We continued to walk around the perimeter of Vis. So many great views along the water. Eventually, we decided to find a place to refresh with a drink and started to head back.
Amir e-mailed us some restaurant suggestions. I knew where two of them were but I couldn't find the third. We decided to eat at the restaurant closest to where our dinghy was tied up. By a stroke of luck, I looked over and saw the name "Pojoda," the name of the restaurant I couldn't find.
We walked into a courtyard of a restaurant, a lovely atmosphere unbeknownst to those who simply pass by the entrance.
We sat down and looked over the menu.
"What do you want to order?" I asked.
"It doesn't matter."
"Whatever you want is fine."
Three indecisive or different people traveling together. Goodness gracious.
"Are you ready to order?" The waiter came to ask.
"How big is a kilogram of fish?" I asked.
"Oh, the fish won't be exactly a kilogram. Let me show you the plate." A minute or two later he came back with a platter of raw fish, in various sizes and species.
"Wow." Talk about fresh. "Well, we've already had gof and orada, so not those. Umm..." I had no idea what to choose. I pointed to the brightly colored reddish-orange fish because it looked novel. "Let's go with that one."
"The scorpion fish. Very good."
"Also, what is brodetto?" I inquired.
"It's a tomato sauce that we are well known for making. I highly recommend it!"
"Okay, then we'll have the octopus balls [patties] with a side dish, squid brodetto, the scorpion fish, a side of Dalmatian-style swiss chard and potatoes."
"Excellent," the waiter said with a smile. I had never encountered a waiter who was so jolly and happy to help. It seemed like he was truly happy with his life and with his job. That's not to say he was much different from other waiters and waitresses, but this man had a glow about him. He felt like family.
Everything that night was delightful. Every dinner in Croatia has been simply marvelous. How on earth am I going to be able to leave this country when my time here is up?
Day 6: New Crew In Vela Luka
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Waking up while anchored in a bay never ceases to be so incredibly quiet. Terry and I motored out of Mali Lago by 7:00 A.M. to get on our way. The rising sun was pretty, as she tried to squeeze through the morning clouds to show her shine. The water was like glass. No wind. So tranquil.
When the wind is this terrible for sailing, what do you do? Go for a swim in the Adriatic! The boat was reading a depth of 90 meters, so of course, to be on the safe side, one person held onto a rope attached to the stern of the boat while the other person was at the helm, with Pipi in idle.
Alicia was coming in by ferry from Split today, which meant we had to be in Vela Luka, settled by about 1:30 P.M. We finally had some wind, later in the morning, and began sailing back and forth outside the bay by Vela Luka. However, the clouds started increasing in size and the wind was sustained at fifteen knots. Rather than sailing further out at sea, I decided to stay close to the bay, in case a thunderstorm was in store. Terry went below deck to look for a radar map to determine if we would be in danger, as I continued to sail.
I looked to the side and saw a bolt shoot straight down into the water.
"Lightening!" I yelled. "I'm taking the sails down."
I didn't want to chance it. With storms come high wind, and I didn't want to get overpowered with both sails up. I quickly started taking the headsail down, partly limping with my injured toe.
One sail down, one to go. I checked the iPad charts. There was an underwater obstruction in my path, which was in the direction of the wind. When raising or lowering sails, it's easiest when the boat is pointed into the wind, so I had to wait until the obstruction was out of my path before I could bring in the mainsail.
I looked behind me. The clouds seemed to be following behind. I looked up. They were visibly growing. Though I was moving away from the mass of clouds, the wind speed was maintained at ten knots, rather than decreasing as I moved further toward land. I was trying to out-motor the storm!
As I pulled in closer to port, the winds died down and the sun remained strong. The storm preferred the sea, I suppose. I was just happy that we were safe. By this point, I had taken down everything on my own in a hurry. I felt accomplished, even if Pipi was a boat that was rigged in a super user-friendly way. Doing this all by myself on a J-24 sailboat in anything more than light wind is no easy feat. The frustration from that task made me appreciate the phrase "curses like a sailor."
Terry was still in the salon. I didn't know where exactly I was going, since he had the iPad, I just knew to stay in the middle until I saw the port. The benefit of the seafloor topography in Croatia is that it generally stays relatively deep, even close to shore. Much unlike Florida on the Gulf coast with its Intercoastal Waterways.
Finally I got to port.
"Terry! We're here! Do we get a mooring ball or a berth on the pier?"
He didn't know, but we did see fuel, so we waited for the current boat to leave, and filled up. The parking attendant said we could pull up on the pier.
This was going to be our second med mooring, and we did it! Not perfect, but it was another round of practice. Even easier than Korčula, since this marina had much more space between boats.
We each showered on our boat, making it the second time we showered in five days. You reach a certain point when you just stop caring. You're just going to sweat and swim in salt water anyway.
Terry found Alicia, and she got settled in before we decided to wander Vela Luka.
At the last two restaurants Terry and I visited, we wanted Peka, but weren't able to stick around for three hours, so we were on a mission to find a restaurant who prepared the dish. Peka requires you to order three hours in advance since they slow cook it under a lid. We put in an order for Lamb Peka at one restaurant, and had a drink at Konoba Casablanca to kill some time until dinner.
We returned to the restaurant early, to try an appetizer before dinner.
"I really want to order squid in Croatia," Alicia had told us. Since Terry and I loved the cuttlefish black risotto at Skrivena Luka, we decided to order it again, for Alicia as much as ourselves. Unfortunately, this time, it was not as stellar, though still tasty. Then again, shooting pain in my toe and feeling defeated the other night might make anything taste better. Who knows.
The three of us shared our first meal of Lamb peka with potatoes and carrots, and a side of cabbage salad. So much food. So simple. So delicious.
We were all in food comas by the end of it. We passed out within the hour of returning to the boat. Terry on deck. Alicia and I in our respective bedrooms. The loud music coming from town couldn't keep me awake.
I fell asleep with music blaring, and woke up to the complete opposite at 3:00 A.M. I only saw one group of four people sitting an talking a quarter mile away. If I was going to Skype Alex, I should at least do it where other people are conversing. I didn't want to wake up anyone on Pipi or the other boats berthed all around.
"Are you sure you'll be safe, walking around alone?" Alex asked me on Skype.
"Yeah, everyone is asleep. I feel fine."
An hour later I decided to return to my mobile home and squeeze in a few more hours of sleep. It now felt like I was the only person awake in the entire town. Not a creature was stirring. Nor should I be.
Waking up while anchored in a bay never ceases to be so incredibly quiet. Terry and I motored out of Mali Lago by 7:00 A.M. to get on our way. The rising sun was pretty, as she tried to squeeze through the morning clouds to show her shine. The water was like glass. No wind. So tranquil.
When the wind is this terrible for sailing, what do you do? Go for a swim in the Adriatic! The boat was reading a depth of 90 meters, so of course, to be on the safe side, one person held onto a rope attached to the stern of the boat while the other person was at the helm, with Pipi in idle.
Alicia was coming in by ferry from Split today, which meant we had to be in Vela Luka, settled by about 1:30 P.M. We finally had some wind, later in the morning, and began sailing back and forth outside the bay by Vela Luka. However, the clouds started increasing in size and the wind was sustained at fifteen knots. Rather than sailing further out at sea, I decided to stay close to the bay, in case a thunderstorm was in store. Terry went below deck to look for a radar map to determine if we would be in danger, as I continued to sail.
I looked to the side and saw a bolt shoot straight down into the water.
"Lightening!" I yelled. "I'm taking the sails down."
I didn't want to chance it. With storms come high wind, and I didn't want to get overpowered with both sails up. I quickly started taking the headsail down, partly limping with my injured toe.
One sail down, one to go. I checked the iPad charts. There was an underwater obstruction in my path, which was in the direction of the wind. When raising or lowering sails, it's easiest when the boat is pointed into the wind, so I had to wait until the obstruction was out of my path before I could bring in the mainsail.
I looked behind me. The clouds seemed to be following behind. I looked up. They were visibly growing. Though I was moving away from the mass of clouds, the wind speed was maintained at ten knots, rather than decreasing as I moved further toward land. I was trying to out-motor the storm!
As I pulled in closer to port, the winds died down and the sun remained strong. The storm preferred the sea, I suppose. I was just happy that we were safe. By this point, I had taken down everything on my own in a hurry. I felt accomplished, even if Pipi was a boat that was rigged in a super user-friendly way. Doing this all by myself on a J-24 sailboat in anything more than light wind is no easy feat. The frustration from that task made me appreciate the phrase "curses like a sailor."
Terry was still in the salon. I didn't know where exactly I was going, since he had the iPad, I just knew to stay in the middle until I saw the port. The benefit of the seafloor topography in Croatia is that it generally stays relatively deep, even close to shore. Much unlike Florida on the Gulf coast with its Intercoastal Waterways.
Finally I got to port.
"Terry! We're here! Do we get a mooring ball or a berth on the pier?"
He didn't know, but we did see fuel, so we waited for the current boat to leave, and filled up. The parking attendant said we could pull up on the pier.
This was going to be our second med mooring, and we did it! Not perfect, but it was another round of practice. Even easier than Korčula, since this marina had much more space between boats.
We each showered on our boat, making it the second time we showered in five days. You reach a certain point when you just stop caring. You're just going to sweat and swim in salt water anyway.
Terry found Alicia, and she got settled in before we decided to wander Vela Luka.
At the last two restaurants Terry and I visited, we wanted Peka, but weren't able to stick around for three hours, so we were on a mission to find a restaurant who prepared the dish. Peka requires you to order three hours in advance since they slow cook it under a lid. We put in an order for Lamb Peka at one restaurant, and had a drink at Konoba Casablanca to kill some time until dinner.
We returned to the restaurant early, to try an appetizer before dinner.
"I really want to order squid in Croatia," Alicia had told us. Since Terry and I loved the cuttlefish black risotto at Skrivena Luka, we decided to order it again, for Alicia as much as ourselves. Unfortunately, this time, it was not as stellar, though still tasty. Then again, shooting pain in my toe and feeling defeated the other night might make anything taste better. Who knows.
The three of us shared our first meal of Lamb peka with potatoes and carrots, and a side of cabbage salad. So much food. So simple. So delicious.
We were all in food comas by the end of it. We passed out within the hour of returning to the boat. Terry on deck. Alicia and I in our respective bedrooms. The loud music coming from town couldn't keep me awake.
I fell asleep with music blaring, and woke up to the complete opposite at 3:00 A.M. I only saw one group of four people sitting an talking a quarter mile away. If I was going to Skype Alex, I should at least do it where other people are conversing. I didn't want to wake up anyone on Pipi or the other boats berthed all around.
"Are you sure you'll be safe, walking around alone?" Alex asked me on Skype.
"Yeah, everyone is asleep. I feel fine."
An hour later I decided to return to my mobile home and squeeze in a few more hours of sleep. It now felt like I was the only person awake in the entire town. Not a creature was stirring. Nor should I be.
Day 5: Lessons In Lastovo
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
The water is much calmer this morning, but boy is it hot! When you're feeling this sweaty and the sun is up, there's no point in sleeping anymore.
We shortly discovered a major difference with boats in Croatia: there is no waste storage on board, as there is in the U.S.A. After seeing some floaters go by the boat after using the head, or toilet, we quickly realized that bays with other boats anchored might not be the best place to swim.
"Well, from here on out, make sure we coordinate using the head when we're done swimming, so we don't get surprised..."
I unwrapped my toe and cleaned it off. At least it looks better. After letting it air out and bandaging it with gauze, we set on our way out to Mali Lago at the other end of Lastovo.
As we left Skrivena Luka, we could either go right or left.
"Lets go right."
That turned out to be the better sailing option since we could sail close hauled into the wind for a couple hours. Sailing close-hauled is the most refreshing in low to medium wind because the wind goes right into you, providing a nice respite from the hot sun.
"Breakfast is served!" I yelled to Terry as I stepped into the cockpit with a large platter of eggs, bacon and toast. I finally got around to cooking the breakfast food we had on board since day one. As I prepared food in the galley, I noticed that the bacon looked much less fatty than American style, and the egg yolks were more orange than American eggs. Little did we know how much the appearance would foretell the incredible flavor.
After satiating our hunger, we continued sailing.
"MA-RI-O...MA-RI-OOOOO...," we heard on the VHF radio, as if someone were imitating a ghost. Whenever we sail, we have the VHF tuned to Channel 16, used for alerting an emergency or hailing a marina.
"MA-RI-O...MA-RI-OOOOO..." Someone kept calling. It doesn't get more unprofessional than this. Aside from being annoying, if there was an emergency, this guy was hogging the radio.
We turned the bend to begin entering Mali Lago. Very pretty area, with waterfront homes and apartments. We anchored the boat, and swam in the crystal clear water.
Then we took a dinghy under a small bridge to the bay next door. One cove after the other had boats anchored. We tied up and explored some remants from what used to be a military port or storage for artillery during World War II. Afterwards, Terry even drove us into a submarine shelter, which was entirely enclosed except for the entrance, complete with bollards.
We took another stop at a tiny island called Makarac filled with trees and wildlife, and then drove over to a waterside restaurant for some drinks and dinner. More tasty olives, more delicious bread, and of course, fresh fish. As with dinner the previous night, the idea of Peka teased us again, as we didn't have three hours to wait for the prepared dish.
Not more than five minutes from returning to Pipi, I noticed two guys on a small boat came toward us, then held onto the lifeline.
"Is everything okay?" I asked.
"It's 30 kuna per person since this is a natural park."
Fair enough.
It was approaching dark. We cracked open a bottle of wine, had a glass, and noticed some heat lightening. Fortunately, we haven't seen any thunderstorms thus far. This is no Florida.
The stars were even more lovely than previous nights. Terry and I even saw the same shooting star! This marks the third shooting star in the last few days. Talk about magical.
The water is much calmer this morning, but boy is it hot! When you're feeling this sweaty and the sun is up, there's no point in sleeping anymore.
We shortly discovered a major difference with boats in Croatia: there is no waste storage on board, as there is in the U.S.A. After seeing some floaters go by the boat after using the head, or toilet, we quickly realized that bays with other boats anchored might not be the best place to swim.
"Well, from here on out, make sure we coordinate using the head when we're done swimming, so we don't get surprised..."
I unwrapped my toe and cleaned it off. At least it looks better. After letting it air out and bandaging it with gauze, we set on our way out to Mali Lago at the other end of Lastovo.
As we left Skrivena Luka, we could either go right or left.
"Lets go right."
That turned out to be the better sailing option since we could sail close hauled into the wind for a couple hours. Sailing close-hauled is the most refreshing in low to medium wind because the wind goes right into you, providing a nice respite from the hot sun.
"Breakfast is served!" I yelled to Terry as I stepped into the cockpit with a large platter of eggs, bacon and toast. I finally got around to cooking the breakfast food we had on board since day one. As I prepared food in the galley, I noticed that the bacon looked much less fatty than American style, and the egg yolks were more orange than American eggs. Little did we know how much the appearance would foretell the incredible flavor.
After satiating our hunger, we continued sailing.
"MA-RI-O...MA-RI-OOOOO...," we heard on the VHF radio, as if someone were imitating a ghost. Whenever we sail, we have the VHF tuned to Channel 16, used for alerting an emergency or hailing a marina.
"MA-RI-O...MA-RI-OOOOO..." Someone kept calling. It doesn't get more unprofessional than this. Aside from being annoying, if there was an emergency, this guy was hogging the radio.
We turned the bend to begin entering Mali Lago. Very pretty area, with waterfront homes and apartments. We anchored the boat, and swam in the crystal clear water.
Then we took a dinghy under a small bridge to the bay next door. One cove after the other had boats anchored. We tied up and explored some remants from what used to be a military port or storage for artillery during World War II. Afterwards, Terry even drove us into a submarine shelter, which was entirely enclosed except for the entrance, complete with bollards.
We took another stop at a tiny island called Makarac filled with trees and wildlife, and then drove over to a waterside restaurant for some drinks and dinner. More tasty olives, more delicious bread, and of course, fresh fish. As with dinner the previous night, the idea of Peka teased us again, as we didn't have three hours to wait for the prepared dish.
Not more than five minutes from returning to Pipi, I noticed two guys on a small boat came toward us, then held onto the lifeline.
"Is everything okay?" I asked.
"It's 30 kuna per person since this is a natural park."
Fair enough.
It was approaching dark. We cracked open a bottle of wine, had a glass, and noticed some heat lightening. Fortunately, we haven't seen any thunderstorms thus far. This is no Florida.
The stars were even more lovely than previous nights. Terry and I even saw the same shooting star! This marks the third shooting star in the last few days. Talk about magical.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Day 4: No Service In Skrivena Luka
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
This morning's agenda included obtaining a light bulb for the stern running light, cleaning some laundry, and getting a scooter to do a couple hours of sightseeing on the island.
"This is one thing I've wanted to do this entire trip," Terry told me, in reference to exploring an island by scooter.
We didn't go that far, but high enough on Korčula to get a nice view of the landscape below us. We returned the bike by 10:45 A.M. and took a water taxi back to the marina.
Onward to Lastovo! This was a place that isn't typically on sailing agendas because the island has a population of 600 people, but I figured it would be a nice escape from the crowds. Plus, there was some military history, so I figured Terry would enjoy exploring there.
After an hour of motoring, we were in open seas. Sadly, very little wind at 1:00 P.M., but we put up the sails as wishful thinking the wind would improve. With me at the helm, Terry fell asleep in the shade provided by our bimini. This was when I took the video posted on Facebook. The benefit of the Skipper having a Skipper.
Winds had really started to pick up by the time he woke up and we could really start sailing at a solid fifteen knots!
The original plan was to aim for Mali Lago, but since the wind direction didn't favor that plan, I decided to shoot for Skrivena Luka, which literally translates to "Hidden port."
By 7:00 P.M. the winds were still pretty strong, even as we approached the bay. Cell service was out of range by this point, but the iPad charts were still useful.
I was at the bow, anchor locker open, ready for when Terry gave the go-ahead to drop anchor. There's a nifty feature that you can press with your finger or toe to raise or lower the anchor. I looked out in front of me, scoping the area, with my toe ready to press the button for the anchor wench.
Slam!
The anchor locker door fell on the second toe on my right foot. Blood started gushing. I ran below deck to grab a paper towel to wrap around it so I didn't spill blood everywhere on deck.
I made the mistake of not clasping the anchor locker door to the lifeline so that this mishap wouldn't happen. More importantly, I should have heeded Terry's advice to use the handheld control rather than my toes. I quickly learned that lesson.
"Drop the anchor!" Terry yelled.
After a few minutes of letting the boat equilibrate, I came back to the cockpit and showed Terry my injury. It was gushing blood like crazy.
"I'll grab the first aid kit," he told me. "Wait, where is it again?"
Neither of us could remember where it was stowed.
I looked down at my foot. The blood would not stop. My leg started twitching from panic. Four days in and I made a bogus mistake that will keep me from swimming until this heals up, I thought. What if it gets infected? What if the damage is worse than it looks? The hypochondriac in me was going crazy.
Terry finally found the first aid kit.
"There's only three small Band-Aids," he told me.
Great. Some anti-septic solution, gauze and cotton balls were in the there, though. Terry wrapped up my toe, but I could still see blood trying to penetrate through all of the bandage he put on. At least it was covered and I didn't have to deal with Terry's bedside manner, consisting of "Oh, it's not that bad. I've seen worse."
I wanted to slap him so badly.
"Dinner?"
Yes, please.
There was a restaurant a short dinghy ride away. I kept my foot elevated as I sat down. Terry tried starting the dinghy motor, but it wouldn't start up.
"Why do we always have such bad luck with dinghy motors?" He asked, thinking back to the problem we had with the dinghy motor from our Florida trip.
"Grab the oars."
We rowed our way to the restaurant, after the sun had set and twilight had approached.
Five minutes later, we made it to the pier and tied up our dinghy.
This restaurant was hopping! Conversations within families over dinner filled the air.
"Table for two?" Terry asked.
"I'm sorry, there's a waiting list, we work until midnight," she replied.
"Is there another restaurant nearby?"
"Not on this side, but you can go to the other side of the water."
I limped up some more stairs to the restroom, feeling defeated.
No cell service in the bay, an injured toe, and now the lure of a traditional Croatian food without being able to try it.
After using the restroom, we walked back down the stairs, me limping with a look of despair from the evening.
"Excuse me!"
We turned around. It was the woman.
"We can seat you but it has to be inside, that's all we have."
Whether my appearance of looking crippled had anything to do with this, I don't know. All I knew was that I was more than happy to have a nice local Croatian dinner.
We ordered black risotto cuttlefish, salad with cabbage, lobsters, and a dessert which looked like ice cream, but much creamier, with hazelnut and caramel.
We wandered the marina a bit then oared back to the boat. After how thankful I was to have dinner and how much it boosted my spirits, rowing back didn't feel any less than my way of saying thank you to the world.
This morning's agenda included obtaining a light bulb for the stern running light, cleaning some laundry, and getting a scooter to do a couple hours of sightseeing on the island.
"This is one thing I've wanted to do this entire trip," Terry told me, in reference to exploring an island by scooter.
We didn't go that far, but high enough on Korčula to get a nice view of the landscape below us. We returned the bike by 10:45 A.M. and took a water taxi back to the marina.
Onward to Lastovo! This was a place that isn't typically on sailing agendas because the island has a population of 600 people, but I figured it would be a nice escape from the crowds. Plus, there was some military history, so I figured Terry would enjoy exploring there.
After an hour of motoring, we were in open seas. Sadly, very little wind at 1:00 P.M., but we put up the sails as wishful thinking the wind would improve. With me at the helm, Terry fell asleep in the shade provided by our bimini. This was when I took the video posted on Facebook. The benefit of the Skipper having a Skipper.
Winds had really started to pick up by the time he woke up and we could really start sailing at a solid fifteen knots!
The original plan was to aim for Mali Lago, but since the wind direction didn't favor that plan, I decided to shoot for Skrivena Luka, which literally translates to "Hidden port."
By 7:00 P.M. the winds were still pretty strong, even as we approached the bay. Cell service was out of range by this point, but the iPad charts were still useful.
I was at the bow, anchor locker open, ready for when Terry gave the go-ahead to drop anchor. There's a nifty feature that you can press with your finger or toe to raise or lower the anchor. I looked out in front of me, scoping the area, with my toe ready to press the button for the anchor wench.
Slam!
The anchor locker door fell on the second toe on my right foot. Blood started gushing. I ran below deck to grab a paper towel to wrap around it so I didn't spill blood everywhere on deck.
I made the mistake of not clasping the anchor locker door to the lifeline so that this mishap wouldn't happen. More importantly, I should have heeded Terry's advice to use the handheld control rather than my toes. I quickly learned that lesson.
"Drop the anchor!" Terry yelled.
After a few minutes of letting the boat equilibrate, I came back to the cockpit and showed Terry my injury. It was gushing blood like crazy.
"I'll grab the first aid kit," he told me. "Wait, where is it again?"
Neither of us could remember where it was stowed.
I looked down at my foot. The blood would not stop. My leg started twitching from panic. Four days in and I made a bogus mistake that will keep me from swimming until this heals up, I thought. What if it gets infected? What if the damage is worse than it looks? The hypochondriac in me was going crazy.
Terry finally found the first aid kit.
"There's only three small Band-Aids," he told me.
Great. Some anti-septic solution, gauze and cotton balls were in the there, though. Terry wrapped up my toe, but I could still see blood trying to penetrate through all of the bandage he put on. At least it was covered and I didn't have to deal with Terry's bedside manner, consisting of "Oh, it's not that bad. I've seen worse."
I wanted to slap him so badly.
"Dinner?"
Yes, please.
There was a restaurant a short dinghy ride away. I kept my foot elevated as I sat down. Terry tried starting the dinghy motor, but it wouldn't start up.
"Why do we always have such bad luck with dinghy motors?" He asked, thinking back to the problem we had with the dinghy motor from our Florida trip.
"Grab the oars."
We rowed our way to the restaurant, after the sun had set and twilight had approached.
Five minutes later, we made it to the pier and tied up our dinghy.
This restaurant was hopping! Conversations within families over dinner filled the air.
"Table for two?" Terry asked.
"I'm sorry, there's a waiting list, we work until midnight," she replied.
"Is there another restaurant nearby?"
"Not on this side, but you can go to the other side of the water."
I limped up some more stairs to the restroom, feeling defeated.
No cell service in the bay, an injured toe, and now the lure of a traditional Croatian food without being able to try it.
After using the restroom, we walked back down the stairs, me limping with a look of despair from the evening.
"Excuse me!"
We turned around. It was the woman.
"We can seat you but it has to be inside, that's all we have."
Whether my appearance of looking crippled had anything to do with this, I don't know. All I knew was that I was more than happy to have a nice local Croatian dinner.
We ordered black risotto cuttlefish, salad with cabbage, lobsters, and a dessert which looked like ice cream, but much creamier, with hazelnut and caramel.
We wandered the marina a bit then oared back to the boat. After how thankful I was to have dinner and how much it boosted my spirits, rowing back didn't feel any less than my way of saying thank you to the world.
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