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.
No comments:
Post a Comment