Captain's Blog

If you are reading this we obviously made it back from the sailing trip without incident. So here is a synopsis of our trip.

You read previously about the “casual” approach to handing us our boat Lidija, (pronounced Lidia) but she was a well behaved lassie. Lidija is a 32’ Bavarian that sleeps 4, just enough room for Jen , Adam, Boris and Brunhilde (the kids were not too happy about sharing). We bargained for Lidija after being offered this boat.

From a sailor’s perspective, the weather was reasonably good with winds of 12 to 15 knots each day. On day 3, the weather forecast a storm and thunder, so we set out early. A couple hours in we noticed black clouds looming in the distance, so we headed for an island that would provide shelter. Just before we found refuge, the temperature dropped from 25 to 10 and the wind whipped up from barely a breath to 40 knots all within seconds. Then came the rain….. we got a little soggy making it into harbour and dropping anchor, but it set in deep first time and we took shelter below while it blew over. Two hours later the blue sky had arrived and just as the forecast promised it lasted until Lidija’s homecoming on Saturday.

The islands of Croatia can only be described as barren and rocky. If you have the attention span to keep an eye on the grey cliffs, you will be rewarded with the occasional glimpse of a 2000 year old castle or fortress looking down on the ocean. Most of the bays in the islands either have quaint little fishing villages or enterprising restaurateurs with mooring balls for boaters to tie up to…. free with dinner of course. The picture here is of a restaurant where we ate dinner one night. We asked for the menu and the reply was: fish, langoustine, scampi.

On Wednesday we decided to leave the ocean and motor up a long and narrow inlet to some waterfalls. After a quick stop enroute in Zaton for fresh veggies and coffee, (we seemed to be the only tourists to stop in for a long time, judging by the stares we received) we continued motoring inland for about 4 hours before coming to the gorgeous village of Skradin. We were back amongst our own digital camera toting, guidebook reading species as Skradin is the entry point to a well touristed national park. The waterfalls that the park is famous for are a few kilometres from town and not accessible by yacht. So we jumped in our dingy and well, the video tells the story of what came next.

We ended up getting some much needed exercise with a bike ride to the falls and a swim in the small lake at the bottom. We forgot to take pictures, but they looked very similar to the ones at Plitvice so just scroll down a few days, and pretend we are in the water swimming.

The following day was fraught with fiascos. First our dinghy decided to “jump ship” in open water. Fortunately we noticed…. a mile or so later, but that was not our only rescue mission for that 24 hour period! Later that day we found a bay that was sheltered from the nasty chop and wind. Jennifer, whose mooring ball skills were impeccable up to this point, managed to drop the boat hook into the dark depths of the bay BEFORE hooking onto the mooring ball. Fortunately I have married a brilliant and skilled woman, yes gorgeous too…. she expertly managed to hook the mooring ball with our deck broom. (By the way, this post may have been edited by said wife) The next morning, with the bay much calmer, we constructed an intricate retrieving device from a rope, kitchen pot, and bungee cords. As further testament to my wife’s skills she was able to grab the boat hook from the surface of the water on the first try. A much more successful creation than the crab trap/ beer cooler in the gulf islands last year (Nat & Martin – you would be impressed).

We got back safe and sound today. We will fill you on our day in Zadar in the next post. Stay tuned!

FOOTNOTES:
1- We had no entertainment on board other than our own company, so the first intake of caffeine in 3 days with 2 people cooped up on a boat, made for considerable amusement.
2- It seems that Germans like to get naked. Funny Georg never mentioned this before!