Equinox 2023

Sometimes, when there is no wind, the mooring buoy can bash against the hull, and, as our cabin is at the front of the boat, this can be quite an annoyance when you are trying to sleep. Thankfully this didn’t happen in the night at Zaklapatica. There must have been just enough of a breath of wind for that not to happen, but we got up to calm water. As it’s quite cold at night, still, there is loads of condensation on the deck, until 2 or 3 hours after sunrise, when the warmth of the sun has dried it up. Today, in addition, there was also thick mist over the sea to our north, as we exited the bay, into a glassy sea. Thankfully we had good visibility close to us. Other than seeing very few small fishing boats, we had the sea to ourselves, until we were closer to the island of Mljet, around lunchtime. We had motored for a couple of hours, then were able to sail, when a nice gentle breeze started to fill in. On completely flat water this was very pleasant.  I missed it, but Steve spott...

It was a short motor round of only 7.5 miles, to the bay of Zaklopatica. It’s a sheltered place with a few mooring buoys and seemed a very sleepy place this early in the season. A lot of the local fishing boats were out of the water on the quay. Although, some were being lifted into the water, during the afternoon. The konobas or restaurants didn’t appear to be open. The mooring buoys are quite old and not really set up for visiting yachts, so connecting properly to it involved going for a swim, to run the lines through the shackle at the top of the chain. At least the water was a little less cold here, it being a relatively shallow pool. The reason for us coming here, was to walk to Lastovo Town, which is inland. It’s just a half hour walk to see the town, perched on the side of a steep gorge. It dates back to the 14th century. There is, of course, a church, which dominates the skyline and the stone buildings are very attractive. It was good to see. The lighthouse is the oldest in t...

This was to be a day of rest, except, of course, it wasn’t. Having cleared our admin requirements, we pumped up the dinghy and after lunch went ashore and walked 8.5 kilometres around the bay and to the little village of Ubli. The bay we were in is actually on an island attached to the main island of Lastovo by a small road bridge. On the shore of the inlets, either side of the bridge are a hotel and holiday apartments. This area has been tastefully built and it all looks very attractive. The island bus, run by Aviva, came past several times, while we were walking. It runs from this inlet area, Pasadur, to Ubli and on to Lastovo Town, which is inland. It clearly doesn’t take long to do the circular trip. Interesting to see boats stored on the balconies... In the evening one other sailing boat came into the bay to join us, a private German registered boat. We therefore had another evening, watching the sunset in peace and quiet. Miles today           ...

We had bounced around in the wind coming directly into the bay, during the night but the morning dawned with no wind and mirror sea. After another walk around the seafront, we slipped out of the harbour about 11.30. We had left it this late so that we would have wind to sail across to the next island on our trip down the islands of the Croatian archipelago, Lastovo. We came into the bay of Jurjeva Luka last year, as it next door to the little town of Ubli, which has the island’s ferry port and also a border check in and out office. Otok Lastovo was, for many years, out of bounds to visitors, being controlled and used by the military. It opened up in the late 1990s. It is stunningly beautiful, being covered with pine trees, almost down to the waters edge, all around. It is now a nature park and you have to buy a ticket to enter. We had a superb sail across the 12 miles or so of open water, under a completely blue sky and on flat water. It was a beam reach, when the wind is at roughl...

The wind had whistled away during the night, but we were very relaxed, probably too much so. In the morning one of the stern lines had got caught on a rock on the seabed and consequently, we had swung round uncomfortably close to the shore. Fortunately all was well, there being enough depth of water below the keel and the rudder, that we were still floating nicely. I therefore had a swim before breakfast, to go and untie the line, free it from the rock and get us in a better position. All went well, until I released the second line, when the boat then swing out into the middle of the bay and required a much longer swim. Fortunately the wetsuit is quite buoyant, but half way back, I realised I was getting very tired. That’s not something I’ve experienced before; I’ve always been a good swimmer. I’m sure this was caused by the water being so cold. How do these people who go cold water swimming do it? For sure it’s not my cup of tea. However it was lots of hot tea that revived me along wi...

As in a number of places here, there is a compass inset into the pavement, showing the named wind directions After a visit to an excellent large supermarket, out of town by the ferry port, we were well restocked with provisions and ready to leave. This had entailed a delightful walk along the sea front in the opposite direction to the one we walked yesterday. Stari Grad has been a super place to visit. There was no wind so we motored across from Hvar to the south side of the island of Krement, to a bay we had visited last year and which, we knew would give us good shelter from incoming high winds during the night, from the north. On arriving in Uvala Tarsce, we got the anchor nicely dug in and were making preparations for me to swim to the shore with a line to tie us to the rocks, when Tim came over in his tender, from his motorboat, moored nearby. We could have just swung on the anchor, but there were going to be big changes in wind direction during the night, so we thought it would...

After a visit to the tourist information centre, where a very helpful lady talked us through the best way to see the Stari Grad Plain, we set off to walk up the hillside behind the old town. En route we took in seeing the old plazas, churches and a famous poet’s house. Petar Hektorovic was a nobleman during the renaissance period and was also an architect. During the 17th and 18th centuries was when most of the town’s churches and residences were built. In the 19th century, when Stari Grad was a port with a large fleet of sailboats, the town’s coastal front was established.   The view over the Stari Grad Plain We followed ancient footpaths The fields are separated by dry stone walls and have gateways Remnants of olive oil production in the past... The ancient footpath, lined with dry stone walls, out of town made us feel the centuries of use. At the highest point below the tree line is a dilapidated watch tower, from which we had great views across the plain, seeing the areas of fe...

There was going to be little wind day, so a day for just motoring the relatively short distance to Stari Grad, a town on the north side of the island of Hvar. Stari Grad is one of Europe’s oldest towns, founded in 384BC. Inland from the town is the Stari Grad Plain, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is a cultural landscape that has remained practically intact since it was first colonized by Ionian Greeks from Paros in the 4th century BC. The original agricultural activity of this fertile plain, mainly centring on grapes and olives, has been maintained since Greek times to the present. The site is also a nature reserve. The landscape features ancient stone walls and small stone shelters, and bears testimony to the ancient geometrical system of land division used by the ancient Greeks, the chora which has remained virtually intact over 24 centuries. We had a delightful walk around the U-shaped harbour and out along the coastal path under pine trees, in the late afternoon suns...

It was absolutely splendid being tucked into this narrow bay, but we had to work out how to exit. The young guy who had seen us in was not around. I was the one to swim to the shore to release the two stern lines. With wet suit on, I was pleased with how quickly I got in the water and got on with it. I’m also impressed with being able to still get into my wet suit, which I’ve had for years and years!  The worry was that as soon as the stern lines were released the boat would swing towards the shallow water and rocks, and it did. Steve got on with starting to bring the anchor up, to pull the boat forward, while I swam back. Safely onboard, we continued to raise the anchor and safely exit. Phew! All went well. There were lovely downwind sailing conditions to head along the coast of Solta. A nice quiet bay in the south east corner was the destination, but when we got there, the anchor wouldn’t hold, and once again we found ourselves drifting too close to the rocks. Beautiful and quiet...

We were staying put in this delightful bay and, there being no wind and the sun shining, meant it was warm enough to breakfast on deck. Then the next excitement was unpacking and launching our new tender. We decided not to crack a bottle of fizz over it. It will serve us well, hopefully for the next few years. Its maiden voyage... A trip up to the head of the bay, in said tender, felt a bit like Swallows and Amazons, especially as it was so quite and peaceful. The heron was only disturbed to take flight when we got quite close to it. Having found a place to moor, close to a footpath, it was great to have a walk over the headland to the next bay, where sits a town at the west end of Solta, Maslinica. It’s very pretty. The quay has been redeveloped, along with a hotel in a beautifully restored former castle, with very green lawns. The waterfront was very quiet here and most of the cafes still closed, but a couple of large catamarans were taking tourists out for a late afternoon cruise....

It was a day for finishing off any remaining tasks before we left.  There was a bit of electrical work associated with the winches, some admin and the inevitable shopping, but nothing too arduous today. We were treated to 2 shows of the Red Arrows, in the morning we had the soloists running through their aerobatic manoeuvres, and in the afternoon it was the turn of the formation flying part of the display, with 5 aircraft taking part. We noticed a distinct upping of the game from yesterday, with the tolerances rather smaller than they had been. We watched from the foredeck and had a fabulous view.  We chatted with “Marina” Marko and he said that they had come here for preseason training for a couple of years.  There is the training base for the Croatian Air Force nearby, and we can see that it offers better weather than Britain, with a suitable water area nearby.  I guess that the locals get fed up with it, as once you have seen it, the novelty may wear off and ...

We woke to a fabulous blue sky and light breeze. We had considered staying here for two nights, but had not been able to anchor in the recommended spot. Sometimes there are differences between the various information sources. Although a swimming area is not yet marked off, one of the charts indicated that what others call an anchoring area, forbids anchoring. Our second choice in this large bay was perfectly fine for staying the night, but too far from the main town, where we might have considered going ashore. So far, there have been few places that we’ve been happy to leave the boat at anchor, unattended, and so we decided to move on. We put the main sail up in a small bay, nicely keeping out of the way of a large incoming fishing boat. The swell from yesterday had reduced and we had a cracking up-wind sail, going way offshore and back in to our destination. When it was time to tack we put in a “hove to”, when you stop the boat and just drift, only because it’s been a while since w...

It’s been a splendid day. We walked into town to top up the fresh food supplies, said goodbye to the two Marko’s, then set off late morning.  We had to hang around for a while to get onto the fuel dock, but it was wise to top up the fuel as well. As we were leaving there, the Red Arrows appeared again. This seemed like a practice of their whole display. It was amazing to be so close. When they came down low, over the water, it seemed that they had picked their track to avoid us. We thought about wavy our Ensign about, but I suspect they were going far too fast to see it, if we had. As in the last two days, the display lasted about half an hour and, having enjoyed our ring side-seat, we got the sails up and pressed on with our journey.   Later we saw the canoe version, but without so many tricks We made good speeds in the force 3-5 wind that we had. It was the best sunshine and sailing conditions we have had so far this year.    We anchored in a bay close ...

The new winch motor had arrived from Anderson, while we had been sailing over Easter and that was fitted today, so, fingers crossed, we have a working starboard genoa winch. It’s been a hive of activity in the cockpit this morning. Mid afternoon, we went for a walk along the seafront of Biograd, but we only got about half way, because we were treated to a superb aerobatic display, by the Red Arrows. We stood on the beach and watched them, in awe, for twenty minutes or more. They had obviously picked this spot to learn their routine. We’re spectating that they could be practising for the King’s Coronation or maybe just the show season ahead in general. It needs a bit of work yet, though; they didn’t quite draw hearts in the sky etc, but it was close. Nevertheless, it was fantastic entertainment and we happily cut short our walk to enjoy it. The clouds didn't look quite as dark as this! Steve also enjoyed a bit of port theatre in the evening, when a motor cruiser, with a bunch of y...

How exciting! We are able to move on. And it was going to be exciting because we had limitations at the beginning and end of the journey; we couldn’t leave too soon, or it would be too windy, and we couldn’t arrive too late, .... or it would be too windy! Kremik has been described in the boat social media forums as “excellent shelter”, not so, while we were there. The wind swirls around the hills. So, we slipped lines in a force 6 and hung around in the bay, while we put the fenders away. As we departed the bay, we were making 4 knots on bear poles. Then, with half of the jib out, we made an average of 7 knots. Not bad eh? It was pretty rocky and rolly, in this wind, which continued around 25 knots, and topped with a gust of 33 knots. Further into the journey the wind lessened and we motored the rest of the way. We probably could have sailed more of it, but it was so variable, one minute very little and then suddenly 20 knots. With a full crew that would have been fine, but short...

The wind dropped during the night. We just made it to the showers and returned before a heavy downpour hit us. No matter how many times we looked at the weather forecast, it didn’t fill us with confidence that we could leave today. A depression is tracking right over us, giving rapidly changing wind directions and more intervals of rain. Anchorages sheltered from all wind directions are extremely rare. Therefore we stayed put. We found a stowaway, never seen one so big We might be in double figures of minimum overnight temperature, but it felt cold getting up, possibly because everything was damp after the heavy rain, and, we had no electricity. I wasn’t long in going to the office, and, by the time I returned, we had electricity. We could be forgiven for thinking we were in Scotland today; it’s been intervals of sun and rain. The evening was grey, damp and cold. Bring on tomorrow, when, hopefully, we will start to see an improvement in the weather. I love a bit of chrome cleaning,...

The wind had whipped up in the night, as predicted, so by the time we got up, the gale was in full force. This a ‘Jugo’ (pronounced Hoogo), a strong wind from the southeast. This is a time, when, confined to being in port, that you have to catch up on admin and cleaning. Those things out of the way, we walked the coastal path round to the holiday town of Primosten. It was about 6.5 kilometres and took us the best part of an hour and a half. There were times when we were being blown down wind and times when we battling into the wind. Primosten is a very pretty little place, the old town having narrow cobbled streets lined with stone houses. The original village was built on an island and surrounded by walls to protect the villagers from the Turks. Today the island is linked to the mainland by a causeway, the walls have been mostly demolished and modern development fringes the bay. The church spire at the top of the hill stands proudly above the other buildings. The whole place was spotl...