20th April 2023 - Sesula

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 we last did it. It’s the first part of a “man overboard” procedure, when the sails are up. You back the jib, so that the jib and main sail are opposing each other. Doing this in open water, far from any other boats, seemed a good move. 

As we approached the western end of the island of Solta, we counted 17 sailing boats, so the sailing season has well and truly started. As we entered the small Uvala Sesula, a young man came out in a rib to meet us. He offered us a mooring buoy, but we wanted to anchor. He lead us into a side bay, gave us instructions and took two lines to attach to the shore. This meant we have complete privacy. There isn’t room for another boat. We would never have dared to go in so close, ending up with only 0.7 of a meter under the keel, without his expertise and local knowledge and it would appear for no charge. I suspect they make enough money from the mooring buoys, to allow this. It’s a very small pretty bay and we understand, is absolutely rammed in high season; you have to book. We thanked him profusely and he left us, saying, “ you will sleep like men here; I don’t say like babies, because babies wake up every few hours”. What great care, he has. Because the water is often so deep, very close to the shore in Croatia, it’s quite a usual way of mooring, to drop the anchor and then attach to a rock or a tree, with lines from the stern. We haven’t really mastered this yet and are also very reluctant to swim to the shore with rope in hand, when the water is still extremely cold. Even with my wetsuit on, I think it will be decidedly unpleasant. Where is someone who likes cold water swimming when you need them?


Our back garden for today and tomorrow...

Miles today         23

Miles in 2023    233

Tricia (& Steve)

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