Cam "H"
08/04/2012, Marina Dalmatia

Decisions, decisions, which way do we go? As our time in Croatia is fast running out, we will have to clear out through passport control at one of the clearance ports almost as soon as our Australian registration gets here. We are in the process of planning three passages to different countries, the first one would be to sail over to Italy from the clearance port of Sali, (Sali is on one of the outer Croatian Islands) clear into Italy at the port of Ancona, then sail down the Italian East coast stopping at some of the many ports and harbours along the way. The second one is to clear out through one of the northern clearance ports and then clear into Slovenia, stay for a while before going on to Italy via Trieste and then on to Venice. The third one is to clear out through one of the southern Croatian clearance ports then sail down to Montenegro and on to Greece, which ever way we go will depend on the weather at the time, it's just going to be good to get out and cruise. Our plan is to still have about a week left out of the tree months we have in total to allow us the time to clear back into Croatia and sail the yacht back to here (Marina Dalmatia), our marina fees are payed up to April next year. The photo is the full moon we had here last night, the atmosphere up here gives the moon the colour you can see, but it doesn't allow a very clear shot.

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Cam "H"
08/01/2012, Zadar Croatia

We spent a good part of yesterday in Zadar shopping for some of the provisions that we will need on board for hopefully the middle of next week when we sail out of the marina. We love Croatia, the climate, the water, the food and we have met some really nice people over here and yesterday's taxi driver by the name of Luka (we think that is how his name is spelt) was a delightful young man who would love to finish his education off in Australia, he showed us a piece of paper with the contact details for the Australian Consulate the a young Australian tourist had given him for a student visa and we gave him our web address to give him any help we can, So good luck with your dreams "Luka".
On a lighter note we were quite amused to come across a sign on the entrance to one of the large shopping complexes, we all know the smoking is not allowed, riding your bike is not allowed and taking the dog inside is not allowed but "No Guns", now that's something that you do not see back home.

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Cam "H"
07/31/2012, Marina Dalmatia Sukosan Croatia

Well one of our neighbouring yachts on the same pier got to leave this morning; it was the Alleway's Ron, Louise and Caterina from Wonthaggi Victoria, on "Janner" an Australian flagged ship. We received notification that our registration documents are on the way with Qantas Express and they should take about 4 to 5 days to get here, so with the weekend we don't expect to see them until the middle of next week, so tomorrow we are of to Zadar to start provisioning with the essential items that we will need to cast off ourselves. The temperature got to 37c today now that's starting to get a little too hot. The photo is Janner with the Alleway's.

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Cam "H"
07/30/2012, Marina Dalmatia Sukosan Croatia

We received notification from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority that they had received the last of our original documents (the marking note) and they sent a "File Copy" of the registration. So it is official, the yacht is registered as an Australian ship but the money transfer for the Qantas, DHL courier service that I did a direct from my bank to the Authority still hasn't gone through, they won't send the original registration without the money up front (we say that's ok) but we can't sail without the original document. It is going to be very close to the time that we have to clear out of Croatia (our visa runs out on the 19th of next month) and when the registration arrives here, so watch this space.
On a lighter note a lovely couple from Norway, Einar & Gina who we met when we first arrived here, have come back to spend some time on their yacht. They had two friends with them when we first met that thought that we were nice people and they said that we could come to Norway for a visit, but only for one hour (we said that they have a sense of humour just like Australians, but with a different accent and very weird names for us Aussies to pronounce).
The weather is still nice and warm here, every day it's around 33c, with nice nights for sleeping at around 18c. If we do have to clear out and fly back to Australia, we think that the temperature difference would not be nice at all.

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Cam "H"
07/27/2012, Marina Dalmatia Sukosan Croatia

We left Ancona Italy last night and arrived in Zadar Croatia this morning, as you can see by the attached photo it was a very smooth crossing. We both said when we arrived "it's good to be back", "home", on our yacht. We are very much at home here in Croatia the whole country has a very good feel to it, the public transport system is great and we know our way around.
It is good to have access to the internet again and we spoke to a couple of family and friends back in Australia (thanks Kara and Peter, also Graham and Jo) on good old skype.
We arrived back to find that some kind soul had disconnected our shore power, so the battery alarm activated and the fridge and freezer had defrosted with a heap of meat had gone off, with the rancid smell and associated runny juice through everything, it has been some hours and we are still trying to clean it out (Grrrr, not nice).
We are still waiting for AMSA to send the registration; it's been over a month.

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Annie & Cam "H"
07/25/2012, Sirolo

I'm writing this before we get on the bus, if all goes to plan we are now in one of the small costal villages by the name of Sirolo, or Marcelli, or Loreto and if you are reading this we have found another internet café.
We are following the directions that our lovely landlady Cinzia gave us last night even with the slight language barrier (Cinzia speaks better English than we speak Italian) maybe we will tell you about this part of Italy if we find our way back to our apartment. This will be our last night in Italy, for this trip at least, tomorrow night we sleep on the ferry crossing from Ancona to Zadar, then Friday night we will be back on our yacht and with a bit of luck it won't be long and we will have the registration papers, as soon as they arrive we will be off we haven't made any plans at this stage, we will be either heading North to Slovenia, or South to Greece via Montenegro, or West back over to Italy (all will be revealed when the time gets a bit closer). The weather has been mostly warm to hot (32 - 36c) with a few thunder storms late in the evenings.
Photo is taken in front of the Fontana Del Calamo, one of the many ancient monuments in the centre of Ancona

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