Photo: Lynn and Gail, Zadar
Kosrina, Murter Island was an interesting anchorage, the bay was large with tents and campervans of all sizes on every available piece of shore line. We left Monday morning, 27th July, motoring through the barren, isolated islands of Kornati National Park to Telascia, Dugi Otok another National Park. The anchorage reminded us of Twin Island Bay on Gt Barrier Island, as we entered between 2 small islands, anchoring behind them. The National Park that Dugi Otok lies within, adjoins Kornati National Park and we could easily have spent ten days exploring the two. Unfortunately the parks charge a fee which the cruising guide said was 60 kuna per person per day, but now it depends on the size of the boat. Boats 11-18m are charged 350 kuna per day, about NZD $75 at Dugi Otok, which is cheaper than Kornati, (unless you pre buy a voucher) but unfortunately precludes spending any length of time in the park.
We left the following morning, looking at several anchorages before finally anchoring in Gangaro, behind an island, a beautiful, isolated, secure anchorage. Whilst at Gangaro for a couple of days enjoying the swimming and catching up on a few chores, we were amazed at the boats that came into the bay for the day, the people on board would then strip off, yes Croatia is definitely clothes optional, and sit in the full sun from early morning till the last rays in the evening. They visibly changed colour before our eyes. Skin cancer does not seem to be in the vocabulary here?
Needing to restock on fruit and veges, we left on Thursday 28th July and again motored to Zminjak (you just need a good motor in Croatia not sails). We anchored, Brian went ashore to check the moorings were for the restaurant and therefore we would not be charged to anchor and then took the dinghies across to Murter town approx. a mile away. Later in the evening after saying hello to another Kiwi boat in the bay, we went ashore for dinner at the restaurant. Dinner was great, the service staff had a great sense of humour and engaged with us. Early the following morning a thunder and lightning storm hit the area, some of it seemed to be directly overhead, the noise was awesome, some rain and wind, but it was all over in a couple of hours. After lunch we motored around to Arta Mala for a change of scenery and to get away from the main channel to Murter and the mooring buoys. Arta Mala was another anchorage with nothing in the bay. We did not stop overnight but returned to Zminjak. That night, 31st July, was a full moon, the second one in the calendar month, and known as a “Blue Moon”. These occur approximately every 2.7 years and is thought to be the origin of the saying “once in a blue moon”, but this is disputed.
Saturday 1st August, we upped anchor and motored 20nm to Lamjana Mala, Ugljan Island. This area seems to have lots of fish farms as we passed many on the way and there are several at the entrance to the bay. On Sunday we went ashore for a walk and ended up walking the 5kms to Preko, through an old town again with narrow streets, small marinas and lots of fishing boats. Monday morning we went ashore at 06:45 and again walked to Preko and caught the ferry, 18kuna one way to Zadar. Zadar was an interesting place, again an old walled town with some very old buildings and churches, such as St Donat with its Roman Shaming Post outside. The town was badly damaged by two wars, the second world war and the 1991 -95 wars, and is therefore an odd mix of very old buildings standing next to modern buildings. The promenade has been totally rebuild and includes the Sea Organ music pipes, not visible from above ground, but with the movement of the waves the pipes make a wonderful sound. It is a time when a recording device would be more useful than a camera. Alongside the Sea Organ is the Sun Salutation, a round globe in the footpath made entirely of solar panels. Apparently at night it gives a wonderful light display. We walked around the town, more a working town than the tourist places we have been to and caught the ferry back to Uglijan early afternoon. We provisioned in Preko and caught a taxi back to the anchorage. One thing to note is that in Croatia the only canned soft drinks are Coke and Coke Zero, all other soft drinks (lemonade, soda, tonic etc) comes in bottles, usually one litre.
Wednesday 5th August we lifted the anchor to motor to Molat. As the anchor came up Gail noticed a sea slug/cucumber that had got itself wedged between the chain links, we think we gave it a severe headache as we knocked it out. We then left the anchorage, anchoring 20nm north in Podgarde Bay, Molat Island.
Molat is a quite bay, with no restaurants or houses, popular as an overnight anchorage. The water was crystal clear and seemed to be colder to swim in than other areas. The following morning we took the dinghy around the corner to the small town. It is amazing that even on a small island like Molat there is history. A five minute walk from town, stopping to look in the graveyard, there is the remains of a concentration camp that was in existence in 1943 -44. Not much of the camp remains, just some of the observation towers, a house and what the lady at the information centre told us was hanging posts. The area around the ruins is now a popular swimming area with a bakery and a small jetty. There is a derelict house in the main town that was the headquarters of the Yugoslavian army. We spent a couple of hours wandering across the island before heading back to the boats for a well-earned swim.
Saturday 8th August, it was time to start heading back south in preparation for leaving Croatia at the end of the month. The Molat anchorage at 44.13N 14.51E is the furthest north we will go on our Mediterranean cruising and may be the furthest north in our entire circumnavigation. Once again we had to motor with only 0-3 knots of south easterly breeze back to Lamjana Mali, Ugljan.
It was south again the following day, anchoring in Arta Mala for lunch and swimming. Arta Mala is almost a lagoon formed by a series of small islands, being a Sunday there were a reasonable number of runabouts and large inflatables with the locals setting up camp on the rocky shores for the day. We have not seen any sandy beaches since we have been in Croatia, people sit, lie and play on the rocky shorelines. Late in the afternoon we lifted the anchor and moved 1nm to Zminjak. Wind Pony had gone ahead of us to essentially drop laundry off at Murter Marina. They enquired about fuel and were told that they could not take the big boat in but could have jerry cans filled, so the following day we both went into Murter with jerry cans for 150ltrs of fuel to be told we could have taken the big boats in. Oh well no harm done, just a bit more exercise. As we were leaving the boats, Lyn let it slip that the previous day when returning to the anchorage in the dinghy they thought someone was water ski-ing and then realised they had towed their dinghy anchor the 1.5 miles back to the boat, their dinghy anchor is the size of our stern anchor so not small, oops. Whilst ashore we had a walk around, again lots of narrow stone streets and alleyways, very picturesque in their own way. At 16:00 we went ashore for a long lunch/dinner at the restaurant, Dick and Gail had the fish plate for 2 which consisted of two fish, mussels, grilled calamari, shark steak, potatoes and spinach, very nice. We know the mussels were fresh as we saw a waiter walk down the pier and put a line of mussels in his bucket. The young owner of the restaurant was happy to chat about what he does and life in Croatia. Time to head further south tomorrow.