View of Viz harbour before the crowds arrived!

The highlight of our journey south so far, has been our sail out to the island of Vis. It is one of the most western islands of Croatia and a popular destination for most yachts cruising up and down this part of the coast. Following our overnight stop in Drevnic, we enjoy an early start for our 25 nm sail out to Vis. Once we get out into open water the breeze freshens and we enjoy a broad reach sail all the way out to the island. The entrance to Vis is through a narrow opening and opens up into a large bay, which the town is built around backed by a steep mountain range. It is very picturesque. We are fully expecting to have to pick up a laid buoy in the bay, but when we arrive find there is an area to anchor. Just as we are getting the sails packed up, we are approached by a small Ports & Harbours boat - looks like we will have to move? The guy is very welcoming and tells us that for $14 AUD we can anchor! This is the cheapest anchorage by far, that we have found this season and so happily hand over our Kuna. He collects rubbish as well! So a good start to our stay.

As it is a Friday when all charter boats head back to base, the town is relatively quiet. There are a few private boats on anchor with us and some at the town quay. We do a quick reconnaisance ride around the town on the bikes and discover some charming old buildings. After a quiet night we get the bikes onshore again and plan to ride to the end of the island about 12kms away. As we ride out of town we realize that it is going to be all uphill to a pinnacle and then it will be a very steep descent to Komiza at the NW end of the island. The uphill gradient is manageable for the first part, but the last 1000m is a 10% gradient! It is warm and sunny with no breeze, so it is a struggle on our little boat bikes. Bern makes it to the top, but Di gives in and walks/rides the last 1000m. The views from up on high are spectacular and as we take a break we view the road down the other side. It is shorter, much steeper with more hairpin bends. So we decide to call 'it a day' and enjoy the ride back down the hill for a mid-morning coffee.

In the past Vis was ruled by the Venetians for a long period and its architecture bears the influence of this period. Considering the size of the town there are at least four significant churches which have been well maintained and are still 'open for business' each Sunday. Each day starts with church bells being tolled at 6am and they are then rung (automatic timing) on the hour and half hour through the day and evening. We enjoy wandering through the narrow alleyways of the old town walking on the old flagstone pathways, highly polished from thousands of footsteps.

As the weather predictions are for thunderstorms and rain we decide to spend three nights on the island. Sunday our last evening is the start of the week for yacht charters, and as Vis is quite a few nm from the charter base islands, we don't reckon on many making Vis a first night destination. Wrong!! By early Sunday evening every laid line and laid buoy is occupied by boats of all shapes and sizes. Still, boats continue to arrive and begin to prowl around the anchorage where we are. By late evening there are over twenty boats just in our area and very close to each other!! We feel quite hemmed in and are hoping that there are no strong winds or thunderstorms through the night that will test out everyone's anchor and holding. As a precaution we put out all our fenders in case someone drags into us. We also have the camera on standby to photograph any incident, useful for any insurance claims! We observed most boats around us anchoring but not pulling back to test the grip of their anchor, so we suspect that some will drag if the wind gets up. We go to bed well prepared!! Thankfully it is a very quiet night and we up anchor at sunrise and quietly slip away from Vis. In the outer bay, we notice a flotilla of around 70 boats and combined with the 200 or so tied up in the harbour it is well and truly time to leave!