SV ICE BEAR

Our next stop was the town of Zlarin it was another small town population about 100 in the winter i'm going to guess it doubles in the summer. We tied and had a look around found a few restaurants a school some kind of public works and no cars several of the rototiller fronts pulling trailers and a few golf carts.
We would later learn the town had decided to be car free. We helped a dutch boat tie next to us and invited them for a drink. They brought some wonderful Dutch cheese and peanut butter cheeses who knew. We discussed the coming storm and things to do in the islands and where to go when boating in the Netherlands it was a lovely pre dinner conversation While we were talking a man walked past the boat and asked the standard question. Are you really Canadians and did you sail the boat here from Canada? We answered and asked the standard return questions if he was from here or a boat. His answer surprised us he was from Winnipeg and he was home visiting his Mum. wow We invited him aboard and plied him with drink and questions about the area. The people of this island were once known for red coral they were the only ones allowed to harvest it but the old methods were very destructive (tie a net under a big pole and drag it through the colony) and eventually the beds were extensively damaged. They still have the only permits to harvest the red coral in the area but is done in a sustainable way by divers. He talked about the war in 1991 how the town actually got hit by artillery and how he had been conscripted into the army but was already in Canada
so he didn't have go. The next day the winds picked up and we watched as several boats had difficulties tying one finally got it on the 10th or maybe more try. It wasn't that the skipper or crew were doing anything wrong and there were lots of people trying to help on the dock. It was just the way the wind was blowing. It was hard to watch and we really wanted to help but adding more voices to the mess would have well just added to the mess. The next day the weather was still kinda yucky so we decided to go for a walk and check out the coral museum. On the way their we met up with the man from Winnipeg and he invited us into his home it was really big inside. What we thought was several homes
was one there was a small courtyard behind the wall facing the street this didn't have a roof but a big grape vine made up for that and a large garden at the back. The house had three floors now divided into two apartments his mums and his aunts.
The entrance to the second floor was shaped a little odd until you realized that the opening to the water cistern was sharing the same space. Through the nice sized kitchen was the balcony and what a view you could see right down the harbour and across to a small island. We mentioned that we were heading for the museum and he offered to show us where it was which was good because i'm not sure we would have found it. While the signs at the museum were in several languages including english having him there totally changed the experience. Because he was a local the lady that was looking after the museum joined and told us stories and explained exhibits in greater detail in as much for us as him seeing as many of the pictures where of his family. Above the museum was a red coral jewelry store and workshop the things in the shop were beautiful and the artist was in the workshop polishing a piece. It would have been nice to have bought something but wow when your the only guy that can harvest and work local red coral you know its special and can price accordingly. We said goodbye to our new friend and walked back to Ice Bear for lunch. We noticed that the weather seemed to be having moments of calm and we
had somewhere we wanted to go. So instead of lunch we watched the wind and the second there was a lull we made a break for it. We through off the dock lines and headed out everything seemed ok until we looked back and realized the weather was now chasing us where we were was now a heavy rainstorm. We were headed towards the mainland and the rain was gaining on us this was going to be ugly. As soon as the rain overtook us everything disappeared the fog and sheets of rain were impossible to see through but that's why we have electronic navigation every once and a while we would see a tree or a glimpse of a really big fort. We were entering a river and the banks were probably no more the 200 m away on either side and we still couldn't see them. We know we passed the city of Sibenik because as the weather cleared for a brief second we saw a sign welcoming us. Then up ahead we could see a big bridge as we got closer the weather started to break the rain stopped and we could see again. There was a speed limit up the river so we slowly puttered inland. We observed the mussel and oyster farms lining both sides of the river noting many had open signs on them. We thought about stopping but figured we would on our way back. At about the 8 mile mark the river opened up into a large lake. We could see several towns on the lakes shores but they wern't our destination.
We had booked two nights at an ACI marina we thought the last one was expensive ppfft. Once we crossed the lake the river carried on. A few more bends and another bridge and we were here Skradin. The town looked cute although they seemed to have a swan problem. As we neared the dock one of the attendants asked if we had a reservation we said yes and a few minutes later we were placed between two very large yachts. We were barely tied before several swans came to check us out and see if we would feed them. It would seem if you want to stay at this marina you must book ahead it was full. Once the Marina office took its pound of kuna and the boats was set up for a two day stay we decided to check out the town. It was a little bit of a walk but it gave us the opportunity to see how busy this marina was. It seemed safe to say that there was over 250 yachts secured at the docks with probably 20 more anchored nearby waiting for someone who had reserved to no show. wow..
Once we had crossed the foot bridge to the town side of the basin we started to peruse the offerings of the konoba's and local stores. Then we saw it a little pig on a spit we knew this must be the place
we were going to eat dinner but alas we were almost two hours early and it was starting to sprinkle. Whatever a little water never hurt anyone and we were still in our foul weather jackets. It wasn't long before we had a full fledged Noah flood event. When it rains in this country it doesn't fool around. We managed to explore just long enough to return to our little pig even though we looked like drown rats they still let us in and omg it was sooooooo good they even had potato wedges baked in a peka. How could it get any better.