Mike
07/06/2012, 42 47.41'N:17 22.52'E, Polace, Croatia

We slept in this morning and evidently needed it. We had a nice downwind sail to Polace on the island Mljet. We are still amazed at the number of very large pleasure yachts. We had an excellent dinner in the little town and the price was very reasonable. Monica had a large bowl of mussels and I had their grilled sea bass. The price and flaver were much better than what we had in Cavtat.

We plan to visit the national park which takes up almost the western half of the island.

Mike

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Mike
07/05/2012, 42 44.94'N:17 48.33'E, Jakljan Island, Croatia

We had a relaxing day motoring to our first anchorage. We only went about 20nm to get here. Then we had lunch and spent the afternoon swimming, snorkeling, napping and reading. There are a lot of boats in the area, mostly sail but still quite many motor yachts. Even so we are enjoying this anchorage alone.

We should have another short sail tomorrow so no alarm will be set.

Oh I forgot to mention, I hope everyone had a great Independence Day celebration yesterday.

Mike

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Mike
07/04/2012, 42 34.86'N:18 12.89'E, Cavtat, Croatia

We arrived in Cavtat, Croatia this morning around 0615. This is the southernmost port of entry in Croatia so now all we need to do is discover the entire coastline. This small port town is well known for the mega yachts that call here. They were coming and going all day. It was quite entertaining to watch all the yachts tie up in their Mediterranean style mooring. This style of tying up is not like our marinas in the US. As the skipper is backing up to the quay he lowers the anchor to secure the bow. The stern is tied to the quay and the only things between the boats are the balloon type fenders.

We learned a new definition for Â"beachÂ" today. People are great at improvising so in this small town with a steep rocky coast they have done it with their beaches. The beaches in this town are basically like a sea wall surrounding the harbor. There is a wide sidewalk built on them. Local vendors set up beach chairs for rent and there are even the standard showers to rinse under at the end of your day. The water is about 1-1/2 to 2 feet below the deck so I guess it is more like a giant salt water pool then a beach. Anyway, everyone seems to be having a great time visiting and playing in the water.

The repair job I did on the inflatable dingy seems to be holding. We like anchoring and rowing to shore better than tying up to the quay.

Tomorrow we start our trek up the coast. We plan to stop at an anchorage about 25 miles from here.

Monica learned from ATT that the discounted data plan does not apply in Croatia. She has turned that feature off on her phone rather than take a chance at incurring the $20/mB fee. If anyone needs to get in touch with her send an email to the satellite phone address she gave everyone before leaving.

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Mike & Monica
07/02/2012, 40 28.87'N:18 29.72'E, Otranto Italy

Our raw water pump ate the impeller blades at around 8:30 Sunday night while about 6 miles off the Italian coast. I had stopped to check the oil when I discovered the problem. I had a spare impeller which I installed but the shaft seal was also leaking, and I didnÂ't have a spare. I also couldnÂ't get the engine started again to limp into a port.

I called for a tow. The guy shows up in a boat with no navigation lights visible. He also didnÂ't speak English so we were getting translations by phone from the Coast Guard watch man that we had talked to earlier to get it set up. We finally got into a slip around 1:30 am. He pulled us about 10 miles.

We were able to get the pump fixed, start the engine, wash our towels, do some sightseeing, and a few other small tasks. We finally left the harbor around 9:30pm. We should now arrive at Cavtat, Croatia on Wednesday morning.

Mike

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Mike & Monica
06/30/2012, 38 21.50'N:17 00.95'E, South of Italy

We have been motoring all day. We stopped to swim in very deep blue water. We are sure the bottom was there somewhere but it is too far down for our instruments. This afternoon we were visited by a pod of at least 20 dolphins. They played in our bow wave, swam around us and made frequent leaps in the distance. They escorted us for at least a half and let us take their photos. Only another 280 nm to get to our port of entry. We should arrive Tuesday morning.

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Mike & Monica
06/29/2012, 36 12.326'N:14 49.350'E, Malta

The boat was launched yesterday 6-28. We slept on board and left his morning around 0830. Making good time by motor-sailing. We actually shut down the engine for a few hours. Beautiful day without a cloud but warm in the sun.

Mike

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