The last week or so since Steve and Tina departed has seen little mileage for Splice as we have tried to rest Chris’s leg. We spent the first 4 days on the quay at Kotor doing very little initially but then as the frustration grew we started the various boat jobs that were waiting for attention. The worst was fixing the blockage in our owners side heads system.

This took us most of two days to sort. Initially we tried to unblock the pipes but found we were making no progress, so we had to get the pipes out of the boat. This is not easy, as they are fitted tightly through holes in the bulkheads under the floorboards and are both long and in inaccessible places. Much swearing and grazed knuckles later we extracted them to find that after only two years the calcium build-up in them had almost blocked the whole pipe (urine and seawater combine to create a calcium deposit that is the bane of all sailor’s heads systems). The easy bit was then getting this out – you just bang the pipe on the quayside and it all comes loose. Then we had the fun of fitting them back through all the same holes and tight spaces! It was not fun and probably didn’t do Chris’s leg any good either.

Chris’s leg wasn’t really improving so we found a local Doctor who was very helpful and prescribed muscle relaxants and anti-spasm pills to stop the worst of the issues. It helped a little.

Then on the 17th August a motorboat that had been badly moored next to us swung violently in a gust of wind and smashed into our port stern. We had already fendered this side well having seen the motorboats previous movement but the force of this collision ripped our port stern cleat straight out of the deck. Lots of hassle later we have found the owners details and set our insurers going but they are telling us the chances of any response to a British claim since Brexit is minimal, so we will probably lose our £800 excess due to some idiot not putting spring lines on his boat or any fenders. The cost to repair the damage and refit the cleat is likely to be over £1,400. Chris’s leg wasn’t the only thing that wasn’t relaxed!!



The remains of our port stern cleat after the attentions of motorboat 'Victoria'

We then left Kotor and anchored for four days in a nice bay near Tivat to the south of the island called Stradioti. This used to be a holiday island and you can see the ruined huts on shore. It’s a lovely spot and well protected from most directions other than due west. We spent most of the time here reading and relaxing though the swimming stopped when very large brown jellyfish started drifting by!



The view east from our anchorage at Stradioti

We are now back in Kotor to restock and take up the offer of further attention to ‘the leg’.
Boris, the doctor had suggested a sports therapist who works with one of the Montenegrin 1st Division football teams. At 20.00hrs last night this guy picked us up, drove us to the football club near Tivat and treated Chris’s leg to ‘electro therapy’ (passing a small current through the offending muscle) and then a serious (read painful!) massage. This does seem to have made a big improvement today so we are now hopeful of further progress.

Both Boris the doctor and Dejan the sports therapist were really helpful and put themselves out. They both only charged E30 for the consultations which we felt is very reasonable. We would recommend them if you have any medical needs in the Kotor area:
Dr Boris Maslovski, Monte Medical Montenegro / +382 68 702 480 / montemedical@dr.com
And Dejan Djukic, the Sports Therapist / +382 68 289418 or via Dr Boris Maslovski above

Concerns about Chris’s leg and his ongoing (though minor at present) toothache issues have forced a change in our plan for the rest of the season. Visiting Albania, which is not set up for yachts and involves high quays meant for big ships, needing to move mooring regularly to fit with ship movements and probably less reliable medical support makes such a trip a much greater risk and we have decided to stay in Montenegro before returning to Italy for the winter.

Our last guests of the year, Jeff and Sandra, have kindly switched flights to come to Tivat to explore the Gulf of Kotor for a few days and then join us for the passage back across the Adriatic to Brindisi. For the next few days we will try and rest the injured limb and them try and explore a bit more widely whilst we wait for them to arrive.

Main Photo: the daytime view west at Stradioti and below one of the lovely sunsets we watched whilst anchored there