Photo: Krka National Park
Zavala was to be our base to visit Stari Grad, a smaller version of Hvar town. The first night in the bay the guy who came around to collect the fee for the moorings in the bay, came across to us. We were stern lined on the opposite shore, he asked for a fee of 150 kuna and when challenged he stated that "if you are anchored within 300m of a mooring buoy, the commissioner for the bay would charge". We debated the fact with him but ended up paying in the end. However, the Czech Republic boat stern lined next to us refused to pay and he left the bay, not even going to Wind Pony, lesson learned.
Tuesday 7th July, we walked the 3kms or so to Stari Grad and had a good time wondering the narrow streets and looking at a 14th century house that was the home of a famous Croatian poet, Petar Hektorovic. These old Croatian towns are extremely cute, with very narrow paved streets, stone buildings and a very rustic look. We never seem to tire of them. After some provisioning in the supermarket and fresh produce market, we had lunch and decided to take the water taxi back to the boats. We then moved a mile further up the inlet to Luka Tiha, where we again stern lined to a tree, making sure we were more than 300m from the mooring buoys. The money collector never stopped at our boat that night, and Lyn and Dick "Wind Pony" joined us the following morning. Despite a couple of nights with over 50 flotilla boats in the arm opposite us, the bay was very peaceful and with walking tracks nearby we stayed 4 nights. On the third day the wind picked creating an unpleasant roll side on to us. The weather forecast was for the wind to drop which would reduce the roll, however this did not occur till 23:00, but then the roll died and we were able to get a good night's sleep.
The following morning with another high pressure system over the Adriatic, it was time to move on, with no wind we motored 11nm to Stacinska Bay, Solta Island. We are enjoying the short distances between anchorages. We tucked ourselves into a little cove in the bay stern lining to concrete bollards ashore and enjoyed 2 days of peace and tranquillity. This bay had more fish than we have seen for a while, albeit smallish fish. We enjoyed swimming in the clear water and on Monday 13th July we dropped the stern lines and motored into Split Marina for a couple of days of civilisation and big towns. The marina guy, Jojsko who assisted us into the berth was extremely helpful and had a great sense of humour. The morning we left the marina he sat down with us and went through anchorages north of Split, he used to be a yacht skipper and knows the area very well. It was a 20 min walk along the waterfront to reach town or the marina ran a water taxi, we generally walked.
How do you explain Split? Split is a major port and a hub for tourists, as we arrived at the marina there must have been 50 charter boats going out in flotillas. It is a wonderful mixture of new working alongside and within walls and buildings that have been in place for centuries. The town is built within a fortified Roman palace which was built for Emperor Diocletian about AD300. Wandering around the old town, down narrow streets and alleyways, exploring passages, it was delightful, we have never seen so many ice cream parlours and stalls. We also commented on the fact that almost all of the bougainvillea in Croatia is purple, whereas in Greece the majority was crimson. In the evenings the streets are packed with people walking, dining out and street entertainers which creates a marvellous atmosphere. Once again the locals were happy to chat and discuss Split history and culture. Tuesday 14th July, we received a phone call from Brian's son very happy at the birth of his son, our second grandchild. That evening we managed to find a Croatian food restaurant down a tiny alley that only had 6 tables. The food was authentic Croatian so we got adventurous and all tried a different dish and enjoyed them all.
After provisioning on Wednesday morning we again motored around to a small anchorage on Ciovo Island opposite Trogir. It was a dinghy ride into Trogir for breakfast the following morning and a walk around another gorgeous old town of narrow stone streets, a cathedral and old buildings. We have certainly seen a lot of churches and cathedrals since arriving in Croatia, a strong catholic country. It was good to get in early before the heat of the day. Back to the boat and off to the Blue Lagoon, Krknjas on Veli Drvenik for lunch. The anchorage was really crowded so we decided not to stay the night and moved a mile further up the island, anchoring in Solinska. A quiet night, then off to Vinisce on the mainland the following day, another really hot, windless day.
We spent 3 days in Venisce enjoying daily walks, swimming and dinner ashore, leaving on Monday to anchor 5nm further north behind a small island near Stari Trogir. Off again the following morning, motoring 7nm to Stupin, a land locked bay near Rogoznica. The clarity of water in the Med, never ceases to amaze us, it's a joy picking up the anchor when you can see it.
Stupin was another anchorage that was landlocked, like a town basin. We have noticed in Croatia that houses that border any water seem to include the bit between them and the water as part of their property. Most houses have built stone terraces and floating docks, with sun umbrellas and chairs to enjoy the water as part of everyday life. We decided we had had enough of town basin type anchorages so left the following morning for a small cove we had noticed on the way into Stupin. We stern lined in the uninhabited cove, having moved a whole 2 nm. Another day in the mid 30 degree Celsius range, this has been the pattern for a while now, we spent the day swimming and hiding in the shade. Later in the afternoon as we were having drinks on Wind Pony, we watched a charter boat having problems stern lining to the shore. Brian and Dick went over and offered to assist and were amazed to find the charter boat only had 40m of chain on board, they were dropping the anchor in 12+ metres. It is no surprise that most charter boats prefer town walls, marinas and buoys. The following morning we took Wind Pony's dinghy with Lyn and Dick and went into Rogoznica for breakfast. It was an interesting town, built on an island in the early 16th century, it is now connected to the mainland by a causeway and despite the large marina, is not a tourist town. Rogoznica has a large fishing fleet and we chatted to one of the trawler skippers as he was unloading his night's catch. We only found 2 cafes that served breakfast, unlike other towns we have been to where there were plenty. Back to the boats after a big breakfast for Brian and Dick, smaller ones for Gail and Lyn, for more swimming. Later in the afternoon, about 4pm, Brian commented on a build-up of clouds and reckoned there was rain in them, sure enough, 10 minutes later the wind picked up and we experienced one of the 'local coastal thunderstorms', which made us take all our shade covers down, as the wind and heavy rain appeared. The storm only lasted about an hour or so and we had a quiet night before lifting the anchor and heading up the river in Krka National Park, anchoring in the river in a bay before the final big bridge. To get to the anchorage we wound our way through narrow gulley's and across a lake, very pretty.
Following advice from Joanie on Nemir, we planned to go into the National Park on Saturday, as they reckoned there were fewer people and boats due to what we call 'change over day' for charter boats. We headed off in the dinghy at 07:15 in time to catch the first ferry into the park. You can anchor in Skradin, or stern line to trees outside the marina, but the area is small and busy, we preferred the anchorage we were in. Krka National Park is 109 square kilometres of park, with some amazing waterfalls and travertines. The entrance fee is 110 kuna per person, which includes the return ferry trip, you cannot take your own dinghy up to the park. The walking track around the waterfalls, living museums and park is only 2.5kms, an easy stroll. It was worth the trip up the river to visit the park.
Sunday morning following a thunderstorm, we said good bye to the ever present swans looking for food and headed down to Sibenik but could not find a suitable anchorage. We left the river and motored back out to the outer islands, anchoring in Kosrina, Murter Island,