GHOST

Well after a long and fairly sleepless night sailing, on account of a relatively large rolly choppy following sea, we arrived at our first Italian port since leaving a very windy Siracusa on Sicily on the 7th of July last year. So here we are, just over a year later, and it is still windy!! The wind dropped from 20knots down a little to around 15knots over night and we motor sailed with 2 reefs in the main and the engine ticking over slowly. By 830 though the wind was back up to 20+ knots as we dropped the sail and headed into the bay of Otranto. Fortunately for us there was one berth left on the quay and it was pretty much point straight at the wind, perhaps with a slight bias to the starboard side. So in we slipped. Had the engine running quite hard to maintain steerage on the way in and when the harbour guy, or Ormeggiatori as they are know in these parts (kind of a marine mafia!), motioned it was 2 metres and something deep. The 2 was 2 figures and the something was a line across his chest, kind of like the way some motions they'll cut ya head off, or "cut it". At this point thinking worryingly of our 2.1m rudder and 2.3m keel I bottled it, and put a bit of forward on as we were coming in quite fast, wind assisted. We rolled a bit and lent on the guys next to us but we were well fendered up so no harm done...we'll just put it down to fatigue! Not sure what the 2m something was as we seem fine, even with the slop wacking the wall and the back of the boat. So here I am about to have a shave and shower then rest up a bit before exploring the town for the day.

To wrap up Croatia - it was sad to leave, even after the frustration and angst regarding the excessive prices. We talked a lot about it on the way over last night and the resounding vote, two versus zero, was that we really loved Croatia. Perhaps this is slightly biased considering the fantastic time we had with Mark and Jo but it seems to have the better bits of a lot of places, except for the dodgy anchor charges! We loved turkey, for many reasons, not least of all the fact there always seemed to be shelter from prevailing winds not far away as you follow long peninsulas with loads of bays, but you are following a coast so there are no short cuts and you often have to retrace your steps. Greece on the other hand has loads of islands and that is always a plus when on a boat, but you can get caught out by the winds. Croatia is a great mix of the two. Loads of islands that are often like long peninsulas now cut off from the mainland that offer plenty of places to hide, beaches, bays and all the while you don't have to sail the same route twice! On top of this on land they still seem to want to work for their tourist dollars like Turkey. So all in all a top spot, just a shame they realised they can charge so much to sailors!! On the point of money we actually never went into a marina and only paid for anchoring 4 times, one of which included a national park fee and another was the last night that we thought we'd gotten away with! All up 75 euros worth, so not too bad really. This was possible in part to the new batteries and solar panels we installed in Turkey meaning we had plenty of electricity, in part to having water included in one anchorage charge and us "stealing" it while perched on a quay for lunch other day but above all, because we were seeking out bays where we thought we wouldn't have to pay, even moving back 25m one night (during my beer time I might add!) so as not to be under the jurisdiction of the town's "environmental" tax in the harbour!

So begins another chapter in Italy. It feels somewhat like we have left the garden of Eden (corny I know) and moved out into the dry and dusty savannah. This part of Italy is basically coastal cruising with greater distances between desirable points of interest that affords little chance of anchoring, which means a lot of marina visits in the busy and expensive peak season. We are already preparing ourselves for some 100+ euro nights. But on the positive side we have Kat's cousins joining us in Sicily through to Naples, then Rome will be a highlight for Kat having never been there backed up by a reservation in a marina so we know we have a place. This will all be followed by the Watson's visit in Southern Corsica (Brendan GHOST is missing you!) and the Nagy's visit in Northern Corsica. So plenty to look forward to....


More new pics at: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/bradmcmaster1/Croatia2009LastDaysInKorcula#