Apart from the fact we had never been and wanted to see the majestic Bay of Kotor, we were coming to Montenegro for a Royal Cruising Club Meet and to get a replacement impeller for our Yamaha outboard. We chose to clear in at Porto Montenegro which is a large megayacht and superyacht marina so we could have the outboard collected and assistance with clearance (not that the latter was necessary). All was good.

Porto Montenegro could be anywhere that has a Mediterranean climate. There is nothing about it that says "Montenegro". It has a retail offering that is exemplified by Rolex, Bulgari, Dior, Chanel and so on. There are many apartments (a one bedroom apartment is c.Euros 500,000). Restaurants and cafes abound. The two grocery shops are very expensive ... and pretentious (one is called Healthy Food Concept - what is the 'Concept' about?). However, it is a short walk to downtown Tivat and something approaching (for us) normality. One of the most telling things about the marina is that there is no DIY laundry. We can only guess that there are two reasons for this: 1. Wealthy megayacht owners don't do their own smalls, they have crew and machines onboard for this, and 2. Wealthy people don't want to see boats festooned with drying clothes and linen.

Notwithstanding this the showers etc were very good and the staff were very pleasant.

Montenegro is not covered by UK mobile phone roaming, but there is an amazing deal available: a data SIM card for 30 days with 500Gb ... for Euros 15. We will use barely a fraction as we don't do much streaming.

Our outboard was collected and we had sent model and serial number information in advance so that they could order the impeller, gaskets and o-rings. Then HM QEII passed away and because the RCC Meet was due to start on the day of the funeral, it was cancelled.

In amongst the sadness and remembering, the airwaves then filled with advice on flag etiquette and because our ensign staff is relatively short, we could not have the ensign at half-mast, so we adopted the alternative which is to have a black cravat/ribbon tied at the top of the staff - one of Norma's old T-shirts suitably dismembered and sewn appropriately.

A couple of weeks previously we had spotted on the Ocean Cruising Club Fleet Map that there were quite a few OCC boats around Montenegro and in conjunction with our friend Mark on s/y GRACE RICHARD, we organised a meet at Kotor for Tuesday 13th. It turned out to be a select bunch as some OCC members and crew had returned to their home countries for various reasons, but Keith and Di on DIZZY DI and Duncan and Joan on TALISA joined us for a lovely evening and dinner.

The following morning, we made the climb to the Kotor Fortress which provides stupendous views north along the bay with its steep-sided mountains rushing down into the water.

With a forecast for some strong winds, rain and thunderstorms later in the week, we headed for the relative shelter of the island of Sveti Marko near Tivat. It has been good - the wind and rain made an appearance and we have been fine, anchoring in 11 metres of mud with 55 metres of chain out, albeit at times it would have been nice to have had a shorter fetch for some wind directions.

Mark on GRACE RICHARD has been here so the socialising has been good and the craic has been mighty. Mark had us driving the dinghy around for some photos to accompany an article he is writing about dinghy safety so we had to do bad practice photos and good practice photos. It was reassuring to know that our normal practice is good practice.

We have a reasonable forecast (northerly winds mostly) for departure on Tuesday 20th September for the 240nm to Preveza, Greece, so two nights on passage. We will by-pass Albania and save that for a visit next year. Preveza officials have been very nice and easy to deal with and we also want to set up our winter work programme with Cleopatra marina. It will be good to have a month or so in the Ionian before the season comes to an end.

We had a very nice hike in Slano along the west side of the bay, reaching the light at the point. A painted sign said “The End”. However, there was evidence of a path the other side of a fence which was easily negotiated. The path though came and went and we found ourselves walking on broken and rocky ground and walls. There were lots of bunker-like shelters that had clearly been used for protection by troops or villagers during the 1992-3 war. Eventually we did reach a path that was a route into the bunker complex. There were lovely views over the bay at Slano and by careful framing the dominating hotel was excluded from photos.

On 6th September we motored the 23nm from Slano to Cavtat, passing close by Dubrovnik old town and its fortified walls. Having visited in 2004 and knowing how busy it would be we declined the bus trip from Slano. We were not disappointed in our decision as we could see the continuous, single file procession of folk walking the walls. Notwithstanding this, it is a very scenic, interesting and historic place to visit.

There are supposedly two anchorages at Cavtat – in the harbour on the south side or in the bay on the north side. We checked out the former and there were too many small boat moorings for our comfort, and since there was only very light wind forecast, we anchored in the north bay, Uvala Tiha, in 7-8 metres having searched for a sandy spot to drop the anchor. All was well.

Cavtat is not only a Port of Entry (and exit) but also is quite pretty and has lots of bars and restaurants, and so is a favourite destination for visitors to Dubrovnik and its environs. It is a pleasant place. We were there to clear out and the Harbourmaster and the Police couldn’t have been more polite and friendly. The only hassle is that you have to take the boat to the Customs dock, drop anchor and go astern to tie up. We arrived just ahead of a very large motor superyacht and decided to let them go first as the person who is supposed to be there to take lines wasn’t, and we thought we could ask crew on the superyacht to take our lines. The only mistake we made was not asking how long was the superyacht as we could have estimated the ideal distance to drop the anchor. We dropped and went astern, with Norma coming back to the cockpit using the remote control to let out anchor chain … and more anchor chain … and even more anchor chain. A bit of a burst astern should have brought us to the dock but the anchor was well dug in … so more anchor chain released and eventually we got the stern lines ashore. Checking how much chain we had out, it was c.75 metres … we carry 80 metres …

The superyacht cleared out before us and we had plenty of room to recover the chain.

We motored on to Montenegro, passing an enormous lookout station with vast arrays of radar and antennae. The Croatians monitor marine traffic closely and anyone deciding to stop for lunch will be spotted and fined.

Our two months in Croatia had been absolutely marvellous. All the negativity on social media about officials being rude, unhelpful and even corrupt was far removed from our experience. We had avoided the very popular places where folk have said you can be ripped off by people claiming you have to pay to anchor and went for quieter and in many ways more picturesque places because they were not so busy. In 62 days, we anchored for 54 nights, had two nights in Preko marina, two nights on a restaurant pontoon (free if you ate at the restaurant), three nights on paid moorings, and one night on a mooring in Kornati which was included in the park entrance fee.

We really recommend Croatia and especially the northern chain of islands and the mainland places we visited.

Lots of rain today in Montenegro so we are at anchor on the south side of Sveti Marko, in the Bay of Kotor. With out 500Gb of data it is a great opportunity to catch up. Seven albums added to the Gallery covering Zadar and Ugljan, Kornati, Murter, Krka, Stari Grad on Hvar, Loviste and Peljesac, and Korcula and Slano. Blog up date for departure from Croatia and Montenegro experience will follow shortly. Incidentally, we have been in Montenegro for 9 days and only used 10Gb of our 500Gb - we may have to stay for another month and a half to get our money's worth.

We arrived in Montenegro on Wednesday 7th September and our UK SIM cards do not have free roaming as we are now outside the EU, but a 500GB data card is available for Euros 15. Yippee - we can work on some photo uploads, so more from Venice, Certosa Marina, Trieste, Istria and some of the northern Dalmation islands are now in the Gallery.

We toyed with the idea of visiting Korcula and Mljet, but again we were put off by the mooring options and so headed for Loviste at the western end of the Peljesac peninsula. This is a small, sleepy village with one shop and a few bars/restaurants but it provided a very large and secure anchorage with good holding and protection. It also provided an unexpected bonus when we found that there was a good hike to be had. Mt Ilja summits at 961 metres and we could get a taxi to the start of the trail near Nakovanj pass, not far from Loviste and this gave us a commencing height of 269 metres. It is a there and back route of 15km partly along a gravelled track, partly though steep and rugged karst, and partly through pine forest. The view from the top is superb. The round trip took us 6 hours including stops – it was very hot but a super hike. We had been advised to watch out for adders and viper but saw none. Highly recommended.

Where next? We have continued to an anchorage at Slano on the mainland, not overly far from Dubrovnik which we visited in 2004 and don’t feel the need to join the crush of visitors. Slano provided a large and safe anchorage – we are in 12.7 metres with 50 metres of chain as the forecast is for light winds only.

Our trip here from Loviste provided us with some of our best sailing in Croatia with a close reach along the Peljesac peninsula past Mljet with a F5/6 … for 17nm, until the nice big black cloud providing the wind dissipated and we were back to motoring for the last 18nm.

Slano is another sleepy village with a couple of shops and restaurants, a marina, an enormous hotel, and remaining evidence of its devastation by Serbian artillery in the 1992-3 war. This will be our jump off for Cavtat and outbound clearance in few days’ time.

Gallery photos when we have better wifi.

Whether it was in our own minds and we were projecting it is hard to say, but we did get the sense that once among these big and popular islands things became just a bit more grasping and frankly we were not particularly desirous of visiting very busy places with superyachts, ferry trippers and wall-to-wall cafes and restaurants. Some places charge for anchoring and that doesn’t sit well with us – clearly buoys need to be paid for, but paying to use your own tackle is a bit of a stretch.

Anyway, we identified good possible free anchoring at Stari Grad on Hvar island. Our first options at Luka Tiha were too busy, so we settled on anchoring to the east of the ferry terminal in 14 metres dropping back to 9 metres with 50 metres of chain. There was some localised wind blowing WNW into the bay but the holding was good and there was not too much wash from passing boats.

We met up with Roxy and Phil on SY SONDER, an American couple that we first met at Krka, and we had a very fun morning in Stari Grad with them and Roxy’s brother and sister-in-law. Roxy and Phil are part of a new breed of younger cruisers – digital nomads – who can work or run businesses remotely as long as they have a good wifi connection. We hope to see them again in Greece and possibly the UK.

Our guidebook says that Stari Grad is “a quieter, more cultured and altogether more sober affair than Hvar Town, its stylish and sybaritic sister. If you’re not after pulsating nightlife and thousands of people crushing each other along the streets, head here”. Yes, Stari Grad is our kind of town, and we had a superb lunch of traditionally cooked fish.

The following day, Sunday, brought a bonus from our anchorage as we were right at the pin end of the start line for a yacht race from Stari Grad. The yachts of varying classes but including some serious racing machines and it was really enjoyable to watch the pre-race manoeuvring and the actual start.

Gallery photos when we have better wifi.