Hello Montenegro
18 September 2022
Phil Heaton
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.