Retracing Our Path
05 April 2017
We left Cres after paying our fine, on a clear and windless morning. I had hoped for a nice following wind to push us through the inside passage, so had to settle for the drone of the engine instead. We put in a long day and arrived at the town of Krk. I had planned to anchor, but was now a little gun-shy about dropping the hook. Being a repeat offender in Croatia did not appeal to me at all.
So instead, we went into the marina at Punat nearby and tied up for the night. As most of the other towns on the Croatian coast, they haven't unrolled the sidewalks for the summer yet. Largely deserted towns, which has some advantages, such as no crowds. The disadvantage is that nothing is open, not even the churches and museums we came to see. At least the cafes and bakeries are open!
We headed next to Rab, which is a really cool medieval town built on a narrow point. Tracy and I got taxied ashore by Colin, and we had a nice walk around and through the town. Lots of activity as the buildings are cleaned, shops are stocked, and the sidewalks returned. Nice anchorage, too.
Our path continued south, and we got comfortable anchoring again in the small bays along the way. We eventually needed a shower and laundry fix, so headed to Sibenik for a couple of days. If you read our trip up to Skraden Falls, and the stop at the mussel farm along the way, that is where Sibenik is located. We couldn't pass up getting another batch of mussels, which we enjoyed once we got to the dock at the marina.
Sibenik was as good spot to get some chores done, see a really cool castle, and watch Wolverine. First film I've seen in quite a while. Refreshed with clean clothes, we continued our way south. The next stop was anchoring in Split. We just had to go back to get the boys mixed grill at the marina restaurant. I think that may be the only thing that they remember about Croatia. It was tasty!
After a solid week of no wind and calm seas, the high-pressure system is dissipating, and we are still in bora country. We sought shelter in the small town of Vrboska, and stayed a couple of days while the winds whipped the seas into a frenzy. Beautiful Croatian town. Also, almost completely locked up for the winter. We took advantage of the dockside time to get some much-needed varnishing done.
The bora blew itself out eventually, and we continued, planning to stop in Korcula for the night. This was one of the anchorages where everyone played bumper boats throughout the night, when we were here last summer. Go figure that we were now the only ones at anchor here now. For the last couple of hours of the transit, we had great wind and sailed right down the channel in front of the town. We expertly furled the Genoa, and then came about with just the mainsail. Nicely executed! All except the part where the mainsail ripped at the upper batten. Crap! Quickly come into the wind, drop the sail, start the motor, and head to the anchorage.
What a bad time to rip the mainsail! Is there really a good time to do this?? Wondering if we can get it repaired before the long transit south from Croatia, I called a local shop in Dubrovnik. Sounds like a possibility, so the next morning, we headed to the marina at Dubrovnik. Our sail savior is Zarko, a local sailmaker and fellow sailor. (Yes, great name!). We drop the sail at a dock in front of his shop, and continue up the river to the marina for the night.
One of the items noted in the marina guide is that there is a place to refill our propane tanks. We have been using the Italian bottle tied on deck to fuel the stove for the past month, and we're really hoping to fill our two empties before that one ran out.
I ask the dock guy about propane, and he volunteers to take me over after we get settled in at the dock. I find him a bit later, and armed with my two propane cylinders (like the kind for your BBQ grill), he presents his scooter as our transportation. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the two of us on his scooter, with a propane tank under each arm, headed down the road. So much for safety first. At least we were wearing helmets, though I don't know how much that would have helped if we crashed and the propane exploded.
But I did get the propane tanks refilled. Major score!
We headed back downriver the next morning, and Zarko brought our mainsail back from his shop. He did a really nice job on the repair. You can hardly see the patch, though he did tell me that I really need to get that replaced. I'll work on that next.
We cleared out of Croatia next, and headed south to Montenegro. We had a nice following wind for a short while, so we hoisted Big Red in front of the walled city of Dubrovnik. Very nice!
Short lived wind, so soon we were back to the iron Ginny as we pushed on to the Bay of Kotor. This is one of the most beautiful spots on the coast, and it would have been great to spend some more time here. We spent a windy night at anchor behind the islands with the abandoned Club Med. The boys had explored this place the last time we were here, and we knew it was a good spot for a windy night. We had the place to ourselves, with even the crazy hermit Nicholas gone for the season.
The next morning, we were up early and headed out of the Bay to get to Bar. I've been watching the weather carefully, and it is looking like we may get a north wind in a couple of days, that we could ride south all the way to Corfu. So, getting to Bar to await that change is my main motivation to keep moving. We managed to sail for a bit on this leg, and Zarko's repair job held up just fine.
We coasted into Bar, and checked into the marina for what I expected to be a couple of days. In the meantime, we got some more laundry done, and stocked up on food for the transit south. Things are just starting to get organized here for the spring charter season, so there were several boats checking in and out. We will wait until Monday, when the wind shifts, and ride like a sled south to Corfu. Looking forward to a quick overnight transit.