Budva, Montenegro

28 - 30 August

After completing our formalities in Bar we headed over over to Budva the next day. Budva is a holiday resort town about 17 miles nothwest of Bar.

On arrival we anchored in the bay to the North east of the marina. In the evening we set up Quack Quack and negotiated our way to the quay where we jemmied her in between some of the local boats.

We had a quick walk around and ended up in the old town, so named Strari Grad. It is absolutely beautiful, narrow streets abound with all manner of shops. We spent the next day wandering around the fort and the Citadel. If you ever go to Budva, it should be on your "to do" list.

Talking about the next day, as we took Quack Quack into the quay two marina guys on their RIB approached us. They were really polite, but told us that in order to tie off Quack Quack we would have to pay the marina 20 Euros. We were flabbergasted. We have never had to do this anywhere. Usually little towns encourage people to come and spend money. As it turned out the quay is controlled by the marina, and I'm wondering wether it is part of a move to protect the numerous taxi boats that frequent the area.

Anyway, we turned around quite upset, and could not believe that you have to pay to go ashore. As we headed back to Stella, they two guys followed us and organised a ride to get us back into town. They were clearly only enforcing this unreasonable rule.

If you look a bit closer at the dynamics of many of these small towns, it is obvious that they rely on about three months of the year for tourist income. After that, takings are very skinny, if at all. During the tourist season, they milk it for all it's worth, but the fee for tying up a tender is a bit ridiculous in our view.

Budva is great, but the only downside is the party scene at night. Now we are showing our age...The discos on the beach are the loudest we've ever heard. One thing though, at 2am, they finish. They must be subject to some sort of curfew.

One night we went out for tea, and we took Quack Quack. The quay on which the restaurant was privately owned, so we asked if we could tie up and have dinner. No problem, and get this, the waiters were dressed in nautical uniforms with epaulettes and all, and a full meal and bottle of wine was only 30 Euros...

During the night a cold front slipped through, some thunder and rain, but nothing much. The bora built over night a bit, but eased the next day. The bay we anchored in affords good all round protection.