Our first few nights in the country were spent in Porto Montenegro, a modern marina where we feel like a little tiddler compared to our superyacht neighbours. The facilities are good here, there's a few restaurants around and the town is within easy walking distance. We didn't want to do anything much to start with, and were both quite happy to stay in port doing chores on Zaffina, visiting the nearby beach and wandering into town for provisions. Shopping in the supermarket involves loads of guesswork, as I really can't understand a word on the labels and it's easy to muddle something like mustard with mayonnaise when it's in a pot with a picture of yellowy sauce on the label! Still, so far so good (pretty much!) Local taste seems to run to very smoky cold meat and I haven't yet managed to find anywhere selling plain old unsmoked ham or even a light parma ham, but it means there's a lot of trial and error going on in the galley. Oh, and they seem to like liquid yoghurt rather than milk.
When eventually we set out to explore, we moved deeper into the fjord, which is utterly stunning. If you've seen adverts for Montenegro, you'll have an idea of what it's like, especially as the first landmark we came across was the tiny island used in all their tourist campaigns, dominated by a large church which is in turn dominated by a sky blue cupola. We dropped the anchor in a bay within spitting distance of this iconic isle and settled down for a glorious afternoon and evening on the hook. The water was as still as glass as the sun went down and as the lights in the nearby towns came on, they were reflected at great length on the motionless sea. We dined by candlelight, hardly believing our good fortune, and a good bottle of wine helped us sleep that night. Just as well really, as the wind came up with a vengeance in the early hours, and the peaceful image of the night before was well and truly shattered by dawn!
By 7am we were on the move, searching for shelter, but it seemed that wherever we went, the wind changed direction and followed us. Our anometer recorded blasts of around 40mph. Eventually we opted for the far corner of the fjord, which seemed less blustery than elsewhere and again put down the anchor. The wind ebbed and flowed throughout the day, sometimes simply not there at all, other times blowing a hooley, rising and falling with no warning whatsoever. By early evening we had had enough, and this time our search for shelter took us into the town of Kotor, where we tied up with relief.
Kotor is a World Heritage Site and you can see why - it's a picturesque, walled town, with tiny winding alleys too narrow for cars, leading to sunlit squares full of restaurants and cafes. We dined well in surroundings which probably hadn't changed in centuries, calamari stuffed with prawns for me, and common sole - although it didn't look that common to us - for Frank, and an ice cream on the way back to the boat.
There was a little market set up in an arcade near the port and the following morning I spent a ridiculous amount on beautiful fresh fruit and veg, discovering later in the day that most of it could be bought for half the price in a nearby supermarket! Still, part of the pleasure was in the selection and purchase...I'm always a sucker for ripe cherries and soft, velvet peaches! We dined out again in the evening, and had the best meal we've had so far in Montenegro at a beautiful restaurant on the quayside opposite the town, looking across at the floodlit walls and castle above.
After two nights in port, we were determined to get back out on the water, and on Monday we again took ourselves off into the fjord, and again found the wind was all over the place. We anchored in the same position as we had previously and this time the wind was dying away rather than coming up, leading to a lovely (and only slightly blowy) night. Things were dead calm when the sun rose, and Frank and I lay on the bow, pouring over the crossword and watching a tiny fishing boat dropping its net nearby. At this point, alarm bells perhaps should have been going off...a few minutes later, as the fishing boat drifted off, so the net drifted towards us, and with a sudden gust of wind, Zaffina and the fishing net were as one. Not a good combination. A furious fisherman returned and started yelling at us - pretty rich as he was the one who had laid the net in such close proximity - and by tugging at the rope, he managed to completely entangle it. We dived beneath the stern to try to release it but to no avail; net and prop were united and no amount of tugging was going to clear the problem. To cut a long story short, a diver was eventually called for, who managed to release the net within minutes, and then, surprise surprise, we were given the bill for his services! Not a good start to the day - we agreed to pay a proportion of the charge and, with a crowd now watching from the quayside, pulled up the anchor and went on our way.
More wind.
Someone said that Montenegro would be the perfect cruising ground if it wasn't for this wind which comes and goes without warning, and I think they were right. We'd hoped to go to Perast, another small and pretty town, but we gave it a miss when we saw the swell nearby, and instead headed into the outer part of this inland sea where we found a fairly sheltered anchorage behind a private island, and here we settled for the rest of the day. A nearby boat was flying the St Helier Yacht Club pennant and turned out to be Lady A, belonging to Tony & Vesna Able whom we had been told were down here (thanks Peter G!)- they left shortly afterwards, but briefly came alongside to say hello en route - they are in Porto Montenegro so we'll meet up soon.
Another near drama later in the evening, when a small yacht chose to drop its anchor in close proximity to Zaffina. We were sure that, at some point, we would drift too close to one another, and sure enough, as the evening drew on and dark descended, we realised that their bow was remarkably near to our stern. They immediately decided that it was our problem (a bit rich as we'd been in position well before they arrived) but they eventually agreed to move and at last we could relax and enjoy what was left of the evening. And finally we had a perfectly still night at sea, which was followed by an early morning skinny dip and a return into Porto Montenegro for work to be done on the outboard.
Just as well, cause that wind's come up, yet again, and it's blowing a gale out there. Anyone would think we had visitors due to arrive tomorrow!
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