We wondered how Lily would get on with living on board. She's only 22 months old, and obviously has no experience of this lifestyle which is second nature to us, but we needn't have worried...she was great! The only place where there was room for her travel cot was in the middle of the saloon, which raised the question of whether or not she'd be happy sleeping in such a strange environment, but there wasn't any problem; if she was tired, she settled happily in there and if she wasn't, she let us know in no uncertain terms!
We decided to take things fairly gently for the week, as Jo wasn't too familiar with the boating life either. After a night in Dubrovnik, we meandered up to nearby Sipan and, after an afternoon in Jakljan, found a lovely, peaceful anchorage nearby for the night. Very conveniently, it had stone bollards for us to tie up to once we'd dropped the anchor, which ensured that we weren't bothered too much by the gentle wind which sprung up.
Our ultimate destination for their visit was Korcula, but we couldn't bypass Mljet without a stop off, and this time we went into the bay near the village where we dropped anchor and again tied up to the shore. It was a lovely position to be in and a quick hop across to one of the restaurants which line the seafront for our dinner. Last time we ate there, the place was full to capacity; this time it was almost empty, but the waiter expressed relief that it was so quiet after, he told us, three months of full houses!
Jo and Tim fell under Korcula's charm, as have all our guests, and we returned to the restaurant at which we'd had breakfast with Christian, Adam, Leonie and Brian a couple of weeks ago. It was just as good for dinner as it had been early in the morning, and Lily kept us entertained long into the evening. This time, however, we didn't follow it with a visit to the cocktail bar on top of the tower! As the weather forecast was a bit iffy, we stayed in port for a couple of night, and had one of the most overcast days we've had for a while, which included a brief shower of rain in the early morning. It was still warm, very warm and very sticky, despite the cloud, which had cleared through by late afternoon. Tim and Jo went out for a dinner a deux whilst Frank and I babysat on board Zaffina.
The next day we went back to an anchorage that has become a favourite, just across from an old monastery and by the channel leading up to Korcula town. Again, conditions were lovely as we whiled away the afternoon, and Frank and I had a fabulous dinghy trip before we left, zipping around some of the tiny islands nearby and deciding which one Christian needs to buy for his shack, his donkey and his bar! Lily got more and more confident in the water during the course of the week, and apart from swimming around in her little pink armbands, her favourite game was pushing either her Daddy or her Papa off the bathing platform and into the sea!
The trip down towards Dubrovnik was slightly bumpier than we've been used to lately, but not too bad. We put the speed up where the sea was a bit rougher and then slowed down again as we reached the shelter of the mainland coast. We had considered going into Sipan again but with the wind in the northeast, there wasn't too much shelter there so we went instead into Luka Zaton, the inlet near Dubrovnik, where we knew we would have an easy night. After an afternoon near the village, we moved deeper into the inlet to get the most protection when the breeze came up again later in the day, but we needn't have bothered; before we took the dinghy ashore for dinner, things had calmed down entirely and the whole inlet was calm for the night.
Tim, Jo and Lily left us on Thursday and, after four weeks of guests, Frank and I were looking forward to a couple of lazy days a deux. We retraced our footsteps up to Jakljan for our first night on our own, and had a lazy dinner under the stars. Frank woke me first thing in the morning (ie before 8am) and insisted that I join him for a swim whilst the water still had that calm sheen which is there before the first breath of wind flits across the sea. It was glorious, and certainly woke me up! After breakfast, we upped the anchor and took Zaffina off to explore the Stonski Canal which was lovely. We meandered up river for about half an hour, past tiny villages, wading birds and elegant villas, to salt pans and walled towns. A restaurateur was eager for us to tie up outside his establishment when we reached Stron but we declined and turned back towards the south, before striking out for Mljet.
We've frequently seen boats in a fabulous anchorage by an islet off Mljet and that was what we were aiming for as we crossed the channel between the mainland and the island. It was free when we got there, so after dropping the anchor, Frank backed Zaffina up towards a little concrete promontory and I swam ashore with the rope, making her fast to one of the bollards provided for that purpose. We were delighted with our position and had a lovely day, going across to the islet and climbing to the top where we enjoyed some sensational views and took loads of photos. In the evening, we went ashore for an extremely average dinner at a little restaurant and then returned to Zaffina for the night.
Frank woke me early in the morning. He'd been up on deck and discovered some droppings there and on the bow. Rat droppings. Horror of horrors, when we looked further, we realised that our nocturnal visitor had managed to get behind the window screens and was, without doubt, now somewhere inside our lovely Zaffina. After a search through the boat, which only showed us more droppings and some half chewed grapes, we upped anchor and returned to Dubrovnik, our romantic days at sea at an abrupt end. Frank managed to get a rat trap and after setting it with some smelly cheese, we booked into a hotel in the city, arranging with Boris, who runs a local chandlery and boat businesses, to check the trap in the morning.
He called the following morning to say no luck - more droppings but no rat. He put out more traps for us and some glue which is used locally in these situations. We booked another night in the hotel! The next day...success! Boris messaged to tell us that the rat had been caught and was now in the cage. Frank was due to go home to Jersey for a few days, but we decided that I should stay another night in the hotel just in case Roland had brought any friends with him when he'd done his trapeze act across the rope. Fortunately, this wasn't the case, and yesterday we had Zaffina thoroughly cleaned, inside and out, before I moved back on board last night. It was a bit spooky coming back alone at 10pm and hoping there wouldn't be any more nasty encounters, but the cleaners had done a fabulous job and, I'm relieved to say, there is no evidence of Mr Rat's visit remaining on board!
I have now ordered some rope shields to prevent any more unwelcome, nocturnal visitors climbing on board and we're determined never to have a repeat of such a nasty experience!
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