Wednesday 1 September 2011

August has gone - how the heck did that happen???
As I write, we're sitting in the marina in Dubrovnik, one set of guests left yesterday (Adrian and Family) another arrives in an hour (Tim and Family) so there really hasn't been much time to get on the computer and write up what we've been up to. Apologies.
As anticipated, we went from Palmazana - I think that's the right spelling this time, but don't quote me - up to Viz, a few miles out to the west. It was one of our slightly bumpier crossings, but then we've got used to the sea being pretty calm since we've been back here, and I can't say it was bad at all. On the southwest point of Viz, we found a nice little bay to anchor in, not the prettiest but it did give good shelter which was as well because there were quiet a few whitecaps on the sea later in the day and we decided to stay there for the night, eating on board and spending the rest of the evening playing charades (with a certain amount of cheating I fear!)
Next day we pottered around the coast of Viz, getting in really close to some of the small caves which indent the rocky shore line and then, when we were a bay or two away from Viz Town, finding a submarine pen hidden from view in an inlet! Frank nosed Zaffina right in, a wierd experience, with the noise of the thrusters echoing round the chamber. After exploring it for a while we went into Viz town itself, on a blisteringly hot afternoon and immediately set out to find some cool drinks - which turned out to be a bit on the wierd side! Christian and Leonie ordered pina colada which turned out to be about half an inch of a yellowy, milky looking liquid in the bottom of a glass and nothing else! Leonie then decided to have a spritzer instead, at which point the waiter brought her a tumbler of white wine and a glass of neat lemon juice! She was not impressed.
In the afternoon, four of us went to a nearby beach where Frank decided to go swimming with his one week old telephone in his pocket. It didn't enjoy the sensation. A group of elderly Croatian ladies were sunbathing near us and suddenly all went for a dip; they swam out a certain distance and once away from the shore, all broke into song together. It was lovely. In the evening, the port was much livelier than it had seemed during the day, with crowds promenading along the seafront but bang on 11pm,everything closed and they all disappeared - much to the changrin of the kids who were hoping for some nightlife!
The next day saw us heading down to Korcula as we'd heard of the sword dancing there and hoped to catch it. It was a beautiful trip, pottering along slowly and hugging the shoreline, and we were lucky to get a berth in the port. Once there,we booked a table at our favourite restaurant, forgetting to check the time of the sword dancing...and of course the two things clashed. Sod the sword dancing, we ate well! After dinner, our guests dragged us off for a drink, choosing a tower set in the walls of the town which had a bar on the roof, and was accessed by various rather dangerous staircases and a rickety wooden ladder! Health and safety would have a field day at home, there nobody cared! We made it up - and, more importantly, down - the ladder but didn't go too mad on the cocktails for fear of falling off the top!
Had a brief shop after breakfast in town the following morning, then back to sea but not very far. We anchored off by a beautiful old monstery, where deer were grazing near the water, and spent half the day just swimming and sunbathing in perfect conditions. Early evening saw us en route down to Mljet, another of our favourite places, where we anchored in a stunning little cove, tying up to the shore and swimming in the sea after dinner, with hundreds of fish following us around.
As Brian had only 9 days with us, we had to keep on heading south, and spent the following night at anchor at Sipan, taking them to another of those restaurants that we've really enjoyed on this trip. This is the one where there are no menus, simply a choice of fish or meat. Brian and Adam had meat, but that turned out to be just the main course, as the first 3 courses were still fish, even for meatlovers! The waiter eventually had to ask us to keep our voices down a little, when our singing after dinner wasn't entirely appreciated by other tourists (why not, I have no idea!)
We dropped Brian off in Cavtat as we made the usual arrangements for checking out of Croatia, then pootled off down the coast to Montenegro. We had told the kids about the yacht club there, with its amazing swimming pool, and I think it lived up to expectations.
The temperature was extremely high, day after day, but I think it peaked when we were in Montenegro. Adam and I went shopping at 9am one morning and before we'd gone more than half a dozen paces, the sweat was pouring off us. Someone said it was knocking on 40 degrees and whether that's true or not, I don't know but it sure felt like it. We were relieved, later in the day, to get out and anchor off a nearby island where we could dive into the water to cool off, and then we all sat in the cockpit watching a small fire on a hillside turn into an enormous blaze as it spread through the dry undergrowth. Eventually a couple of small aeroplanes doused it with great dollops of water and by the time we left, things seemed to be coming under control.
We had a quick spin around the fjord so our guests could see the famous landmark islands with their little churches on them, then, after spying some more fires breaking out on another hillside, we started the trek back up to Croatia where we managed, for the first time, to secure a berth in Cavtat. It wasn't as calm as we'd anticipated, and considering we were in port, we had quite a bumpy night, but it was lovely to be there and, whilst Christian and Leonie went out for a romantic dinner a deux, we had a not so romantic dinner a trois with Adam!
Our last day with my brood was spent at anchor in the inlet near Dubrovnik before we went into port and then into town for the evening, where we had an excellent meal at a restaurant where the boys (inc Frank) all lusted after the manageress who had the longest legs (and shortest skirt) imaginable!
Last Wednesday was turn around day - Christian, Adam and Leonie left, Adrian and his family arrived, all within a couple of hours! We opted to take them in to Dubrovnik for their first night, so they could see this beautiful city, and had a meal in the restaurant overlooking the old port that we had enjoyed a couple of times before. In the morning, we set out to sea, on course for Mljet which immediately turned into a favourite place for everyone. We anchored off again, close to where we had been a couple of nights earlier, and the children spent most of the afternoon and evening in the water. Dinner was a barbeque under the stars, then more swimming before bed - an idyllic day!
We have been incredibly lucky with the sea conditions, and they stayed good as we sailed from Mljet to Lestovo, an island we hadn't visited before. It was very pretty but we decided not to stay there and sailed on to Vis, where we showed our guests the submarine pen - they were as intrigued by it as we had been and impressed that Frank could negotiate Zaffina right inside. We anchored near one of the islands opposite Hvar for the night, then next stop was Palmizana, which was, amazingly, almost empty! We couldn't believe it, and feared that perhaps there was a mighty storm due to pass through and that everyone was taking shelter elsewhere, but that wasn't the case - apparently at the end ofAugust, things drop off for a while because prices are still high so everyone hangs on until Sept and gets a better deal on their holiday! The last time we were here, we'd spotted what looked like a fabulous restaurant on the other side of the island, and made our way there for dinner. It was fab - sitting on the terrace with paper lanterns swung through the trees and swaying in the breeze; the meal was pretty fab too!
The next day, Adrian and I took the dinghy over to Hvar to have a quick spin around the supermarket, as the fridge was looking somewhat depleted! We all went over later in the day, and ended up hiking up to the castle which stands guard over the town - the views were brilliant, although the walk up there in the heat of the day was pretty tiring! After a pizza dinner in the square, we wandered around the town for a while then got a taxi back to our anchorage.
We were debating whether to go back to Korcula with our guests, but everyone wanted to return to Mljet, which had proved to be their favourite spot of the holiday, so we retraced our footsteps south, stopping again at the monastery for a swim break before anchoring close to where we'd been previously at Mljet. It was as gorgeous this time around and a good choice for the night. The children had a great time driving the dinghy round the anchorage and going further afield with Adrian or Frank driving, and we enjoyed another barbeque dinner. Nobody wanted to leave the next day, so we stayed at anchor until the afternoon, when we moved a few miles to Sipan where we again dropped the hook for a swim. As the anchor went down, I noticed something fall into the water - one of the bolts from the anchor release had sheared off and disappeared, so it was rather nerve wracking when the time came to pull the anchor back up. Fortunately it came up ok, but once in place it was clearly not serviceable any longer, so even if we had wanted to anchor again, we were not able to. We drifted back into port at Dubrovnik over a calm sea and after our guests had all had a swim in the marina pool, we went out for a quiet last night at a small restaurant nearby.
And then suddenly it was quiet again! Adrian, Michael, Dominic, Howie and Chantelle departed yesterday morning so we spent the remainder of yesterday and this morning cleaning Zaffina in readiness for Tim, Jo and Lily who arrive shortly. Last night we met up with Ed Bailhache and Kath who are touring Europe, and had dinner together in Dubrovnik - another lovely evening. And that's about it really!