Tuesday 29th May

Our trip last week from Palmizana up to Split was lovely, a leisurely potter over a calm sea and then a bit of exploration before striking out for our destination. On Brac we made a delightful discovery, the town of Milna which is up a long creek and features two marinas - a definite destination for future trips. We also checked out a couple of places on the island of Solta and stopped for lunch in a lovely anchorage, again likely to be useful later in the summer when we want somewhere sheltered to stop overnight in easy spitting distance of Split. On arrival in Split, we were directed to a berth on the outside of the marina breakwater - not great, as there was quite a swell coming straight in towards us and a forecast that promised a real blow overnight. We asked the Marineros if there was space on the inside but were told that nothing was available so we tied up as directed and as soon as we were made fast we went up to the marina office and repeated out request. Five minutes later, we were moving to the inside and a sheltered position between two other boats - what a relief! Another boat, which was unable to move in, spent a pretty ghastly night rocking and rolling on the swell as we watched from the comfort of our new berth. We took a water taxi trip over to Split Town (the marina is a short distance but a long walk away)for dinner on Monday and then Frank flew back to Jersey on Tuesday, leaving me to explore at leisure. Unfortunately it rained all day on Tuesday, thus reducing my shopping time by a full day...but I made up for it on Wednesday! Split has an amazing number of shoe shops, competing even with Gijon in Spain which, until now, I thought was the shoe centre of the world! And I think I checked out most of them on Wednesday, although I may have missed one or two! On Thursday I went for a walk along the coast and found a pretty little beach where I thought I'd stop for lunch at a beach cafe; it turned out to be a bar and didn't serve food so after a largeish beer, I had a woozy half hour on the beach before the appearance of a few dark clouds prompted me to make my way back to Zaffina. My chore on Friday morning, prior to Frank's return, was to get over to Split Town again and do a massive restock at the fantastic green market - the array of fruit and veg was stunning with dozens and dozens of stalls, large and small, offering beautiful, fresh local produce. A quick visit to the excellent fish market for langoustines and prawns completed by shop and I was back in the marina for Frank's arrival at 10.30. We celebrated with a very good meal at the marina restaurant that evening, but the wine, which had quite a spirity flavour to it, may have been stronger than we realised because the following morning neither of us could remember much about our return to the boat (in fact, I had to ask Frank whether we'd had dessert or not as I could recall ordering something but have no recollection whatsoever of eating it!) Our first guests of the season, Tim and Annabel and Charles and Liz, arrived late on Saturday evening, by which time the wind was up again and rain falling, so we put down the covers and had a late dinner in the snug of the cockpit. Fortunately things looked a little brighter in the morning, but with an unsettled forecast for the ahead we decided not to hang about in Split but to head straight out to the islands. We went across to Brac and followed the coast around before striking out across to the north coast of Hvar and a marina that Frank had read about in the pilot books - it turned out to be lovely, well up a winding creek at a little town called Vrboska which, due to the fact that is has two small bridges, is apparently the Venice of Hvar!! (Not quite.) Sunbathing was a bit of a chilly experience that afternoon due to the wind, and eventually we gave up and went for a long walk along the coast which was thoroughly enjoyable. On the way back, I opted to go ahead and prepare dinner whilst the others stopped for a drink at a cafe en route. Frank and Annabel each ordered a glass of white wine but the waiter brought them red instead. When they pointed out the error, he just said "you wouldn't want to taste the white, believe me." As it happened, they didn't really want to taste the red either, it was so disgusting! After a quick visit to the only fortified church in Europe, we left Vrboska yesterday morning and made a leisurely journey around the coast of Hvar back to Palmizana. The sun came out, the wind dropped and all spent a happy afternoon relaxing on Zaffina. Tim, Frank and I took our first swims of the year and hearing out positive comments about the state of the water, Charles jumped in to join us. In his opinion, it wasn't warm enough to justify the sudden immersion! After a quick trip into Hvar Town last evening, we came back to the island and went for an excellent dinner at a restaurant on the opposite side to the marina, where the waiter, surprisingly, remembered us from last year! And now we're waiting for Tim to go and buy some bread for breakfast and Frank and Charlie to return from Hvar where they've gone to complete some paperwork, and then we're heading north to one of the national parks which, apparently, features some beautiful waterfalls. Life is pretty good!