Thursday 6th September 2012

It’s raining and there’s a storm on the horizon, but I have no complaints. Since we’ve been back in Croatia after our visit home and then to Ireland for the wedding of the year (or maybe the century), we’ve been blessed with fantastic conditions, despite a forecast promising doom and gloom.

On our return, half of the region around Split was ablaze! We could smell smoke as we stepped down from the aeroplane and out taxi driver told us that there had been thirty fires that day, most of them started deliberately, and the motorway was closed as the land alongside was still burning. We stayed in Sibenik for a couple of nights, which gave us time to get to the hypermarket and restock before heading out to Potkucina, a now favourite anchorage, to meet fellow sailors from Jersey.

David and Angela were on Minkie, along with their 7 and a half year old, Freddie (he says the half is very important), and had just done a similar trip up to Istria as we did a few months ago. We compared notes and anchorages over a lazy lunch in the sun and then waved them off towards Sibenik where they were due to finish their holiday.

Although we expected things to be quieter on our return, Potkucina was still full, with around 60 buoys all occupied by boats of varying sizes. The water was as we remembered, deliciously warm, and we idled a couple of days away in situ, venturing only as far as the little town of Kaprja on the nearby island of the same name. To our disappointment, the early morning bread run had been discontinued in our absence, so the fresh loaf we so looked forward to was mourned as we tucked into a mundane bowl of cornflakes for breakfast! However, that was the biggest disappointment of our stay, and the sea conditions which had been so lovely remained perfect for our trip down to Trogir to pick up guests.  Approaching the town in dire need of a swim, we found an anchorage just a stone’s throw away and dropped the hook for a short while, just long enough to jump into the sea and cool off before heading into port and tying up for the evening.

Rosie and Em arrived a short while later and, like us, immediately fell in love with this delightful little town. Whilst they went off to explore – and buy sunglasses – I prepared dinner, which we ate in the cockpit whilst watching the world go by.  Trogir was still humming and after dinner we went ashore for a drink, stopping en route to watch the street entertainers and artists all plying their trade along the waterfront.

With the weather forecast suggesting strongish winds and the likelihood of stormy showers, we set sail in the morning, arriving in Palmizana a couple of hours later. The sun was still shining, much to our surprise, enabling us to spend most of the afternoon lying out on deck and just enjoying this unexpected meteorological treat! Instead of dodging the showers, we ended up dining under the stars in Hvar, as (sadly) our favourite restaurant in the region, Zori, was hosting a wedding and unable to offer us a table. Fortunately Gariful provided us with a fabulous dinner in a beautiful setting, so the change of venue was completely painless! That night the moon was spectacular, the second (and therefore “blue moon”) of the month, rising over the ancient town of Hvar and casting an incredibly strong and yet soft light over the terracotta-tiled rooftops.

As the girls were only with us for four nights and the forecast was still iffy, we moved on the following morning, making for another favourite port, Maslinica. Again conditions were better, far better, than expected, the sea was comfortable, the wind behind us completely negated by the wind we were creating, and although we failed to get into an anchorage close to our final destination, where we had hoped to tie up for an hour or two before going into port, it really didn’t matter. Once we were in port and safely attached to land, the dark clouds that had been promised finally materialised and we watched from the comfort of our cabin as other boats came into shelter with the rain teeming down and the crew getting drenched as they moored up.

(Incidentally, on our way to Palmizana, we counted eighty yachts all heading towards the mainland; on our way from Palmizana the following day, at the same time and in similar conditions, we counted four! That’s the difference between 31 August and 1 September in Croatia!)

Dinner at the nearby hotel was excellent, as ever, although for the first time we had to eat indoors. By now the rain had given its all, and so when we finished our meal we wandered along to a nearby café for a nightcap. The last time we were in Maslinica, a male choir had performed on the quayside. This time the members of the same choir were having dinner and obviously enjoying themselves as they spontaneously burst into song between courses! As we were making our way back to Zaffina, they were leaving the restaurant and when we mentioned that we had heard them perform once before, they gave us another impromptu personal performance on the quay! It was a lovely way to finish what had been a great day.

Our final day with Rosie and Em saw us – eventually – at anchor in Drvenik. For some reason, the anchor refused time and again to hold on the seabed. We chose our position, dropped the hook and dropped back expecting it to catch, but it just dragged along the sea floor, allowing us to drift dangerously close to the shore before we pulled it up and tried again. We repeated the process around 10 times before eventually moving into deeper water around the corner, where to our relief, we successfully anchored up for the afternoon. It was worth the effort! Drvenik is a beautiful spot and provided an idyllic backdrop for a day of lazing, swimming, eating and drinking. As the afternoon drew to a close, it was back to Trogir and the anchorage we had discovered a few days earlier. Here the anchor held first time, and once secure, Zaffina sat motionless on a perfectly calm sea. We nipped into town on the dinghy before returning to the boat for dinner and a glorious night at anchor.

The girls were on an early flight, so it was up at 7 the following morning and on our way before 8. We tied up onto the refuelling pontoon and said our goodbyes after their short but fabulous stay with us, waving them off in a taxi before we got down to the serious business of filling the tanks.

With five days before our next visitors were due, we had a vague plan to head back to Hvar, possibly going to Stari Grad and then Palmizana, but en route I suggested that instead we explore the north coast of Brac, an area we had previously by-passed on our way to Hvar. It turned out to be a great decision. After hugging the coastline for a while, we turned up an inlet dominated by a huge quarry, and then nosed into the little town of Pucisca (pronounced Puchishta) where we were about to tie up starboard-to on the wall when I realised that just below the waterline, a rather nasty ledge jutted out! We swiftly moved away and reviewed our position, deciding to try for a spot further in and on the opposite side of the harbour, which proved to be much more suitable – especially when we discovered that our original spot was obviously reserved for ferries and tour boats!

Pucisca was tiny, totally unspoilt and with little commercialism other than a couple of stalls selling artefacts made from the local stone. As we ate dinner in the cockpit, flashes of sheet lightning illuminated the heavens and eventually the rain fell, teeming down as we went to bed. By morning, the storm had completely passed through, and we decided to remain in port for another night in order to get to grips with a host of tasks that needed to be completed on the boat. I changed all the beds and cleaned throughout, working the washing maching on overdrive and hanging a continuous display of sheets, T shirts and bathers along the decks to dry in the sun.

In the afternoon, we wandered along to a tiny, pebbly beach where we swam and sunbathed and tried to pretend that we weren’t English once we’d deduced that most of the other tourists around were – and none of them a day under 75!  We ate at a good restaurant where, surprisingly, we were the only guests and then returned to Zaffina for a nightcap, waving goodnight to the restaurant staff when they passed us five minutes later!

The following morning (yesterday) was grey, which gave me a chance to do my unfavourite chores – hoovering and washing the floors! With a sparkling boat, we debated whether to spend one final night in port, but eventually decided to make a quick hop to a nearby anchorage, which the pilot book claimed was one of the best in Croatia. We are often in disagreement with the views offered by the pilot book but on this occasion they got it bang on! Uvala Luka was stunning, absolutely stunning.  In this trefoil shaped inlet, we chose the middle and deepest creek, where we were pleased to see a number of buoys and one rather nice restaurant. As soon as we approached a buoy, a dinghy shot out from the shore with a marinero to assist us (and take our money), and within moments we were tied up and admiring the stupendous outlook from the anchorage. The sea was oily calm and looking back up the creek, the view was dominated by towering mountains on the mainland, coloured by small towns along the water’s edge, all definition enhanced by the light of a descending sun.

Although we originally intended to dine on board, the restaurant looked too inviting and so we succumbed to temptation and enjoyed a simple but utterly delicious meal of barbequed lamb and French fries!

And that’s why I’m not bothered by the weather today…it has been an exhilarating week, the sea is still calm and now we’re on our way back to Mandalina in readiness for Bob and Janet and Con and Gill who are due to arrive on Saturday.

(ps we outran the storm; the sun has come out again! And so much for there being no boats around now that we're into September...we've never seen so many yachts in such close proximity as we did today!)