Advertisement
The Bora in action
The N.E winds are called Bora's, can get up to 40 knots in quick time.Dobra Utero (Good morning) from Vbroska on the island of Hvar
Fortunate for us, we have been able to find some more internet connection relatively quickly compared to our previous island hideaways. We are now tucked in nice and secure against the town wharf of a little village called Vbroska which is on the north side of the Island of Hvar.
As the regular blog readers know, we last blogged from Korcula Old Town and were making plans to leave the next day being the 26th of April. There were murmurings amongst the crew that another day in Korcula might be in order so we decided to let Mother Nature take her course and see what the actual visible weather and weather forecasts brought in the morning.
We awoke to a howling north easter and decided that it wasn’t going to be any fun going out to play in that and we decided we could spend another day roaming around this beautiful old town. We caught up for morning tea with yet another delightful British couple, Ken and Biddie who were sailing their way down to Greece (think I mentioned them in the previous blog) and went back
Coffee shop and cocktail bar Korcula
The idea of living and working here had a huge appeal but as a 2 bed aptment in the old town, no views was $1m the price of this place by the water was not going to be cheap! into the town and wandered about. Layni had been doing a tad of pestering all trip for paper to draw on and make outfits for her babies (her Bratz dolls), so time came for A4 overload and we bought a ream of copy paper for her; 500 pages should do the trick I suspect!!!.
We had lunch on board and we went over to a basketball half court that Debs and Nik had found the day before and played a bit of 2 on 2, 1 on 1 and whatever else you call 4 people trying to play basketball with one ring and a very light plastic soccer ball being used a basketball. Layni is very keen to get back into her basketball when we return. A bit of a walk around the foreshores led us back to the boat and drinks with the Canadian’s on board the boat next door. Drinks led to Pizza in town and after that the Sparkes' headed for a bar that is built into one of the town fortress wall towers.
We met up with a young Aussie couple, Glen and Sharnie who were on their honeymoon from Melbourne and were having
a hoot of a time with the cocktails from the bar and their time in Croatia in general. They were island hopping using the local ferry system and staying in our equivalent of B & B’s which are scattered very liberally around most of the towns and villages in the islands. They were a great young couple and we spent an hour of so chatting with them.
The top of the tower is 'open-air' and has tables and chairs where you can view the night sky and lights of the town and surrounding areas and I would suspect the views in the day would be pretty specky. Evidently in the summer the whole top section is taken up with tourists with every table, chair and piece of ground covered with tourist butts. Getting up to the top of the tower is a bit of hoot as you have to climb up a pretty long and steep ladder. Alright going up but a bit of a trap for young players coming down after a few cocktails I suspect.
The house rules were that you had to be 15 and over to go up the ladder and try as much
as we could, there was no way that law abiding Layni was going up that ladder, not so much for even a peek was she going to head towards the stars. The compensation was made up with a couple of mocktails while we chatted incessantly with Glen and Sharnie, Deb and Nikki’s interest developed particularly strongly when Sharnie told them about the thickest and best hot chocolates at the Hotel Adrianna at Hvar Town where we were next heading: I got the impression the girls were ready to up anchor there and then and take off they sounded so good.
We headed back to our little floating home and bunkered down, hoping for a reasonably early start out the next morning. The weather forecast was looking pretty good. Woke up to sunshine and light winds and Debs and I readied the boat while the girls slept. We said our goodbyes to our port and starboard side neighbours and motored out of the marina and put up a full set of sails and sailed away blissfully, up along the channel between Korcula and Hvar Islands.
The winds weren’t very strong to say the least and we had a really
nice easy sail allowing the girls to have a bit of a sleep in. The wind direction from the north east meant we could set and forget our course to Hvar and sit back and take in the scenery. I think the hot choccies were first and foremost in the minds of a couple of crew members at least.
The winds started to pick up a bit and then shifted around to the north west which meant it was right on the nose and we started our long tacking process, all the while marvelling at the number of yachts heading our way from Hvar. We had never seen so many yachts and later found out that Hvar is a major destination from the charter bases in Split. The wind picked up further so we put our first reef in at about 15 knots and were still making good way. As the winds over here tend to do, it wasn’t long before we had the second reef in. The winds had climbed to 20 knots and were not looking like they were going to settle down at all. We tend to reef earlier than a lot of boats, mainly due
to the massive size of the mainsail.
The wind went to 25 and we calculated that we would have at least another five hours of windward sailing if we wanted to make Hvar and as it was already about 5.00pm we decided to head for a little island called Scedro which, in our trusty book, looked to have a nice safe and calm little anchorage away from the north westerlies. By this time the wind had strengthened further and we had partially furled the head sail. Having said that, the boat was sailing a treat and we were getting high 8’s and low 9’s of boat speed. We turned about and sailed downwind back a mile or so to Scedro and had a ball partially surfing along with the following sea and strong tail wind with the boat ticking over nicely over 10knots.
We got into the bay and ended up picking up one of five moorings that had been laid by the little restaurant come local fishing base and spent the afternoon kicking back in the remaining sunshine and watching the procession of other yachts following the same sail plan that we had and taking up the
Tower cocktail bar
where we met Glen and Sharnie rest of the moorings and anchoring where they could. No wonder the bay is so popular, it is protected from basically all wind directions and it just a picture perfect little setting.
We had bought some meat and a leg of lamb in Korcula and we thought that the afternoon was very suitable for a nice roast leg of lamb so we set about cooking our first on board roast, baked veg and a big plate of char grilled vegetables. This might sound a tad boring to some but I can assure you, being able to cook a roast dinner on board the boat was a major cause for celebration amongst all the crew. Needless to say the meal was great and we demolished enough food to feed two boat loads.
We woke up the following morning and got our radio weather reports and all looked good for our passage onwards to Hvar, home of the famous hot choccies. The kids slept on and Debs and I had brekkie and readied the boat and headed out of our little piece of paradise, dodging the restaurant owners fishing nets that had been laid near the moorings: certainly didn’t want
to get our prop fouled and did not want to upset our host who had provided such a great place to stay for the night.
The morning was one to die for, not a cloud in the sky and a gentle north east wind blowing and as we were heading west north west, it could not have been a better start to the day. There had been a bit of a funny noise coming from the instrument panel and the water cooling system warning light was starting to flash occasionally. We still had plenty of water coming out of the exhaust system but we thought that it was time to get it checked when we got to our next port.
As luck would have it, we basically sailed all the way to Hvar and Debs took the helm for most of the way, totally enjoying the very pleasant reach along the coastline of Hvar. We had been warned that Hvar Harbour was pretty popular and pretty busy (a bit of an understatement) from the guide and pilot books and helpful advice from fellow boaties.
We had a bit of a look around and as we couldn't get
a place on the town wall and could only have anchored in the harbour, we opted to head over to the ACI Marina on a nearby small island, to see about our little mechanical problem. Speaking to the mechanics by phone and analysing the boat left them in no doubt that everything was ok. I am still not convinced it is and we are keeping a close check on things. The ACI Marina is about two miles from Hvar Harbour and you can either take your own boat back to the harbour and try and find a berth or take the water taxi over for $12.50 one way per person.
Not wanting to blow a lazy hundred for a couple of hours in the town, we opted to take our boat back and see if the girls could find those infamous hot drinks they had been salivating about for the past 36 odd hours. So back into the harbour we went and were fortunate enough to find a space to drop the pick away from all the old moorings that litter the seabed in the inner harbour. It is a complete trap for young players as yacht after yacht
got hooked up on the old concrete blocks and spent about half an hour each getting free.
It provided a bit of comic relief for me as I stayed on the boat while the girls went ashore for some.... need I say it! They had smiles a mile wide when they came back to the boat proclaiming they were not only the best but also the biggest hot choccies they had all trip. The girls had theirs on the harbour level terrace but found out later they also served them on the 4th floor of the hotel which afforded stunning views over the harbour and old town. The girls went exploring and found that same floor had a fabulous and huge indoor pool. To top it all of, the hot choccies only cost about $3.00 each, wherever you enjoyed them!!!
After the girls rowed the tender back to the boat Debs and I went back to shore so I could have a bit of a look around as well as doing a bit of grocery shopping. Once that was finished the weather was still good for the anchoring situation so we decided the girls should take Dad ashore
so he could check out the fabulous hotel!! Especially the heated indoor pool that Layni was doing cartwheels about. The trip to shore was a bit hysterical with the four of us our quite small tender with Nik and Deb paddling us there. (It was the first time this trip that an outboard for the tender could have come in handy!) I have to say, the views from the top of the hotel were brilliant and it was a stunning place to have afternoon tea, well afternoon coffee actually and yes you guessed it, the girls went for another of those hot, thick, sweet, gooey, chocolatey delicacies.
Layni was desperate to go for a swim and was working out every which way but loose to try and convince me to book a room for the night so she and Nik could spend some time in the pool. Have to admit it looked pretty stunning but as the rooms started at 800.00AUD a night, it wasn't going to be this trip that a room was going to be taken at the Hotel Adriana!!!
A couple of inquiries with the waiter directed us to the 3rd floor day spa area
where we were told that a full day pass to the pool and spa facilities was going to be 75 Kuna per person which equates to around about $17.00. You could almost see Layni bursting with uncontrollable excitement at the prospect of diving into kid heaven the next day.
We made our way back to the boat and back to the marina with Layni explaining what good value it was and every other conceivable reason why we should stay another day and she and Nik could go to the pool. We got back to the marina and decided to head over the hill to the next little bay where we found a couple of restaurants / bars overlooking the bay and had a couple of beers watching the sun go down. Must have caught Debs and I at a weak moment because we agreed to send the kids to the hotel the next day while we did some sightseeing: As if we could have refused!!
We ended up having a bite to eat at the restaurant which was a really cool place. It is a brilliant little anchorage for visiting yachts and the food was really fresh, dining
on a type of fresh artichoke stew for want of a better word, I can assure you it tasted far better than my description of it. The table next to us was a group of Germans and they were treated to a wide array of the freshest seafood you could ask for. The restaurateur went down to the little fishing boat that just pulled in and came back with a tub of fish, lobsters and crabs that were still kicking.
We watched them being grilled over the open coals and I have to say, made the old artichoke stew pale into insignificance. One of the things that interested me was they hold the old red rock cod, a fish we throw back in disgust, in very high esteem over here. They clean it and skin it and then splay it open and grill it over the hot coals. It looked and smelled fantastic so Mitch and Baz it might be time to change our fishing habits and hold back a couple of those pesky little buggers and try them out.
The weather forecast for a bleak, cold and wet day turned true and we knew it would be
a perfect day for the kids to spend indoors in the pool. They were up and ready in no time and we opted to take the water taxi in and have the day free of worry about the boat in the harbour. It is total chaos in the inner harbour and I am sure that a lot of boats come off second best in the hustle and bustle of boat madness.
The trip in was Layni’s first real trip in a ‘speedboat’ and that was worth the admission price alone, she was bursting with excitement with the boat ride and with anticipation of the day that lay ahead.
Well she and Nik were not to be disappointed. After having morno’s while we waited for the spa to open at 11.00am, the girls were ushered into the inner sanctum where they were supplied with robes, special rubber thongs, their own key card to their locker, private showers with all the accessories, and big fluffy towels. Debs came out of the inner sanctum to tell me the girls were literally jumping up and down on the one spot they were so excited.
So up we went to the pool
Hotel Adriana
thirsty crew on the way area which was all centrally heated. They took control of a huge day bed, laying back like lady muck, taking it all in. Layni dropped one of her classics, saying, “I feel so rich and glamorous” Thank god for the walking A.T.M. Debs and I left them in heaven and went for a walk around the town and up to the old fortress on the hill. We met some Aussie who were sailing with some relatives from the Netherlands on the way up and they were berthed near us at the Marina so after a bit of chat with them we continued on our merry way, doing the tourist thing.
One of the many things that I have taken to over here is the local grappa. They make it in all different types and one or two with an evening (or morning!!) coffee goes down very nicely! We found a nice big wine cellar in Hvar and opted to buy a bottle of grappa, purely for medicinal and souvenir purposes of course.
When we arrived back from doing our touristy thing the girls had just had delivered to them two hot chocolates, but this time served in a
high cocktail type glasses topped with whipped cream!!! We were able to finally, with the aid of crowbars, prise the girls from their girly heaven base for the day. Evidently the private showers with all the trimmings and hair dryers got a real work out and the girls were literally shimmering when they emerged from the Spa Centre. They had the best day imaginable, ordering drinks from the bar and sitting up on their day bed. Total decadence is how I think you would describe it and I think one that will sit in their memory banks for some time to come.
When we got back to the Marina we met up with the Aussie and the dutchies and made some tentative plans for the next day’s passage. We had planned to go around the Island of Hvar and take up an anchorage in a nice little bay with options of stopping at Star Grad, Vbroska and Jelsa along the way, depending on the weather.
We left the following morning with the weather supposedly easing and we and the other boat thought that we both might head to Stari Grad. Mark, the skipper is a yacht designer and
he and his girl friend are both very avid sailors and I think there was a tad of unspoken race speak when we realised we were heading for the same destination around the same time. There seemed to be a bit of a rush from the crews to make way and we headed out of the marina at the same time.
They got a good start having a furling mainsail and headsail and were underway in no time flat. They had a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 37 that didn’t have a very big mainsail but they did have a very big genoa to help push the boat along.
Being the non competitive sporty types, we opted to reduce our mainsail area and put a reef in and thought that Mark and his crew would wait around for a decent scratch start, bull#@^&, they were off and racing as quick as they could and by the time we got organised and tended to some needs of the girls they were about a kilometre ahead of us. They were sailing downwind in pretty light conditions to start, with full everything. I think I even saw a couple of towels being held
Found them - Hotel Adriana
at least Layni was health conscious and had a kiwi fruit smoothie aloft by the crew trying to squeeze as big a lead as possible!!
We ended up having a brilliant sail / race for about three hours in really good conditions and we caught up to them and sailed passed with the self tacking headsail proving to be a very useful addition to our boat. We both went into Stari Grad and berthed up to the town wall. We had a walk around the V.O.T.B.T.S.S. and decided that we wouldn’t stay the night and would keep pushing around to the other side of the island.
We said our goodbyes as they were staying the night and we sailed for about another four hours making a bit of a piggy out of myself in the perfect sailing conditions. All in all we had sailed about 50 miles for the day and it was time for a beer so we opted to head into Vbroska and hook up to the town wharf. Vbroska is called ‘little Venice’ as there are a number of small stone bridges criss crossing the harbour evidently.
We berthed up next to an RYA Sailing School boat and ended up having a beer with the Skipper,
a guy called Dave who is a Brit but lives in France. Now talk about a dream job, he works from April to October, taking out Competent Crew and Day Skipper students for a week at a time, cruising and schooling around the islands of central Dalmatia. He works three weeks at a time and has two weeks off, ducks back to France, sees his wife and then comes back again for three more weeks of hell on water (as if!!) Where do I sign up??????
We went into the town and had the biggest and best pizzas so far, jug of the local red and back to the boat for some coffee and Alsy’s medicine A.K.A Croatian Travarica (grappa). We had already made plans to stay here for next day and when we woke up this morning the S.E wind called the Jugo is thumping down the harbour.
We are going to have a walk around the town, hire some bikes and ride over to another village about an hour away and have a land based day. Will tell you more about it in the next blog.
Till then, blog ya later
Alsy
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 12; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0279s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 3;
; mem: 1.2mb
