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Air Volleyball,
On the road from Vbroska to Jelsa, Island of HvarBlogging from Split 5 May 2008
Hello everyone, we are currently in the ACI Marina in Split Harbour having arrived here yesterday afternoon. Taking up from our last blog, we bunkered down in Vbroska for the morning and inquired about hiring some bikes from our mate the Harbourmaster who the cruising guide advised was the friendliest and most helpful harbourmaster in all of Croatia - the guide wasn’t wrong.
Nothing was a problem to him and shortly after, the bike shop owner arrived at the boat and 4 high quality mountain bikes were ours from 12 noon to 8.00pm for 40 Kuna each (about $10.00). We loaded up the back pack with some water, bananas and choc chip biscuits then after a couple of practice circuits around the road near the boat, we headed off.
The mainly single lane road follows the coastline from Vbroska to Jelsa and beyond. The wind was still blowing quite hard and on the way to Jelsa it was in our face but of course we took the benefit of a tail wind on our return trip. The trip around was really nice as the coastline, like in all Croatia, is really stunning.
Winner!!
On the road from Vbroska to Jelsa, Island of Hvar There were quite a lot of homes that fronted the coastline and as most of them were locked up we thought they were holiday homes that would soon be opened up, aired out and used extensively for the next three or four months of so.
Half way around we stopped to take in the view, have a drink and catch our breath: well we had ridden at least 3 kilometres by this stage!!. Where we stopped there was a type of volleyball court overlooking the sea so Layni thought a game of air volleyball was in order so we adopted the ‘who gives a damn how crazy we look’ attitude and played a couple of games of volleyball sans the ball. Through sheer skill and brilliance Layni and I were able to beat Debs and Nik and I think the tactical aspect of our play got us over the line. That, and the speed at which we were able to call our point of course!!!
We continued on and for Debs and I it was just the best feeling being back on the bikes in a foreign country again, bringing back very strong and passionate feelings of bike
trips long past. We arrived into Jelsa and rode around the harbour into the main part of the village and headed to the closest coffee and ice cream shop. There were a couple in very close proximity to each other, and they both proudly displayed photographs of their ice cream creations from very fancy looking cocktail style drinks to plates of what looked like spaghetti and tomato sauce.
We chose the one in the best position of sunshine and settled back for a nice simple coffee while the girls were spoilt (again) with a treat and Layni chose her pineapple splendour while Nik got her head around ice cream spaghetti. They were bloody good value at about $7.00 each when you considered how much was in them.
The village was very busy that day with a lot of tourists making the trip over from Hvar town to have a wander around. Jelsa has a quite large and open harbour compared to Vbroska and whilst it would be a very nice place to berth up to for a night or two, we were happy with our choice of the place they call ‘Little Venice’ and it’s effervescent harbourmaster.
After our early afternoon tea we took to the bikes and rode further along the coastline until we came to a literal dead end - the town cemetery. Back to town and in and out the tiny streets led us to a playground where Layni took great delight in putting Debs through her sea swell paces. She had Debs on one end of a coiled spring see-saw and she was bouncing up and down on the other, playing pretend trips at sea, going from very calm to of course, very rough. Being the practicing psychologists, Layne was encouraging Debs all the way: the phrase, ‘face your fears Mum’ was one that was often used!! Apart from the rough ride Layne was giving Debs, I think she was in more danger of falling off from all of the side-splitting laughter!!!!
After having a hoot of a time in the playground it was time to head back to Vbroska and have a bit more of a ride around that area. The trip back was nice and easy with the nice sea breeze from our stern and we were back in no time. Nearly time for Debs to make use of the
nice ice cream shop that was right in front of where our boat was berthed: Debs sure can pick a mooring!
The kids decided to have a bit of time out from the riding and Debs and I continued on riding around the northern part of the very long and narrow harbour that leads into Vbroska. The road quickly becomes a bike/pedestrian path and it winds its way along the coast and through the quite thick forested area: an absolutely brilliant area to cycle.
We arrived at one of the Island ‘beaches’, a word they use very, very liberally. I think beach in Croatia translates to sea meeting big flat rocks. This beach was a little different though in that as we took to the walking path it became very obvious that clothes and swimming costumes were very much an option in this part of the Island.
Over yonder we spotted a number of campervans set up in a camping area and being old camp site aficionados we jumped on the bikes and rode up the hill to check it out. Well surprise, surprise, this camp ground was a special camp ground wasn’t it and the sign
said it all, ‘Camp Nudist Vbroska’. The whole campground was designed for those travelling in their campervans to ditch their inhibitions and their clothes and head into Nudist heaven, as the setting was quite stunning.
I don’t think it had actually opened properly for the start of the season and from the main gate we could see that a number of the residents were not obeying the rules and were out sunning themselves in their nice new swimmers. Opportunity was knocking to check the place out so we rode in and had a look around before deciding it was time to obey the rules and really try out this lifestyle. Well, as they say, when in Rome!!! Now that I am 50 I thought it really was time to break out and let the hair down!!!
If the truth be known, we were locked out by the gate attendant and sent on our merry way because I think he realised that we did not have our tent and camping gear hidden under our seats and would not be staying the night.
Back to Vbroska and now it was time for ‘arvos’: coffee, grappa for moi and ice
cream for Debsy and Layni. Nik and Debs decided to go for a bit more of a ride after that. They went out along the road this time but ended up again at the Nudist camp!! Much to Nik’s horror but luckily as it was getting a lot later in the afternoon she wasn’t faced with any naked bodies!!! Our day on the bikes, the sunshine and the total experience, was simply fantastic.
Dinner time was approaching so I did the right thing and cooked up a big plate of steam veg and grilled chicken. After all the riding we had done the old appetites were in top gear and we sat out on the back of the boat and had dinner al fresco. Our harbour master came along and told us that a friend of his has a little wine bar that she was opening that night and we were invited along to try some local wine and cheese and a local speciality that got Debs mouth watering (not) - anchovies. Unfortunately by the time we had finished dinner, got cleaned up and got the girls settled, the little bar had closed so we opted for a night
Its called Spaghetti Icecream
It tasted far better than it looked cap in one of the local cafes.
The next day we decided to head for the Island of Brac and made use of the brilliant sailing conditions. We more or less headed due north up to the town of Bol and its very famous ‘beach’ Dugi Rat’ which is plastered over most of the tourist guide book covers and posters for Croatia.
We decided not to anchor off the beach, partly as the wind was starting to pick up but also because we are really so spoilt with beautiful beaches in our part of the world. Had it been warm enough to jump off the back of the boat and swim ashore we might have decided differently. Our afternoon passage plans then became our focus.
We continued up along the south coast of Brac, hoping to be able to anchor in a small bay and take the hour long walk up to a place called the Hermitage, an old stone complex that used to afford protection to the locals from the ravages of the invading pirates who used to frequent the area. No wonder they all started running for their lives when we hoisted our jolly roger
and I donned the pirate hat and eye patch!!
Unfortunately the strong winds blowing into the bay did not make for a safe anchorage and we sailed past and headed for our night’s destination, a place called Uvala Lucice. We had varying winds, going from full main, to one reef, then to two reefs, back to one reef and then back to full main and then just to the motor and main. It certainly kept the crew busy!!
We picked up a mooring in the bay and settled back for the afternoon. The bay was very protected from the winds although a bit rolly with the north west swell bouncing off the headlands. The water temperature had risen to a very sultry 17’C and Nikki took the plunge and went for a couple of very quick dips while Alayna stayed on deck, ready for a dip but just not able to take the plunge!!! . I grabbed a mattress from down below and as the sun set, had a little nana nap. Much to my delight Nikki organised dinner - with a bit of assistance from Layni.
Woke up to old mate from the shoreline knocking on
the boat asking for his 100 Kuna mooring fee which we did not realise we had to pay until we checked in the cruising guide. It appeared there are no shoreline facilities but we did not object to paying the fee as a whole lot of work has to go into placing and maintaining the moorings. He also took your rubbish away and he would deliver fresh bread and newspapers in the morning.
We’d already organised fresh bread that morning from Vbroska and we assumed the Sydney Morning Herald wasn’t one of the papers offered so we just thrust a bag of rubbish into his hands! Not a bad little earner for old mate though as there were about 20 moorings in the bay that would be absolutely ‘chocka’ for all of the high season and pretty well used during other times.
The next morning we had hoped to sail back to the hermitage and apologise to the locals for our terrible indiscretion with the Jolly Roger, well at least to go and visit the place, but as we headed out of the bay, the nor-easter was howling onto our bow so we thought, &#@!* the hermitage, lets
go west young man. About turn and changed course for Milna on the west coast of Brac.
Now as a little side issue, Brac is supposed to have the most days of sunshine of any of the Croatian Islands and Milna is supposed to have the most days of sunshine of any of the towns & villages of Brac. Well, having complete faith in the Croatian Cruising Guide (thank you again Newells and Hursts) we headed around toward Milna. Nikki and Layni were still fast asleep and Debs and I very much enjoyed the easy and fast passage around the island to Milna.
As we had originally planned to go to the Hermitage and then continue over to the mainland and sail back in a couple of days to Milna, we hadn’t really checked the place out too much in the guide, apart from spotting how much sunshine it was supposed to have. Well I am very happy to report that Milna not only has brilliant sunshine, it turned out to be one of the best places we have been to all trip, the reason why will be revealed shortly, just have to grab a coffee.
That’s
better……. Ok, back to Milna. Milna has an ACI Marina but as we did not know if we were going to stay the night, decided to hook up to the town wall and grab a coffee. It is a really beautiful town harbour and has a number of tables and chairs right next to the sea wall and we literally tied the boat up, jumped over the side into sunbathed chairs for coffees and hot choccies.
It was a sensational setting and we were making the most of it. Lo and behold, another Hanse 40 came into view and that raised the interest levels immediately. We had only seen one or two other Hanse’s all trip as they have not made inroads into the charter market. It seems that 75% of the charter boats are Bavaria and the rest is a mixture of Beneteau, Jeanneau and Dufors with a couple of others thrown in for good measure.
We helped the two handed crew of the Hanse berth up in front of our boat and were introduced to Rob and Chrystal and their dog Rhanna (sorry about the spelling; I’m sure it not right) from Holland who had taken
ownership of their brand new Hanse 400 just a week before. Instantaneous friendship formed, an agreement was made to catch up for coffee a bit later after a walk around the village.
We also met another brilliant couple, David and Annel who now live and work in Milna. David is an Australian and Annel is Canadian. They’ve lived in both Australia and Canada and now Croatia for the past five years. He is a developer and real estate agent and we were to spend hours talking to them over the day about life in Croatia and how they had put their girls through Years 11 and 12 by Home schooling.
Yes, I know, you can almost see Alsy’s brain ticking over can’t you. As David explained, Brac is only 25 minutes by fast catamaran from Split and from Split you are 45 minutes from some of the best value ski fields in Europe that are located in Bosnia. You are also 90 Euro and no time at all to anywhere in Europe. Milna, like most of Croatia is developing rapidly and a lot of Irish and Aussies are investing big time into the town. After spending our time
there, you can see why.
After our lovely walk around the town and the harbour we sat down and had some coffee with David as well as Rob and Chrystal and learnt more about their ownership program with the yacht which sounded very interesting to say the least. Another boat and family had pulled into the sea berth so we invited our soon to be new and also Dutch friends, Alec, Inga and their two children, daughter Maud (pronounced Mout) who is 12 and son Kas who is 10, to join us.
Coffees turned to beers and the writing was on the wall for a brilliant afternoon. You can imagine the setting, the boys having a bloody good yarn, the girls being able to chat, chat, chat and the kids getting to know each other all rolled around the excitement of meeting people from other parts of the world, talking about our current cruising trip, previous and intended travels and all the good aspects of life.
Just as we were settling in for the afternoon the assistant harbourmaster told us we’d had our boats berthed along the town wall for far too long and had to move.
He needed to take a leaf out of the Vbroska harbourmaster’s book didn’t he? Well our afternoon was not going to be spoilt so we jumped on board our boats and moved down the town wall about 80 metres and berthed up side by side with our sterns to the sea wall and our bows secured by anchors at the front.
We had not tried this canny little manouvre before and the simple (supposed to be anyway) method is you point your bow out from the wall, start to drop the anchor and let the anchor ride out as you reverse the boat back to the sea wall, let the anchor grab, throw your stern lines over and with the help of those onshore, secure the boat nice and neatly - easy. Well with a little help from my friends we got our boat and the other two boats all tucked in safe and sound. As luck would have it, not only were we berthed up right in front of another ice cream shop, we were also right in front of a small market that sold nice cold beers straight from the fridge!!!
Bags of beers on board,
chips, pretzels, and some very smelly but very nice sheep’s cheese that Inga and Alec and bought at a nearby harbour called Bobavisce and it was time to take up from where we had left off. It was one of those brilliant moments in life where everyone just clicked and we partied there all afternoon.
Of all the people we meet, we particularly love the Dutch people, they are brilliant travellers, have the same wicked sense of humour of the Aussies and just love having a great time. We have been so fortunate to meet some many wonderful people on this trip and I am sure that one of the reasons we like travelling so much is to revel in those types of life experiences.
David had to leave us and meet back up with his wife Annel for dinner so after a few more beers, I grabbed some Pizza’s for the kids dinner from the Pizza shop that was about 20 metres away from the boat and once they were organised, the adults headed off to a restaurant that David had recommended and the 6 of us continued where we had left off and I don’t think
the laughter and smiles stopped all night.
We didn’t get back to the boat until about 12 and the kids were still up. They had been on Alex and Inga’s boat, playing Dutch board games at first and then Nikki and Layni taught them how to play gin rummy, a game they had not known before. It was a hoot when they were playing the board game, called The Game of Life which was all in Dutch so Maud and Kas were teaching them Dutch and at the same time Nikki and Layni were helping them in English.
It was the first real time we had been on the boat that the kids had had some time like this with people of their own age and they did not want the night to finish. Out came the bottle of grappa and we had a couple of drinks with Alec and Inga as Rob and Chrystal had gone to bed, and we let the kids play on till about 1.00am. Time for bed for everyone, knowing the kids might well be a bit ratty in the morning after such a late night.
Woke up to another stunning morning
and we quickly joined back up, having coffee on different boats, Rob and Chrystal utilised the skype on our computer to ring their son Brian who turned 17 that morning and we just spent a few hours continuing where we left off from the night before. David and Annel came back to see us and by the end of the morning it was time to make passage plans and make way.
Email addresses were exchanged and promises were made to keep in touch and I don’t think there is any doubt in the world that that will happen. As all three boats are basically heading back up north to take the boats back to similar areas at similar times, I suspect we’ll see these guys in the very near future.
Alec and Inga and their children were the first to leave and we headed off next. We hadn’t planned on going to Split but after talking to the crews of the other two boats they convinced us that we had to go there. So we packed up and headed off, firstly into very light winds and then the wind dropped away completely.
The waterways in the area
were full of sail boats and ferries and there was also a very big regatta of these very small main sail only skiffs and they looked like little toy boats from a distance, there were dozens and dozens of them, bobbing around the short course. We motor sailed for a little while and then the wind picked up to a very comfortable 12 knots and we reached all the way to Split. As we neared Split harbour, we saw a very big ferry boat absolutely powering out. Right smack bang in the middle of its course was a very small tender and we thought, with some one in it, crouching down at the stern.
The ferry altered course at the last minute and just avoided the small inflatable and we thought, a total catastrophe. Fortunately, as it turned out, what we thought was someone crouching down in terrified fear was the outboard motor and it was simply a case of the tender had come adrift from a boat either in the harbour or out to sea. Not long after we saw a yacht under full main and full motor, bearing down on the unmanned boat and they quickly retrieved
Vbroska, Island of Hvar
Where's Debsy??, On her way to the ice cream shop I fear. it and head off again, this time I am sure, changing the method of tender boat attachment to their yacht!!!
We hooked up in the Marina as Debs was pretty keen to get some washing done the next day and then we headed off into the old town of Split. Whilst there are some beautiful aspects to the city, especially the roman ruins and the Diocletian palace, it just seemed so much bigger and busier than the other places we had been to.
We had heard of a relatively new bistro called the Black Cat and after much searching finally found it but alas, being a Sunday, it was closed! We did however buy some beautiful fresh and sweet fruit from the open market. The biggest distress to Layni and Nik was that most of the shops were closed being a Sunday. So back to the Marina: Layni and I by water taxi and Debs and Nikki went by shanks pony, for a casual dinner on board.
The marina is very big and very busy with a lot of charter boat companies operating out of here. Charter boats are leaving and returning on a continual basis and
The boat berthed at the Ice Cream Shop
Debs making good use of the facilities it is a continual hive of activity. Those who are about to undertake their charter can be seen having the operations of the yachts explained to them and their excitement is beaming out of them. Those who are returning have a blissful look of contentment on their faces with perhaps a dash of sadness that their brilliant holiday has come to a finish.
I / we know their feelings only too well as it won’t be all that long and our little marine adventure will also be finishing. Without doubt, for me personally, this has been the best holiday of my lifetime.
This morning Debsy has been getting loads of washing done, so much cheaper here than anywhere else that has had washing facilities. Good time to catch up on the blog and make plans for where we will head today, hoping that we get the chance to find some more special places before we head back to Sukosan on the morning of the 10th and hoping that we catch up with the Duchies’ before we get there.
Just a short note, because there are a lot of photos on the blog, just make sure you go
to each page to see them all.
Blog ya later
Alsy.
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Lloyd
non-member comment
Bikes
croatia looks wonderful, the bikes the " beaches " , must be great to get up each day to a new adventure Cheers