Sail Croatia

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13 Sep 2008 Makarska

It’s cold in England at the moment, particularly so at 4am. Croatia is not cold, particularly so at 12pm. We left home at quarter to 4 for Gatwick and hence a plane to Croatia, eventually leading to a bus, a walk and arrival at our boat around midday. By this time the layers donned in the UK had been shed rapidly and replaced with shorts, t-shirts and jandals (flip flops for the non NZ). Summer hadn’t arrived, we had arrived in summer.

Before we get to Croatia however, we have to first leave the UK and at this hour of the morning, getting to Gatwick involves a taxi. Our taxi started out pretty badly by not even finding the house. He mixed up our flat number and our street number, then asked us to hurry up because he was waiting. He was waiting outside a church. I’m not 100%!s(MISSING)ure that he believed that we actually lived there and to be fair, it wouldn’t be our first time to live in a church - but how could he know this?

In the end, I stood in the middle of the street and (still on the phone to him) managed to convince him that the guy at the end of the street waving at him was the same guy on the phone telling him that he was currently at the end of the street waving at him. It took a while. Further more I managed to convince him to relocate his taxi to the end of the street rather than getting us to come to him. This also took a while.

People catching a taxi for an early flight are on a timetable, a schedule, a mission. Mess with the mission at your own peril. It was pretty surprising therefore for our driver to indicate not long after the journey had started that he needed petrol. Petrol was just for the look of the thing though as he only filled up 10 litres. He then spent 10 minutes in the station and came back with a chocolate bar, a drink and an upset stomach. He proceeded to eat, drink and fart us to Gatwick. At least he sped to the limit of his car’s capability so that we arrived on time (ish).

Back in Croatia we unpacked our bags in our tiny cabin. Cabin, because instead of staying in a hotel, hostel, B&B or similar we are in Croatia for a sailing holiday on the ship Novi Dan. Starting in Split, our 26m boat will be visiting islands and ports on the way to Dubrovnik and back. The daily schedule starts at 7am, which is when the crew get us under way. About an hour later we’re called up for breakfast whilst on our way to the next port. This is typically a pretty simple affair and is in reality just big hunks of bread with spreads. For the next 4 hours you can play cards, sunbath and read. Eventually it’s lunch time - which is conveniently around about when we stop. Lunch is served on the ship and then we’re free to invade whichever port or island that we’ve arrived at. After an afternoon of scaring the locals into keeping away from both NZ and the UK we scare ourselves with the price of dinner and head back to the boat. Typically we won’t be the only boat in port - and most of the others boats will be tied up directly to our boat, hence while we’re trying to sleep there are people trudging past our porthole as they leap from ship to ship to seek their own (or someone else’s) berth.

14 Sep 2008 To Slano or not to Slano

True to their word, our boat started to leave port at 7am. Not such an easy feat when you were one of the first boats into port the day before., Lots of boats use the harbours overnight, so many that there aren’t enough places for all of the ships to tie up against the harbour.

The solution (as I mentioned earlier) is to tie up against another boat. Access to the shore involves leaping from boat to boat, walking around the deck to the next boat, leaping again and so on. Eventually you’re on the boat that is actually tied up to the harbour and you can step off onto land. Interestingly, when your boat is tied up in the middle of one of these flotillas, you can’t really see the shore from the boat - because there are so many other boats around you. Sometimes if you’ve had a few to drink and it’s night time anyway, you may find that instead of getting to the boat at the start of the flotilla and therefore the harbor-side, you’ve actually gone the wrong way and are now looking into the harbor from the boat the farthest from land. Not us, someone else we know. Not us.

On the first night, we were the second boat from shore in a stack of four. The obvious benefit was that to get to shore we only had to negotiate one other boat. The downfall is that everyone in our boat and the two other boats past us had to go past our porthole all night. Though there were a few party boats in over night - complete with kegs and beer bongs, happily none of their drunken parties migrated past us.

In the morning though, obvious negotiations must go on between the various boat crews so that all and sundry can be on their way without entangling all and sundry while they do so. I missed these negotiations this and every morning by virtue of having a sleep in.

At breakfast we were informed that the weather was too inclement to make Mijet a nice place to visit today. Rather we will head on to Slano and hence to Dubrovnik first thing tomorrow. From now till our arrival at 3pm in Slano we expected nothing to do except read the books we brought with us and write in the diary. Some dolphins kept us company for a few minutes which brought appreciative noises of joy from our fellow travelers. Obviously not enough for the dolphins though as they left - possibly to find a better audience.

Perhaps though, the dolphins left because they saw some ugly weather we were about to run into. The first signifier of this weather change came to me when I almost fell from my chair while the boat was rocked by a massive wave. Though this was an unexpected, it didn’t bother me as I was finding it very amusing watching a member of the crew trying to save the lunch she had set out. With cutlery and plates raining down all around her in the galley, Cheri and I sprung to help but were too late to save a plate of salad which smashed all over the floor. Still funny, but less lunch. 20 minutes of catching plates later and a few realities had crystalised in my mind.

1) It was NOT getting any better, we were still rocking about like a very determined geriatric on a rocking chair.
2) 20 minutes of keeping my head down, inside, smelling food and being rolled about was starting to take its toll - I needed air.

With a queasy stomach and a green complexion Cheri and I abandoned the galley and sought the bow for some fresh air while we waited for the feeling to pass. Neither of us usually get sea sick, though I do on occasion, but this was a first for Cheri. An hour later and the lumpy seas were rolling us in all 4 directions and hadn’t abated. At least the captain was trying to cheer everyone up by joking with us, grabbing a life ring and wearing it over his shoulder like a bandolier. At least I think it was meant to be a joke.

Eventually we made an unscheduled stop in Pomena on the island of Mljet. Due to bad weather he had wanted to steer clear of Mljet. Due to extremely bad weather we ended up in Mljet. Ironic? At least we had the last laugh. As we came into the harbour, which was extremely protected and like a mill pond under even these circumstances, we saw other boats similar to ours just getting ready to leave. Still safely within the confines of the harbour the passengers were arranging themselves on deck chairs with books and drinks. Their boats were heading out the way we had come. They would be in for a bit of a shock pretty soon.

15 Sep 2008 Dubrovnik

Overnight we had a leak in the cabin. This wasn’t fun and the solution eluded us for a while. In the end it took the form of a couple of towels and a plastic bag. I don’t know where the water was coming from, but our towels were stained blue by morning. Before you ask, there was no cabin/toilet above us.

In the morning the crew negotiated their way out of the harbour before 7 and the lumpy seas were still out there waiting for us. Being half asleep, getting rocked about in your bed isn’t too bad. Eventually though it was time for breakfast. I dressed in a rolling, haphazard kind of way and weaved my way to the saloon. Cheri decided to finish her book.

Not a huge turnout for breakfast and today we got table service, by virtue of the fact that our chef/waiter didn’t want to set the tables for a repeat of lunch yesterday. Many people were still feeling ill from yesterday. Some had been fine yesterday but found that waking up to a moving world was all too much. Cheri and I had our sea legs now and were fine for the rest of the trip, regardless of conditions. Which isn’t really saying too much as the weather evened out over the next few days. Well, the wind died down and the seas flattened a bit, but before we arrived in Dubrovnik, the rain did.

Rather than rush out and spend the afternoon in Dubrovnik, we stayed in the galley and had lunch. About the same time that we finished lunch the rain died down so we all made a mad rush into town.

Dubrovnik is a beautiful little town enclosed by a massive wall. Despite time and a recent civil war, the wall still stands and walking around it is the best way to see the city. Amazing vantage points gave superb views of the red and honey coloured tile rooves. After walking about the walls, we walked through the city. If you had to judge a place purely on one meeting, then I would tell you that apart from tourists and waiters, Dubrovnik is entirely populated with little old ladies knitting and selling lace. And kittens. We saw few of the progenitor cats, but their offspring were everywhere. According to one source, Dubrovnik, like many other old towns has terrible plumbing. This accounts for a higher than average rat population. The locals combat this with a higher than average cat population. Now they have a cat problem. It’s kind of like the old lady swallowed a fly. Following the logical scale, eventually Dubrovnik is going to be overrun with horses.

16 Sep 2008 Dubrovnik

What’s better than spending an afternoon in Dubrovnik? Spending a morning there too. In a departure from our normal schedule we set sail at lunch time today, giving everyone another chance to head into town and get a quick squizz.

Based upon a tip from some of our fellow passengers, we headed to the marina to take a boat tour outside the city walls (a place where cruise ships such as ours are prohibited from going). Wonderful plan, however this was nearly sunk by the reality that none of the tour operators had a free spot until lunch - i.e. the time we were supposed to be gone.

Tenacity though is a wonderful thing. The couple we were with couldn’t take no for an answer. Eventually an accord was struck and a boat was found. For the same price as a normal tour, our skipper took us (4) around the harbour and outside the walls.

The first thing we noticed was not how amazing and impregnable Dubrovnik looks from the sea. Nor how sheer the walls are and how every safe landing point for miles around is well fortified (truly these guys were pretty worried about something). What we did notice was an enormous ship currently being used as the staging platform for an invasion. Wave after wave of smaller craft were being disgorged from the mother ship, each capable of carrying 50 invaders (tourists) + crew. The ship was the “Arcadia” and coincidentally is the cruise ship that my sister is currently working on as a senior nurse.

Having seen Dubrovnik from the sea, and seen that it was currently under invasion, we headed back to our boat. The sun was shining so we slapped on a bit of sunscreen and lay on the deck till it was time for lunch.

For dinner we headed across the bay to Slano, where the crew had promised to make something owing to a distinct lack of anything else. A few hours of preparation later and the captain’s dinner was ready to serve. Dinner was a muscle risotto followed by whole Adriatic Sea Bass. I’m not a huge fan of such interactive meals, but this was exceptional. All of this was actually served by the Captain (now attired in a uniform complete with hat). The uniform was a nice touch, however it did make him look a bit like a stripper, albeit a graying, beardy one that needed to wash his hair.

17 Sep 2008

The wind howled all night. Another early start and the wind still blowing decided me on the virtues of a quick shower before breakfast - while we were still in port, rather than after breakfast when we were out to sea. The wind was coming from the land though, so though the wind was strong, the seas were quite flat. It wasn’t hugely pleasant, so we made full speed for Korcula. During this time I sat in the galley playing cards with a few of the other passengers and reading my book.

By the time we arrived the wind had dropped, so after lunch we wandered about the bay for a swim. Along the way I fell foul to a classic “long cut” which required back tracking to the main path and a mental note to not try a short cut again. In the end we arrived at the beaches, but what had looked like marvelous golden sands from the boat turned out to be hard packed grit festooned with cigarette butts. Choosing a spot slightly less smoked on, we lay out our towels. I went for a swim, Cheri soaked up sunscreen and some rays.

The Adriatic is extremely salty. It stings the eyes when swimming, but adds a great amount of buoyancy. I tested this by floating on my back - a feat that is usually beyond me. Either the Adriatic is more salty than most, or I’ve added my own buoyancy.

Coming back to the boat we lazed about for a bit before heading in to town. Korcula has been described as Dubrovnik in miniature. They’re at least right about the miniature part. Half an hour later we had walked all the walks, so we found a nice café out of the wind and had dinner.

18 Sep 2008

This morning we left Korcula and set out for Hvar. With a few stops for lunch and swimming along the way, our ETA was 5pm. This gives a lot of time to catch up on reading, mostly fiction, though many people (ourselves included) have brought along guide books, so also read about the place that we’re heading to. According to our book Hvar gets more sunlight than any other part of the Croatian coast, rumour has it that the hotels will give you a refund for a cloudy day. Presumably people will be wearing their swimwear.

A morbid fear that many Croatians seem to live with is that people don’t know how to dress appropriately. In many shops we’ve seen signs that indicate that entering the shop wearing swimwear is unacceptable. At some beaches we seen signs that indicate wearing nothing is unacceptable. I haven’t seen this sign at any of the shops though, so presumably… Well, that was a theory I never tested.

True to form, we arrived in a bay opposite Hvar at lunch time. During the afternoon a couple of guys used the runabout to ferry people to a neighbouring island. As the afternoon stretched on, more and more boats from the Katarina line joined us in the bay. Once we reached critical mass, or maybe the time that the port had been booked, we all headed across to Hvar. That night there were 9 boats tied together, which meant we ended up acting like a breakwater for the rest of the bay.

Our first priority in Hvar was to go check out the castle. A rather imposing structure situated on a craggy hill overlooking the town. The views were breathtaking, however even more breathtaking was that it was being set up for a party (we didn’t have an invite though). When was the last time you threw a silver service, sunset party for 200-300 of your closest friends in a castle overlooking a party town on an island in Croatia?

19 Sep 2008

First stop Bol on the island of Brak. I suspect we only came here to refuel as it was only a half hour stop before moving on. Our next stop was a sandspit that features prominently on a lot of postcards. When it does however, there is usually a lot more sun than today. Even so, I went for a swim anyway since we were here. It was pretty cold, but done none the less.

After the swim we headed back to Split and thence the end of our cruise. I passed the time in a siesta and teaching a couple of South Africans how to play Uka. Once we got to Split, a group of us descended upon a small café/restaurant for dinner. The waiter turned us away and told us to return in half an hour. Half an hour later we returned to find he had given away our table. We were turned away again.

We moved on to another restaurant which was more than happy to accommodate a large group of tourists wanting to spend a lot of money. I only just resisted the temptation to take our bill and go show the dork from the first restaurant how much money he had just missed out on.

On the way back to the boat we embarked on a coffee and chocolate mission that culminated in a late night game of cards back on the ship. Whether it was the coffee, the chocolate or the wind we got very little sleep on our last night. Actually it may have been the constant stream of people surging past our cabin mid party.

20-21 Sep 2008

Breakfast was a fairly subdued affair with people saying their goodbyes and requisite piece of paper collecting email addresses and promises to keep in touch. We had one more day in Split before heading home, so we dropped our bags at our apartment and took a leisurely walk about town. We managed to watch two boat races. Once involved match racing between 20 ft boats. The other involved remote controls and 1 foot boats. Both attracted a good crowd. Both were very very competitive.

Going through Croatian passport control on our way home we noticed that the guard checking the x-ray machine was smoking. I realized as we bought toblerone with the last of our kuna that though we weren’t in the EU anymore, we soon would be.

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