Alone Again in Dalmatia

Uvala Parzine, Croatia

Our friend Kathy left a few days ago.  She was the fourth, and last for a while, in our string of guests this summer.  We loved having our visitors this year because it made us really appreciate our voyage through Dalmatia and Venice.  But it is nice to have the boat to ourselves again.

Maggie enjoying all the space on-board

Well, we are not exactly alone, we are buddy-boating with our American friends Jeff and Gayle on Lazy Bones.  And for a short while we were in the company of our Australian friends on Neptune II.  Nevertheless, it is just Maggie and me on board with a couple of months to cruise the central and southern islands of  Croatia.  Our only constraint is that we plan on ending the cruising season late in October in Ragusa, Sicily.  Until then we have no other schedule and a free rein to see the sights.

With Gayle and Jeff on Susak

Pretty flowers

Just to distinguish this from paradise, there are dozens of boats from Italy, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia and they don't necessarily know what they are doing when it comes to safe and courteous anchoring practices.  At least it keeps us from eating too many lotus petals.

Branko

Venice From Off the Beaten Path

Often, but not so often that we take it for granted, Maggie and I have an exceptional experience that yields memories that will stay with us always.  Our visit to Venice is one of those times.

Venice itself is a fantastic and utterly unique place.  Here you can still feel the presence of the wealthy merchants that ruled a magnificent empire that stretched the length of the Adriatic to the Orient and controlled it all with a vast navy and a network of fortified cities that include Dubrovnik.  Canals instead of streets, gondolas instead of cars, and Gothic and Renaissance architecture crowding every canal produce an atmosphere only pictures can adequately describe, so have a look at the dozens of pictures in our gallery to see what I am talking about.  But that is not what stands out for me.

 

Our new friends from the Canottieri Treporti have made our trip unforgettable. As I mentioned, we anchored in front of a beach belonging to this sporting gondola club.  It all began when we asked if we could leave our dinghy on their beach while we went to shore.  We had asked at the nearby marina but they wanted to charge us 14 euros to leave the dinghy for half a day.  After beaching the dinghy, we soon introduced ourselves to some of the members and before we knew it we were touring the boat hangars and drinking wine.  Since then one member, Mirco, has been aboard to share some wine and some of his poetry. He even took the girls for a gondola ride. We have also been to his home to meet his wife, Ana, and their two pets Luna and Penelope.  We had a lovely outdoor supper that Ana prepared, more poetry by Mirco and we were truly taken by the warmth and friendliness of this beautiful couple.

We connect with people along the way and make a fast friendship not knowing if we will meet again, but we always do hope so, as with Mirco and Ana.    Perhaps this winter in Sicily? Quallunque sara sara.

Branko

Pula to Venice

From Veli Losinj, we contined up to the Istrian Peninsula in light winds.  Our destination would be ultimately be Pula or beyond.  From there the crossing to Venice is only 50 or 60 miles. Along the way we stopped in a couple of lovely anchorages (of course).  At one of those we met up again with Bob and Connie from Meredith, who were also on their way to Venice, but on a different schedule.

The harbor of Pula is large, well-protected, has good holding in mud, but, unfortunately, is kind of smelly.  After a couple of days, we nick-named Pula Poopoola and there was no swimming from then on.  Our view from the boat took in the sixth largest and one of the best preserved Roman coliseums still standing.  The city is industrial but the old part still has a certain charm.  We spent three nights there getting a few chores done and waiting for a favorable forecast.  And we got one: southwest winds 4 to 12 knots - perfect.

Checking out was a breeze at the customs dock, which you can tie-up alongside unlike the med-mooring in Cavtat.  We even purchased another cruising permit which will allow us to return to Croatia after our Venice visit, and that was great news because we weren't sure if we would be allowed to return after being in the country for a year.  Upon leaving we sailed, yes sailed, up the coast towards Rovinj just in case the wind failed.  Just south of Rovinj, we anchored between two small islands to go for a swim; we were dying for one after four days in Poopoola.  Then we weighed anchor and set sail for Venice, fifty five miles away.  It was late in the afternoon and would arrive in Venice at around 3 a.m.

The wind was steady as we held our course at 300 degrees.  We were on a broad reach and doing between  4.5 and 6.5 knots. The moon rose after midnight and Kathy, who was on her first overnight passage was enchanted by the whole experience.  We sailed like that through the remainder of the daylight and through the evening.  We had the Adriatic to ourselves and the conditions were as good as we could hope for: pure magic.

Temple of Augustus, Pula

Roman arch, Pula

We arrived on the shores of Italy at three in the morning and dropped anchor outside the harbor to await daylight and the rising tide to carry us onward to Venice.  A few hours of sleep and we were eager to continue.  We cruised around the lagoon looking for a non-existent anchorage off Lido.  The boat traffic in the canals is fierce and it was obvious that even if there was an anchorage we wouldn't want to be there.

We knew of another anchorage off the island of Burano, but on the way something drew me to a spot off a sandy beach about half a mile down the channel from the Punta Sabbioni water-bus stop.  We dropped anchor and battened down the hatches for a squall that hit us with pelting rain and strong winds.  We held tight and I knew I wouldn't have to worry about the boat while we visited all the islands in the Venetian lagoon.

View from the boat, Pula

It turned out that the beach belonged to a gondola club called the Canottieri Treporti and that we would make some new friends and wonderful memories.  More about that in the next blog.

Branko

Part of the colliseum