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