More of Northern Dalmatia and some of Istria (9th – 16th July 2008)

Our engine was having hot flushes when she worked at anything over 2,000 rpm We had made all the usual checks on the thermostat, raw water pump impeller, raw water exhaust mixing elbow, etc, but to no avail. It was clearly sick so we took it to the Yanmar doctor at Hramina on Otok Murter just north of the Sibenik archipelago where we left you in our last blog. This engine medic, Jakov of Brodomehanika d.o.o, Hramina Marina, was superlative; he diagnosed the problem without stepping on board and cured it efficiently and skilfully within hours of the new part being delivered and at no cost to us. The fault was in the heat exchanger where the raw water passages had been under designed by 40%. Overheating may not arise in these circumstances in the cold water of the North Atlantic but in the 28°C sea water temperature of the Mediterranean it certainly does.

Yanmar 3YM30 owners amongst you who may be worried about this let your dealer have the engine serial number and he will check to see whether or not your engine has the fault. We are amazed that Jeanneau or the Yanmar dealer, Marine Power Ltd, Deacon’s Boatyard, Bursledon, who commissioned our engine when we bought the boat new three years ago failed to let advise us of the fault or, if neither of these organizations were aware of the problem at the time of sale, why they failed to recall the engine when the fault became apparent. That’s the boat industry for you!

We enjoyed the bustle of Murter town and the lush vegetation on the island and the bay in which we anchored was well sheltered. We decided however that we would explore the Kornati islands during the few days that it would take for the new heat exchanger for the engine to arrive.

The Kornati Islands which form the southern part of the Zadar archipelago were designated a National Park in 1980 to protect the waters to allow all kinds of marine life to flourish and to restrict building. The Romans built fine villas here within the lush vegetation and the Venetians used the sheltered waters as a base for their fleet. The islands now are barren white limestone having been deforested by the shepherds of Murter in the early 20th century to improve the grazing for their sheep.
We had been of the mind that the lunar like landscape would not be that scenic or conducive to anchoring but in reality we were absolutely enchanted with the magnificence of this rocky chain of islands, the sheltered waters between them and the beautiful coves with crystal clear waters, the white sandy seabed and the resulting vibrant cerulean waters. No wonder there are 350 plant and 350 animal species here.

The settlement of Vrulje on Otok Kornat is a really picturesque setting with the tiny village at the head of the inlet. We were welcomed by four donkeys on the headland as we sailed in, these being the first wild animals we have seen in Croatia since the two horses at U. Luka on the island of Brac a month ago. Where do they get their meat from we wonder? It rained torrentially for a full 24 hours while we moored at Vrulje.

Next day we sailed in the sunshine under headsail alone at the pedestrian but very pleasant speed of about 2.5 knots past Otok Mana, famous for its overhanging cliffs and for the ruins of a Greek style village built in 1961 as a set for the film ‘The Raging Sea’ and, on Otok Kornat itself, the ruin of a 6th century Byzantine lookout tower and a small medieval church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. We feel that the islands are greener than the pictures we have seen but perhaps this is due to the time of year and the amount of rain we’ve had recently.

A delightful cove at Prolaz Proversa Mala provided good shelter from the forecast ‘bora’, a strong katabatic wind feared by all mariners that blows from the northeast.
In reality this ‘bora’ was a tame affair that disturbed our comfort not a drop! There was always something to see here with yachts, tripper boats and a sizeable fishing fleet passing this way and that through the 14m wide by 4m deep passage between Dugi Otok and Otok Katina. The cicadas here were deafening but they shut up when the sun went down only to be replaced by birdsong. A donkey’s neigh added to the cacophony. A walk ashore found us stumbling across the ruins of a roman villa on the water’s edge of the promontory of the Dugi Otok side of the prolaz. and a round stone tower on the waterfront about 2 metres tall which we thought to be the remains of an ancient lookout tower but turned out to be the outside loo, complete with French style ‘squat’ pan, for the nearby houses.

King Edward V11 is said to have pondered his decision to abdicate in the Kornati islands. He and Wallis Simpson spent their honeymoon in Luka Telascica, a deep inlet into the south of Dugi Otok, the island to the north of the Kornati archipelago. We spent a couple of days moored to a buoy just off Farfarikulac, a thrones throw from where they were anchored, in idyllic surroundings. The vista is truly stunning with tree lined slopes disappearing into green blue water.

A warden from the National Park authority collected the fee of 60Kn per person per day, a 20% rise on last year! Mind you we have experienced 40% increases in anchorages further north! Croatia is very expensive all round. The cost of food, Marina berths and other moorings is high at around Solent prices. We think that this greed will ultimately be the downfall of the popularity of sailing this area despite its delights.

Our bottom needed scrubbing and antifouling so we arranged with a nearby marina to be hauled out of the water. They needed only two working days notice and no wonder why as this 1200 berth giant had at least four 30 ton or larger hoists at work.

To get to the marina Dalmacija we took a passage between Otok Pasman and Otok Ugljan over which spanned a bridge under which there was 16.5 metres air clearance. Even though much calculation and measurement showed that we were 16metres from waterline to masthead, including antennas, it is still heart stopping to pass under with only a half metre to spare. From deck level it looks as though one is certain to hit the bridge but we didn’t. This 44 foot charter yacht with eight Czech chaps on board, probably drunk, had not done their calculations!

The temperature had risen whilst we were out of the water to 32°C in the shade. We therefore rose at 0445 to do the work before the heat of the sun which even at 0900 it was in the high twenties. We also worked after supper as the sun was setting. We completed the scrubbing, antifouling and polishing in four days and launched off into the comparative cool of the sea. In the water also we have had to rig awnings, tents and covers of all manner to keep us and down below cool. Miggy has the knack of doing this having been taught by her father whilst growing up in India.

From the Marina on the mainland we enjoyed pleasant sailing northwest to Otok Molat, Otok Ist, Otoks Ilovik and Sv.Petar and through the remaining smaller islands of northern Dalmatia with the backdrop of the Velebit mountains, the home of the fiercest of the dreaded bora wind, towering above all at 1200 metres.
The Zaljev Pantera Otok Ilovik were just two of the beautiful anchorages on our way to Mali Losinj on Otok Losinj our departure point for the mainland of the Istrian peninsula. Mali Losinj is at the south of a narrow landlocked bay and is a pretty holiday resort with some fine buildings on the waterfront. It has a distinct Mediterranean, if not Italian, ambience.

We were not prepared for what we were to find on mainland Croatia and the Istrian peninsular. It is low lying land with wall to wall caravan and camp sites, the screams of children and adults alike thrashing around in the water and out of the water in tiny sports boats, pedalos and anything else that might float. We had come to Butlins, Croatia but we did have a quiet and pleasant night at our anchorage and there was no charge! In fact we found a couple of pretty anchorages but they were crowded. The antics of the anchoring yachts were often bizarre sometimes verging on the ludicrous. The skippers of some yachts have the seamanship skills of a sick cow and the manners of a pig, although that’s being unfair to the pig. Talking of pigs, however, an Austrian yacht, from being in a head to head situation with us and passing clear port to port, changed course directly for us apparently deliberately. We had to alter course violently to avoid a collision and he passed us laughing. We have heard that the Austrians have a bad name in these parts as being extremely arrogant, self centered and offensive. This particular Austrian’s antics were dangerous, childish and vulgar and certainly bear out the observations of others.

Apart from the charter yachts and there are many of them the seas are dominated by the Austrians and Germans with a number from Slovenia. The Slovenian owned yachts are, on the whole, small and somewhat unusual! Better to sail in something other than not to sail at all!

We were told that the Italians would arrive in force during July and August and this is the case. In fact they are becoming more numerous than the Austrians and Germans and they are noisy. Miggy summed it up by reckoning that Italians do not listen they merely talk or, should we say, shout and all at the same time. We encounter very few English yachts and those that we do are based over here. There has not been the camaraderie between liveaboards that we have experienced in our previous two seasons.

We anchored in thick glutinous mud under the walls of the Roman amphitheatre at Pula. It started to blow quite hard as soon as we started to motor back in the dinghy having shopped at the local. The trouble was that we had moored the dinghy next to what appeared to be a working sewer and the water that gushed into our faces while motoring to windward back to Bella was nothing more than pure sewage! Miggy said that we should laugh about it but I must admit that I wasn’t that amused!

We explored Pula in the comparative cool of the early morning. The town looks disappointingly industrialised from the water with active shipyards and the railway sidings close by but we were pleasantly surprised to see its Roman and Venetian history expressed in fine monuments. Its most significant monument is, of course, the amphitheatre said to be the sixth largest and best preserved in Europe, despite attempts by the Venetians and others to demolish it stone by stone to construct their own buildings.
They did manage to remove most of the inside of the structure and, for that reason, we found it less imposing and interesting than the amphitheatre at El Gem in Tunisia. Interesting also are the first century AD Roman arches and remarkably complete Temple of Romae and Augustus on the site of the former Forum.
The Venetian fort affords fine views over the bay and houses an exhibition of nineteenth and early twentieth century life in Pula under the rule of the Austro Hungarian Empire. Miggy was very taken with a display of an Apothecary of that period.

Our passage to Rovinj took us inside the Brijuni Islands, inhabited since the Palaeolithic era, home of aristocratic Romans and the former summer residence of Marshall Tito. The palace is still used by the Croatian Ministers for entertaining foreign dignitaries. Access to much of the archipelago is restricted, it having been declared a National Park mainly to protect non indigenous animals, including Zebra, brought as gifts to Tito by foreign Heads of State. Native fallow deer, roe deer, peacocks and about 200 species of wild bird exists freely side by side with the non indigenous animals in this ‘Safari Park’.
The sight of deer grazing in open pasture surrounded by forest reminded us of a typical New Forest scene.

Rovinj perches high on a rocky peninsular topped by its Cathedral of St Euphemia and 83 metre high campanile, the design of which was based on its famous predecessor in Venice. We climbed the tower and were rewarded with a superb panorama of the town and the islands out to sea. The town itself is a maze of narrow stone cobbled streets, the narrowness accentuated by the buildings that are, unusually, five stories tall. It is from here that tomorrow we will set sail to Venice.

Central and Northern Dalmatia

The Dalmatian Islands of Croatia with their clear turquoise water, sheltered anchorages and charming villages and towns are, without doubt, an outstanding crusing area for yachtsmen. This is borne out by the many charter yachts and owner’s yachts that are sailing here. One wonders however how much longer the sailors on those yachts will be prepared to bear the extortionately high prices of virtually every where before the bubble bursts. The cost of a marina berth for the night is akin to that on the south coast of England and the food is little cheaper and of poorer quality and variation than that one can buy at Tesco in Lymington. Yet the people are paid much less than those in the south of England. The price of a berth for the night on one particular town quay has doubled over the past year and the electricity supply is only turned on from sunset to sunrise and the price of an overnight berth on the town quay at Trogir is £49! An employee of a Chandlery who under measured rope he sold us by 5% when confronted shrugged and said ‘so what’. We are not averse to companies making a reasonable return on their investment but avarice we object to most strongly.

Our departure point on the Island of Brac and the Split archipelago was Milna. Miggy was looking forward to revisiting the place, then a small town where she moored to the quay, which she enjoyed so much 25 years ago. She was desperately disappointed to find a large tourist town with little character and a marina which has taken over the town quay and every other berthing place as well! We have got the moans out of the system now and will go on the happier and more positive things.

We sheltered from near gale conditions for a week in a marina in a place called, surprisingly enough, Marina. It was a true ‘sirocco’ with the wind reaching 45 knots and torrential rain covering the decks with red Sahara sand. Miggy was not at all happy as she had scrubbed the decks the previous day. From Marina we put on our sightseeing hats and took the bus to Trogir and Split.

Trogir, although settled since the Greeks arrived in 380BC prospered from 1420 under Venetian rule. The historic town, quite deservedly a UNESCO World heritage Site, stands on a small Island now linked to the mainland by a bridge. There are many attractive, 12th to 15th century buildings fronting narrow streets and passages but by far the most interesting surround the main square. St Lawrence Cathedral is splendid for, amongst other features, its beautifully carved Romanesque door surround, its 13th century octagonal stone pulpit supported on eight marble columns and the Gothic bell tower, to the top of which we climbed for a magnificent view over the town and surrounding countryside. The strikingly plain Clock Tower with its pavilion roof and the attached 14th century Loggia together with the ornate facade of the Cipiko Palace and the Town Hall with its pretty porticoed courtyard complete the enclosure to the main square.

We hadn’t intended to visit Split as it appeared to be an enormous metropolis which possesses little of interest to us. We are glad that the weather forced us to do so however. The old town centre has grown up around Roman Emperor Diocletian’s vast Palace. He was the first settler of Split in 305AD. Some of the original Roman Palace remains and in particular Diocletian’s mausoleum which was consecrated as the Cathedral in the 7th century. Most of it, however, has been redeveloped over the years under Byzantine, Croat and Venetian rule. It was under the Venetians that the town centre flourished in the 15th century and amongst the typical medieval buildings jostling for position on the narrow twisted streets, many fine buildings of that period remain notably the Town Hall and the Cambi Palace both of which are in the bustling and atmospheric People’s Square. It was great to go to the top of the Campanile built adjacent to the Cathedral during the 12th to the 16th centuries and gaze out over the town spread out beneath us. We had lunch of good pasta and beer in People’s Square very happily watching the chic Split world go round.

Finally the weather was set fair for us to move on north. We had no more than 10 knots of wind from astern but managed a pleasant sail for the couple of hours it took us to get to Rogoznica, or Rogersknickers as it is pronounced in the trade, where we dropped a hook in the mud at U.Stupin. Then disaster struck as the frame of Miggy’s remaining pair of varifocal specs broke, having lost the spare pair, the frames of which snapped earlier, overboard in Stari Grad.

Fortunately we were due to pass the large town of Sibenik, where we found an Optician, on our way to Skradin to visit the Krka waterfalls. The extremely professional and pleasant lady Optician tested Miggy’s eyes and found that her current prescription had altered. It took about two weeks for the best quality German lenses to be delivered and for the two pairs of specs we ordered to be ready, during which we sailed locally in the islands of the Sibenik archipelago. The cost of lenses and frames was about the same as that in UK although the quality of the lenses is probably better and that of the frames certainly is.

We had not intended to visit Sibenik because of the bad press it has in the Pilot Book and adverse comments we have received from those who have been here. All we can say is that they clearly have been no further than the docks. We took the trouble to look and were pleasantly surprised by what we found. The medieval ‘old town’ with its later strong Venetian influence is charming and its centrepiece, the 13th to 14th century Cathedral Sv Jakov, a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its unusual if not unique stone barrel vaulted stone roof, is astounding.

The passage up the narrow steep sided limestone gorges of the Krka River to anchor in fresh water opposite the charming town of Skradin was remarkable. We joined the tourist boat for the twenty minute trip up the Krka River with reeds lining the banks and Swans with their cygnets welcoming us into the Krka National Park and the lower base for the Skradinski Buk, the magnificent and very beautiful waterfalls. A series of footpaths and bridges meander over and around the falls and its ponds and through the forest of Plane, Cypresses and Pines. Flora and fauna abound with 18 species of fish in the quiet shaded pools, frogs croaking loudly in the water meadows and lily ponds, numerous kinds of birds and bats and snakes and reptiles in the bush and stony areas. Our walk in this paradise with its sights sounds and smells was blissful.

In 1895 the falls were harnessed for the production and distribution of the first alternating electric current in the world. It is true that the Hydro-electric plant on Niagara Falls went into operation two days earlier than that at Skradin but it took Niagara another year or so to build the distribution system, so the electricity produced at Skradin actually powered city utilities considerably earlier than that produced at Niagara. A modernized Hydro-electric plant is still in use at the Skradin Falls today.


We spent two weeks in the Sibenik archipelago primarily at anchor in the small harbours and sandy coves of the islands of Zlarin, Prvic, Kaprije and Zakan. These islands have not been overtaken by tourism to any great extent and remain the domain of the indigenous people. They have no motorized transport and only the occasional tractor for deliveries of goods from the regular little ferries. Our time here was relaxing and peaceful and the weather has settled down with gentle to not so gentle sea breezes and clear blue skies out of which however sudden storms may still erupt.
For the second week of our stay in the Sibenik archipelago we were joined by our dear friends from Sway, Ted and Iris Watts, who had chartered a yacht for two weeks, the first to sail with their family and the second to sail in company with us. This time together was a great pleasure for us and the highlight of our season.

Miggy will next broadcast on BBC Radio Solent at approx, 0640 on Thursday 14th August 2008.

Southern Dalmatia

In our last blog we did a disservice to Brindisi. The town is a clean thriving town with grand stone paved boulevards full of chic shops and charming back streets and pretty squares. It has for centuries been the port of Italy that serves the Orient and in the nineteenth century the town was a link on the voyage between London and Bombay. Here Caesar engaged in a fierce sea battle with Pompeius and Antonio and Octavianus divided the Roman Empire. Two Roman columns standing tall above the town quay mark the end of the Via Appia, the Roman road from Rome.

Entertainment during our uneventful 125 mile passage to Dubrovnik was provided by many young and extremely playful common Dolphins having great fun jumping and darting to and fro under Bella. The sight of a Peregrine Falcon flying north on two separate occasions also excited us.

The excellent Italian weather forecasts broadcast on the VHF radio continuously in English now give way to very good Croatian VHF radio forecasts and Navtex forecasts from Split radio at least three times a day.

Seen on Augusta, Sicily Navtex a Navigation warning as follows:
Buoy No.204 with coordinates 43°19.8’N 017°36.8’E. Tear itself away from its place. The language of the sea is English but nothing says it has to be the Queen’s English!

Many European nations and. of course, the Tunisians could learn a lot from the Croatian authorities about how to complete entry formalities. The issue of a Vignette, or sailing permit, clearing customs and seeing the Police took less than three quarters of an hour. All we have to show at each harbour or marina from now on is our Vignette and crew list and so no lengthy form filling every time we berth. The Vignette did cost £100 but it is valid for a year!!

Dubrovnik Marina is a very posh affair charging posh prices at 45 euros a night and it is not even high season. In fact most Marinas in Croatia appear to be about this price which rises by 10% or 20% in July and August. The showers were excellent but the laundry and supermarket were not functioning and the swimming pool was not in use. The Marina is however in a superb setting in the gardens of a former Palace with high, steep tree clad slopes all around.

The earliest recorded settlement at Dubrovnik was in the seventh century AD. Since then the town has had a chequered history having been ruled by the Romans, the Venetians, Hungarians and even the French for a while. The town was at its most prosperous during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries when it possessed the third largest fleet in the world. It has suffered destruction from, amongst other things, the earthquake of 1667 and more recently in 1991 when 2000 Serbian shells and missiles fell on the town. Much of the town now dates from the rebuilding after the earthquake and much effort and money has been spent in repairing the war damage in a remarkably short time. I had been here with my father some forty years ago but I can remember little of Dubrovnik’s magnificence. We walked the impressive city walls from whose ramparts and bastions we looked over the harbour, the stately buildings, the red pantiled roofs and the narrow stepped alleyways. We had a beer and sandwich in a cafe on the main street, Stradun, and wondered over the splendour of the place and the warmth of the atmosphere.
Our cruising ground for the spring comprises the southern and central Dalmatian Islands between Dubrovnik and Sibenik some 120 miles to the North West. The distance between the many Islands rarely exceeds 10 miles and so we are in the main well sheltered from the prevailing winds. Having said that the sea breeze can be fresh late on a summer afternoon. The dreaded ‘Bura’, an unpredictable north easterly wind, can literally fall off the mountains behind the coastal belt and blow very strongly as we found out to our chagrin whilst at anchor overnight in an exposed inlet on the tiny Otok Scedro. Still no damage done, just loss of sleep.

The Island landscape is a mixture of barren rock, maquis, forested slopes and some cultivation, particularly in the form of vineyards, all set against the backdrop of the high rocky mountains of the mainland. We have not seen animals on the Islands but the birdsong especially that of the swallow is deafening.

We would need to write a book to describe all the pleasures, places and delights of the Islands we have visited so far and thus we have mentioned just a few of our favourites in the following paragraphs
We will always remember the fresh smell of pine as we sailed into Sipanski Luka, the capital of Otok (Island) Sipan, the largest of the Elaphite Island group just north west of Dubrovnik where we spent a very pleasant night at anchor in the long, sheltered inlet. The Elaphite Islands were so named by the natural historian, Pliny the Elder, after the fallow deer he found there.

The Island of Mjlet is reputed to be one of the most enchanting in the Adriatic and where legend has it that Calypso held Odysseus for seven years. The north western end of Otok Mljet is a national park by reason of its forest of Aleppo pine and Holm oak which grow densely right down to the rocky foreshore. One would have to go a long way to find such a stunning sheltered anchorage as that in which we found ourselves where the peace was broken only by the gentle ripple of blue green water and the calls of Mongeese imported into the Island to rid it of snakes.

The lovely old town of Korcula on the Island of the same name perched as it is on a hill on a small isthmus jutting out into the Peljeski Kanal, is surrounded by 13th century walls reinforced by the Venetians with bastions and towers in the 15th century. It is an enchanting place with a fine Cathedral and other late 15th century buildings. The narrow streets were designed to lessen the effect of the Bura wind. The town was fought over by the Venetians and the Croat Kings and later by the Genoese and the Turks. In a naval battle between the Genoese and the Venetians in 1298, the Genoese captured Marco Polo who is said to be a native of the town.

The principal town on Otok Hvar, named Hvar, is an absolute delight which has been under the control of Byzantines, Romans, the Croatian-Hungarian Kingdom and the Venetians from 1278 to 1797; it was during their long rule that the principal public and sacral buildings were constructed. The Cathedral and its bell tower, the Clock Tower and Civic Loggia and the Bishop’s palace were all built during the 15th and 16th centuries and the large plain, yet handsome, Arsenal surround the town’s beautiful square on three sides, the fourth of which is open to the wonderful harbour in which we anchored. This small town has the feel of Venice and the smell of lavender which covers the Island’s hillsides in blue. We were pleased to see the cruise ship ‘Saga Ruby’ anchor in the roads just outside Hvar. It took nearly all day for her passengers to be ferried to and from her for their guided tour of the town. Liberty boats were plying back and forth endlessly.

Another town of interest on Hvar Island is Stari Grad founded in 384BC by the Greeks, or more accurately the Syracusans, with the name of Pharos. It is the oldest town in Croatia and prior to the middle of the 15th century was the capital of Hvar Island. The small old town is absolutely delightful with stone built houses, a Palace and Monastery built around large squares and narrow streets. The stonework is unusual with random coursing and flush jointing. It is reminiscent of the style we saw in Piriac sur Mer and Pornique in the French Loire-Atlantique.

Excellent quality snowy white stone has been quarried in the Islands since Roman times. Stone from Brac was used for most of the palaces and churches in Venice and for facing the White House in Washington.
The tiny hamlet of Bobovisce on Otok Brac is occupied only by the indigenous people who speak no English. Our mooring on the quay is a very refreshing, peaceful haven. There is one poorly stocked shop whose keeper has to be summoned from her house by ringing a bell, a local Bar and Restaurant on the quayside and not a church in sight. Nobody has asked us for the mooring dues so we guess that the season hasn’t started here yet.

We are so glad to be sailing in these Islands out of season of as we have moorings like this and beautiful anchorages to ourselves whereas in high season we gather things get rather crowded. However, we have been amused by the berthing spectaculars that are staged in the early evening when the sea breeze is at its strongest!

The easy pay as you go internet access from the boat via our mobile and the Italian server TIM has gone and will be replaced by rather patchy and inadequate connection in internet cafes whilst in Croatia. Please forgive, therefore, the possible infrequency of these blogs. We are publishing this blog from the first WiFi connection we have come across in Croatia in this tiny Island of Prvic just offshore from Sibenik. We will be heading North tomorrow and will publish the next episode about Central Dalmatia and the Split/Trogir area when we next have good access.

Our Croatian mobile number has changed to: +385 99 50 96 64 3

If The Shoe Fits.........

From Sicily we had decided to make passage as quickly as possible, weather permitting, to Brindisi our last port of call in Italy before crossing the Adriatic to Dubrovnik. The coast of the toe and heel of Italy is inhospitable at this time of year, particularly the Golfo di Squillace (the bay between the toe and the ball of the foot) and the Golfo di Taranto (the bay forming the instep) and ports of refuge are spaced at least a full day’s sail apart.
As we set sail from Riposto, Sicily bound for Crotone a passage of some 24 hours the sky looked evil over the Messina Straights and even more menacing as we passed Capo Spartivento, the most south westerly point of mainland Italy. Sure enough, crossing the Golfo di Squillace was, to say the least, exciting, with violent thunderstorms and 30 knot gusts. We achieved 9 knots under sail, not surfing, and an average of 8 knots for one particular hour. As we made our landfall in the morning of Neal’s 62nd birthday the wind eased and the sea calmed down, Miggy cooked bacon (from Malta) butties as a treat, and we tied up in Crotone with help from a very willing and pleasant Ormaggiatori. I was delighted to receive cards from Betsy and Beryl and I was very excited to receive from Miggy a shirt and a bottle of good brandy.
Crotone is an interesting place with a significant Greek history. The great mathematician and philosopher, Pythagoras, was the City’s best known son who founded his School of Multidisciplinary Research with its basis in Mathematics here in 530BC. It is the regional centre and has a good array of international brand shops and a busy nightlife along the shore, particularly for the young. The array of fine villas is evidence of the fact that the town was extremely wealthy. Indeed it still appears to be so despite the fact that it is a bit worn at the edges! Crotone affords little shelter from the southerly wind and the swell in the harbour makes things very uncomfortable so we decided o move on to S. Maria di Leuca today a trip of 75 miles across the Golfo di Taranto or in other words from the toe to the heel across the instep. We encountered fog in patches with visibility down to 100m and we were very grateful for the radar. There was no wind so we were under engine for the whole passage. We saw Dolphins in 2000 metres of water, of which Miggy took the best photo yet, and there were turtles large and small. S. Maria di Leuca is also an unprotected, swelly harbour and, considering the forecast of strong winds, we decided to go to Otranto the next day where the shelter was reported to be better. On passage we rounded Capo d’Otranto, the most easterly point in Italy, and crossed latitude 40 degrees N into the Adriatic Sea.
Otranto was one of Republican Rome’s leading ports for trade with the Greeks and Asia. The Normans arrived in the eleventh century but were ousted by the Turks in 1480 when all the inhabitants bar 800 were slaughtered. The survivors were promised their lives if they denounced Christianity but they refused. The bones of the martyrs are housed in the Norman Duomo which has a vast mosaic floor laid in the twelfth century by a solitary monk. The crypt with its columns has the feel of a mosque but there is no information to support this theory. A fifteenth century castle overlooking the port adds to the charm of this quaint place.
As the weather for the following day or two looked unsettled we decided to stay in Otranto for a couple of days and take a train journey inland to Lecce a town that has earned the title of ‘Florence of Baroque Art’ due to the abundance of Baroque architecture.
Characterised by rich sculptural decoration this style was possible in Lecce because of the local building material, pietra di Lecce – a soft, easily carved stone. Baroque the facades of the churches certainly are, so much so as to verge on the grotesque. The ice cream was heavenly and the train journey fun, rattling through olive groves and fields ablaze with poppies.
The approaches to the commercial port of Brindisi are festooned with power stations and oil refineries and the town has little to offer the discerning traveller!
For those planning to follow in our wake, Marina prices around the foot of Italy are extremely reasonable being in the region of £13 to £20 mid season for a 10.5 metre yacht.
We are very soon to cross to Dubrovnik and our summer cruising ground through the Islands of the Dalmatian coast to Venice and then back to winter at Lefkas in the Greek Ionian Islands..
Our Croatian Mobile Number operative from on or about the 16th April will be:
+385958382225

Aretusa and Cyclops

The frequent winter gales that howl through the Sicily Straights delaying our departure from Gozo did not too disappointed us as it gave us a chance to explore this beautiful island more extensively.
Our tour of the Island started at Ramla Bay which did not resemble the idyllic swimming beach with great rollers crashing on to its sandy strand. Along the sea road and over the cliffs to Marsalforn, past Obaijar and Xwieni Bays to the Roman saltpans that are still producing many tons of white gold every year. Onward through the towns of Ghasri, Gharb and St Lawrenz each with their picturesque main square with church, police station complete with blue light, red post box and telephone kiosk. Apart from the massive churches each of them could be a market square in any English village.
Dwerja Point and the Azure Window, a large hole in the headland, is the picture postcard image of Gozo with a tranquil Mediterranean sea reflecting the sheer limestone cliffs. Not as we saw it, however, with the furious and dramatic with azure waves their breaking tops blown to snowy white spume under the clear blue sky. Here, protected by Fungus Rock, is a bay in which we would have liked to have anchored but not today as even this near landlocked bay was a boiling cauldron of angry water.
The winding track down to the old quarry quay at Hondoq Ir-Rummien gave us breathtaking views over the Island of Comino and its idyllic Blue lagoon where we enjoyed anchoring in rather more settled weather a few days previously.
Two things, other than the magnificence of the scenery, will remain in our memories for a long time. The first is the fact that, apart from in the capital Victoria, we were virtually the only car on the roads. We are so thankful that we are here out of season! The second is the sight and smell of the multitudinous number and variety of wild flowers that are abundant in the absolutely natural grasslands.
Our sail across the Straights to Sicily was uneventful and we made our landfall at Marzamemi on the east coast, an undistinguished but friendly place. We intended our visit to Sicily to be brief and to include just the City of Siracusa and Mount Etna.
The ancient Mediterranean settlement on the Island of Ortigia, the old town of Siracusa, inhabited since the Greeks arrived in 480BC, was one of the most important of Cities of the ancient Greek world and as Cicero declared the most beautiful. It is a veritable jewel. Its Grecian history is in evidence everywhere from the Temple of Apollo and the incredible Theatre carved out of the rock hillside to the Temple of Athena now incorporated into the 18th century Duomo. It is amazing to see the Greek and the Gothic pillars side by side and as a total disparity, the intricate Baroque facade. The church of Siracusa was the first to be founded by St Peter and, after the church of Antiochia, the second to be dedicated to Christ.
The imperial Piazzas, one of which is named after Siracusa’s most famous son Archimedes, and the maze of narrow streets with their exquisite 14th and 15th century palazzos and the grand 19th and early 20th century buildings fronting the Harbour bestow upon the place the atmosphere of Venice on land. Nelson watered his fleet here from a natural spring on the harbour side in which papyrus grows and where, legend has it, Aretusa emerged from the ground having been changed into a spring by Artemis to escape her lover Alpheus.
We walked for miles to the Archaeological Park of Neapolis on the outskirts of Siracusa. The Roman amphitheatre is disappointingly small and dilapidated compared with those we have seen in Rome and Tunisia but the Greek Theatre is colossal, the biggest in the Magna Greaccia, and stunningly carved out of the rock of the hillside.
Beside the Theatre is a Quarry of magnificent proportion aptly called the ‘Latomies of Paradise’ for its lush vegetation and citrus trees. Cut into the face of the quarried rock is the huge cave of ‘The ear of Dionysius’ named so as it is shaped like an ear. The acoustics in this vast chamber are extraordinary.
One wonders how the Greeks undertook such massive tasks with such precision with the limited and minimal tools available to them.
Weather forecasts for our next passage north along the coast were conflicting with either a westerly Force 3-4 or a north westerly Force7! During our eight hour sail to Riposto we had mostly the former with Bella picked romping along in the 12 to 15 knot breeze just forward of the beam at a creditable 7 to 8 knots even though laden as she is. Under the influence of Cyclops the one eyed monster on Mount Etna however we had 180 degree wind shifts and 30 knots of wind on the nose.

What a magnificent sight this snow capped volcano is. We are so lucky to see it at all, let alone as clearly, as it is usually, particularly during the summer, swathed in cloud and haze. Yet another good reason for sailing this part of the world in the late winter and spring. The setting for the marina and town is wonderful with Etna dominating the skyline. It is a bit like being on the shores of an Alpine lake.
For the sailors amongst you looking to budget for marina prices in this area it is mid season and they have varied from £16 in Marzamemi to £28 in Siracusa and Riposto.
Our next adventure will take us to the foot of Italy and then onward to Croatia.