Meet the Parents, part 1

Or manic rush around half of Italy had us arriving in Croatia 2 weeks before the parents so we had some time for a well needed rest and lazy explore. After a few days recuperating in Cavtat we headed up to Kolocep Island where this lovely old steamer came flying in at full steam ahead three times a day. She must have starship miles on her by now and the engine was a symphony of rattles and knocks soldering on. The skill of the pilot was impressive with no bow thruster in sight she would go from full throttle deep into the bay, 30 sec of coasting and a hard burst of reverse to lie perfectly alongside the stone wharf.

 

Kolocep Island is a stones throw from Dubrovnik and the day tripper boats were a constant stream coming and going. A neat little place but knee deep in tourists and pay per spot on the little piece of sand.

 

Needing some wifi and a break from cooking and dishes on board we had a treat meal ashore one evening once the crowds had died down. IE after the last day tripper boat had left.

 

A little light bit of DYI making a nana and child friendly step up to one of the bunks. Loving my Dewalt monster drill Nelson and I saved.

Not pictured is the morning after where a wind change sat our bum close to the rocks, then on picking up the anchor the winch was working harder than normal. Oh S@#T, an abandoned net was well and truly wrapped around the chain. Quite a performance to cut it off in little sections, juggling the motors to keep us off the rocks but not so far the net gets tangled in the props… Boat was a heck of a mess with net and weed and gunge blown over most of the foredeck. But worse was we did not get to carry on our conversations with the Americans on the nice Catana cat who arrived last night. Being childless they were still fast asleep when we left the anchorage and we hadn’t swapped details yet.

 

Next stop was Mljet National Park. The nice park rangers doing the rounds charged us 100kn/adult to stay in the park. But didn’t charge the kids and it included 7 days and a bus and boat ride to a Benedictine monastery on an island in the lake in the island so we were happy. Yay watersports time! Trying to tire Boston out towing Amelia around. They are getting too fit for this to slow them down much!

 

What to do with a Roman Palace that is in the way of your tourist town…? Why put the main road through the gate of course and ignore it.

 

Chores time. Chore to get the kids to help for any distance…

Do You Have To Take Another Photo?!

 

Tiny island growing mostly rocks and the Benedictine monastery on the lake in the island was pretty cool. For a donation you could feed the donkeys some bread. We smuggled them some apple after the bread and they were in heaven.

 

The stunning weather continued and we had to recourse to water sports to survive, oh the hardship.

 

Bit hot for wearing shorts… Had some great out and backs in the afternoon wind off the top of the island.

 

Made it a little further up the coast to Korcula Island. Anchored off the cute little island Badija when the wind gave up making the afternoon Scorching Hot. Later in the afternoon we almost got hit by an idiot in a huge party boat when he Squeezed between us and another anchored boat, then realised a boat was anchoring on the other side so he had nowhere to go but drift quickly onto us. He solved his problem by standing on his horn and using might is right to make the Ozzie boat move. I had the camera at the ready expecting to him to collect our anchor chain / bows at any moment. With the bridle on we can’t let out more chain without first taking in some to get to the bridle or cutting the bridle. The then punter completed the picture as he dragged when the wind increased from 10 to 15 knots. To complete the show at 6.30pm a grumpy guy from the Korcula harbour wanted 200 kn for the pleasure of staying on our anchor. Three boats coughed up, the Ozzies and us moved over one bay to the free area. Thankfully this ended up being the only time we were asked for money in Croatia but for ages watched dinghies coming on dusk with anxiety wondering if their hand was going to be out as well.

 

Next morning we motored past Korcula town to the anchorage our friend Tom had recommended. Beautiful little old town.

 Nice sheltered almost enclosed bay and typical Croatian anchoring. 20m deep and weedy. Very hard to get a good hold on the bottom and a workout for the anchor winch to pull 60m of chain back in to clear and reset the anchor… Hot still weather continues so in we go! Amazing watching the kids who were somewhat timidly getting in off the back with lifejackets at the start are now free bombing off the bows.

 

Korcula is the claimed birthplace of Marco Polo. At the museum in his supposed house, (well it was somewhere in this quarter of the city) there is a neat little tower that gives this lovely view.

 

We had fun exploring the alleyways and shops. For a tourist trap it is one of the nicer ones.

 

Time to head south as the parents are due soon. Shade sail configuration #23.c,

 

 

Afternoon drifting into evening. Great time of the day. Chores done, boat snugged into secure anchorage, new town explored and provisions sourced. Time to relax for a little while.

 

Still didn’t have a Croatian SIM so off for Wifi we go. Honestly it’s pretty rare we go to restaurants! Kids were super happy to have breakfast of crepe and ice cream. I was happy they couldn’t finish them, hmmmmmmm

 

And then we were running again. This time just a hop down the coast.

 

To get the Parents!!!!!!!!!

That dinghy looks pretty loaded. Thanks for lugging 24kgs of sea anchor from New Zealand Dad!

 

 

Super happy to have them on board. Mum’s first trip out of NZ even.

 

What do you mean you are going to finish the post there? We’ve only just arrived!