The trip to Croatia was a good one, with a good crew, a good boat, and good weather. For those of you keeping track of these kinds of things, here is a list of the stops we made:
Kremik, Piskera, Telascica, Kaprije, Rogoznica, Split, Hvar, Vis, Scedro, Korcula (two nights), Polace, Sipan, and finally Dubrovnik. As usual Blogspot makes it difficult to arrange pictures in a logical fashion, so here are a few in a more or less random order.
This is a shot taken from the wall surrounding Dubrovnik. Unlike the last time I was there, this time I spent the 50 kune to take a walk around the wall. This was early in the tourist season, so I was more than a bit surprised by the hordes of tourists. Then I realized that they were being off-loaded by a couple of cruise ships in the harbor. There were a lot of older folks (older than me, anyway) on the semi-strenuous walk around the walls, making me wonder how many heart attacks tourists have in a typical year in Dubrovnik.
Dubrovnik is a gorgeous place, and must have been impregnable in its day. I don't know how much damage was done during the seven-month siege in the early '90's, but in any case, it wasn't readily apparent.
The damage of the war was readily apparent near the Dubrovnik airport at Plat, where I stayed for my last night in Croatia. This hotel complex had been badly shelled and gutted and had not been repaired.
One of the things that had worried me on this trip was wondering whether or not I had the boat handling skills necessary to dock the sailboat in the typically very tight spaces in a Croatian marina. On my last trip there in 2006, I had been mightily embarrassed by the lack of skill of our skipper, and in describing our adventures to others, I had heaped scorn on his feeble efforts. Having become accustomed to the twin screws and bow-thruster on WaveGuide, and never having skippered a sailboat before, I was concerned that the boat-docking gods would have their revenge on me. But I rose to the challenge,and in spite of sometimes high winds and some incredibly tight spots, I never crashed the boat, and was never embarrassed by my efforts. In fact,I'm really proud of the way I handled the boat!
All you sailors out there might appreciate these two shots of a typical marina in Croatia. They were intimidating, to say the least. Especially because there was always an audience to witness the carnage. And carnage there was at times, with all hands on deck to fend off other boats or to handle lines of boats that ended up all catty-whompus (sp?) in the marina. Of course, we three skippers, Bruce, Joe, and I, critiqued the efforts of those docking after us or leaving before we did. We were often entertained by their efforts, and sometimes our own.
I thought we'd be in for a real treat in Polace, a small island town with a bunch of restaurants and docks at the restaurants. No moorage fee was necessary if we ate at the restaurant, which seemed like a good deal, especially since they were serving lamb and boar done in a traditional Dalmatian style. The restaurant people were really friendly, helping us dock the boat, and giving all shot of slivovitz (fiery, rot-gut, plumb brandy) after we were ashore. Then they told us that if we wanted lamb or boar, we'd have to order it two hours ahead of time because it took so long to cook under the steel dome over the open fire. It sounded great, but unfortunately the lamb I ordered had passed its best-before date, and was well on its way to being mutton. It was rubbery and tasteless, and expensive as hell. As in something like $90 expensive!! I don't mind paying that kind of money for a great meal, but this meal was anything but great. Oh well, at least the moorage was free.
There are lots of decent cheap wines in Dalmatia, but I guess they don't believe in corks. Or screw tops. Here's Marie opening a typical bottle, with a bottle opener!
Here is the crew of Aquafile, from left to right, Audrey, Jerry, Marie, Brad, and the fearless skipper. It was a good crew. By the end of the trip, no harsh words had passed between us, and we were still all talking to one another.
This is Bruce's boat, Mango Tango.
And here's Joe's boat, Lola.
Joe, Audrey and I got some exercise by taking the dinghy to shore at Telascica, and walking across the island to Sali. We had one of the best gelatos ever as a reward when we got there.
Audrey and I taking a break in Split.
I also got some exercise in Korcula, walking up the hill above the town to get this shot.On a trip like this, there's always downtime on the boat, in airports and on airplanes. It makes for lots of opportunities for reading, and I guess I can say that my previous concerns about being afflicted with Adult Onset Attention Deficit Disorder were unfounded. I read four and a half books on this trip. They were Why is There Something Instead of Nothing, I Don't Believe in Athiests, The Last Templar, Paula Spencer, and I got halfway through The Black Swan. The only questionable one of the group is The Last Templar. It's one of those archeological , spy- adventure, secret society, quest-for-the-holy-grail type books. It was entertaining enough for a book of that genre, but it basically was a piece of crap.
As for my own secret mission to an undisclosed location - Mission Accomplished!
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