Clocking up the nautical miles

 

Apologies for the time between posts but we’ve been on the move and have covered some distance this past couple of weeks.  There’ve been a few hairy days (in my opinion as usual) with wind up to 25-30 knots across the beam and waves up to 2.0M at the same time throwing occasional green water over the bow and spraying us in the face on the upper deck. Then a few days later when rounding the Istria Peninsular we punched through a short 3.0M ocean swell for a few hours that saw the horizon constantly disappearing in and out of view as the bow headed skyward before falling back again to face the next set oncoming rollers. While dad and Mike were both thoroughly enjoying the ride, there were several white-knuckle hours for me (and no doubt mum) but I’ve said it before and with each new set of conditions experienced I’m becoming more comfortable in my salty sprayed skin.

Those of you who know mum will be impressed to hear she’s made it through those days exceptionally well, with maybe the start of a queasy belly on the roughest of days – but definitely NO seasickness! It has been a huge confidence booster for her early in the trip to realize that she’s capable of more than she had built herself to believe. Thankfully every lumpy leg of the passage is generally followed by a couple of glassed-out days where motoring was the only option, a welcomed breather as mum and I ease our way in.

We spent our first night at anchor in a secluded bay off the island of Dugi Otok. A mountain goat hike up and down the craggy rock landscape allowed a superb vantage point for photos. Other overnight stops included some much-appreciated free early season berths alongside Primosten and the stuck-in-a-time-warp town of Olib (population 150), costly marinas in Punat on the island of Krk and Pula on the Istria Peninsula – with the backdrop of a first century Roman Amphitheatre only marginally smaller than its more famous cousin in Rome. Staying in marinas and quayside (tied right alongside the town’s esplanade) – whilst convenient for access and facilities – can become very expensive. Serene and protected (free!) anchorages will be sought after as often as possible moving forward if we are to keep within a manageable travel budget.  

We stopped a night in Rijeka and tied up quayside in a prime waterfront position on the edge of this industrial, Austro-Hungarian influenced city come shipping port. Here dad met with the custom agent who will assist with clearances when his shipping container arrives next week. We’re now the proud new owners of three complete sets of Scuba-Pro diving kits – thanks to Robert at Diver Sport Centre in Rijeka for going above and beyond to sourcing the gear we needed quickly prior to departing for our next destination. Our boat already has its own Bauer dive compressor, which for dad being an ex-Clearance Navy Diver was a major selling point on this particular Lagoon. The ocean temperature is currently sitting at a chilly 12-14 degrees, but soon enough we’ll break the gear out of its shiny packaging to discover Croatia from another level. The water temps should rise to mid 20s by end of summer.

 

A minor milestone this past week was taking my first jaunt in the Boson’s chair 60 feet up the mast – a typical task for any repairs that need to be made to the running rigging or sails. Pleased that I didn’t feel an ounce of fear or increased heart rate and look forward to the next time when I can capture some less-jerky head cam footage from the Go Pro for another video edit. Dad himself also took a trip skyward recently to recover a lazy-jack line that we'd accidentally let go.

 

During our travels up the coast, dad started us on some formal navigation training. This opened with explanations of the differences between Mercator and Gnomic projections used in early chart making, where distance is measured from on a chart and why, before starting to take position fixes by both Latitude and Longitude and by ranges and bearings. Or the importance of handing over the watch correctly as to who “has the ship” and is currently responsible for taking fixes and keeping us out of harms way. All the electronic gadgets in the world are amazing, but lose 12V power and it all dies, so one must to be able to navigate without all the modern stuff. As dad declares “floggings will continue until both morale and performance improves!”

Below – overnight stop in Umag, Northern Adriatic – million dollar sunset views accompanied by beers and wines at equivalent of two and three dollars each.  

  

Apart from several hundred miles of sailing and motoring, which makes a weary sailor at day’s end, we’ve again been productive as we progressively get the boat set-up to the live aboard level we seek.

Unfortunately we’ve had intermittent faults in our Raymarine navigation system since the agents in Split removed the base modules to amend the ASI (Automatic Ship Identification) and VHF Radio emergency identification system to show our Australian ID details.  Dad is absolutely blown away by the service the Raymarine techs have provided, including giving us loan units while they repaired the faulty units and shipped them ahead, to see the next port’s technician pretty well standing on the wharf to greet us. And all done under warranty following the initial job in Split. If you are ever in Croatia and your Raymarine gear is in need of attention – you know you can expect the most professional service from Antarktika D.O.O.
 

After completing our first (thankfully stress-free) customs clearance out of Croatia, we crossed fourty nautical miles almost directly west to Venice Lagoon, Italy. Before setting out on this beeline trip over a week ago, I was nervous that this would be an area of the Adriatic where we’d likely get knocked around, being so exposed. But it could not have been more opposite – the ocean was completely glassed out for the entire six-hour journey, motoring the entire way. On arrival to Venice Lagoon, dad casually cruised the catamaran up the entire entrance channel, past St Mark’s Square, dozens of gondolas, ferries, sleek water taxis and even a mammoth cruise liner being assisted by tugs to its berth, before turning around and repeating the trip, our big Aussie flag flying proudly. It was an extraordinary experience few other Lagoon 440s would have likely made, especially under an Aussie flag.  

Below – the customary changing of host country flags from Croatian to Italian.  

 

After an unseasonably cold Spring in Europe – the weather gods have worked in our favour this week with warmer weather and sunshine forecast. It’s been reaching 20 degrees, which is perfect timing for our first visitor Aunty Robyn (mum’s sister) who arrived at Venice’s Marco Polo airport on Monday. It’s Mike and my third visit to Venice and second time for mum and dad – so it has been a treat to watch Aunty Robyn’s expression as her first taste of Europe was a few sunny days in the inexplicably magical canal lined isle of Venice! We’ve also decided no pasta-based meals are to be cooked onboard this week – whilst in the land of where pizza and pasta was perfected – no point trying to replicate the best in the world.

This post is already well overdue – am sifting through Venice photos now which will follow in the next update. Ciao for now! 

Swapping cameras

  
To date, majority of photos on the blog are from my trusty point-and-shoot camera. If you’re in the market for a new digital camera it’s a Canon Powershot SX220 HS and takes easy, vibrant photos with plenty of cool features like 'colour accent'.  

Though a recent hello email from a friend, who was also the inspiring teacher of a photography course I attended almost two years ago, prompted me to stop procrastinating and pull out the SLR camera to reacquaint with the manual settings. 

The ease and convenience of the pocket size point-and-shoot means I’ll likely rely on that camera most of the time. But the SLR sure takes a beautiful picture when you dedicate some time and patience.  

The photos below are with a sweet 50 ml prime lens that has a short focal length. A few boat lifestyle moments aboard and our last two weeks in a nutshell – reading, researching, planning, repairing, entertaining and drinking, baking, intermittent rain showers and Garage Band assisted guitar lessons. 

Yesterday we finally received from AMSA, by hand-delivered courier, finally my darling’s original Australian Registration papers, plus from Raymarine our adjusted VHF radio and navigation system. This morning (after exactly two weeks there) we dropped the ropes from Vlaska Marina in Milna and have begun heading north to Rejika (pronounced Ri-ek-a) for the shipping container and later to Venice, Italy where mum’s sister Robyn is joining us – our first visitor! Tonight we are overnighting alongside a fairy-tale like village – Primosten – honestly it could be something straight out of a movie scene. We are alongside a stone quay-side with the immediate backdrop of the 1,300 year-old village. Breathtaking. 

The boat was hammered early Thursday morning in a gale and I was wide-awake from 3:30 am. Dad estimates around 60 – 70kmh winds (no accurate reading as our electrical equipment was not re-installed until the next day). It was a SE wind and the usually well-protected marina offered little shelter as the wind howled down the narrow bay hitting directly on our starboard side. Me, still new to this life on the water, there was no way I could sleep through the noise and rocking, but also understand that I need to experience all these different extremities to increasingly become more comfortable in a life strung so closely to the whims of the weather. Those are the moments you must put all your trust in your stern and bowlines and the thrashing jetty from not breaking apart. Of course the jetty never would have failed – but that was not how I was feeling at the time. Dad got up a few times through the early morning hours to check on lines and make other minor adjustments, but I was definitely missing the solid four walls of our dear old Manly apartment!   

We’ve also said farewell to Frank and Viv on DominoS from Gladstone who’ve been our helpful and gracious neighbours for the past two weeks and long before that, a most generous information source for dad since boat shopping last October. After a year in Croatia, they are now currently headed to Corfu, Greece. Last night we had the company of Filippina, a lovely (Italian born) lady from Melbourne, Australia who, after only a few sailing lessons, bought a brand-new Fontaine Pajot 40’ sailing catamaran in France early last year and has been sailing mostly single-handily ever since. Her stories and experiences were simply inspiring and proof that you can achieve anything if you really put your mind to it. I can see already that the intriguing and varied characters we will meet along the way will become a large part of what makes this nomadic yachtie lifestyle so special.  

We’ve now officially been in Croatia one month – look forward to seeing what the next month brings. Do vidjenja!

 

Our safe haven for this evening (there we are on the right), quay-side at stunning Primosten.

Video - a bike in the drink

First sleepover on the dock and Mike’s five-day old folding bike disappears. Unsure of its fate – we bring out the Go Pro to investigate. A strong gust of wind overnight had sent her sinking fourty foot to the seabed…

Happy Easter with love

Happy Easter to our dearest family and friends all over the world! We too are enjoying a looonnng weekend and the beginning of Spring. No chocolate eggs or bunnies for the first time in a lifetime – mainly due to the fact we haven’t seen any for sale here. Instead exists a far less commercial Easter and a local tradition I would have looked forward to more in my youth than chocolate. The gifting of new life – tiny chicks and ducklings bought at the markets and carried around by children with delight, in little brown boxes emitting a telltale cheep cheep. My inner child escaped that day at Split’s markets – I knew it was totally unrealistic – but desperately wanted to take my own home to the boat. In its place I was kindly gifted the cute yellow fuzz ball above.

Last weekend, two short travelling days brought us south from Sibenik here to sleepy Milna on the island of Brac (pronounced Brash). We’ve spent the last seven nights in the sheltered marina and will do so until at least mid to late next week. 

We are berthed alongside another Lagoon 440 catamaran that is proudly flying both the Australian and boxing kangaroo flags. Along with our own newly hoisted Aussie flag – we’ve been told it’s a rare sight to see one, let alone two, Aussie boats sailing through these waters. Frank and Viv are from Gladstone in Queensland, and after lots of research also bought a Lagoon here in Croatia like dad has done, yet twelve months earlier. They have lived onboard for the past year, apart from a trip home to Gladstone to avoid the harsh Europe winter and enjoy the arrival of a new grandchild. Frank and Viv have spent their lives around boats – building and sailing them – and have lovingly and expertly customized so many elements of their Lagoon catamaran.  Dad has benefited greatly from their experiences and over the coming months will take the opportunity to have Frank’s fabricator (who is based in the northern capital Zagreb) replicate some of his modifications for fitting on our boat. Along with several shared sunset drinks, dinners, stories and laughs with them (this boat life is a social affair), Frank and Viv’s experiences in Croatia will help guide us, until we too become seasoned cruising yachties.

Milna is another postcard-perfect seaside Mediterranean village similar to what we’ll encounter all the way up and down the Croatian coast. The solid stone buildings here are built just above sea level with only a single-lane roadway between their doorsteps and dozens of little boats bobbing in the sheltered harbour. On recent full moon high tides, the water laps up over the outer edge of the roadway. Can’t really get much closer to waterfront living, except perhaps somewhere like Venice or Bora Bora! It’s a tiny community where everyone seems to know each other and we often get reserved looks, as it’s too early for foreigners to begin invading their peaceful off-season existence. Mike and I witnessed a funeral procession a few days ago, where the casket was rolled on a decorated silver trolley down the waterfront roadway with what could have been the entire town’s population falling in behind in a solemn march to the cemetery.

There are several prime waterfront located, yet derelict buildings with gorgeous, multi-century old facades perfectly intact, only with collapsed ceilings or completely void of floors and barely a few solid internal support beams remaining inside. A renovators’ dream.

We are currently awaiting some original paperwork from AMSA to arrive by courier to the marina reception – after which time we’ll head out to start exploring the neighbouring islands before slowly making our way north to the Croatian port of Rijeka. Dad needs to be present there with Customs for the opening of his shipping container next month (with trike and our other personal belongings inside). 

In the meantime there always seems to be plenty to do including measuring and designing a rigging system for lifting and stowing the 3.1M dingy on the bow, leaving the stern area clear for the trike on its floats. Some of the fabrication mentioned earlier includes the new trike davit system, all built in quality, polished stainless steel. Dad and Mike have just pulled Mike’s new folding bike apart for a freshwater bath and complete re-grease of every moving part after it spent five nights, fourty foot down on the seabed after falling in one night in a strong gust of wind. Unfortunately the bike may become a rust bucket sooner than we'd hoped! Between the bike and me finishing this post they’ve since repaired the bar fridge which stopped working (heaven forbid) yesterday. They are a handy pair this duo! The local Raymarine rep has also been onboard today to reconfigure the VHF radio with its Australian MMSI satellite identification number and to inspect our Raymarine integrated navigation system that needs some attention. Never (rarely) a dull moment. 

Until next time, best wishes and please enjoy an extra few chocolate eggs for us! 

Video - departure day

Hopefully the first of many to share with you. And thanks to Mike for his first Go Pro edit. Enjoy!

Setting sail on the next chapter

Today, in my mind, was officially the first day of the next chapter. We are sailing! 
 

Less than two hours into our first sail with all crew on board and we were treated to a warm welcome dance on our bow by a pod of three local dolphins! They were massive, sleek mammals and we could hardly believe our luck. Mesmerized for the first few minutes, but I managed to grab my camera in time for one successful photo. Unfortunately Mike was not quick enough to recover the buried Go Pro from our downstairs cabin. We'll have to keep the Go Pro camera in closer reach for future opportunities – plus buy a pole accessory for some possible underwater angles perhaps?

The boat went back in the water on Wednesday afternoon after twelve days on the hardstand due to half that time lost with weather delays. Already well stocked as we’d shopped up a storm and moved everything on board during those twelve days; she immediately feels like home. For anyone who was concerned, we certainly aren’t roughing it. Being a catamaran we have a hull each which provides some personal space, there are three cabins and three bathrooms, a flat screen TV (xbox enroute in the shipping container), stereo system including external speakers, two fridges, deep freezer, gas stove and oven, microwave, pressure cooker, fruit juicer (also enroute), clothes washing machine, dishwasher (though we plan to remove for more pantry space), water maker, internal heating and air conditioning, a dive tank fill compressor and last but not least an ice maker! Some purest mono hull sailors would apparently scoff at the luxury, but we are here to cruise the Mediterranean at a leisurely pace. Might as well do so with some creature comforts. 

Sailing today with a light breeze was a relaxed 5-7 knots with both main and foresail up. Mellow compared to the previous day when the guys reached 10-12 knots in stronger northerly winds travelling from Murter to Sibenik (whilst mum and I drove the rental car down to be returned). Today we sailed (and then motored when the wind dropped right off) about 30 km south down the coast from Sibenik to a protected bay alongside Vinisce, another sleepy Croatian village. Mum has claimed her position on the starboard bow seat - similar to what she enjoyed on our Fiji ladies sailing day - just with plenty of extra layers of clothes at present! From here she had the perfect vantage point to first spot the friendly dolphins. No sign of a queasy belly from mum today so we are off to a good start. 

Catamarans are pretty easy to sail I'm told, but there is still lots to understand about the boat's sails, rigging, maneuverability and workings of the equipment on board. Although dad has never owned a sailboat as such, he has saltwater running through his veins and constantly impresses me with his endless wealth of knowledge. Mike having taken a two-day crash sailing course in Sydney is taking to it like a fish to water and will be a highly capable first mate. Together they are constantly troubleshooting as they familiarize with the mechanics of the boat, equipment and electronics. Including working through and re-labelling wiring diagrams, switches and valves that were all marked in German. I am quietly proud of my hubby and confident dad is grateful for his support. Soon enough Mike should be deserving of that anchor tattoo he’s long been talking about adding to his collection.  

I know there will be many uncomfortable weather days to come – but today was the first day I felt a total sense of calm and relaxation. This is what we came for. And Dad still can’t wipe the smile off his face.

BELOW: a glimpse of gorgeous Split - we look forward to returning soon!

One last look over Murter and Betina where we have spent the last two weeks - sweeping views from the local church perched high on the hill.   

Mike finally found himself a folding bike - handy transport when docking in a new village. Now just to locate a second for me ...

Our cozy new abode - port side stern cabin.

Looking smart and ready to get wet!

Final feast of mouthwatering 'steak and mushrooms' at our favourite Kezo Restaurant.

 And we are off!

 We gave mum one rope to look after ...

 ... quickly followed by four others that all starting running at the same time as we hoisted the main sail - hilarity ensued.

Whilst I tap away at the blog.. the others have hit the sack at 7:00 pm. "I've never been to bed this early before.." said mum as she disappeared downstairs with her book. This made me smile... and I've no doubt it won't be the last super early night.