Croatia

We had one last night in Brindisi which we spent anchored within the harbour, there was some gentle movement which helped us find our sea legs again after 6 nights in the marina. When we spotted people visiting the castle overlooking the harbour we decided to take the dinghy over to investigate. Our curiosity was rewarded with a free art exhibition and the opportunity to explore the old building which was fascinating.



The following morning we waved Islay Mist off before setting off ourselves, destination Ubli on Lastovo, Croatia. Once again after the first hour under sail we motored the rest of the 28 hours as outside the harbour the wind wanted to send us to Albania before dropping off altogether. We're getting used to overnighters now and this one was straightforward. We had anticipated that we would be crossing a busy shipping route but we only saw 3 boats in our combined watches. The morning of the second day was glassy flat and the dolphins came calling once again. We took the opportunity to get a bit of cleaning done - girls and boat.

Our arrival into Ubli did not disappoint. The island is heavily wooded and the trees were pulsing with the cicadas' call. The sea here is crystal clear and the anchoring safe and sheltered. This island used to be within a military zone and forbidden to tourists, and within the bay where we anchored there is still a dock tunelled into the cliff which was used for hiding submarines and torpedo boats - part of the camoflage netting is still visible.


This anchorage was the perfect place to launch our new kayak which the girls love, and we could recover from the lack of sleep with a lazy swim and paddle.

Since our arrival we have island hopped our way north to Solta and (about time) have had some good sailing conditions. It has been a pleasure to be doing short hops with flexibility of destinations.

We stopped for a couple of hours in the harbour at Hvar Town. This is one of Croatia's most popular tourist destinations and so we were expecting it to be busy. And it didn't disappoint. Colin didn't come ashore so as to keep an eye on Skyran. It's just as well he didn't: the water was constantly churning with the wake of boats criss-crossing and absolutely packed with charter boats attempting to anchor including one which tried to lay its anchor over ours.


Meanwhile onshore the girls and I were rapidly overheating in the late afternoon sun, and so after taking on a few supplies we headed off and found a peaceful spot in a bay a short distance away. We returned early the following morning for a bit of exploring - we thought that 8am would be pleasantly warm but not so, we'll have to set our alarm clocks even earlier if we want to escape the heat here. We only briefly explored, it's a pretty place but everything was so expensive, a bottle of water cost £3.50. Clearly the glamorous locations are out of our budget.

Croatia is shaping up to be a relaxed place to spend some time. So far the sailing has been good, the anchorages sheltered and the water deliciously inviting. We are all getting lots of swimming opportunities and the girls are loving it (& so are we!). And when they're not swimming they are sitting cooling off in salty sea baths. The people are generally friendly though after Italy they seem to lack a certain joy, maybe a legacy of their recent past, either that or they're suffering from the heat too!