Uvala Tatinja - Mooring madness and a BIG night

Only 20 miles to Uvala Tatinja on Solta, an island north west of Brac. This was where we decided to rendezvous with Jake and Dannie, Zoe and Lucas McAuliffe of the Sea Smith, the only other Aussies we have come across with kids on a boat since we began this caper.

Uvala Tatinja is a fairly well protected crack in the rocks with four buoy moorings belonging to a lone restaurant "Lonely Paradise" where if you moor you are obliged to eat.

Sal called ahead, booked two of the four buoys and dinner for four. 'Lamb under the belle', otherwise known as 'The Peka' ...... Sorted.

We arrived about an hour before the Sea Smith who had sailed from the north. A brisk wind blowing straight into the bay as we approached we were directed by the owner of the place toward the yellow buoy which looked like it was a few feet from the rocks at the crack's end and with the wind there was "no way in hell buddy".

You can see the buoys I'm talking about in this shot.

The closer we got, the more sure I was that this would not be a wise decision. We chose the red buoy one short of that and the protesting began from the shore and finger wagging at Sal from the balcony of the restaurant. I eventually put my foot down declaring "I am the captain of this boat, it is our boat not a charter and I am not putting her on that buoy"

Sal at this time feeling quite ill at the thought of attaching us to a buoy after our recent disaster at the Blue Cave managed to get us connected and we got settled to the annoyance of the owners.

The wind died down a little and the more it did the more possible that impossible buoy began to look. If we did not move then Sea Smith would not have a mooring as it was not only very close to the rocks, we were informed it would have been too shallow for their draft.

We bit the bullet and very gingerly disconnected from our buoy, pirouetted and with the wind behind us picked up the other buoy letting the breeze spin us around to face into the wind and hopefully not onto the rocks. Slowly she came around and finally settled literally 3 feet from the rocks.

I took two lines ashore off the stern so the boat was anchored on three points and would not move no matter what the wind did.

Sea Smith arrived, moored and all was good with the world but for our relationship with the owners, our dinner hosts for the evening.

The kids were united on the paddle board and on their dingy, the water out of this world, so clear.

This is off our port stern. Scary!

Parental bliss with the kids non-electronically engaged, Hendrick's (Sal's new fave tipple) and tonic, sun setting and almost time for dinner.

We were hoping our relationship with the hosts may have thawed since we ended up on the right buoy and thus proving them correct.

Such a short hop from our boats to the restaurant it was somehow decided that we use Sea Smith's dingy as it was already in the water and no need for a motor, ores would suffice.

We all went up, the food arrived and it looked the whole nine yards. The 'Peka' is an ancient Croatian feast taking hours to prepare and not to be missed.

Jake then kindly rowed the kids over to our boat where Will got them sorted with a movie and the parents were left to total and complete irresponsibility.



The manager and his wife, the finger wagger, served and entertained until the owner and his wife joined us, out came the home made poison up went the volume and the piss taking began. The owner mimicking me and my "I'm the Captain" speech, Sal mimicking the finger wagging from the balcony and all of us falling about laughing when Dannie disappeared?? Jake becoming anxious went and found her. It seemed the home made tipple had tippled her over the edge.

This was when Jake the total hero saved the day. Rowing Dannie home and putting her to bed. Then over to our boat to put our kids to bed, collect his kids, row them back to his boat putting them to bed and finally, a good few shots and much laughter later coming to collect a very unsteady Sally and Gregory, rowing us back to our boat and almost having to put us to bed then finally home to bed himself. What a hoooot!

A slow start the following day had us on a three and a half hour sail north to a mainland port of Primosten for one more night with the McAuliffe's

Bol on Brac and Zlatni Rat

Seven miles. You could swim it so we left Vbroska at 1:30 and slime lined into Bol at 2:40. Hard to get comfortable in Bol harbour because it is totally open to the sea. A south west wind and its all over, not to mention the catamaran ferry the powers right across the face sending in a fat swell. A really helpful guy assisted our docking and assured me that all would be fine. It was.

Bol is as we have come to expect of Croatian towns so you get that, what Bol is about is the stone and Europe's 3rd best beach.


The promenades, the buildings, the sculptures, the sea wall are all made of the same stone. It is hard but doesn't feel it and blemish free. It makes everything look like it is freshly scrubbed.

Even the local wine label pays homage to the stone... although its kinda hard to read.

No matter, it will always be recognisable.








....and then there is Zlatni Rat, the beach... Voted Europe's 3rd best beach, as an opinionated Australian when it comes to beaches, it's hard to imagine this beach would come anywhere near your average Australian beach.

A beautiful tree covered smooth paved 4km ride, so smooth that I towed the kids all the way on their skate boards waving and smiling as we went like a couple of little rock stars.

A weird geographical phenomenon the beach stretches 500m straight out into the sea. It is made of small smooth pebbles, the water is crystal clear, cool and inviting.

For seating there are choices:
Bring your own mat.
Hire a sun bed and brolly.
Sit at a raised table with tall chairs.
Drag a huge bean bag to a short table.
Find a couch in the shade of a rockin' bar.

The beach is huge and uncrowded, the bean bags came from a place with a DJ with great taste and for the kids there was the most amazing water park.

We all agreed that despite our Australian attitude to European beaches, this experience would be hard to beat anywhere.

Brac is one of the largest islands in Croatia so we had planned to sail to a few towns and anchorages, hire a car and explore but then we were contacted by Jake and Dannie our Ausie mates on the Sea Smith with kids..

Brac will wait. We decided to meet them at Uvala Tatinja, an anchorage on Solta Island 20 miles away. It was a great decision although not a very healthy one...

Vrboska - Right out of a fairy tale

On the 20th we decided to check out the northern side of Hvar before heading over to Brac. Only a 20 mile run so it was after midday before we cast off. Vrboska the town sits at the very end of a long narrow and very beautiful inlet.

At the mouth of the inlet we could see a large RV Park full of caravans and RVs.Then we noticed naked people sunning themselves on the adjacent shoreline rock slabs. We discovered that the RV Park was a nudist camp but found it hard to imagine wondering around a packed caravan park stark naked...?

There are heaps of nude beaches here, but topless seems to be the go on the non-nudist beaches.

Sorry, did that sound like a complaint?

We were met at about that point by a smart chap in a rib who asked us our intentions. The choices were and ACI Marina ($$$) or the town quay. No brainer, we like town quays, we don't like marinas. He ummed and arrred, thought we may have to raft up with another catamaran but in the end we followed him to prime position on the town quay right next to a boat who's British occupant just happened to own a holiday house on the island and gave us the 'must do's' whilst there.

The town itself defies an appropriate superlative. The inlet winds its way through the village of ancient buildings right out of a 17th century children's novel. So placid and safe from menacing winds, we discovered a little hole in the wall wine bar with this kind of view where for $14 you got a platter to go with their home made white and then another to suit their home made red. The kids had miles of flat cycle way to explore so all was right with our world.

And the things we must do...? Hire a car and drive to Humac to eat and cycle to Jelsa for both the ride and the town itself.

On the way to Humac, we drove into Stari Grad. A larger town also at the end of a long inlet and I'd recommend it to other yachties. Plenty of room on the town quay and a beautiful place to explore. The kids bought themselves skate board with wheels that light up when on the move. This has turned out to be a wonderful idea, not just because they have both picked it up very quickly, but because they attract other kids on skate boards and all of these towns are perfect for skate boarding. No traffic, wide smooth paving and no complaining locals.

Then up to Humac. Ancient. Apparently 140 stone houses built among the rocks and vines, most uninhabitable but plans afoot to change that. The most rustic of outdoor kitchens and seating areas the cooking aromas cruel on an empty stomach, we ordered and tucked in, once again with their home made red wine. Bliss.








Unlimited exploring for the kids, a bowl of local almonds in their husks and a hammer for them to crack on the stump and eat. Then a walk to the lookout at the highest point of the island from where you can see Italy as well as the surrounding Croatian islands.







The recommender did say it was 'long lunch' territory. He was correct. If you find yourself on Hvar, you really must not miss Konoba Humac

The following day we rode to Jelsa. A beautiful tree covered waterside cycleway, the water impossibly clear as it is all over Croatia. We sold the kids the idea of the ride, now that they were skateboarders by telling them that there was a water-park not far from Jelsa.

Another pretty harbour town and home to the only seaplane we have seen here. We rode straight on through in search of the water-park. There was one but it had closed for the season and had all been packed up however the beach cove it once occupied was an attractive, uncrowded place for a swim.

We hired a couple of sun beds and got comfortable in the warm September sunshine....

Then they arrived. Something about Russian men in a group.... 60's style testosterone, booming voices and scant regard for their fellow sun bathers.
Something about Russian women... you simply do not exist...

This is a shot of our prematurely vacated sun beds facing the water. Get where they just strode up and plonked themselves...

Back to Jelsa for a spot of lunch and some energy replenishment for the ride home. the kids long gone to get back to their skate boards

Palmizana Marina on Sveti Klament - very very expensive!

At 11:00 on the 18th we managed to tear ourselves away from our new favourite place in the Med. Kut is such a chilled place it felt like the end of our trip.

Only a two hour sail and we pulled into a very empty but picturesque marina on the island of Sveti Klement which sits opposite Hvar.

This shot courtesy of Google Images.







Sal was not as taken as I was and I realised she was suffering the holiday blues at having left Kut. I wheeled out my favourite, her least favourite saying... "All good things have to end, so that new good things can begin"

The rudest of fat pigs helped us with our lines, we could only assume that because this is charter boat territory, he has to deal with the lowest common skill denominator, but he was almost enough to cause us to leave.

A small group of islands with loads of inlets and anchorages and well made walking tracks to take you from the marina to some of these. Of course there are swimming beaches and quaint restaurants and bars in each bay.

Once we were set and Mr Very Rude Pig of a man had moved on to abuse newly arriving victims we took a walk.

This is a another beautiful island.




A swim, a longish lunch.


One such restaurant was also an arty, bohemian sort of place, had we stayed longer we would have tried their Under the Belle, their outside kitchen looked like the real deal.





















Sal's spirits revived we returned to the 'desolate' empty marina....

Well. The place was packed! Imagine the kind of mood Mr Rude Fat Pig would have been in by the time he had dealt with this lot...!

Hvar, famous as the party capital of Croatia was just across the channel to our north. Water taxis could whip us over there in 15 minutes for $20 each so rather than uproot we decided to leave the boat put and taxi over for a look. It was not as we expected. Either everything has shut down for the winter or we have been reading about the wrong place. A classic Croatian city with not a lot going on. Sal and Summer went shopping without success. Will and I tried to find something of interest, without success. Happy with our decision to leave the boat in Palmizana we called the water taxi and headed back.


We stayed two nights. It was by far the most expensive mooring this year. Aus$550 all up! Should probably have moored in one of those bays.

The Komiza debacle

Other than the Military history, the accommodating Kut and its wineries, the island of Vis has two other attractions, those being the Green cave and the Blue cave. An easy sail to the Green cave, then on to the Blue cave put us adjacent to Komiza, the 'young' 11th century fishing village on the other side of the island.

Best to get there before the hoards we cast off at 8:55 on the 15th September. The wind became a little southerly, unusual for this time of year but we were unaware of the problems that may cause. We found a calm cove on the lee side off Ravnik, the island of the Green cave, dropped the dingy and headed around to the cave.

What we never quite get used to in Europe is if there is anything worth seeing, you can bet that every man and his dog will be there too.

It got quite choppy due to the southerly, but still manageable in the dingy. This cave is 'green' (although it appeared blue) due to the light coming through a small hole in the roof of the cave.

Some skill was required to avoid not only the other dingys but the very senseless swimmers seemingly unaware of the dangers of spinning propellers needed to keep dingys from contacting each other and or the cave walls...

Enough of that. Time to head for the Blue cave. The wind picked up and by the time we arrived it was hard to see where the cave was or how you would access it. There were swing moorings for visiting yachts to hook up to, most were occupied and all seemed to be way to close together in the chop.


The way to connect to swing mooring is to pick up the buoy with a boat hook and connect our bridle to it.... easy said. Getting way to close to the other moored boats I attempted to position us over a vacant buoy. Sal managed to hook onto one, raising it seemed impossible in the wind and chop. The bridle then got tangled with another buoy which put us very close to another boat with no way of escaping... Now the object of mounting spectatorship, William badly strained his arm while desperately hanging onto a boat hook when mercifully the bridle disentangled itself and we were able to move without making contact with the other boat. We lost both boat hooks in the process making any further attempt impossible and so with tail between our legs, we limped off toward Komiza.

Komiza is another classic Croatian harbour looking as it has for centuries... Ten of them to be precise. The fishing village of the island, not as inviting as Kut but picturesque none the less.

First stop the chandlery for two new boat hooks....

A catamaran moored next to us and we got chatting. The subject moved on to the Blue cave and our debacle..."Yes, we saw it all, you lost your boat hooks but because we are a charter boat, we didn't need them so we just left them in the water...." Nice, thanks.

Another minor result of our debacle was the steering column on the dingy had somehow totally dislodged itself and needed urgent attention and the imminent weather convinced us that we'd stay put for two nights.

Not the worst place to be marooned, happy to be here wishing we were out there rather than the other way around. The morning dawned and for only the second time in three seasons an Aussie boat moored right next door with two kids on board....

In no time we were sharing wine, food, stories and were mutually ecstatic for the kids.... that is until Mr Port Authority came along and told us that we had to vacate the harbour because by midnight a semi hurricane was washing in making the harbour untenable.... Ok! Back to Vis on the lee side then. 11:45am and we were out of there.

The weather worsened, the wind grew and it was a great sail back to Vis. It felt like we were coming home as we re-entered the bay. Back in the same spot for two very big nights with our new Aussie mates, Jake and Danni McAuliffe. Poor guys are not sure what hit'm!

Vis - Historic, strategic and so, so beautiful

What to do with two days. One night on Vis, another on Pakleni Otoci then back to Trogir...

Wendy and Sally sensibly decided since we'd been on the move everyday since leaving Slano we should just get to Vis and chill.

Two main harbours on Vis. There is Vis bay, with the town of Vis at one end of the bay and Kut at the other. This is the food and wine town founded in 800BC. Then on the other side of the island is Komiza, the 'young' city founded in the 11th century and is where the fish come from.

Yachts were streaming toward the Vis bay from all directions and we knew that wall moorings are tight. I chucked on another 500 revs and we managed to get ahead of the main bunch. The Vis end is subject to ferry wash so we decided to try Kut, waited for one boat to dock and we were next in.


What an enchanting little hamlet.... but for that bell tower. One bong for each quarter of an hour. So on the hour you get four bongs, then one bong for each hour. It begins at 5:00am but the 5:00am chime then goes into a two minute bing session just to ensure that everybody is awake.

I'd like a word with the priest!

The  town of Vis is a wonderful 3km flat bike ride away through winding narrow streets devoid of cars punctuated by bars overhanging the water and restaurants inviting you in with their charm.

The island of Vis is the most strategic in the Adriatic. As the saying goes.. "whomever owns Vis owns the Adriatic".

It is because of where it sits, slightly proud of the island chains of Croatia, it is easy to defend and is the only island with abundant natural spring water. For those reasons it is bristling with military relics mainly dating back to the second world war and then the cold war of communist Yugoslavia.

I took the kids on the 'military tour' which started at the submarine silo which we visited by boat a few days later. Big enough to accommodate three Yugoslavian subs or a couple of warships and still in amazing condition.







Then on to the gun placements. Tunnels everywhere, cannon bunkers and anti aircraft pods surrounded by machine gun nests... it must have been the most awful time to be alive.












When the Russians owned Croatia, they could not take Vis. When the Germans owned Croatia, they too failed and when the war of independence from Yugoslavia ended, Vis was the last place in Croatia to be vacated by Yugoslavian troops. It is now the least militaristic and most laid back place we have visited and the locals are very keen to keep it that way.





This structure sits above the big gun placements and is designed to disperse the sound of the blast to make it difficult to accurately detect its position on sonar.

Then of course there was the wine tour. Three wineries, all so different but a very enjoyable afternoon and evening. Winery one, with a view to rival Montenegro, the hostess to rival Princess Grace of Monaco and a tasting plate to match.

The wine? Drinkable.

Winery two. A little more viticulture a little less laid on but run by a passionate and realistic winemaker with a great sense of humour.

Winery three made good use of the military tunnels, on a much larger scale than one and two but by the time we got there they had had enough of these pesky tourists... The wine was great but it was 8:30 at night and we just went with the flow.

There is now no way we will get anywhere near consuming the wine we have on the boat. Just hoping it ages well and doesn't freeze during the European winter!

One more day of frivolity with the Frasers and it was time to head back too Trigor.... but wait....

There is a 5:30am ferry from Vis to Split. Then Greg discovered a 7:30 fast Cat to Split and magnanimously they took that saving us the 4 hour schlep and allowing us to remain on what is our favourite island in Croatia thus far.












Bye bye Greg and Wendy. Always way too much fun. Thanks so much for coming and we'll see you in Canada in December if your systems can handle it??