Ancona

The last time I was here was in 1983, I was with Phil Hayman then too. We caught a ship from here to Alexandria on our way to Capetown by motor bike with Pete Sutcliffe, Pam Rosengren and Les Walker. Arriving here by catamaran some 34 years later in the middle of another adventure brought a smile to our faces.

Google Meiser Al got us the ungettable spot in the harbour. The choices were the marina, miles out of town, the commercial port where we could not leave the boat in case we’d have to move and then there was the yacht club situated around a building which was built for the pope and became a quarantine station. It is close to the action and outdoor bars with live music and a short walk to the old town and my favoured piazza’s.

Al managed to track down the owner of a tiny restaurant on the periphery of the wall nestled in a small gap on the water. I called him and he said just come on in and he’d find us a spot. So we did and he was true to his word. 

A very different mooring right in the very inner harbour among commercial fishing boats, an odd assortment of small craft and yachts parked bow to shore. Once again they were not used to seeing a catamaran, or a foreigner and we were most welcome.

Not long after we moored, the smiling face of Greg Fraser appeared at the dock and in no time it all started to get out of hand. A few drinks on the boat a couple of rounds of cards until the day cooled, spruced up and as Greg had already been in Ancona for a day or so we followed him into the old town for dinner.

This is the before shot of Gregory.

It was midnight before we left the restaurant and started to make our way back to the boat. Unfortunately we had to walk right through the dancing crowd at an outdoor bar which proved an impenetrable barrier for everybody but me. I was totalled and just had to go sleep but Erwin had to get me to the boat as I had no idea where we were or where the boat was. 

We found that all the entry gates were locked but a restaurant just closing had a window that accessed the gangway to our boat. They allowed us to use their window and once Erwin had got me safely home he went back to the bar chocking the gate as he exited. I was followed by Phil and Al shortly thereafter. At around 4:00am it was time for Erwin to get Greg home without falling off the gang planking into the putrid harbour water. Once Greg was safely on the boat, Erwin went back to the bar!

Greg was accommodated in the Captains cabin. A small single bed in the Port Bow accessible through a deck hatch. 

Close by that hatch is the foot well for the outside front seating. Phil was woken by a loud bang. He stood on his bed and stuck his head out of his hatch to see a pair of feet sticking out of the foot well. That was Greg’s third fall for the evening. 

Late breakfast and Greg came hobbling to the cockpit, bashed and bruised and sporting a very saw hip and a look of “What the!” and a few scrapes on his face…. 

This is the morning after shot. Greg declaring "that was a great start, at least I have 10 days to recover!"  Dream on buddy...

Erwin got home at sunup. 

A very slow day. A quiet evening meal back at the piazza. Greg and I stopped at the bar for a couple and a dance but it wasn’t long before the entire boat was tucked up and gone for the night.

At 8:00 on Sunday the 30^th I was woken by Phil. He was leaving to fly home. We were very sad to see him go but at least Greg gets a double cabin. Fly safe Phil. Catch you in Sydney.

Chioggia to Pasaro - it's lonely sailing along this coast

Chioggia is only 20 miles south of Venice. We headed out far enough to make the coast line indistinct and the water deep enough to safely sail then turned south. At some point on the journey I lost my plot (literally) and took an entrance one before we were meant to and how fortuitous that was…

Once we got inside the outer islands we were able to turn south again and follow a narrow channel for a good 10 miles down to Chioggia. 

All the houses along there were painted different and lively colours, there were fishing huts on stilts in the shallows, and the bay waters were calm. So uniquely attractive.

On arrival in Chioggia it took ages to be allocated a spot in the harbour and we had a new mooring method. It involved reversing between two posts barely wide enough for the boat, tying to those posts as we reversed releasing line as we went back onto the pontoon, tightening the stern lines at the appropriate distance then tighten the lines from the poles in front. Easy said unless you’ve misjudged the distance between the poles and the dock and have to hastily add line to line which ran out as we reversed. Luckily there was no wind…. 

Now we know.

We discovered that Chioggia was having its annual fish festival, which is a big deal here and the town slowly packed out. Our Italian friends showed us the whereabouts of their favourite restaurant and caught a water bus back to Venice. That evening we spruced up and headed into town. 

It was seething. The fish festival consisted of a number of high speed canteen/cafeterias along the central promenade and the queues would have been a hundred meters long!

Not for us... We headed to the favourite restaurant and watched an 8 seater table leaving. A not too friendly waitress refused to give it to us unless we were 8. Luckily with the little Italian I have we managed to invite another foursome to join us. The waitress didn’t seem happy but conceded. The meal was great and her demeanour improved as the boys poured on the charm. A late evening walk revealed yet another pretty town.

At 11:11 on the 23^rd June, we cast off and sailed for Ravenna some 55 miles away. Ravenna was good for three things..

• It is a huge safe marina. 
• The marina area came alive our first night there. 
• Thanks to the late arrival of some parts for the engine, in the safety of the marina we endured an almighty unpredicted storm which we might well have been caught in out there.

A very polished Polish blues group in the middle of the street. A beer popup serving really nice beer with free truffle flavoured chips and snacks. A BBQ cooking mixed meats. Combine these and you have a recipe for a great night. We did.

Our starboard engine has been overheating. We checked the impeller, the doodad that pushed cold seawater around the engine to cool it. It looked mangled so we changed it. End of problem? No. We figured we had the wrong impeller and the lady from Volvo Penta confirmed this so we ordered more. A day later they arrived and were identical to the ones we have, just a new part number. The engine is still overheating so we’re thinking blocked inlet hose but in these waters there is not much we can do about that without flooding the boat…

At 2:20 on the 26^th we cast off and sailed for Cesenatico. The most beautiful town I have ever visited. That is a big call but it is literally breathtaking in the way the towns folk have presented it. It just reeks of civic pride.

We forgot to call on arrival and as we approached the junction, in a very narrow canal, where we turn for the marina the coast guard came alongside in a rib and asked what we were doing there. 

We explained we were looking for a spot in the marina, which we could see was tiny and blocked by a swing bridge. They gave me the radio channel to call but didn't fancy our chances. A smiley voice came back with “Sure we have space, I’ll open the bridge.” 

Gingerly we eeked our way in and alongside a pontoon just inside the swing bridge. Such a cool spot.

Aperol Spritzers and relax before the evening stroll. The photos above say it all. Just incredibly beautiful.

10:45 on the 27^th we headed out into traffic in this tiny canal. I had to reverse twice to get out of the way of incoming fishing boats and it is obvious they don’t have boats like ours very often. The canal was lined with onlookers all the way out to the heads. Summer Amy did us proud.

A 28 mile run to Pesaro, another long run in and up river we moored alongside in a large unattractive bay opposite the Coast Guard who had directed us in by radio and asked if I could visit them with our papers.

An hour and a half later I emerged after this guy took every piece of information I could give him, right down to the engine numbers. He then photocopied everything having already written it all down. Pecking with two fingers at the keyboard and constantly answering the phone…. It took longer than any check into any country and we weren’t even checking in! Then after all that we were not charged for the night on the dock??

A long walk into the old town revealed a better place than our first impressions. I love sitting in an outdoor restaurant on the edge of a large piazza with a cold glass of wine and Italian food and watching their world unfold in front of me. 

We still have lots of that to look forward to.

Venice

At 6:00am on the 19^th July, we cast off the Customs dock and motored out on glass. This can be a dangerous crossing when the Bora blows down from Trieste, but for us the only danger was falling asleep.

We are finding the Italian east coast very different from anywhere we have been in the past four years. There are no islands and the coast is featureless. 

No mountains and shallow seas. Without electronic navigation aids it would be very difficult to work out where we are.

It was not until we came right up on the entrance to the Venice waterways that we could see from the channel markers where to enter and what to follow. Fortunately our lives were made so much easier thanks to our Aussie mates who preceded us, told us which marina to book into, which water bus to catch to visit the police and port authority to check in to Italy and how to get around.

We had the 7^th flag raising ceremony since the beginning of this adventure and it was about time, there is not a lot left of our Croatian flag.

At 3:15pm we moored alongside in the very new part of Marina Sant Elena on the northern tip of Venice island itself. 150 Euro per night plus 15 Euro for power and water… 

I suppose it is Venice.

Checking in was a schlepp. Packed, water bus to the southern end of the island where the cruise ships doc. Once again made easy by our mates, really not sure how much longer it would have taken without their help. Phil and I went to do the check in while Al and Erwin scrubbed the boat inside and out.

That evening we water bussed into Piazza St Marco. Now I’m sure a few of you reading this blog have been there. I was there as a back packer but it is simply breathtaking. The decadence is hard to describe today, the thought of what it must have been like in the days of the Roman Empire is awe inspiring. It is vast and magnificent and crowded…..

We decided to get away from the square to eat, found a place, ate and on our hunt for a nice bar got completely lost. It’s ok guys, just find a bar and ask… Would you believe in a town like Venice, they were all shut at 10:30. All four of us had a different idea of which way to go and I think it was Erwin who led us out of the darkness.

We wanted a tour of the little canals and while Al the Google Meister was searching he came across a deal where we could register our dingy for 10 euro and get a navigation chart of where we were allowed to go. Now that was the go and the search for these agencies begun. After hours of walking and searching and realising this information was out of date we ended up at the Mayor’s office.

What blew me away was the only person who could speak English was a young man with Cerebral Palsy. Imagine how tough it was for this guy to negotiate all of life’s hurdles and manage to learn a second language. He explained that I would need to prove that I was a Venetian resident and the office providing the permits was only open till 12:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays… it was 12:30 on Thursday..

Well we had our 40 Euro 3 day water bus passes and decided whist refreshing ourselves at a water side bar at Ponte Rialto that that was how we would see Venice.

The following day Al and Phil headed in and Erwin and I decided to head to Lido Island for a swim. The island forms a huge break water for Venice and is where all the beaches are. We are spoiled in Australia when it comes to beaches and clean water is all I have to say about that. 

We joined the boys in Venice for lunch and more exploring.

On Friday evening we were joined by Giovanni and Chiara, a couple who frequent the heli-ski lodge Al works at in the winter. We had planned to go out to dinner, but they’d had to drive from an hour north of Venice after work and arrived too late for that. All knocked up a delicious spag bol and the party ended at 3:00am! They stayed the night and we managed to talk them into coming sailing with us to Chioggia 15 miles down the coast the following day.

It was a very slow start, we cast off at 12:05 on the 22^nd July for a leisurely trip down the most interesting of canals to Chioggia.

Rab to Pula. That is where we leave Croatia

Rab was one of those rare finds. It would sit comfortably in the top 3 places in four seasons. Safe from the winds, free anchorage which in Croatia is almost unheard of, swim friendly and a short dingy ride to the town itself.

The shot above is taken from our anchorage looking back at the town.

The town of Rab is just beautiful from any angle busy enough to give it life but laid back an uncrowded. We decided it was a lazy two nighter, swimming, eating, reading and dozing during the day and into town by night.

We had planned to meet an family friend, Julia Cowling in Cress on the 16^th. The wind was playing up a little so we charted a route to make the best use of the wind and sailed north to Punat which would put us on a great sail trajectory for Cress for the following day if the winds did as predicted.

Punat is a large, fairly unattractive enclosed bay with a very narrow, shallow entrance. The town itself has a small harbour but is outside the bay and too difficult to get to without road transport from the bay. It was howling but the water was calm so we anchored and settled in for a night on the boat, home cooked food, cask wine and a marathon Uno tournament. 

At 8:30 on the 16^th July, we weighed anchor, motored out of the bay and everything went up for an epic sale almost all the way to Cress. Another really beautiful harbour.

We were slime lined in, engines off by 1:30. Plenty of time to explore, find a waterside bar and watch the world go by.

At the planned rendezvous time of 7:00pm with Julia I left the boys in town and caught a little choo choo train to her hotel a short trip from town. I would dine with her and then catch up with the boys and show her around the Summer Amy.

Julia’s ferry from Oputija was cancelled due to the wind. A little surprising since we’d had such a great day in it. Being the resourceful person she is, she managed to get a bus…. This is an island remember? There must have been a short water section somewhere, but she finally pitched at 8:30 by which time I was already half in the bag sipping on cocktails in the lobby of her hotel... just to burn time you understand.

We caught the choo choo train back into town, found an appropriately positioned restaurant affording a great view of this beautiful place and who should saunter by and join us… the boys, more than a little wasted.

What a hoot! Al leading the humour charge we ate our dinner, showed Julia around the boat, (I think she was impressed) popped her in a taxi and continued our Uno tournament until the wee hours.

10:15 the following morning we dumped the slime lines, cast off and set sail for Pula, our jumping off point for Venice. The wind was in the right direction but had lost its bite. All the sails went up but we motor sailed to maintain 8 knots as it was a 37 mile run and we’d heard Pula was another pleasant spot.

Refuelled before heading to the Marina, the wind had got up again but we reversed into it in order to get on the quay, slime lines, dock lines, no problem. Then we sat and watched the chaos as charter boats attempted to dock… and sharp looking moter yacht attempted to leave. click the link and watch an expensive paint job in the making. Power boat attempting to leave - ugly!

Pula is indeed a nice place to be. From the marina it is a short walk to a large Roman Amphitheatre. Turn right out of the marina and head into the old town and you find very nicely maintained marble streets, winding narrow walkways with a big selection of bars and restaurants which all seemed a lot cheaper than what we were used to on the islands.

By day the harbour is unsightly as there is a large ship building yard smack in the centre of the bay and the bay is surrounded by derelict military buildings. Relics from more violent times. At night however, they light up the cranes in ever changing colours and the effect is magic.

The Pula Film Festival is on now too and the movie theatre is in inside the Amphitheatre which is also lit with pink lighting until the movie starts. Very cool.

Two nights in Pula at $180 per night and it was time to head for Venice. We had a booking in a marina on the northern end of the island of Venice about a 20 minute walk from St Marks Square. The boat was scrubbed and re-provisioned. With full fuel tanks, full water tanks and fully charged batteries we motored over to the police wharf at 5:30am. Went through customs procedures and by 6:00am we motored out of Croatia on glass. 

This is us on the customs dock just before we left. Now that is what we call glass!

Veli Rat to Zadar to collect Phil and onward to Pag

We nursed the hangovers, dingy’ed into a shop for supplies, had a quiet night and planned a short run to Molat the following day en-route to Zadar.

Molat sits a short way north of Veli Rat, sports a long protected bay with a small island forming a cool anchorage between the island and the holiday village on Molat itself. We wanted wifi so we parked as close to shore and a restaurant as possible but no dice.

This was the ideal spot to watch the sunset at the same time as the full moon rise. Many, it seemed had the same idea but it did add to the casual atmosphere in the bay.

This is the moonrise but all those fairy lights are mooring lights on the top of all the masts in the harbour. Sublime.

At 9.25 on Monday the 10^th July, we unhooked from our buoy mooring and set sail for Zadar. There was a fair bit to do when we got there. Laundry, provisioning, repairs, wifi SIMS and the boat needed a good scrubbing…. again!

We were assisted by some guys and slime lined in. It was hot, we were in a big harbour and so a swim was out of the question, but between Al, Erwin and I we got most of it done day one. We had another day before Phil arrived late evening so we took to the city of Zadar and got messy.

Two things of interest were the sea organ. A place where there are specially laid slabs along the promenade with holes and gaps so as the sea laps into the steps it becomes music. Very cool. We went there for the sunset…. And so did everybody else!

This was one way to get a good perspective although not very elegant.

The other was the museum of illusions. Ironically we never did find it.

Phil showed at 11:00pm Tuesday the 11^th after the usual lengthy trip from Sydney to London, change airports, wait a long time, Zadar. We had planned a longish trip to Casca on Pag so for many reasons we took it easy on Phil and crashed by 1:00am.

After a couple of last minute chores like retrieving my boat papers and paying the equivalent of $250 per night, we managed to leave by 9:15. Man they see you coming here, specially if you’re a catamaran.

In nil wind we motored through some pretty spectacular countryside. Everything completely denuded by the Bora. (That dreaded Adriatic wind). There were two bridges en-route, the heights of which we could not ascertain for some reason. 

Stymied by the lack of height of the first bridge meant a long two hour detour by which time Google Meister Al had managed to find the height of the second and decided to film our passage from the top of the mast.

And if you click on this link you will see that very video... Paski Most Bridge

You will notice the wind blown topograpghy I keep going on about too.

Casca is the Ibiza of Croatia but we thought it would be interesting to anchor off a big three day festival and take in the atmosphere. We anchored at 4:00pm and under the cover of darkness, dingy’ed in to get close to the action. What an incredible infrastructure for hedonism. Bungie crane, jet skis, five big music venues, bars, restaurants and lots of kids doing what kids do at these things… (he said enviously) Youth! So wasted on the young….

Did we really want to stay here two days?  The water wasn’t nice and clear, the bay was big and the festival wasn’t really for us. So that’s a no. But….. My Wind App told us there was a Bora coming by mid-morning the following day and as the saying goes, I’d rather be in here wishing I was out there than out there wishing I was in here. We readied the boat to leave and the go/no go decision would be made in the morning.

Morning dawned and it was calm. I woke the team and we were gone by 7:05. The Bora hit at 8:00 and even though we were still in a long, narrow protected bay we could see that this was not going to go well. We motored to the mouth of the bay and it was howling, waves were rising and white caps were spuming.

We went for it. Fortunately the wind was on our starboard beam and a little behind and in no time we were enjoying the ride. 

It lasted three hours until we tucked into a slot which leads up to the most delightful hamlet of Rab on Rab. Trees and vines and green stuff! We’d become so used to nothing but bare rock.

We anchored in a beautiful bay a short dingy ride from town and spent the day surrounded by beautiful people in pleasure craft.

Skradin and the Kornati National Park

We arrived at Skradin at 4:30 in the afternoon after an eventful sail. We managed to get everything up, but as is nearly always  the case they had to come down shortly thereafter as the wind went north westerly which was directly on our nose.

Skradin is a long way up river almost to the Krka Falls where Al and I went on the scooters. 

It is beautiful, narrow and winding with lots of mussel farms along the way. We pulled up at one such farm, ordered 3kgs of mussels and that evening Al cooked them split into two different sauces.

We were informed that we could anchor in the bay opposite the marina at Skradin during the day but would have to move into the marina at night… Well, we wanted to cook our fresh mussels onboard and so we decided to test that theory.. We stayed right there for two nights without the expected approach by Mr WaveyArms...

For Erwin’s sake we played tourist the following day, dingy’d in and took a tour boat up river to the falls where we could swim, drink cold beer and then go even further upriver to a monestry and a place called the necklaces where the naturally formed travertine walls look like necklaces as the water cascades over them. We walked back to town and never saw the tour boat either coming to pick us up or going?

Found a really nice restaurant called Skala, off the beaten track and elevated above town. Big balcony, great views, great food and too much wine. It took four days to realise I had left my travel card there….again! I can’t tell you how many times I have mislaid my Travel Cards. (You can stop smiling now Sal)

Another night at anchor in this biblical bay with bulrushes and swans to grace our view. 

At 10:45 on the 2^nd July, we weighed anchor and headed downstream en-route to the famous Kornati National Park. These Croatians sure know how to squeeze every last drop out of pretty much nothing. The key feature of this place is that it is a moonscape. Rockey rounded hills which have been scored by the wind for millennium, devoid of vegetation but somehow quite enchanting.

On our way downstream we stopped once more at our mussel guy. Five kilograms of mussels this time please and 3 dozen shucked oysters. It was Erwins turn to cook, he split them into three different sauces with fresh bread and cold chardonnay.. That, my friends is what I call decadent. 5Kgs of mussels ... $14.

You are supposed to buy your tickets for the Kornati’s while you are still outside the park which we attempted but could not anchor in Ravni Zakan. No room on the dock and quite a big wind in the bay, so we headed on until we found the amazing Lavsa bay where some friendly charter boat directed us to the last remaining mooring buoy. 

Then they arrived to inspect our tickets or sell us one. It cost almost twice as much than if we had managed to buy them outside the park! We then purchased another three day pass online so all up it was $180 for one night, then $215 for another three nights and as luck would have it, we only managed to use one night of that due the need to retrieve my Travel Card.

We got a message from some Ausies we met in Trogir that they were headed for Strakin. I had by this time figured out where I’d left my card and had contacted Skala to confirm that and told them somebody would come and collect it… “OK, so you guys should really try Skala restaurant and while you’re there, could you please collect my card and we’ll find some way to meet up. They did and we did. How’s that for a bit of luck.

One night in Lavsa and we headed for Sali a lovely little town on Dugi Otok, a long island with many interesting inlets, coves and anchorages but it was then we realised we had now left the Kornati National Park with all these day passes we’d paid for….

Reprovisioned in Sali and headed south again and into the Kornati’s so that it wasn’t a complete waste of money. 

We only had one more day to burn before rendezvousing with the Ausies to collect my Travel Card. 

One night in a cove at Uvala Vrulje, dinner at the restaurant onto who’s mooring we had tied and then a long climb to the top of a baron hill for an exquisite sunset/moonrise. 

As an asside, there is no garbage on the shorelines in Croatia and this is possibly why. Each town has a garbage bin area near the water, away from the town and accessible by dingy or when you pay for the mooring, the guys will take your garbage. A garbage boat turns up regularly and takes it all away. 

The Greeks and Turks could take a lesson here.

On Friday the 17^th at 9:05 we unhooked and started the long trek to the northern end of Dugi Otok and into a bay called Veli Rat. This was the decided venue for the card retrieval and a pot luck dinner on the Summer Amy. We tethered our paddle board to the neighbouring mooring buoy in order to ‘reserve’ it for them and settled in for a game of Rummycub. Penalty for losing was to swim naked to retrieve the paddle board on their arrival. I lost. Oh dear.

They turned up at 5:00 didn’t notice I was naked because of some strategic paddle board positioning until I had to swim back…. Woopin and a hollerin was all I could hear when I arrived back at our boat. “I'll explain later” I shouted.

They came over with Tuna Spag, we had done Spag Bol and it all ended around midnight. Summer Amy did us proud. The Aussie boys were under pressure from their partners to sell their boat and buy a catamaran.