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!