A hot July

Apologies to Sue and Dick for not yet uploading the photos from their week in June, but we were swept away by events! The wonderful wedding of the year over, we retreated to the boat on July 4^th with friends Sharron and Peter Hornsby, to unwind from all the excitement and explore Southern Croatia once again.

Sharron and Peter only had one week and the lack of wind was bit of a barrier to long distance sailing. We put into Murter for a replacement battery charger to be fitted and spent two windless days on Zirje during which time we swam a lot, did some mainsail maintenance which involved srewing up the full length sail battens that had unusually come undone, explored ashore and enjoyed a long lunch at the Konoba in Stupiva Bay. We had promised Peter and Sharron a trip to Vis, some 40 miles further south, to visit some excellent wineries and cool bars there. It eluded us once again when it became clear the lack of wind would be swiftly followed by a Bura, a strong northeasterly that would have made our return trip very uncomfortable. Instead of Vis we headed to Trogir for sightseeing, retail therapy and some good meals!

 

We were sad to leave our able crew in Trogir just as the weather stabilised with some favourable and moderate winds for sailing south. We missed out Vis, but called in on the north coast of Hvar, Sveti Ivan, a delightful bay just west of Vela Luka on the west coast of Korcula, Lastovo, Mljet, East coast of Korcula, Loviste on the Pelejesac Peninsular, the remotely inhabited island of Scredo, south of central Hvar before beginning our return trip north.

We plucked up courage and entered the small marina in Korcula town to get water and replenish supplies.  It was massively hot and even taking a couple of cold showers didn’t help.  Our evening stroll took us into the backstreets where we found a small wine bar.  Not wanting a meal we ordered a platter of local cheeses and a glass of wine.  The wine was so good it was quickly followed up with an order for the rest of the bottle.  The cheeses were plentiful and excellent.  We enjoyed the medieval surroundings and good food.

On leaving we wandered round the mercifully cooler town more.  Found a band playing on the city wall but they were not very good so we moved on.  As we got closer to the Marina we heard more and better music so we set off to investigate.  In a small square we found a wine tasting happening with wines from the local Korcula vineyards.  For 100HRK you bought a glass and from then on it was up to you to sample as many wines as you could, whilst listening to the excellent duo singing.  We worked hard and sampled most of them, arriving eventually back at the boat at 1 am.  What a night!

It was unusually hot every day on this wonderful circuit of remote anchorages, small bays, pretty islands, glassy seas, gentle winds and almost perfect sailing. We had last visited Lastovo and Mljet  two years ago and we were thrilled to return for the perfect relaxation it afforded and we were pleased too to visit some new places en route, including Loviste, a huge bay with great anchoring and Monistir bay on the north coast of the island of Scredo.

 

In Loviste we went ashore and walked into the main settlement to the south of the bay.  We stopped at a bar for a beer only to be told that there was no electricity and no cold beer.  Apparently a massive fire had cut of the Pelejak peninsular and cut the power lines.  Shortly afterwards a boat came in with a generator they had got from Hvar and cold beer was restored.  At the same time as the fire raged on the Pelejak, we could see smoke rising from Korcula and apparently another fire there had also cut power and destroyed over 500 hectares of pine forest. Vegetation is sparse and slow growing in these parts so this is a significant loss.

Being further south was far less crowded, the charter boats from both Split and Dubrovnik would struggle to spend much time there even if they got that far. When we did see the occasional charter boat we were rather horrified about the frequent lack of seamanship exhibited, so we avoided them wherever possible!  Clearly anchoring skills are not well taught before they take off on the boats.

So far the new Deja Vu is proving herself a very comfortable and capable yacht.  She sails well in both light airs and when the winds get up.  Living is good with the large comfortable and airy cabins a blessing in the high temperatures we have been experiencing, although our thoughts are now turning to adding air conditioning next year. The solar panels have really come into their own with wall to wall sunshine and so far we have not had to run the engine to charge batteries even when running both fridges.  The larger cockpit makes for pleasant space in port.  Of course the really significant improvement is having ice in the gin and tonic!