We left Iz on Tuesday 25^th September in brilliant sunshine with little wind and motored south towards the island of Zut, calling in on the port of Sali on Dugi Otok, just to take a look. Strong South Easterlies were forecast and Sali, open to the south, would not have been an ideal choice to seek shelter on this occasion. But it looked like a pleasant enough town and we will certainly stop there to explore another time.

The island of Zut has an isolated marina, no village but a couple of restaurants with visitor pontoons to tie up to. Not much to do here other than swim and walk, which we did as weather permitted.

We spent 2 days here whilst the strong winds blew through, but as we had Nigel’s birthday to celebrate, we made the best of our time! One day on a marina buoy and one day on a restaurant pontoon in the most sheltered part of the bay. We climbed to the highest point around, risking getting blown away, but were rewarded with great views of the Kornati islands to the west.

As the winds were forecast to moderate on Friday 28^th we sailed 12 miles to Biograd. We still had nearly 30 knots of wind and were well reefed for the beat south alongside the island of Pasman.

There seems to be a pattern here of a few windy days followed by one of calm and the next day was no exception. We had to motor north towards Sukosan and we decided to spend our last night ‘at sea’ at anchor off a tiny island off the town of Prekko on Uglan. We went ashore and walked around the island which was home to the monastery of St Paul. It had beautifully tended gardens which looked like Eden, with fig trees, vines, pomegranates, lemons and lots of vegetables growing profusely.

Now we are back in our Marina at Sukosan. 3 days to clean up, take the sails off and do all the usual chores and maintenance.

This September we have been as far north as Slovenia. In 4 weeks we have travelled 373 sea miles, and we have experienced more unsettled weather and strong wind conditions than is normal for this time of the year!  No real complaints though. Deja Vu II has looked after us well and we have been extraordinarily lucky to have had a great time with good company and trips to some really lovely and interesting places.

With Deja Vu II put to bed for the winter, we look forward now to going home. We fly back on October 3^rd.

See you soon, we hope!

The island of Losinj is connected to the larger island of Cres by a bridge and they lie south east of the Istrian peninsula. We had arrived at the main town on Losinj, namely Mali Losinj to weather the next storm.

This provided an opportunity to get the bikes out and, as always, we managed to discover a bit more about the area. We took the coast path that hugged the inner bay of the coastal isthmus and found many derelict buildings probably of a WW11 era. More interestingly Nigel explored, as best he could with a small key ring light, a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers that seemed to wind right through the hill to the other side. He went in one tunnel and emerged from another, taking me by surprise!

We crossed the hill more conventionally by road, leaving behind the main harbour, windswept by the strong North Easterlies, passing huge derelict mansions, once so grand, and we descended on the other side to the fully sheltered bay of Cikat.

We were surprised to find here a major holiday resort with elegant hotels for elderly folk at one end and camper vans and tents for families and younger folk at the other.

It was like stepping into another world – it was great to have the bikes and be able to explore a little further afield.

On Friday 21^st September we left Mali Losinj and headed south, the direction of home.  Look what we sailed past!

Departing from Slovenia on Sunday 16th September, our first stop Porec, about half way down the Istrian Peninusular, where we checked back into Croatia. We chose to pick up a buoy so that we could all swim in the afternoon sun and then at 6pm we inflated the dingy and went ashore. It was another beautiful Venetian town with narrow streets, beautiful old church, shining cobbles that had been trodden for centuries, but with plenty of tourist shops, cafes and bars. It has been getting cooler in the evenings, so we hurried a quick drink in a bar atop one of the old towers, picked up some take away pizzas and then timed our journey back to the boat hoping to enjoy them hot. It took 19 minutes pizza oven to plate, not bad and very delicious they were!

Monday was to be Sue and Dick’s last full day and it dawned sunny and warm. We sailed south with the cruising chute, past Pula to Veruda where we tied up in the Marina there.

Sue and Dick departed on Tuesday 18^th in a taxi heading for Pula town so they could see the sights there before flying Pula to Stansted and then driving all the way back to Pembrokeshire. Forseeing another breakdown in the weather in the North Adriatic, we slipped lines same day and sailed, again with the cruising chute, down towards Mali Losinj where we planned to weather out the next Bora. We overnighted in the most peaceful anchorage on the island of Unije, woke to heavy cloud and increasing winds, so headed for the security of Mali Losinj town.

Here we are now safely tied up, catching up on the chores of cleaning and washing, waiting for the rain to stop, the winds to moderate before we continue on our journey back towards our home port of Sukosan.

Friday 14^th September, leaving Rovinj at noon, we embarked on our voyage north to Novigrad, some 15 miles distant.

Sailing gently for the first 5 miles, our complacency was soon shattered as we found the wind and endured a roller coaster ride beating into a turbulent sea with 30 knots of true wind on the nose. Needless to say our arrival at Novigrad was welcome and we were soon ashore exploring the small and quiet town. We found a delightful wine emporium which dispensed the local wine in large plastic bottles. We returned to the boat heavy laden with white and red wines filled into plastic bottles from a barrel which turned out to be excellent! Great sunset too.

Saturday 15^th we checked out of Croatia and motored north to Piran in Slovenia in windless conditions, arriving in time for lunch on board. Apart from being interested in the Slovenian coast, Nigel and Mo needed to declare another departure from Croatia, to conform with customs requirements, and Slovenia was just close enough to make this an obvious and easy option.

After clearing the immigrations formalities as we had now entered the EU we set off to explore the town.  The main claim to fame appears to be Tartini, 17^th century composer, violinist and general good bloke.  The centre of the town is Tartini square which is large, surrounded by magnificent Venetian style buildings and a floor of polished stone.

Moving ever upwards we climbed to the top of the town t see the old fortifications and enjoy magnificent views back over the town and Croatia to the South and Italy (Trieste) to the North.

We descended via the church which sports a campanile that is a copy of the one in St Marks square in Venice.  There was a wedding in progress and we peeped in just in time to hear a class rendition of Ave Maria by what sounded like a professional singer.

In the evening we dined in an excellent restaurant and then moved on to a bar which had live music. The performer was a capable one-man group, assisted by Yamaha.  His range of music was brilliant and we were riveted for a couple of hours, returning to the boat at past midnight.  Unfortunately our neighbours returned later and continued to talk and drink until dawn, disturbing our beauty sleep.

Sue and Dick, Nigel’s sister and husband, arrived on Tuesday 11^th, a lovely sunny day. We had planned a 2 day stopover here at Rovinj, to weather out the storm promised for the following day.

We all enjoyed exploring the town during Wednesday. The old town rises up on a peninsular with the church of St Euphemia at its crown and from there we explored the tangle of narrow streets carpeted with well worn and very uneven marble blocks and cobbles.

Billed as being one of Croatia’s magical places, we were not disappointed to discover a charming old town with a fun and friendly atmosphere.  The strong Italian influence was evident not only in the 18^th century architecture, but also in the shops and restaurants..loads of lovely shoes and pasta! We had a great lunch.

Aside from the usual tourist shops we found a fascinating range of real art and craft galleries in all sorts of unusual and surprising places.

Nigel was soon at the limit of retail endurance, so we headed back to batten down the hatches for the impending storm. What a good move that was.

By 8pm we were ravaged by a severe storm that lasted all night, so it was most definitely supper on board!  As the winds increased to over 50knots Nigel reinforced all the lines and we tried to sleep. It was like being in a washing machine despite being tied up inside the Marina!

Thursday dawned wet and cold, so books were read, the town was revisited and we found the most delightful Istrian restaurant for a very long lunch.

We all have our fingers crossed for some improvement tomorrow.

I do like Sundays in Croatia..and I was reminded of this on 9^th as we woke in Pula Marina to the pealing of chuch bells. They start in earnest at 6am and go on throughout the day.  It really is quite compelling.

Shops are mostly shut and churches are full of local people of all ages.

I found out recently that Croatia has 12 national holidays including Easter and Christmas when all public services are closed. The ones that caught my interest were: 22^nd June, Day of the Antifacist Struggle,

October 8th Independence Day

and 5^th August, National Gratitude Day!

There is always a lot to learn from other people and customs.