Montenegro & Croatia 2014

 

 

 

 

Hi All: 

As indicated in our previous post, this is our second and last post for this 2014 season. Season 10 is finito.

We have arrived at our winter mooring at Monfalcone, Italy (near Trieste) and are preparing for lift out. Apparently the winter winds in the area can be substantial (force 9-10), such that the marina positions the boats on the land, bow to wind to lessen the chance of them falling over. We also have to winterize the boat against freezing – something not required since leaving Canada.

Since our last posting, we visited Montenegro (spectacular!) and parts of Croatia (lovely). We anticipate filling in the blanks in Croatia next spring, when we head south heading out of the Med. We skipped Slovenia because the coast line is very short and the check-in/out procedure and cost did not justify.

This summer we covered almost 2000 nm and regrettably 80% was by motor. For us, the winds were just not fair, but boats heading the other way had it right. Poor planning on our part. I guess.

It felt like unsettled weather joined us the moment we cleared into Montenegro and stayed right up to Italy (it’s pouring today) and it was a rare day not to have a weather warning included in the daily marine forecast. For the most part the accuracy and timing of the forecast was pretty good, so we could work around it. But it is important to stay informed because the area has significant winds that arrive instantaneously and hang on for days (the Bora from the north and the Sirocco from the south). The Croatian archipelago can afford smooth sailing in a blow, but sections can also channel the winds (hence one of our reason for skipping parts this go round).

The pics show one instance we all got it wrong and felt somewhat exposed. At one time we counted four water spouts dropping from a storm cell, but all dissipated before there was any serious alarm.

Hard to see - but we counted four spouts forming
 

If we were getting nervous/what about the boat just left of the base?
(click to enlarge)

MONTENEGRO

The main attraction of Montenegro is a fiord that almost rivals Norway. The Kotor Fiord cuts into the coast about 20 miles and is lined with steep hills/cliffs (1000m) presenting a magnificent vista. The red tiled roofed villages, breaking the shore line, seemed to start here. But the Kotor town castle walls, climbing from water’s edge to summit were nothing short of spectacular (1350 steps – we counted).

Looking down Kotor Fiord from the Castle

The Town of Kotor

Kotor castle
 

When exiting the fiord you pass two islands near Persat (Otok Gospa & Otok SV Djordje). One is a walled functioning convent. The other island is artificial, having been created by the people of Persat who boat out to the island every July 22 to drop a stone. The tradition started 1452 when an icon of the Virgin was discovered there. Today, the island supports a church which is swarmed daily by tripper boats.

Convent on the left - Artificial island on the right

St Stephen is also an island which gave us a wow! moment. This being Montenegro’s most photographed site, started life as a simple island fishing village, but was later joined to the mainland by a causeway. Today it is a 5 star hotel frequented by the well-heeled.



St Stephen - Montenegros most photographed scene

CROATIA

Another reason we skipped parts of Croatia was because –“you are coming at the wrong time of year -tourist season”. The many ancient walled UNESCO towns were reported to be shoulder to shoulder and the popular anchorages will be filled to capacity by the hordes of Italian boats. Well over half of the boats are Italian flagged.

But we got more than our fill of ancient walled towns and there are many attractive uncharted anchorages, you don’t need to stress yourself to enjoy Croatia’s offering. Unfortunately, many of the good anchorages have been filled with mooring balls operating as private concessions.

Korkula Monastary - wakes you at 0600 daily with 128 strikes of the bell
(counted that also)

Korkula town quay



Korkula castle turret



walled town of Korkula

 

One island, which has only recently been opened to the public, was Tito’s personal playground. But to say open to the public is a bit of a stretch. Visitation is by reservation only and only mega/super yachts are to be seen at the dock because of the astronomical mooring fees.

Pula -another ancient UNESCO town



Pula - Roman coliseum



Pula - commercial harbour cranes at night



submarine pens found everywhere - some large enough to moor inside



passing a bridge leading into Krka Nat,l Park Croatia
They were bungy jumping between the many passing boats



part of the vast array of waterfalls in Krka Nat'l Park
the pics don't do them justice



just after a thunderstorm in Havar

We have found Croatia is a good place to cruise despite the weather and always sloppy seas. The navigation aids/lighthouses are first class and bureaucracy is not anywhere near the burden we had anticipated. So we look forward to returning next spring and seeing many of the more touristy spots we bypassed this year.

 Our flights home are booked and boat jobs will be interspersed with day trips. We can only hope that Two Moons continues to dodge the bullet with any of the winter winds that may happen here in Monfalcone.

Good wishes to all……..Ciao……….Mike and Grace

 

Season 10 - Turkey to Albania

Hi All:

We hope all is well and good with you and yours. It has been a while since we had reason to post to our blog, but friends have been emailing us asking – where are you? Still in Canada? Well, we are writing this in Orikum Marina, Albania. The one and only marina in Albania.

We started our tenth season mid – April, back in Alanya, Turkey, where we spent about three weeks getting Two Moons out of moth balls. Since then we have covered about 1200 nm retracing our steps through Turkey, the Greek Isles, up into the Adriatic and most of that has been under motor. (hence the name “The Motorteranean”). The winds have been all or nothing, and all means on the nose.

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Turkey exit:

Getting out of Turkey proved to be a bit of a challenge for us. We waited for four days at one of the ports of entry, whose office was closed “temporarily”, only to learn the day before we thought we would be leaving, that it would be two more weeks before they would reopen……….maybe.  So it was on

Our waiting place
 

to the next official port of entry/exit.

A practice has arisen where agents have inserted themselves between the port officials and the cruiser, charging a hefty fee for what is easy to do yourself. We feel the port officials are supporting this because the agent is doing some of their work and possibly receive a little extra as well. We had done our best to avoid these agents, but were finally forced into it at our second check-out point. After waiting the suggested time period we met with our now very irate agent. “Big problem……big problem” was his opening remark. It seemed that despite our having all the requisite documentation in hand, none of it had ever been entered into the Turkish tracking system. For all intents and purposes, we were not in Turkey. So big problem?,No big problem. Thank you and goodbye – we just left.

Greece – Peloponnese:

Heading west, rather than go back through the Corinth Canal, we went south around the Peloponnese, which has the reputation of a Cape Finistere or other windy headlands. Non-plussed, in fact rather relieved, we motored past in dead calm. But we were now into new territory, which was all the more enjoyable because the excitement of new territory was back and there were very few other boats, unlike in the Greek islands.

Regrettably this solidarity was short lived because as we approached sailing centers of Prevesa, Lefskada and Corfu, the charter boats appear by the hundreds. You need sharp elbows to guard your spot in the anchorage and be very diligent when a flotilla of charter boats appears. They are folks with little to no sailing experience chasing after the mother ship.

One flotilla nestled onto dock head

We found Corfu to be a wonderful sailing area with many anchorages and crystal clear waters. This was our last Greek destination, because from here we checked out (no problem) and crossed the 15 nm to Sarandes, Albania.

Albania:

We have discovered that things work a little differently in Albania. Greece is quite easy going bureaucratically. Turkey a bit more restrictive. Albania still doesn’t know how to work with recreational vessels in that they treat us in the same manner as they do a commercial tanker.

Unavoideably we engaged an agent to clear customs and also to clear in and out of port. Port police are present during these occasions. Even though we have now cleared customs, the next port requires us to have an agent to pay our 15 euro harbour fee. The agent’s fee to present the harbour fee – 40 euro.

There are only five harbours in Albania and all are full-fledged commercial operations, which offer nothing for the cruising yachtsman. Some cases the pier has been too high to get off the boat, save scrambling up a massive truck tire onto the pier.

Just thankful the tides are minimal

Unfortunately there are not many natural anchorages along the Albanian coast and few offer protection from the powerful winds screaming in from the south or north. The large sheltered bay in which the only Albanian marina resides does not allow any anchoring because it was all a former mine field and has yet to be officially cleared.  Hmmmm………a good marketing job by some unnamed local marina?

 

Gramma Bay - probably the best anchorage in Albania

From what little we have seen of Albania, there still exists the communistic mindset of dominance on the part of those with some authority-  in daily enterprise, individual freedom and official presence. People are not well off, but it is the odd car which is not a Mercedes. We were told that under the communistic period they were not even allowed to own bicycles, so now car ownership is highly prized – but a Mercedes? One article stated that the roads are very poor and it is only a Mercedes that will stand up. It has also been said that many are hot from around Europe – which goes with the Tourist Bureau’s ad campaign – Come vacation in Albania…….your car is already here!

We have not encountered many tourist attractions, but sailing the coast it is hard to miss the thousands and thousands of bunkers. These two man cement domes were erected by Albania’s past oppressive regime in response to a perceived coastal attack. Statistics indicate there are 500,000 of these crumbling structures all along the coast.

But not to seem overly negative, everyone we have encountered has been warm, friendly and eager to practice their english. Although we have had a few awkward moments when we forget that their head  gestures are opposite to ours – shaking the head side to side means yes.

Tomorrow we head to our last Albanian port, where we will undertake exit procedures (with our agent) and then into Montenegro. Weather permitting we plan to sail through Croatia until we reach our wintering port of Monfalcone, Italy, sometime at the end of September.

AIS:

By the way, apart from posting our position onto the Winlink2000 web site, it is possible to go on-line and see our real-time position through something called Live Ships AIS. If this interests you drop us an email and we will provide the steps.

AIS screen print depicting cargo vessels surrounding us - we are the red dot

Well, we hope your summer unfolds as planned and you stay happy and healthy,

Cheers………..Mike and Grace