Hi All:
We trust everyone wintered well. Ours was a particularly
long bitter cold one, but with less snow than previously.
We have been back at the boat for just over one month now.
As always first dealing with the never-ending job list, but now underway
motoring through dead calm as we write this. We have left Italy and are heading
south along the Croatian coast, anchoring at night in order to avoid the busy
touristy, chartering areas. This being early June, the hordes of Italian
boaters haven’t yet ascended, so it is a wonderful time to visit. It is however
already 30+ during the day, but with cooler nights for sleeping.
This is the commencement of our 11th season and
our goal is to travel west from Italy to Gibraltar for a winter mooring. There
are so many more places of interest we’d like to see, but social and political
unrest suggests otherwise. We’ve had five good seasons here, so no complaints.
Maybe when we switch to land yacht, we’ll return to see what we have missed.
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| our winter mooring was under a street lamp the batteries were always full, but blackout curtains were needed to sleep |
We left Monfalcone, our winter berth, but had to go to
Trieste to get our new mainsail. In order to avoid paying the 23% VAT, Customs
insisted upon seeing the sail installed. A video of the installation or
affidavit would not suffice. It is only 20 miles away, so worth the trip. But
at boat speed that is 3-4 hours one way. At the dock in Trieste, Customs
appeared before the sail showed up. A document was presented for signature,
along with application of the ship’s stamp and was gone. Sixty seconds! Still
no sail. The sailmaker (Italian) explained that we had to go through the
process because of two problems. First problem – they are Customs. Second
problem – they are Italian.
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| Grado - between Monfalcone and Venice the long narrow channel to center of town |
From Trieste it is a couple of hops over to Venice, which we
have pegged as being the high point of this season. We were able to moor in the
Venice lagoon on the island of Venice, so that we could walk everywhere, and
walk we did. When the feet gave out it was onto the vaporetta (water taxi). The
entire experience – simply outstanding! We loved every single minute of the
visit and wished to have stayed longer.
Half the time you are lost because the alley maze is so
intricate. Boating articles have suggested the possibility of taking your own
dinghy through the canals (with appropriate authorization), but that is rife
with so many problems. Enroute from your boat to the city you would most
probably get swamped by the passing vaporettas. They, and everyone else whizzes
about at top speed. Once inside the maze you would quickly become disoriented
and then trying to squeeze by a gondola in the narrow canals, will quickly make
you want to rethink your decision.
We were able to visit the nearby island Morana, world famous
for its glass blowing and Burano, known for its lace. Both equally as
interesting as Venice, without the crowds, because if I get poked by just one
more selfie stick …………
Now back to Croatia. Two nights ago we were wandering around
the island of Olib in search of a bakery. We stopped an older gentleman and his
daughter, hoping they could point us in the right direction. The daughter
responded in the thickest New York accent giving us a start. Apparently they
and over half the island folk return every year from the US. They all left when
the political situation soured 30 plus years ago, but now return to their birth
land every summer.
So today we are motoring south, in blazing sun and zero air,
amongst the many Croatian islands with the Velebitski Mountain range providing
the back drop. Easy to see why this is one of the premier sailing areas of the
Med. We have given ourselves about two more weeks here before crossing back
over to Italy just above the Boot and then points west.
So we’ll just say ciao for now………..Mike and Grace
