More about Norway later.
We had a great final dinner in Montenegro with some of the best fish we have had on this trip. The restaurant overlooked the Gulf of Kotor and was set in the grounds of an old mill - very rustic and very calm (apart from the geese).
The next day we got up at 5:00 to check out of Montenegro at an early enough time to get into Croatia in the middle of the day. All this worked well and we were cleared out of the country and off the dock by 6:00 am. We had to dodge a cruise ship[ that was coming up the bay but fortunately it was a small one. Look at the pictures in the previous blog entry and you will see just how much room they can take up!
An uneventful trip to Cavtat which is the first port of entry into Croatia. We had had some issues checking in to Croatia last year so we were a bit nervous. However, it was all easy and straightforward. We were clearing in behind a British captain and the Harbormaster was mocking him for the British “Brexit” vote and suggesting that he might like to emigrate to Croatia ifhe wanted to stay in the EU. The captain took it with good humor but was clearly uncomfortable withBritain’s new role as source material for EU jokes.
Of all the places we visited last year, Croatia was our least favorite. Not that we had a bad time here but it seemed that, unlike Montenegro for example, it had not yet developed the right kind of service culture for an economy that is increasingly heavily dependent on tourism. We are not alone in this view but, on the other hand, we met some very nice people and visited some very lovely spots here last year. Part f it was, no doubt, that Croatia was a very different sailing experience than Greece - more organized, busier, more fee-based and less easy-going. But this did not deter us from coming back and we hope to appreciate more of this beautiful country this season.
We headed on up to Kolocep which is about seven miles north of Dubrovnik. We like this place. It is a quiet little island that has no cars and a convenient ferry service to Dubrovnik. (This is where Norway will come into the story). We spent a quiet night at anchor but the next day we had some pretty severe afternoon thunderstorms with two very close lightning strikes and torrential rain.
After all that died down, two Sunsail boats crewed by Norwegians came and anchored close to us but spreading themselves across the entrance to the bay. We have been impressed by the ability of Croatian ferry captains to maneuver large ferries in small spaces but the Norwegians looked like they were setting a major challenge. We were fairly sure that they were unaware of the ferry service but they did not remain in ignorance very long. A large white ferry appeared and pointed directly at one of the Norwegian boats. We have never seen a crew move a yacht out of the way so quickly! It was all good fun until the next morning ….
We went for a walk. As I said this island has no cars, a few walking paths that people use to get between the two or three little villages and about a million songbirds that sing their hearts out every day. While we all have songbirds at home, I think familiarity with their songs makes them less impactful. Here there are new birds with some very beautiful songs. So enjoyable!
By the time we came back, the Norwegians had left. But as we were settling in for breakfast a little boat came up and told us we must leave because the ferry was coming. No amount of explaining that we had been here for two days made the situation any better. We had to move or be fined by the police. We surmise that the ferry captain had been annoyed by the Norwegians the night before and was exercising his right to have free passage to his ferry quay - fair enough.
We sailed a couple of miles to Lopud, the next island. Lopud is our bete noire. We cannot anchor here successfully. That is not quite true. If we wanted to anchor for lunch, it’s straightforward. That’s what many people do and we’ve done it before. But if you want to anchor overnight, you have to be a lot more sure that your anchor is well dug into the bottom. The bottom in Lopud is covered in thick weed; most anchors don’t do well in thick weed. Even our state-of-the-art Rocna doesn’t like it very much. It’s just hard to get the anchor through the weed and into the bottom. So we tried a few times, weren’t happy with the holding and moved on.
One of these years, we’ll succeed. I am sure champagne will be involved.