We push on north into the park. It’s not a vey big park so our days can be fairly leisurely and we can enjoy a lunch stop. We anchor in a wide bay on the west coast of Kornat. Anchoring for lunch is a more casual affair than anchoring for an overnight stop - someone is always going to be on deck keeping an eye on things. But we are dig in pretty well and the wind is not very strong.
Lori has been plucking up courage to go into the water. As most of you know, she is not a very confident swimmer and the water has been cold enough to dampen her enthusiasm even more. But todaythe water is perfect and there can be no excuse. She eases herself slowly into the water and armed with a noodle becomes a water baby again. Needless to say, she has fun. I maintain a watchful eye from the cockpit.
After lunch we motor on to the third of our recommended restaurants in this area. It is on the little island of Levrnaka. It has a nice pontoon and a couple of guys to help us moor stern-to. We are early enough that we can have a leisurely afternoon and watch other boats arrive. We also get to order dinner. The time it’s tuna carpaccio and tuna tartare for starters and a fish stew in a style from one of the local islands. All really good.
But there is something mercenary about the restaurant(a tendency that we’ve seen elsewhere in Croatia). For example, the meals are not cheap but they levy a cover charge on top of the meal prices. So effectively you’re paying for mooring and then being required to eat at the restaurant. This is the kind of thing that causes many people to choose not to cruise in Croatia. It’s a great pity but fortunately there are still some wonderful places and wonderful people equal to the best anywhere we have been cruising.
We need an antidote. So we go farther north into the Lake Telascica Nature Park. A step down fro a National Park but many steps up in terms of charm, solitude and, surprisingly, service. Mooring buoys are provided for visiting yachts and we find a quiet corner of the last bay where there are only four of them. We pick up the buoy moderately well, pay our park entrance fee and settle down in one of the prettiest anchorages i have been in. Then the local mini-market boat turn up offering fruit, veg, bread and wine. We buy some for today and order more for the next morning. This is great! The mini-market is followed by the ice-cream boat. A guy is motoring around with ice cream in a freezer, no doubt selling it to all those families with kids who don’t have freezers on board. Things are so relaxed that Lori and I both go in the water.
But there is a big storm brewing in the Adriatic. When the Adriatic decides to have a storm it does so with an enthusiasm that is entirely out of proportion to its size. Winds in the Mediterranean tend to have the same names (with local language variations like Mistral, and Maestral) and are related to the direction of the wind. Croatia in particular and the Northern Adriatic in general has a special one called the Bora (or Bura). This wind comes out of the north and can be pretty ferocious in the winter. In the summer, it is a little more mellow but still is a wind to be pandered to.
Orange is bad, but Split is the blue dot
We are quite a way north of Split right now but we decide to get back there as soon as possible. We stop off at Marina Frapa on the mainland about 25 miles northwest of Split. It is a nice high-quality marina and we easily get a visitor’s berth on the outside of the wall. The night is calm but the storm is getting closer, so we leave early the next morning for the ACI marina in Split. We try to book for five nights but the online system is only taking bookings for two. They say to call. We do and the lady on the line says there is no problem they have plenty of space. Lori calls again to try to get a booking number. Lady says that there is no need, they have plenty of space.
We get to the marina and call them on VHF saying we have a booking for five nights. They say we can only stay two nights but we insist. There is off-line conversation and they come back and say “OK”. We get the last internal spot in the marina. We are parked next to a young man who manages a large powerboat. He helps us tie our lines really tight in anticipation of the wind.
We go over to the marina office to pay and the man on the desk says that we can stay only two nights. We say that we have had multiple people tells that we can stay for five. He says that he must call the captain of the marina. He does this and the captain says that we are good to stay. The guy on the desk does not look happy but he processes our transaction and we are good until Monday. Sometimes people make things hard for no good reason.
Now we hunker down for the storm and wait for Jim and Tracey. More on Split itself in the next post.