It appears that this applies to sea trials as as other aspects of life.
The downside of our re-planned route is that Brindisi - Budva is an overnight sail. Not a particularly difficult one but long enough to warrant attention. The trip was quiet. The wind wasn’t strong enough to sail, so we motor-sailed (with the mainsail up and the engine for you non-sailors) which added more stability and a little more speed.
At night we use radar to detect other vessels in the vicinity. The new instruments are pretty smart and project where vessels are going to be and what their closest point of approach to our projected position will be. Simple math but very helpful. The instruments tell you when a vessel is “dangerous” (i.e. is going to come close to you). You get a list of the top 3. Well, at the top of our list was “True Colors” i.e. ourselves. Now many people have said that we’re just a danger to ourselves but it pretty bad when your instruments start to tell you this too.
What had happened was that the instruments were not set up to recognize and ignore our proximity to ourselves. A simple configuration fix but one that is more difficult in the dark. We decided to ignore it and fix it in the morning. a few more items ended up on the morning to -do list.
It was a partly cloudy but otherwise beautiful morning as we approached Budva. The first major parking was a two-for-one job. First alongside on the customs quay to check into the country; then stern-to in our own berth. The customs and border formalities are done pretty well but the harbormaster who will give us our touring permit is elusive. Indeed he has been elusive each time we come here and he has been sometimes equally hard to find for some of our friends. I suspect it’s because he works here and also at Bar a ways down the coast.
Anyway he’s not here so the formalities proceed without him. When I mention this in the office, the young lady gives a long-suffering sigh. I say “We’ve been here before.” And she says, “Then you understand my problem.” I do.
We move over to our berth and I meet up with the harbormaster later - a nice guy who seems to enjoy his job (maybe a little too much).
We’re in Budva for two nights - one to help us catch up on sleep and one to take a look around. Remember the need for planning “flexibility” while sailing and I’ll come back to the reality in a moment.
We liked Budva the times we were here before. It’s a resort town which is the heart of the Adriatic Riviera. “Riviera” can mean a couple of things - think Benidorm vs Biarritz. We wanted to see which way Budva went. Sadly it seems to have gone the mass-tourism (Benidorm) route rather than the elegant Biarritz route.
The marina that used to have young guys and women in cute polo shirts attending to boats and on-shore requirements now has a few marineros who are only sometimes available to help boats moor. On the quay by the walled old town there are five restaurants - two of them are Chinese restaurants. You think “Why?” And then you see the flocks of Asian tourists being shepherded around in groups under the control of a sheep-dog with a flag.
The old town is still quaint and can be enjoyed in the morning when not too many folks are up and about.
Getting back to that need for “flexibility”. After we dock, we turn on the shore power and our AC and little by little the batteries go crazy. This was supposed to have been fixed and is a potentially serious issue. We switch off the shore power and email the mothership back in Brindisi. The word “Urgent” is in the title. Apart from the conclusion that this shouldn’t be happening, we are all at a loss. The best plan is to get someone local to come look at it, but that won’t be until tomorrow. So we spend a hot day and night trying to conserve our batteries. Fortunately our solar panels are working well and can keep up with the load fairly easily.
The next day two Russian guys arrive and, after much investigation, they say that our chargers are putting too much power into our batteries. Odd since they are both matched. I get them to speak to the installation guy in Brindisi. They disagree but the Russian “solution” is a prudent approach. So we do it.
Everything is back on and the night is uneventful and everything seems to be OK. But if this happens again we’re going back to Brindisi to get it properly sorted out. Our yard has been great so far and this was not their work but that of a sub-contractor. Let’s see how they step up to the issue.
Finally, i seem to be making political comments at the end of the blogs this year. I promise this is not a trend, but I couldn’t resist this one. We have discovered the British PM’s secret post-Brexit plan.
Maybe she can handle getting out of the marina better than she is handling getting Britain out of Europe!