I am on a work trip to Alexandria for a few days. It is one of the cities that played a significant role in the advancement of sailing in the Mediterranean and the world during its time.
Today we went to Rijeka to discuss with the Furuno representative the repairs needed on Belisama to change the autopilot display and reset the network, which has been down for a couple of weeks now, forcing us to sail with Navionics on the mobile phone. Much to our surprise, Furuno told us that they would not be able to work on the boat as they close after the 15th of August to give their staff a rest at the "end of the sailing season"! No problem, we can wait another 2 weeks.
But is it really the end of the sailing season?
For the past two weeks we have been exploring the small bays around Pula, escaping canicular days (and work at home) by swimming in the sea all day. For the last three days we have anchored in Fort Munida, less than a mile from the marina and Uvala Conkli at 1.8 nm! I cannot resist showing you another one of the incredible sunsets we get here, as we left in the late afternoon for a sunset dinner on board in Fort Munida.
Almost 10 days since we reached Pula at the end of our odyssey. I finished the last post with the sunset below, which looks surreal. However, I did not use any "effect" to enhance the colour or saturation. The sunset was just that red!
Well, there we are. Yesterday Belisama arrived safely in Pula after an odyssey of 6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km) spread over the last 4 seasons. In total, the conveyance will have lasted 247 days, an average of 26.3 nm per day, corresponding to 5 hours' sailing every day.
It sounds tough when expressed in raw numbers, but it has been a pleasure all the way through amazing waters with fantastic support from 19 crew friends who joined on different legs, some more than once. Thanks to all of you! I have to admit that I slowed Belisama down in the last few miles so as not to arrive in port too suddenly.
We spent the day very quietly in Uvala Przine as the forecast was for no wind at all until the middle of the night. I started diving with my tank to remove the piece of rope tangled in the propeller that I had noticed yesterday. There were a lot of saddled sea-bream around the boat and they were very curious about me. These seabreams (Orada) are small but delicious and I managed to hook one with a piece of bread on a hook, using the Rusquet technique from Marseille!
Lavdara to Ilovik has been a 44 nautical mile trip along the islands of Dugi Otok, Molat and Premuda. We are still experiencing high pressure weather with winds predictably driven by the sun, resulting in light land breezes at night and weak sea breezes during the day, requiring extensive use of the engine to keep our schedule ahead of the announced bora episode next Saturday.
Today, on our way to Pula, we sailed 34 nautical miles to the north-west. For the last few days the temperatures have been very hot and the winds have been "solar", meaning low intensity and coming from the direction of the sun all day. When you are under time pressure, you have to rely on the engine to keep up in such circumstances.
We left Split around 14:00 after a crew change for Uvala Vinišće, a 22 nautical mile trip from Split given the tacking. After a very quiet night there, we continued north-west to Šibenik, with a swim and lunch stop in Primošten, a 28 nautical mile trip.
Uvala Kasjuni is a very good anchorage in Split, with winds from the north and east. There is a bit of rolling due to the frequent ferry traffic, but it gets quiet at night. There were about 10 boats in the bay when we arrived at 15:30, but all but one had disappeared by sunset. All in all, a very good place to enjoy the Adriatic before heading to one of the 100€/night marinas for a crew change. The Uvala Kasjuni anchorage does not appear in either the Imray pilot book or in Navionics. Only Navily provides input from sailors who have used it in the past and recommend it.
In Pakleni, the Jugo caught us well and today we experienced the rain and thunder that Jugo traditionally brings. We were fine there at anchor, but the forecast was for the Jugo to fade away around 17:00 to give way to the sun, and for the land and sea to breathe again.
The weather changed, dramatically! We started the week with the normal summer wind orientation in Croatia, which results in very predictable winds all day long, and ended it under the Jugo influence, bringing rain, thunder, humidity and waves all over the Adriatic! Jugo is the Croatian name of the Sirocco. Look back at my postings on Croatian winds here and there to further understand what I am talking about...
On the 11th of June I changed crews and came on board with Ebba and Theo, who will accompany me to Split. They are both experienced sailors and it is a great relief to have such a good crew!
Today we went from the bay of Cavtat to Uvala Lapad, through Dubrovnik. It was magical and moving. Cavtat Bay, where we moored yesterday, was founded by the Greeks in the VIth century BC and was called Epidaurus. It was plundered and destroyed by the Slavs in the VIIth century. The inhabitants of Epidaurus fled to Ragusa, which became Dubrovnik.
On 6 June, we leave Molunat and sail North, along the coast for the bay of Cavtat where we anchor for the night. Look at the place!
On the 2nd of June we left Otranto for Brindisi, where we changed crew. We stay overnight and leave at noon on the 3rd to cross the Adriatic to Molunat, the first shelter in the south of Croatia. We took advantage of the broad reach south-easterly wind to sail the 110 nautical miles under spinnaker.
The image below shows the moon rising on the night of 3 June. The "impression rising moon" was moving, although this iPhone image shows the limits of night photography with such equipment.
