Back to the blog for an update! The sailing season is over for us this year, after 570 nautical miles around Pula. This is not much compared to previous seasons, and can be explained by the number of friends and visitors we had over the summer, with whom we tended to sail locally, relatively bad weather in June and September, and a lot of work on top of that!
Anyway, we are Mediterranean sailors now, used to the tricks of mooring in any port under any conditions, even if we still miss the Baltic!
Recent trips include a visit to Trieste in Italy, on the north coast of Istria, which was unfortunately cut short for family reasons.
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| Club Med 2, anchored in Rovinj, impressive with its 193 metres |
Funny encounter in Umag. We had called the marina to secure a berth as we were expecting an Austrian couple on board. The harbour master told us that due to the limited depth of the pier, he could not accommodate sailing boats over 10 metres. When we mention our centreboard, the harbour master is astonished and agrees to book us in! When we arrive and ask on VHF, the harbour master is surprised and tells us that our boat had arrived earlier in the day! In fact, it was another OVNI (a 400) that had called on VHF on the approach and was mistaken for us because mentioning his centreboard and was given our berth. In any case, the next spot was free and it was a very nice encounter between 2 OVNIs, the first ever met after thousands of miles already in the Mediterranean.
Austrian friends onboard in Umag, with Abby Rose along side.
On the way back from Trieste, single handed, I will meet them again around Vrsar on their way to Pula.
Abby Rose, an OVNI 400 under Australian flag, sailing around Europe and that we met in Umag. Very nice time together!
So, end of the 2014 season for now!
But start of the mushroom season, thanks to the Yougo, the hot and wet wind that has been blowing regularly for the past 2 weeks. But in the previous 2 seasons we had not found many mushrooms to pick as we had no idea where to look. This year we decided to take a more scientific approach to identifying suitable spots. First, we used the Google satellite map to locate forests in Istria. Then, overlay the Google elevation map to identify relatively flat areas. Finally, we selected spots away from the surrounding villages to avoid competition with local foragers. And it worked beyond all expectations!
Armillaria mellea, alias the honey fungus
The obvious first one is Amarilla mellea, very nice at the bottom of trees. But we do not pick them as they are reported as being potentially not pleasant.
Russula emetica (lepida?), better to avoid, as its name indicateThen Russula emetica, very nice looking in large patches, but that we don't pick because of the possibility of getting confused with other red cap russules that would create problems.
Then, a good catch of "Vesse-de-Loup", alias common puffball, which are very easy to identify and are very good fried with oil and butter in a pan with garlic!
Couple of edible boletus, but too old to eat but of to dry!
Drying our boletus
Quite frequent in Istria is the Amanita phalloides, the most deadly mushroom that on can encounter on our countries. One single mushroom can kill you for good, with virtually not treatment of antidote. It is therefore quite important to be able to identify it. The ring around the stem, which comes out off a volva is already a good way to avoid those.
To make matters worse, the mushroom below has a ring on the stalk that comes out of a volva. And it is one of the best mushrooms you can find in the Mediterranean! It has been so popular since ancient times that it is known as Caesar's mushroom. But the bright orange colour of the cap makes it unique and very safe to pick and eat. Note that it is considered an endangered species and in some areas, such as Istria, it is not allowed to be picked.
Then there is Russula cyanoxantha, which can be selected with confidence by checking a few criteria: no volve or ring like amanitas and a very "clean" taste when chewing a piece. In fact, it is advisable to chew a small piece and reject any bitter or spicy ones. We did this and found a few bitter ones.
"Horns of plenty" pick of the day
We had a good "cauliflower tartiflette aux trompettes de la mort with black garlic." Delicious!And finally, we managed to get a load of yellow chanterelles, one of the best one can find!
The pick of "Pieds-de-moutons" on the right (sweet tooth in English),
yellow chanterelle on left (girolles in French), and 2 boletus on top left.
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