Exploits of Captain Ginger (June /July2017)
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Exploits of Captain Ginger (June /July2017) Our return to UK was for a brief visit to attend a dinner in the Royal Engineers Officers Mess at Chatham and the following weekend to stay with Geoff and Ann on their boat, Third Time Lucky, in Chatham Marina for the culmination of the celebration of the 350th Anniversary of the invasion by the Dutch fleet. It was a busy period and before we knew it we were heading for Stansted to catch a flight back to Monfalcone. We arrived early evening after a delayed flight, had a meal in the marina restaurant and did a mega grocery shop early the following morning before slipping our lines and heading down the canal for the open sea. Although the tidal range is less than a meter and we left shortly after high water we still managed to record a lowest depth of 0.2m about 8in beneath the keel! Monfalcone to the Istrian Peninsular Once clear of the canal we then had to negotiate the mussel beds before we could set a course across the bay to Umag to check into Croatia. We arrived early evening and secured to the Customs Quay, there were no queues and the process was relatively easy. Once we were legal we headed back out of the harbour to spend the night secured to an unused quay in a bay just a couple of miles south of Umag. The land surrounding the bay is up for redevelopment but goodness knows when that will take place. In the meantime we had a pleasant night, swam in the sea and took a walk through the countryside the next morning. One of the joys of boating is visiting those out of the way places only used by the locals and this was one of them. The following day we turned south to anchor in a beautiful bay just south of Pula and when we arrived in the early evening it was full of boats. Fortunately one boat was just leaving so we quickly dropped anchor in its place and settled ourselves in. Most of the boats were day visitors and were gone by 2000 and we were left with just three other boats for company. The next day we set of in search of Camping Gas, the campsite close by were not very helpful so we ended up going to Veruda Marina in the next bay where the staff couldn’t do enough for us and the Marinero even lent me his bicycle. We had our cylinder refilled for a small charge and were soon on our way again. Heading south we rounded the Istrian Peninsular and up the eastern coast to Luka Vinjole, a small harbour with no commercial development, not even a bar! The hillside is dotted with small holiday cottages, we went ashore for a walk and they all looked pretty basic. After a peaceful night we headed across the channel to the island of Cres to visit the town situated in a well sheltered inlet protected by islands. We anchored just south of the small harbour and stayed for two nights, meeting up with Kevin on his boat Everything Zen. The first night we ate ashore and the second night had planned a BBQ but by 1700 the skies went black and we were subjected to a torrential thunderstorm. Kevin, Joycie, Pam and me at Cres We left Cres the next morning turning south to spend the night on the town quay at the little village of Osor before going through the canal the following day. Although we have visited previously it is always a delight to return and of course the canal provides a short cut to the east side of Losinj. The forecast for the next few days was for strong winds of 35-40 knots at times, so Kevin left us to run for Zadar and we went through a second canal, even smaller than the first to go into the town harbour of Mali Losinj. The town is situated at the southern end of a large natural harbour considered one of the most sheltered havens in this part of the Adriatic. We spent three nights here along with many other boats, exploring on bikes and the islands taxibus service, basically a mini bus shared with other people. It also gave us chance to do a bit of boat maintenance and catch up with laundry. Weather back to normal and we left on a bright sunny and more importantly a calm morning to go back through the canal to head north east to the island of Rab and anchor in the large bay to the west of the town. Rab, once surrounded by defensive walls boasts four churches, is a jumble of small streets and alleyways and has not been spoilt by being a popular tourist resort. It had a brief claim to fame in 1936 when visited by King Edward VIII and Wallace Simpson. Folk lore has it they started the islands cult for nudism by skinny dipping in the nearby Kandarola Bay. We arrived here early Friday evening with a brisk following wind and anchored off a small cove on the leeward side of the bay, soon to be followed by several other boats. On Saturday we took the dinghy across the bay to visit the old town before returning onboard for lunch. Later went ashore to walk along the coastal path where proof of the islands cult was prevalent. On Sunday the wind was due to increase again so we decided to take the opportunity to replenish victuals and generally have a lazy day. By mid afternoon the wind had gone round 180 degrees and our anchorage became untenable so we upped and moved towards the middle of the bay with plenty of room to swing round the anchor. The following day the wind was back to normal so we weighed anchor and went to moor on the town quay to fill up with water before heading south to Ilovik, one of several small islands south of Losinj. Here we spent the night on a mooring buoy in the channel between the islands of Ilovik and St Petar. Ilovik is quite small and only has the one village with 350 inhabitants but is a popular tourist resort including a number of Americans who have inherited property on the island as a result of islanders emigrating to the United States after the second World War. There are no cars on the islands, just a few tractors and no burial ground, the cemetery is on the neighbouring island St Petar. At 0600 the next day we rose to walk to the summit of the island and explore the many tracks leading to various beaches. The view from the summit was a little disappointing as there was no high point to see above the trees. Some of the trails were very good but the one we chose petered out before it reached the beach. We left at midday to anchor in a little bay for lunch then a gentle sail to Silba, the start of a group of islands to the south of Losinj which we planned to explore. We had a night at anchor is a small cove which we had all to ourselves before heading for Molat and a deep bay where we anchored at the head along with several other boats, avoiding the main attraction of Brgulje with its restaurants and massive mooring buoy field. The little town of Molat to the south of the island is very attractive but can only cater for a limited number of boats so we spent the following night here anchored in a tiny cove at the entrance to the harbour with two stern lines to rocks ashore. In the morning we walked across the island to Jazi and bought fresh bread at the bakery for breakfast. Ilovik looking over to St Petar Croatian islands south of the Istrian Peninsular Molat with stern lines ashore Molat was as far south as we wanted to go so now it was time to start heading north, the first stop in the little cove of Sv Nicola on the island of Olib, which we spent on a mooring buoy with only two other boats for company. The following morning we walked across the island to the main town and found there was a music festival that evening so on our return to the boat we motored round the headland to moor on the town quay. Olib is a pleasant little village and ferry port. When we arrived we found a warship moored on the opposite side of the Ferry Dock clearly there for the concert. We berthed stern to on the outer side of the harbour wall only marred by the constant hum of the warships diesel generator – a familiar enough sound! The free concert in the evening was by a Navy orchestra with nine vocalists held in the grounds of a restaurant. We turned up about half way through and had a lovely time mingling with the local community. The other bonus of Olib was a well stocked small supermarket and bakery selling wine from the barrel which we were able to taste before filling up our bottles! Our next port of call was Susak a small island west of Losinj where again we were on a mooring buoy but this time with a difference with a stern line which stopped us from swinging but also meant were packed like sardines! Found a newly opened restaurant ashore and had a lovely mixed platter of meats done on a charcoal BBQ.