June 1, 2013. Dobar Dan from Split, !

It’s a brand new cruising season for Lazy Bones, and we are very excited about our journey. This year we are cruising from Preveza, Greece, up the Dalmatian Coast through Croatia and into Venice, Italy. After a month in Venice, we will cruise down the Croatian coast again, visiting the places we missed on the way up, then on to Montenegro, and finally over to the southern point of Italy and on down to Sicily, where we will end the season in October in Ragusa, leaving Lazy Bones for the winter in Marina di Ragusa.

We left L.A. on April 23rd, and after a brief stop in London we arrived in Athens, Greece, after seventeen hours of flight time. We spent a night in a hotel and the next day took a six hour taxi ride to Preveza, in the northwest corner of Greece, where Lazy Bones spent eight months on the hard at Cleopatra Marina during the winter.

The marina had done an outstanding job of working on some projects and getting Lazy Bones ready for our cruising season. We usually do not have work done in our absence, but Vasilis, the head engineer for the marina, impressed us with his knowledge and expertise and we felt confident about the quality of the skillsets they had. He kept us updated with regular e-mails and pictures of the work being done while we were back home in L.A. At our request, Lazy Bones was sparkling clean upon our arrival. After five days of further preparation and provisioning, she was ready to go.

Our first bureaucratic step was getting our transit log, a cruising permit required for cruising in Greece, which we surrendered at the end of last season. Greece is in such dire need of money that they implemented a reciprocal cruising tax for non-EU boats that took us a bit by surprise. Even though we were home in the U.S., Lazy Bones was considered to be cruising in Greece, in spite of her being on the hard in a marina. The tax cost $1200 USD for Lazy Bones, 16.5 meters.

Before we left Preveza, we heard there was a dance festival in the town square, with children from five to fifteen doing mainly modern dance and hip hop, followed by the adults doing traditional Greek folk dancing. We went with our friends Krasni and Michelle, whom we met last year at the marina, and enjoyed watching three hours of dancing followed by a nice dinner at the Mermaid restaurant.

After getting our paperwork finished on May 4th, we set sail heading north toward the island of Corfu and arrived at our first anchorage, the tiny island of Anti-Paxos in the Ionian island group. The turquoise water has extreme clarity, so we enjoyed watching all the colorful fish swimming around the boat. It was too cold for us to take the plunge, but it didn’t stop the crew on a couple of boats from Germany from doing so, as it was probably relatively warm for them. We went ashore and hiked up a rocky trail through the beautiful green hillside to the top for a great view of the anchorage.

The next day we made the leap of seven miles to the next island of Paxos and anchored in the bay of Lakka, a tranquil, unspoiled harbor town with Venetian-style pink and cream-colored buildings set against lush green hills. We spent two nights there, enjoying the walks, nice meals, and chats with fellow cruisers.

Our final destination in Greece was Corfu, the best known of the Ionian Islands, with beaches and resorts along the entire coastline. Corfu is clearly a tourist destination with upscale shops and restaurants, all intermixed with the Venetian-era buildings of the old town. The seafront is a majestic esplanade known as the Spianada, lined with sidewalk cafes. We anchored north of the windmill in the Bay of Garitsa near the old fortress.

We spent the next day taking in all the sights of Corfu town, including the massive Old Fortress originating in the 6th century, the New Fortress begun in the 16th century, and the Palace of St. Michael and St. George, which houses the Museum of Asian Art, with over 10,000 objects and artifacts from that part of the world, some of which were quite beautiful.

We took the bus to Gouvia Marina north of Corfu town in search of a mechanic to fix our Yamaha outboard, which didn’t want to stop anymore and only wanted to run at idle or high speed, causing “hold on for dear life” take-offs. The next day we took Lazy Bones up to Gouvia and anchored outside the marina. We took the dinghy ashore and Spiros (half the men on Corfu are named Spiros after the patron saint) started furiously snipping wires and adjusting settings. In about half an hour he had the outboard purring happily and running smoothly at all speeds.

We rented a car in Gouvia and toured the northern half of Corfu. The east coast has many beautiful bays to anchor in with slightly touristy fishing villages. The highlight of the west coast is Paleokastritsa, a stunning waterfront town with aqua coves and white pebble beaches surrounded by pine trees. Our last stop was the Ahillion Palace, built in the 1890’s by Empress Elizabeth of Austria and surrounded by lush gardens with a huge statue of Achilles Triumphant. Before turning in the car we stopped at the Lidl Supermarket, a German chain in Gouvia and stocked up on supplies.

After four days in Corfu and trying to interpret an approaching weather front using five different weather resources, we decided to go ahead and check out of Greece to make our 27-hour overnight trip to Cavtat, Croatia, bypassing Albania and Montenegro. We managed to interpret the seas and winds well, but Mother Nature decided to give us a huge thunder and lightning show that night. We were surrounded by squalls and thunderstorms, with massive lightning strikes coming down all around us. We used the radar to track the monstrous thunderheads and adjusted our course several times to avoid them. We were glad when dawn broke and they started dissipating. Our next bit of excitement was being stopped by the Italian Navy to check all of our paperwork. Their job was to make sure that Albanians were not trying to enter Italy illegally, as we were only 42 miles from the east coast of Italy and not far from the coast of Albania. It seems everyone has their border issues.

We arrived in Cavtat, one of the newest and most user-friendly ports of entry in Croatia, around noon and side-tied to the customs dock (we found out that we were supposed to go stern-to) and began our check-in process for Croatia. We went first to the port police, who kept our passports while we went to customs to check in and buy both our cruising permit for Lazy Bones and a Sojourn Tax, because Lazy Bones has beds aboard. Then to the ATM to get kuna (about 6 kuna to one U.S. dollar) and return to pay our fees, then back to the port police to collect our passports. The total cost for Lazy Bones was about $600 U.S. for one year of cruising.

We asked the port police where they recommended we anchor since we didn’t want to moor stern-to the quay, and they suggested the big bay, Uvala Tiha (uvala means bay), around the corner from Cavtat harbor. We dropped the hook in the middle of the bay, which was lined with pretty cream-colored resorts and houses with red tile roofs, surrounded by pine-covered hills. That night the wind came up and we dragged at 2:30 in the morning and had to reset. We learned that we had experienced the mighty Bora, a cold dry powerful wind from the northeast. Hello Bora, goodbye sleep! Fortunately the Bora is less frequent in the summer, when the gentler, warmer Maestral wind from the northwest is predominant.

The wind finally let up the next day so we took the twenty minute bus ride north to Dubrovnik, with an impressive looking Old Town (Stari Grad in Croatian) surrounded by massive ancient walls. Before entering the gate to the Old Town, we took the cable car (94 kunas each, $15 USD) to the top of Mt. Srd for the spectacular view of Dubrovnik and the beautiful blue . We even spotted Lazy Bones through the telescope at the viewpoint. Upon returning, we entered the east gate and took the city wall walk (about one hour) around the fortress, which provides great views over the terra-cotta tiled rooftops of old stone shops, restaurants, and houses with laundry hanging out the windows. We also visited the Dominican and the Franciscan Monasteries, the Sponza Palace, the Rector’s Palace, and the Onofrio Fountain. The shelling of Dubrovnik in 1991 struck about 70% of the 825 buildings inside the Old Town, seriously damaging most of the buildings mentioned. Most have been lovingly restored, thank goodness.

Before we left Dubrovnik, we went to the VIP communications store, recommended by our friend Krasni, for SIM cards for the iPad, laptop, and cell phone. We are now connected, but it took a week to get through all the technical problems VIP was having in giving us the credits we had bought to use the SIM cards. All is well now. The internet coverage works everywhere, but the signals for using Skype are only good in the major towns or if we find WiFi at a restaurant, which most seem to have.

The next day we set sail for Sipan, largest of the Elafiti Islands, about 20 miles northwest. Most of the islands in Croatia are short day hops, from three to twenty miles apart, which is a cruiser’s delight. We anchored in the middle of Sipanska Luka (luka means harbor or port), surrounded by a typical Croatian fishing village, with nets drying here and there and little fishing boats motoring in and out. We went ashore and walked up the road to see the remains of a Roman villa and a Gothic duke’s palace. We had dinner at Kod Marka, where Gino, the owner, recommended a meal that was outstanding, with octopus cakes (like crab cakes), smoked tuna, local greens, and fresh fish.

During the three days we were at Sipan, we experienced the second of the famous winds, known as the Sirocco, a southerly wind that comes from the Sahara Desert, bringing rain and a generous dusting of red dirt with it. Lazy Bones looked like one of the red-dirt T-shirts you can buy in Hawaii, Sedona, etc. Hello Sirocco, goodbye clean boat!

With the wind behind us we set sail for the island of Mljet, known for its beautiful national park, and anchored in the north part of the large bay at Polace. We went ashore, bought our national park tickets (90 kunas, $15 USD each), which included a minivan ride in both directions and a boat ride to a Benedictine monastery on a small island in one of the lakes. Wanting the exercise and not finding the bus anyway, we walked a half hour over the hill among beautiful pine trees and lush vegetation to visit the two scenic saltwater lakes. A small ferry took us to the island, where we toured the monastery and had lunch at the restaurant. We ordered the black risotto (chopped cuttlefish with its black ink in risotto), one of Croatia’s signature dishes, but decided it just wasn’t our cup of tea. We stayed a few more days in Mljet, enjoying the great walking and hiking trails through the forest before leaving for Korcula.

We anchored in Uvala Luka on the other side of the peninsula near Korcula town, with only one other boat in the small fishing harbor. We took the dinghy ashore and walked ten minutes over the hill to the town, with its marble streets and Renaissance and Gothic architecture, and yet another large stone fortress with shops, cafes, and homes inside. Korcula is said to be the birthplace of Marco Polo in 1254, so many of the shops, restaurants, and even the bell tower of the church are named after him. Jeff climbed the narrow, steep spiral steps to the top of the bell tower for a nice view.

Tradition is alive and well in Korcula, with age-old religious ceremonies, folk music, and dances, including the famous Moreska sword dance, which we were hoping to see. Unfortunately, we were one week too early in the season to see their first performance, so we will have to catch it on our way back down through Croatia.

After two nights in Korcula we sailed off to Scedro, a tiny island only eight miles away. When we got there, the small anchorage was fairly full. All the boats had anchored and tied a stern line to the shore to fit more boats in and to keep from swinging. There wasn’t anything to see in Scedro and we weren’t particularly interested in the effort needed to drop the dinghy and take a line ashore to a rock for just an overnight anchorage, so we opted to move on to Marinkovac, one of the small Pakleni Islands near the island of .

We planned to use Marinkovac as a base to visit Hvar by dinghy, just 1 ½ miles away across the channel, since Hvar is so busy with ferry traffic and charter boats. Uvala Stipanska on the east side of Marinkovac was exposed to the wind and swell, so we went around to Uvala Zdrilca on the west side and anchored in the channel with about ten other boats. There is a very strong current that runs through this channel (3 plus knots). The wind shifted during the night and we awoke to find ourselves about ten feet from the rocks on the islet on the other side of the channel. We moved to a smaller adjacent bay all by ourselves and stayed aboard all day due to the wind and rain. At midnight, the wind had shifted and we found ourselves again about ten feet from the rocks on the south side of this bay. We monitored the Drag Queen (yes, that’s the name of the iPad app!) anchor alarm the rest of the night and in the morning we moved back to the first bay. It was almost empty, so we found a nice spot near the Antonio Patak restaurant. It rained off and on all day, but we had a break around dinnertime, so we went ashore and had our first view and taste of Scorpion fish, a delicacy here in Croatia. It was orange, spiky, ugly, and expensive, but tasted delicious.

We awoke to sunshine the next day, so we took the four minute dinghy ride across to Hvar town. Hvar is the most popular, luxurious, and expensive tourist destination in Croatia after Dubrovnik. In July and August it draws about 20,000 people per day! The town is charming, surrounded by 13th century walls with tiny streets lined with small palaces, swank shops, churches, and old stone houses. We climbed the steep steps up to the citadel, with a magnificent view over the harbor and neighboring islands. We had lunch at one of the many waterfront restaurants, then we bought some lavender sachets from one of the fifty-plus vendors selling lavender products. Hvar is famous for its lavender fields, and there are many paintings of these beautiful fields in the art galleries.

We took the dinghy back to Lazy Bones in the late afternoon to find that the anchorage was full again. We had a nice dinner on board and settled down for a good night’s sleep, glad to be anchored in a secure spot out of the current in the channel. We were surprised when we heard the anchor alarm go off around 2:00 am and we looked out the port to see that our stern was very close to the restaurant dock. We pulled in some chain and discovered that a monstrous old crusty mooring buoy was wrapped around our chain. We seemed to be okay for the moment, so we went back to sleep.

The next morning, it took us over an hour to unravel the old mooring buoy, which was connected to cement blocks and more buoys dangling off of our anchor chain, with everything connected to a huge cement block on the bottom. We were glad to have an underwater viewer to see and figure out what needed to be done to untangle the mess. We use the viewer to check our anchor, too, so it is quite a handy tool to have aboard. We bought it at a chandlery in Greece. They called it an “octopus chaser” and wished us luck in catching some!

We sailed fifteen miles to the island of Brac, famous for its radiant white stone, from which Diocletian’s Palace in Split and the White House in D.C. are made. There is also a famous beach on the shores of Bol on the south side of the island called Zlatni Rat, which is on all the tourist posters of Croatia and attracts thousands of sun seekers. We decided that the best anchorage on Brac for us would be Bobovisca, a sleepy little fishing harbor on the west end of the island. The village was truly a gem, very quaint, only two restaurants, and a nice trail around the harbor and up the hill.

Bobovisca was the first place that we encountered anchoring concessions. The local concessionaire had laid moorings and charged a fee for their use. This bay had thirty brand new mooring buoys, connected to the bottom using the Manta Ray anchor system (anchors dug into the mud), and each connected to its laid line to the shore. Not seeing a convenient place to anchor and knowing that we had rain and wind for the next few days we took one of the moorings. Later that day the mooring operator came out to help another boat tie up and to collect our fees. The fee, which varies according to boat length, for Lazy Bones was 250 kuna (43USD) per night. Anchoring within 300 meters of a mooring is half the cost, and free if over 300 meters. It’s like going to Catalina and paying about the same amount for a mooring. They also collect rubbish and provide tourist information.

Once secured, we had a late lunch in town and took a walk along the paths that surround the pretty harbor. The next day, Terry and Yana, friends of Betty and Kevin from s/v Citation (Gayle’s friends from her previous Pacific crossing) came to visit. They live in Canada during the winter and in the town of Supetar on Brac in the summer. We had a great afternoon on Lazy Bones with them, enjoying some drinks and snacks and some interesting conversations. Even though it was cold and raining, we put on our sunglasses, took a picture, and e- mailed it to Betty and Kevin, “from sunny Bobovisca”!

The sun came out the next morning, so we motored the nine miles to Split on the mainland, the second largest city in Croatia (the capital, Zagreb, being the largest).. Thanks to Krasni and Michelle, we found a place to tie up alongside the newly built wall near the marina, next to the unfinished luxury hotel that went bankrupt. At this time, there is nobody collecting any fees while they wait for their concession license.

We walked around the city of Split, best known for the Unesco World Heritage site, Diocletian’s Palace, one of the most imposing Roman ruins in existence. Over 1,700 years old, the palace is the living heart and soul of the city, packed with people, bars, restaurants, shops, museums, and cathedrals in the maze-like streets. There are currently 220 buildings and about 3,000 people living within the atmospheric old walls. The palace was built from white stone from Brac, and Diocletian spared no expense, importing marble from Italy and Greece, and columns and sphinxes from Egypt.

We had the good fortune to catch the performance of a klapa song in the vestibule of the palace. A group of men in a circle sing multi-tonal harmonies a cappella about life’s various topics. The acoustics of the vestibule make it especially nice as their voices reverberate within the round walls.

The palace has four entry gates, all named after metals. Guarding the Golden Gate was Gregorius of Min, a 30 foot high bronze statue that looked like Merlin. It is considered good luck to rub his big toe, which was nice and shiny. Gayle rubbed it vigorously, wishing for sunshine and warm, calm weather. Jeff, who was a mountain goat in a previous life, climbed 200 feet to the top of the bell tower of the cathedral to get a spectacular view of the city.

The next day we explored the huge open air market, which had everything-- flowers, fruits and vegetables, bakeries, butcher shops, clothes, jewelry, trinkets, etc. We finally found a place to get whatever we needed, except we really didn’t need anything!

Wanting a break from the tourist routine, we took a bus to the largest indoor shopping center in , City Center One. It was similar to the one in Singapore in that it was ultra-modern with three floors, over a hundred upscale shops, and a large Cineplex, where we saw the new Star Trek movie for only $7USD each, including 3D and assigned seating.

We contacted a refrigeration technician to repair our leaking freezer compressor. He said he would take a look at it around 7:00 pm that night, but he actually showed up at 10:00 pm! He said he would send another technician out the next day. He arrived with a helper at 9:00 the next morning and they worked till 5:00 replacing the DC plate and gas. We are now back up and running with both the AC and DC systems.

The following day was still rainy, but around 5:00 it cleared. We looked at a map and decided to take a walk into Marjan Park and around the perimeter of the peninsula to the west of Split town. We couldn’t figure out exactly how far around it was, but it looked to be about a couple of miles. We climbed up many sets of steps to the top of the hill for a fabulous view over the town and sea. We continued on a paved path through the pine trees, stopping once to explore the caves where churches were built into the mountains. We walked on and on, following our progress on Google Earth. The peninsula was much larger than we had guessed. Nine miles and three hours later we arrived about ¾ of the way around at the Spinut Marina near Poljud. It was 8:00 pm, so we decided to have dinner at the marina and take a taxi back to Lazy Bones.

With a few more days of rain and wind predicted, we decided to relax and be grateful for our secure place at the wall in Split, enjoying our access to modern conveniences, restaurants, shopping, and movies. When we had breaks in the weather it was nice to just step off the boat and take a nice walk or grab a bite to eat. We were right next to the ACI Marina, so it was also entertaining to watch at least a hundred charter boats come pouring in on Friday, juggling positions similar to the start of a race. We guessed they were trying to meet their deadline of noontime, but the marina was obviously controlling the number that could enter for safety reasons, so they piled up at the entrance right next to Lazy Bones. The wind and the rain didn’t make it any easier.

We have really enjoyed our time in Croatia so far. The people are friendly and it seems that almost everyone speaks English. The Dalmatian coast is widely held to be one of the best cruising areas in Europe, and we agree. The stretch of coastline including 1,000 islands is over 1,000 miles, all fairly close together with protected anchorages, moorings, and marinas. It is very popular as a charter boat and cruise ship destination, providing something for everyone. You will find glitz and glamour in Hvar and Dubrovnik, but you can also find quiet hideaways in some quaint fishing villages and secluded coves. The country is loaded with cultural treasures, ancient architecture, and folk traditions. You will find top-quality, homegrown olive oil, wine, smoked ham, and seafood.

It is hard to imagine that a five year civil war raged through Croatia in the 1990’s. The way in which the country has bounced back is a sign of its people’s resilience. Croatia will be joining the EU on July 1st. We haven’t heard much talk from the locals regarding this move, but the feeling is that it will help bring more jobs and boost the economy. They will keep the kuna instead of converting to the euro for quite a few more years.

We are about halfway up our journey from Preveza to Venice. We will leave for Trogir tomorrow and plan to be in Venice on July 1st.

We welcome your e-mails and would love to hear from you. Please e-mail us at: [email protected]. Attachments and travelogues are always welcome. Thanks!

If you want to track us, use the following link: www.shiptrak.org and enter our call sign WA6CZL to see our route.

All the best,

Jeff and Gayle, SV Lazy Bones

NM Depth Destination: lat. E.long Comments To: Depth 38 0 42 Cleopatra Marina, Preveza 69.91 20 45.74 Marina 39 29 19 Goutourmo Bay, Antipaxis, GR 09.53 20 13.75 at anchor 39 8 8 Lakka, Paxis, GR 14.83 20 08.05 at anchor 39 27 12 Geritsa, Corfu Town, Corfu 36.77 19 55.49 at anchor 39 6 20 Ormos Kammeno, Gouvion, Corfu 39.69 19 51.45 at anchor 42 overnight passage and at 208 23 Uvala Tiha, Cavtat, Croatia 35.15 18 13.31 anchor 43 20 15 Sipansky Luka, Sipan, CR 43.70 17 51.62 at anchor 41 22 39 Polace, Mljet 47.41 17 22.53 at anchor 42 17 20 Uvala Luka, Korcula, CR 57.16 17 08.55 at anchor 43 36 20 U Mlin, Marinkovac, CR 09.58 16 25.03 at anchor, Nat Park 43 15 20 Bobovisca, Brac, CR 21.08 16 27.55 mooring 43 10 9 Split, CR 30.28 16 25.82 side to the wall