FROM THE MIDDLE SEA TO THE ADRIATIC – SICILY
TO MONTENEGRO
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| Marina di Ragusa in March |
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| Whatever you bought, the bill was always €5! |
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| The Main Square in MDR - behind the tree, Cafe Rosa - wonderful ice cream all year round |
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| The bikes are folded - we must be on our way |
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| The wide open spaces of the Marina - the showers are really a bike ride away! |
Not quite the last men standing,
we departed Marina di Ragusa on 4th June at 0600, on a clear, sunny
morning. Glad we’d checked on the state
of the spit extending from the breakwater which had lengthened considerably
during the winter storms – another boat turning to starboard a few days earlier
had come to an abrupt halt!
We arrived in Syracuse harbour, passing the impressive
walls of Ortiga, 11 hours later to be cheerfully greeted by three of Stravaigin’s
winter friends. TETAMANU especially, as
we had a new compressor for their fridge, delivered after they’d left! We’d also been awaiting a delivery which was
brought kindly by Sam Bouquet to Syracuse
–~ he made our new helmsman’s seat which is proving a great success – we can now
see over the top of the doghouse whilst seated. As people departed for their summer cruising,
quite a bit of parcel piggy-back went on!
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| Unusual aubergine - a simple | way to produce gales of laughter.... |
We enjoyed a few days at anchor
here, though remembering DEEP BLUE’s warning that the fouling is bad, didn’t
linger too long. Chris was right, we had to clean a lot of muck out of the
filters!
Having embarked “Don Simon”, who
assessed thoroughly the merits of various wine shops in the city, we left for Santa Maria de Leuca , on the heel
of Italy, anchoring there on the 9th shortly before an extraordinary
mini “twister” occurred, tracking NW – a
pink spiralling cone with 20 knots of wind.
Many local fishing boats hurried back into the harbour, but most of them
only reached shelter after it had passed.
The Montenegro
leg was the mixture of motoring & sailing we find hard to avoid on
passage - we were also slowed down by a knot or so of
current swinging down Eastern Italy
round the heel to the Messina Strait. But it was good to be under way again.
This little chap landed on deck looking absolutely
exhausted. 
He turned his beak up at
water and crumbled biscuit, but ate a dead fly [flies were a nuisance, even out
at sea] with relish.
A few more of these
and he took matters under his own wings, taking off and catching them in
mid-air. An hour or so later he was
looking considerably more perky.
Completely unbothered by the crew, he came to the cockpit via Mike’s
wrist – where he relieved himself right in the middle of the skipper’s Omega
Seamaster watch….. He left about 1830
and we hope he made it.
We reached Bar, the most
southerly port of entry in Montenegro,
on the 12th. With the courteous assistance of the Harbour Master we completed
the slightly convoluted paperwork in about half an hour – it involved going to
four different places, but all were close together.
Note to yachtsmen – we were advised by the Fuel Dock in Porto Montenegro NOT
to clear in or out in Budva – apparently they can keep you hanging around all
day unless given “monetary encouragement”.
The marina was a pretty
ramshackle collection of pontoons, the more easterly of which all seemed to be
run by different people, none of them to be found at 1730. However, a friendly yachtie beckoned us
alongside [slightly before the crew were ready….] and eventually someone came
along & relieved us of €50. We had a
good rest, stocked up the galley [fairly basic supplies] and Simon caught up at
the office.
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| Sveti Stefan |
We had a couple of leisurely days sailing up to
the Boka Kotorska, anchoring in Sveti Stefan [the hotel is one of the iconic
tourist pictures of the country and it did look lovely] and Traste [or Bigova,
depending on your charts] where we had a jolly evening ashore with our friends
from Bar. Our first impressions of the
coastline were tremendous – steep, imposing & tree covered. We also noticed a sharp increase in birdsong
when at anchor, compared to Sicily!
We turned into the Boka Kotorska
– the gulf of Kotor – on the 16th. This inland sea comprises most of Montenegro’s
sailing waters and they are doing their best to turn it into a top end (or at
least LARGE yacht) destination. The most
commonly heard language appeared to be Russian, and boat nationality was a
complete guessing game, as most of them fly Red Ensigns or the Stars &
Stripes!  |
| Submarine Pen - one of many |
We went bows to in Herceg Novi – Simon had a plane to catch in Dubrovnik [22km] the next morning – and went ashore for a good meal [although, if in Montenegro, beware the sheer amount of meat they are obliged to put on your plate! We think portions must be state controlled, so share a main course] during which there was a torrential rainstorm – under the street lights the only person missing was Gene Kelly! The restaurant quickly transferred us inside. (Little did we know that this was a precursor for this season in the Adriatic).
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| Stradioti |
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| Vin Santo - going bows to for a lovely dinner! |
There aren’t many places to
anchor in the Boka – it’s all very deep – but there’s a great spot South of the
island of Stradioti where we holed up for a few days while Mike installed our
new solar panel [the original one was de-laminating] – which included a beastly
soldering job above his head during which he found just how hopeless his iron
was and ended up doing it with the hot knife.
Anyway, he managed it and certainly improved our generating capacity. **  |
| Vin Santo - welcoming & exceptionally good food Barbecue table - made by Mike last winter |
(**Of all
the “renewables” we have, the Duogen in towed mode – you take the wind blades
off, attach a propeller and swing it into the water – is by far the most
effective. The only thing you have to
watch is that it can pick up plastic bags
or fishing net which require some gymnastics to remove).
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| Kotor |
| Kotor City |
We sailed up to Kotor, at the
head of the innermost “loch”, an exceptional fortified town, totally surrounded
by a wall which is built on nearly vertical rock for much of its length. Brand new pontoons with power, water and new
stern lines have been installed – we were grateful for these when a Bora – an
Adriatic speciality - came hurtling down
the hillside in the night. 35 knots of
wind directly astern for about an hour. (When you visit, go ashore early – or out of
season – to avoid the cruise ship passengers clogging up the narrow streets –
and climb to the top of the wall before it gets too hot. We found it sad that more than once a
magnificent view in the Boka was hidden by one of these tower block ships – could they not stay further out and ferry
people in?)
| The city wall at night |
There’s a pretty good market right on the shore here – and
supermarkets a little further in. Delighted to be hailed by NYCTEA, cruising in company with another boat. Danielle is the determined lady who wrestled with my SSB in winter.
(Sorry about the fussy images - camera battery problems made me resort to Google Images)
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| Ferry at the entrance to Kotor "loch" |
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| Oh dear - out of all proportion |
As Stravaigin left the Boka, the military history was highly evident, with forts on the Croatian and
Montenegran sides of the narrow entrance. We met few people who believed that the Balkans were better as separate countries - only a customs official and her friend. She also hoped that Scotland would gain independence "Because I am in love with Mel Gibson" . She was a tall girl, so I pointed out that not only is he Australian, but also very short.... Political debate, eh?
Onwards to Croatia!
