May 2007 - Sicily, Eastern Italy, Croatia
Croatia | Dubrovnik | Folk Singers
Croatia | Dubrovnik | Folk Dancers
May 27, 2007
Another visit to old Town Dubrovnik today. We went to mass at the Cathedral. We had a special treat because there was a festival going on in town. We enjoyed watching the dancers in traditional costumes perform their dances. Then another group also in traditional dress sang Croatian folksongs. Fun fun
Croatia | Dubrovnik | Walls of the Old Town
Croatia | Dubrovnik
Croatia | Dubrovnik Marina | boat canal to haul out lift
May 26, 2007
Hi, Oh what a day! They came knocking on our boat about 7:30 to haul out. We had to drive Artemsi down a canal to the lift. It was a major ordeal because their crane was not properly set up to take our boat out. The front carriers on their crane wouldn't allow them to set the straps in the correct place to lift the boat. We had to turn the boat around which meant backing out of the canal, turning around and backing into the canal to the lift again! We had to take off the roller furler. No help from the marina staff. They just kept saying we are done hauling boats at noon. Al was getting quite nervous about them taking off before we could get the boat ready for them to try again to haul it. It was quite difficult to loosen the furler to get the bolt off. Al was busy running around loosening the other rigging to release the pressure. We had to take the sail off and move the baby stay (stay sail) Finally by 10:00 they were able to try again. Success. But then we had to rehook up all the rigging and once again it didn't want to pull forward enough to put the bolt in. Al rigged a line onto a winch and was able to put enough force on it to pull it into place.
We worked all day putting things away and washing the boat down. We washed it twice and tomorrow we'll put on some AWL Grip Sealer. The bottom paint looks good so we don't need to paint it. But the thru hauls and the bottom of the keel all have barnacles on them. Good thing we hauled. Even after tightening the prop with big wrenches in New York the nuts came loose but the prop stayed in place. Our zincs looked good about one third of them are gone. So we'll replace them when we come back. We're learning a lot about a boat in salt water. The put our boat right next to the villa gardens and the birds are singing and the Angeles bells just rang out. Al's finally starting to mellow out after a stressful day. Our US cell phone number is 952-215-4349. We leave Dubrovnik on Monday on Croatia Air at 12:05 to Frankfurt. We fly Lufthansa out of Frankfurt at 5:00 and arrive in Chicago at 7:15. We leave Chicago at 10:20 pm and arrive in Mpls at 11:41 PM. (6:41 AM on Tues by our Croatian time table) Tomorrow we hope to visit Dubrovnik again. Love and God Bless,
Love Sally and Al
Croatia | Dubrovnik |
Croatia | Dubrovnik |Clock Tower
Croatia | Dubrovnik |
Croatia | Dubrovnik | Old Harbor
Croatia | Dubrovnik | Church of St. Blaise
May 25, 2007
Hi, We are back in the Dubrovnik Marina tonight. We had a beautiful day motoring (very little sailing) the 15 nm back here. I polished some of the stainless and Al worked on the toe rail. We figured a nice sea breeze was easier to work in than a hot marina. We took a bus into Dubrovnik and visited the Old Town (Medieval walled town) today. It was more beautiful than we had expected. It's very clean and well kept. No signs that it was bombed during the war. The restoration is complete. Many beautiful museums, buildings, churches, and quaint narrow streets. Much of the old town has been taken over by restaurants, hotels and tourist shops. But the over all view is very picturesque. We plan to go back again tomorrow after the boat is hauled and visit some of the museums. We ran into one of the couples we had met from South Africa and had a beer with them. Later after dinner we met another nice couple on the boat next to us from Switzerland. It's always so fun to here first hand about life in other countries. The great thing is so many people speak English. Love and God Bless,
Love Sally and Al
Croatia | Mainland Kabas Bay| free mooring at Restaurant dock
Croatia | Mainland Buoyed entrance to Stonski Kanal| dingy ride to Ston and Mali Ston
May 24, 2007
Hi, We had a lovely night at anchorage in Slano and a lazy morning. We decided to move up the coast and visit Ston in the Stonski Kanal. We Med moored with a lazy line for free in Kabas Bay. We were told the Kanal was not dredged deep enough for us to go further. So we took the dinghy up to Ston (3-4 nm) and then walked over to Mali Ston (Little Stone). It was a pretty dinghy ride and the shore looks a lot like the Canadian North shore.
Croatia | Steps on wall around Ston
Croatia | Ston | view from the wall
Croatia | Ston | Steps on the wall around the city
Croatia | Ston | old salt pans
Ston is a medieval town linked to Mali Ston with a defensive wall. Both towns were surrounded by strong walls, towers and a fortified wall was built over the hill between the towns to join them together. We walked up the wall to the top (straight up) to one of the towers and then down the other side of town. The views were spectacular. The old salt pans and marshes quite visible from there. They would pump seawater into the pans and then let them dry out. At one time these salt works was about two thirds of the income of Dubrovnik.
Croatia | Mali Stone
Croatia | Mali Ston
We walked over the isthmus to Mali Ston. Both towns are trying to restore their medieval buildings caused by bombardment during attacks by the Serbs and an earthquake that occurred in 1996. We're planning on a dinner at the restaurant here tonight provided the approaching storm passes quickly. We'll head back into Dubrovnik tomorrow afternoon. Love and God Bless Sally and Al
Croatia | Mainland Kabas Bay | Free overnight Restaurant moorings
We had a wonderful meal with a couple from South Africa and one from Holland. Great fun visiting and sharing stories. You would not believe this lovely small quay, harbor ended up with eight boats and everyone came to dinner at the restaurant. The singing is lovely and we ended up back on the Dutch boat with John and Barbara for cognac. We are so glad we left Dubrovnik now we know what we have to look forward to when we come back.
Love Sally and Al
May 23, 2006
Hi, We haul out on Saturday May 26 at 9 AM so we've decided to go cruise the islands for a few days. We took on some fuel in Gruz. It's a little bit cheaper than Italy. 1.04 euro's a liter while in Italy the cheapest we saw was 1.14 euros a liter. We motored about 13 miles to pretty little bay on the mainland, Slano. It was heavily bombed by the Serbs in 1991 so everything is pretty new. It looks like mostly a tourist area with two big hotels and cottages for rent. The Franciscan Church of St. Jerome (14th century) and a couple of houses are all that remain of the original town. There are some Roman and Illyrian archaeological sites and the remains of the Rector's Palace too. The coastline is beautiful with steep cliffs, sandy beaches and many forested islands. Slano has pine forests and olive vineyards and beautiful beaches. We took a dinghy ride around the anchorage and then into the quay. Not much of a town but they are trying to rebuild. We walked around and bought some bread. It's a beautiful night in the anchorage. We're glad we left the harbor. Love and God BlessLove Sally and Al
Croatia | Slano
Croatia | Slano | anchorage
Croatia | Gruz
May 22, 2007 We woke from our nap to someone pounding on our hull. Oops I guess we read the cruising guide wrong and tied up in the wrong place. The customs man was not very happy with us. First for not tying up in front of the quarantine building (which we didn't see at 5 AM) and secondly for not checking in immediately. Evidently unlike Italy they are open 24 hours. We had to move the boat and register immediately. The cruising fee was 1805 kuna ($332).
Croatia | Dubrovnik River | Dubrovnik Marina
We left Gruz and went to Dubrovnik Marina about 2 nm away. We motored under a beautiful suspension bridge and up the river with gorgeous mountains on either side. Great marina with showers and a pool. We gave Artemis a fresh water bath which she needed after the saltwater drenching she got yesterday. We need to take a bus into Dubrovnik so we probably won't go until tomorrow. We're tired and need a shower. Love and God Bless
Love Sally and Al
May 21, 2007
Hi We left Brindisi, Italy about 800 Monday for Croatia. We arrived safely at Gruz, Croatia around 0530 Tuesday morning. Of course we never got the predicted weather forecast. We were on a heading almost straight North and the winds and seas were NW 15-25 kts all day. We had a double reefed main and reefed jib. It was a wet and uncomfortable sail. The wind switched right out of the North just after midnight. So we had to motor into the seas. Fortunately the wind was light out of the north and the seas died down. Not the most comfortable passage but we made it safely. We dropped a bow anchor and backed into the quay at Gruz. We haven't cleared customs yet but Al is sleeping so we'll go to Customs when he wakes up.
Italy | Brindisi | "The Big Rudder" the Italian Sailors monument
May 20, 2007
Buon giorno, Still windy today but a high pressure is moving in. We may leave for Dubrovnik in the morning depending on our weather forecast tonight. We walked around town this morning and went to 10:00 mass at S. Pietro as the Duomo is closed for renovations. Father greeted Al and I before mass, asked where we were from. He noticed my English mass booklet and showed me the readings for today were for the Assension rather than for May 20. When mass began he greeted the congregation and welcomed the guests from Minnesota. Of course all the little children seated in the front pews turned around to look at us. This was our last Italian mass for a while. We were finally beginning to understand more words and some of the songs and we're moving on to Croatian. We don't even have a dictionary yet. I hope more people speak English there than here in Italy. We stopped at Caffe Betty for lunch down on the quay. Later we took the harbor taxi across to visit the Italian Sailor monument and gardens. The cost has risen to 1.50 euro each way for a (5 min. boat ride). We walked down to visit the Yacht Marina and decided we were glad we were on the quay. You're along ways from downtown and have to take the harbor taxi to get there. We like hopping off the boat and being where things are. The draw back is people are walking by and talking late in the night. If we leave tomorrow I won't write a log until Tuesday. Ciao,
Love Sally and Al
Italy | Lecce |Centro Storico
Italy | Lecce |
May 19, 2007
Today we got up early, showered and took the 8:43 train to Lecce (30 min train ride). What a beautiful city. Much of the architecture is the highly decorative Lecce Baroque style, which flourished in the 1600. (Lecce was called the Florence of the South) Pietra di Lecce is an easily carved stone seen everywhere in the city. Lecce is also famed for it's papier-mache workshops. We visited several and saw some lovely nativity sets and religious work. We visited many beautiful churches including the Duomo, Chiesa di Santa Croce, and our favorite Chiesa del Carmine. We had a picnic in a lovely park. We headed back to the train station on side streets and ended up where we had started from. The streets wind, many alleyways so eventually we were confused. The next time we stayed on the main street and arrived without a problem.
Italy | Lecce | Piazza del Duo
Italy | Lecce | Basilica di Santa Croce
Italy | Lecce |
Italy | Lecce | Duomo
We caught the 2:25 train and was glad to find the boat safe and sound. We worried as the wind was blowing 30-45 kts on the Adriatic. It's amazing how the town completely shuts down between 2-4:00. We walked down deserted main streets not a car or person in sight until we reached the harbor front and cafes. We're still along the town quay for free. It's funny. We'll look out the portlights and see people posing with their hand on the lifeline taking turns having their picture taken. I've surprised more than one curious little boy when I open the curtain and wave. We're waiting for high to pass over Italy and give us the west, southwest winds that would be ideal for our passage to Croatia. Unless things change it looks good for Tuesday. We're grilling a steak tonight and resting our tired feet from our excursion today. Ciao,
Love Sally and Al
