Cres to Laguna di Marano

All the usual spring maintenance works (antifouling, second electric toilet, motorservice, and repair of the heat-exchanger on my Volvo D2-55) were completed with the helpful mechanics from Marizo in Cres.  So I went by car to Palazzolo dello Stella near Udine, Italy to meet my brother Andreas. We planned to move S/Y Sea of Joy from Cres to Marina Stella for the coming season. We left his car there and went back to Cres with my car.




On Saturday 12th Mai 2018 we set sail south to Otok Unije where we anchored in Uvala Vognisca, did some fishing and had some nice spaghetti for dinner. Next day we took a swim in Uvala Tomocina in the northwest of Losinj and spent the next night in Uvala Radiboj where we did a risky but successful cooking experiment with a Risotto con Kranjska Klobasa.

Early on Monday we set sail across rainy Kvarner Bay to Pula, where we moored in the ACI Marina and had a tasty Pljeskavica at Konoba Jupiter. Next day we got fresh provisions at Pula market and visited the rainy city. Wednesday 16th with better weather we sailed north, passing Sv. Ivan na Pucini , and Vrsar. Afternoon we finally anchored in Sesula Uvala south of Parentium and cooked a nice dinner with stir-fried mackerel.

Next day we sailed further north rounding Porec and Luca Crvar. We moored at noon in Marina Nautica Novigrad and explored the city. We had lunch and dinner at Konoba Cok  where we were very happy with excellent fish and wine and some good conversations with the chef. Friday we declared exit in Novigrad and sailed north, passed Slovenia with Piran, Izola and Koper, rounded the bay of San Bartolemeo. Muggia harbor was completely full, so we moored in Porto San Rocco Marina, hiked back to Muggia, explored the city and had an excellent fish dinner at at the terrace above the fishermans cooperative society at Ittiturismo La Terrazza.

Saturday 19th we sailed round Trieste harbor, passed Castello Miramare and northwest to Duino, where we turned south. We sailed with nice northwesterly winds alongside the coast of Grado as far as Porto Buso, where we turned north into the lagoon, motoring Fiume Aussa and Fiume Corno in Cantieri Marina S. Giorgio. In the evening we hiked 3 km north to San Giorgio di Nogaro to Ristorante Al Portico 'Da Ernesto' , where we had an authentic Friulian dinner. Late at night the nice chef drove us back to the marina.



On Whitsunday we motored back south to Porto Buso, where we turned east and anchored north of Isola Anfora Vand took our dinghy to Ai Ciodi , where we celebrated lunch with a lot of Antipasti Mare and Pasta di Pesce.
In the afternoon we tried to motor further west on Litoranea Veneta through Canale Muro, but had to return at Canale Zellina due to low water. So we sailed outside of the lagoona from Porto Buso to Lignano, where we moored in Marina Punta Faro, walked to Lignano Sabbiadoro and had an exquisite fish dinner at Ristorante Bidin.



Next day we explored the waterways in the Marano Lagoon to Marano Lagunare and Aprilia Marittima and finally motored north through Canale Cialisia at high tide with minimum water level 1.3m and up Fiume Stella to our final destination Marina Stella. For dinner we went to the other side the river to Al Fiume Stella for a creative dinner. For the last day we did a river cruise by dinghy with our Torqeedo electric outboard engine up to Precenicco and in the evening we went to Marano Lagunare to Trattoria Alla Laguna to celebrate our  delivery cruise from Cres to Marina Stella. On a rainy day we went by car to Cortellazzo to visit river Piave with the old ponton bridge and have lunch at Al Traghetto.




On the way back to Vienna we made the detour back to Cres, got my car and said Goodbye to the nice staff of ACI Marina Cres.

We sailed 51h and logged 222 miles in 10 days. You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on GoogleMaps.