After some relaxing days in
Marina Stella my wife Ilse and I set sail south to
Novigrad on Saturday, July 20th 2019. We anchored in
Luka Cervar Porat with tomato and tuna salad for dinner. Next morning we tacked against a nice southerly wind to
Otok Susak, where we moored alongside the new harbor pier at sunset and had dinner at
Hotel Sansegus. In the morning we walked the sandy hills up to the lighthouse, visited the nice village and took a long bath along the sandy beach.
At noon we sailed south to
Otok Skarda, where we took a buoy in cristal clear
Uvala Griparica.
Next day we motored with southerly winds south to
Otok Molat, where we anchored in beautiful
Uvala Jazi, spent the afternoon swimming and cooked Spaghetti Carbonara for dinner. Next day after some 20 miles southward we took a buoy in
Uvala Vodenjak in the south of
Otok Iz, where we savoured on board a nice meat grill delivered to us by boat by a nice girl from a near konoba.
On Thursday, 25th July we sailed into the
Kornati archipelago, passed shallow
Vela Provesa, rounded
Sestrice lighthouse and finally moored at
Konoba Levrnaka, where we met our friends Vera and Michael with their children and grandchildren, and enjoyed a nice fish dinner together.
After the usual morning walk around
Otok Levrnaka and a good swim we motored through
Mali Provesa back to Otok Iz where we moored in
Marina Veli Iz in the harbor for the next three nights because of ferocious weather forecasts. Between showers and thunderstorms we took some walks and enjoyed the nice restaurants
Lanterna and
Luzarija.
On Monday 29th we bought some bread, vegetables, ham and cheese at the advisable Pekarna and sailed northwest to
Prolaz Zapuntel between Ist and Molat, where we took a buoy in
Uvala Mljake, enjoyed the clear turquoise waters and had Fusili con Funghi for dinner on board. Next morning we tacked against some northerly winds to
Uvala Tomozina west of
Otok Losinj, where we anchored for the night and had Kranjska Klobasa with Kupus Salatu for dinner.
Early next morning we crossed
Kvarner Gulf with weak northerly winds, passed
Porer Lighthouse, sailed through Fazana Kanal to
Uvala Polaris, where we spent the night at anchor. At noon we sailed to
Rovinj to bunker diesel and then motored through
Limski Canal. Finally we anchored in
Uvala Fabjan north of
Vrsar and enjoyed Spaghetti Pomodoro and a quiet night on board.
On Friday 2nd of August we left
Vrsar in rainy weather. In the afternoon we anchored in
Luka Cervar Porat east of the mussel farm in 7m depth with 40m chain (surrounded by depth of 12m). Because we had contradictory weather forecasts between some rain and heavy thunderstorms, winds from northeast or southwest, from cosy 20 knots up to heavy 50 knots we checked the anchor again and mounted our
chain claw to damp jerks and 6m more chain to work as a riding weight.
In the evening strange black clouds appeared and the wind got very strong onshore from northwest. Suddenly the anchor alarm sounded. My wife yelled that we are getting to near to shore. In the last second we started the motor and went into the gale-force wind. I jumped to the anchor and found the rope of the chain claw broken. I was able to raise the anchor while my wife motored against the storm and then to a more sheltered place, where I dropped the anchor again. We spent the rest of the stormy night happy about our narrow escape. Next morning we got a lot of news about boats beeing lost in northern Croatia due to heavy thunderstorms.
We discussed what we could have done better and found that:
- with bad and contradictory weather forecasts it is better to go to the next marina
- as long as a chain claw holds it is very helpful in stormy weather, but when the rope breaks the resulting strong jerk may loosen the anchor
- it is no good idea to anchor on an underwater hill, the danger of anchor dragging is high
- when you are not comfortable in your actual anchor position, better change place before conditions get really uncontrollable.
Early in the morning with slight sea and no wind we motored to
Novigrad, where we declared exit and sailed with a nice norteasterly wind via Lignano to
Marina Stella, where we moored with high tide early afternoon. We celebrated our lucky cruise with a exceptional dinner at
Da Boschet.
We sailed 380sm in 74h during 14 days.
You may download our
track in gpx-format or view it directly on
GoogleMaps.
Next morning at 9:30am with cloudy sky we left Stella Marina 3 hours ahead of high tide for Venice. Soon the rain started and we sailed with some north easterly winds to Venice Lagoon, which we entered at 5:00pm through Porto Lido. We anchored in Canale San Felice east of Treporti and enjoyed a legendary Bistecca Fiorentina on board.
Next morning starting at 7:30am with overcast sky and some drizzle we motored along Litoranea Veneta inside Laguna di Marano through Canale di San Pietro d'Orio, Canale Taglio Nuovo (with minimum depth of 1.3m 2 hours ahead of high tide), Canale Anfora Vecchia, Canale Muro, Canale San Pietro (with minimum depth of 1.4m 1 hour ahead of high tide), Canale Zellina, Alaciante San Andrea, Canale di Marano, Canale de'lustri, and finally Canale Cialisia to Fiume Stella. We moored in Stella Marina at 11:30am and celebrated our rainy cruise with an excellent dinner at Ristorante Da Boschet.
