Rainy Sailing September in Croatia

Austrian weather forecast warned us about flash floods in Lower Austria. The Marine Meteorological Center Split published warnings about many thunderstorms and heavy rain. So my Austrian crew Biggy, Evi and Ilse put a lot of rain jackets and warm clothes in our car and started our road trip to Trogir on September 11th, 2024. On the way we visited the nice Slovenian city of Ptuj, took a rather wet hike round the beautiful Nacionalni Park Plitvička Jezera with a lot of spectacular waterfalls, and admired the old harbor city of Sibenik.

Saturday 14th in ACI Marina Trogir we met our German crew members Evelyn and Jutta, bought a lot of food and beverages, and boarded our nice catamaran "Sailing Point", a Lagoon 40 from Waypoint Charter in the afternoon. We spent a nice evening with a splendid dinner in Trogir at Restaurant Il Ponte.
Sunday morning after some rain we began our cruise rounding Rt Okrug west of Ciovo island, visiting Blue Lagoon and Maslinica harbor
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With westerly winds we sailed east along the south coast of Solta to Uvala Jorjy, where we took a buoy and enjoyed very good fish at Restaurant Lero. 

 

 

Early next morning we set sail again with nice westerly winds pushing us along the south coast of Brac. We passed golden Zlatni Rat, Bol, and finally anchored lonely at the eastern tip of Brac island in Uvala Jezero with a spectacular view of the Velebit mountains and the port of Makarska. My crew prepared nice Fussli con Verdura and we enjoyed the evening with nice Austrian wines.  

 

 

On Tuesday 17th morning we took a swim below a wonderful rainbow and sailed southeast to Rt Sucuraj, the eastern tip of Hvar island and then southwest to Uvala Cesminova / Elwac west of peninsula Peljesac, where we anchored alone in this beautiful bay, had Spaghetti con Tonno, and drank some more wine. Next morning after a rainy swim we crossed Korculanski Kanal to the west of Scedro island, where we anchored in Uvala Tufera, again alone in beautiful surroundings and sunny weather. We enjoyed the afternoon swimming and sunbathing. With the help of my ambitious crew I prepared a risotto with cucumbers, lemons, and dill weed. The night we spent rather restless at anchor with intense thunderstorms.

 

With heavy rain and no wind we motored west early in the morning, visited beautiful Hvar harbor, rounded Rt Pelegrin and continued through stormy seas north to Rt Razani, motored through the canal between Solta and Brac and finally reached a nice anchor place in sheltered Uvala Stiniva on the west coast of Brac. We spent a nice evening with a superb dinner with potato casserole and tomato mozzarella and good wines.
 

 

Friday morning we enjoyed the sun again and took a swim in the now crowded bay. After noon we motored northwest through Splitski Kanal, then turned northeast in Trogirski Zaljev and reached our mooring place in ACI Marina Trogir. We celebrated our rainy, but also cozy cruise with a splendid Croatian dinner at Konoba Štorija in ancient Trogir.
Saturday, 20th we left our nice catamaran, our two German ladies reached their flight back home and the rest of us drove back to Austria in some eight pleasant hours.

I enjoyed this cruise very much with this wonderful and self-organized women crew on a nice catamaran in beautiful Croatian waters.
We sailed 30 hours and logged 150 sm in 6 days.
You may download our track in gpx-format
or view it directly on GoogleMaps.

Sea of Joy Starts New Season 2023

As Sea of Joy is for sale now, we wanted to make sure everything is working ok.
After servicing the motor, changing oil, oilfilter, dieselfilter, and gearbox-oil we mounted 2 new V-belts and a new impeller.
For the stove we mounted a new gas pipe and a new regulator.

On Wednesday, May 25th my brother Andreas and I started south via Piran into Umag in Croatia, where at the harbormaster's we payed the boat arrival notification fee for 2023. It amounted to 87.60 Eur and is valid until 2023-12-31.
As Croatia is now member of Schengen there is no need for European boats to declare entry or exit anymore.
And the currency is now EUR, so it is much easier to sail in Croatia alltogether.

 

With nice northeasterly wind we sailed south, passing Novigrad and finally anchored in Uvala Sv.Martin, where we enjoyed the fine weather for 3 days swimming, working and reading.

Sunday 29th we sailed back north and without declaring exit for the first time we left Croatia again, rounded Savudrija lighthouse and moored again safely at our mooring place in Marina Izola. Everything worked fine and contentedly we had a nice dinner at Gostilnja Doro in the quiet village-center of Izola.

We sailed 11h and logged 50sm in 4 days.
You may download our track in gpx-format:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wQkrrUuzorVctUZuxaGg6vyzECFPqQAM/view?usp=sharing
 or view it directly on GoogleMaps:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1OjrMbOpXDnOQ6SNMCyZ4kX6i5aws1oo&usp=sharing

Lots of Winds and Dolphins in September

Dolphin in Kvarner

 I looked forward to my new professional crew Andrea and Robert. They boarded Sea of Joy on Saturday September 10th in Marina Izola Marina. After a welcome prosecco we bought supplies in Trieste and had a traditional Slovenian dinner at Gostilna Doro. Sunday morning we left Izola, rounded Savudrija lighthouse, and declared entry in Umag. With nice westerly winds we sailed south along Novigrad, Porec, Vrsar, and anchored finally in Uvala Grota south of Rovinj for a swim, pasta and a peaceful night. 

Sunrise south of Rovinj

Before dawn next day we lifted the anchor and motored south. At sunrise we set sail and continued west of the Brijuni islands. With fair, but varying winds we passed Porer lighthouse and crossed the Kvarner Gulf. Incredibly often Andrea and Robert spotted many dolphins accompanying our boat. 

Sunset at Susak

After some 50sm and 10 hours of slow sailing we anchored in westward Uvala Porat of Otok Susak in splendid turquoise waters. We enjoyed a relaxing swim, a beautiful sunset, a nice pasta with vegetables, and a quiet night.  

Happy Crew

After a long morning swim and a rich breakfast we practised some MOB manouevres and moored alongside in Susak harbor, welcomed by the friendly harbormaster. We took a hike to the lighthouse and the upper village with its cemetery and beautiful church. After stepping down to the lower village we had a nice lunch at Sansegus. As the weather forecast warned us about increasing southeasterly winds we left Susak and motored westward to find shelter in Luka Unije for the night. Even here some dolphins came right into the bay. 

Evening in Luka Unije

Before sunrise, to make proper use of the strong southeasterly, we set our genua only and crossed Kvarner Gulf at a nice speed around 7kn. We passed Porer lighhouse at 9am and continued west of Briunji island to Pucini lighthouse west of Rovinj. Finally we took shelter in the small bay north of Vrsar behind Otocic Cavata. Weather forecast promised max 22kn southerly wind with up to 2.5m waves, which should prove no problem for our sturdy boat tomorrow.

Screenshot Grib Forecast

Thursday 15th after some breakfast we started early northwards with genua on 1st reef only.  It was fascinating sailing with strong 30kn winds from behind. As a precautionary measure we put on our life jackets and secured ourselves to some strong fittings of our boat. We reduced the genua to 3rd reef and shortened it further when the ship electronics warned us that we surpassed windspeeds of more than 40kn. As we had to declare exit from Croatia anyway, we decided to sail into Umag. Luckily we passed the shallow entry into the harbor. Somewhat exhausted and tired we decided to spend the rest of the day and night in ACI Marina Umag. After a short celebration with some prosecco we got some sleep. In the evening Andrea and Robert found a nice restaurant in the city and brought some sweets, which we enjoyed late at night.

Andrea Sailing

Next morning the wind slowed down but weather forecast warned us about some Bora starting in the afternoon. So we bunkered diesel, declared exit and sailed our last leg with slow winds to Izola, where we arrived at noon just before strong northeasterly winds started to blow. During a thunderstorm with torrential rain we celebrated our save return with a good dinner at Gostilna Sonja.

Map of Track

We sailed 40h and logged 180sm in 6 days. 

You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on GoogleMaps

August Heat and September Wind

My next crew Evi, Ilse, and Martina boarded Sea of Joy an Saturday August 27th. In the evening we had a nice fish dinner at Sonja. After buying supplies on Sunday in Trieste we set sail to Croatia. We rounded Savudrija, declared entry in Umag and bunkered some diesel at 1.90 Eur/L. We continued into Uvala Sv.Martin, anchored and antagonised the summer heat with a long relaxing swim. 

Next day with some north westerly winds we sailed along Funtana, Rovinj and the Brijuni islands and anchored finally in Uvala Stoja and wondered at the Stabilimento balneare di Stoia, build by Enrico Trolis in the 1930s, a perfect example of Italian Functionalist Architecture. 

On Tuesday we sailed north, passing Pula harbor, along the east of Brioni through Fazanzky Kanal and anchored in Uvala Polari. As we looked at many fried egg jellyfish we relocated to Uvala Grota, where we enjoyed a relaxing swim in clear waters and savoured Spaghetti with Caponata.

Next morning with high waves and some wind we rounded Rovinj, crossed Limsky Kanal, and moored in Marina Vrsar. We explored the city and beaches and had a fine fish dinner at Srdela.

With nearly no wind we motored next day north through the many island along Vrsar, Funtana and Parentium, passed Porec harbor and anchored again in our favorite bay in Uvala Sv.Martin.

On Friday 2nd September after a good breakfast and a final swim we motored north passing Novigrad into Umag, where we declared exit. At long last we catched a nice nothwesterly wind and sailed our last leg perfectly happy to Marina Izola. We celebrated our cruise with a nice dinner in Hisa Torkla.

We sailed 29h and logged 120sm in 7 days. 

You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on GoogleMaps.

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From Laguna di Marano to Otok Rab returning with young crew

My wife Ilse and I wanted to sail from Marina Stella to Croatia to pick up our daughter Sophie and her two sons Laurenz and Valentin from Otok Rab.

After filling in the requested forms we left Marina Stella with high tide and declared entry in Umag. The friendly policeman told us, that the harbormaster's office is closed, but we could pay our taxes next day in Novigrad. So we spent a quiet night in Uvala Dalija and visited the harbormaster - a very nice woman - in Novigrad and paid 672 Kuna tourist tax for 15 days and the yearly boat arrival notification fee of 662 Kuna, together around 180 Eur. With very nice westerly winds we sailed south to Medulin, where the wind finally ceased and we anchored in Uvala Bijeca.

Luka Krivica

Next morning good wind continued and we sailed over the Kvarner Gulf, continued south of Otok Unije to Luka Krivica on the southwesterly end of Otok Losinj. We took a buoy, attached a landline. Soon a heavy thunderstorm cleaned our boat very efficiently. We enjoyed the quiet Luka for two nights and then motored east to Uvala Meli in the southeast corner of Otok Cres, where we spent another day and night enjoying the clear waters and the wild deer wandering around. 

On Monday, 27th July we continued east to busy Rab harbor, where we had to wait for an hour to fill our gasoline tanks. In the afternoon we motored into Supetarska Draga, where we moored in the ACI Marina and had a rich fish platter at Restoran Vojko. Next day our daughter Sophie together with Laurenz and Valentin came on board and we anchored in the nice bay south of Otok Maman. In the morning we motor sailed with weak winds back to Uvala Meli, where the children enjoyed Stand-Up-Paddling and swimming.

Our grandchildren dreamed of visiting Otok Susak, so we sailed there next morning and moored for 2 nights in the new harbor. They enjoyed the sandy beach and we enjoyed good food at Sansegus and Konoba Barbara. For the next days weather forecast looked like getting a bit grim, so on Saturday,  August 1st we crossed the Kvarner Gulf, spent the night at anchor in Uvala Bijeca and continued northwest alongside Istria to Novigrad next day. Because we expected thunderstorms during the night we took a mooring in Marina Nautica, had good dinner at Konoba kod Kristijana, and enjoyed safely two heavy thunderstorms during the night.  

Next morning the weather forecast reported a small time window for a safe sail across the Adria to Italy, so we declared exit in Novigrad harbor and sailed with nice winds and heavy clouds back to Lignano, where we entered Laguna di Marano just 1 hour after high tide and moored safely back in Marina Stella, where we observed heavy thunderstorms. People reported a tornado roaring from Lignano beach to Grado. We celebrated our safe return for the next days at Ristorante Da Michele, Agli Angeli Ristorante, and Da Boschet.

 

 

We sailed 292sm in 54h during 14 days.

You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on GoogleMaps.

Official Corona Procedures for Sailing from Italy to Croatia 2020

Because of the Corona pandemic Italian authorities requested some additional formalities:

• Filling in formCarabinieri.pdf and send it to stud511620@carabinieri.at 
  subject: name of skipper, name of boat, telephone number
  text: DICHIARAZIONE ESPARTIA PER CROAZIA
• Filling in formHealth.pdf and send it to USMA.Venezia@sanita.it
  subject: DICHIARAZIONE MARITTIMA DI SANITA
• During the cruise obtain daily measure of body temperature of each crew member and enter it in last page of the above form for possible inspection by Italian health officer.
  We used an excel file feverProtocol.xlsx for this reason.
• Obtain an entry number from Croatia by filling in a form on https://entercroatia.mup.hr/ you get a pdf file like ReiseankündigungEnter.pdf

 

Baseline:

• Nobody ever cared about those forms, 
• Entry and exit in Croatia same as last year, 
• Police 24h available and very helpful, 
• BUT: no harbormaster in Umag, harbormaster in Novigrad only open from 8:00 to 13:00
• We activated our AIS-Transponder for the whole cruise, so it would have been very easy to intercept us. But no official tried to check on us, neither in Italy nor in Croatia.
  

So the basic procedure to sail between Italy and Croatia seems to be like it was in the last years

Sicily to Croatia

The season started for Sea of Joy in Licata, Sicily, with the usual maintenance works: antifouling, paintwork, changing the propeller shaft seal, cleaning and greasing the MaxProp and finally changing all internal electrical lights to LED.

We decided to visit Croatia again and so we reserved a mooring place in ACI Marina Cres for June 2016. My friends Gerhard and Kurt came on board on Saturday 21st May to help me sailing our boat to Croatia. We planned to sail quickly in three legs to Montenegro, visit Kotor Bay and then sailing slowly north along the best sites in Croatian waters.

At noon of May 22th we were ready to set sail from Licata and did a short first leg to Marina di Ragusa, where we had a rather mediocre pizza at Ristorante Miramare .



Next day we left early east and at the SE end of Sicily we decided to cross directly to Calabria because of nice strong winds from astern. In the night volcano Etna was very active, wind and waves got rather strong and squally, changing directions very often.

Near Spartivento the wind stopped and we had to start the motor again, but in vain: after checking the diesel supply pipe and the prefilter I found them clogged by black slime - a clear sign of the infamous diesel bug.
Those are microbes clogging the filters in the fuel system unpredictably. There are numerous reports, where the engines stopped suddenly in wrong moments. Thanks to a new crazy European law requiring taxed diesel fuel to have a "bio" content the whole sailing community has this problem now. I changed all filters and cleaned all pipes, but I was not able to get the engine running again.



With strong northerly winds we sailed to Roccella Ionica, anchored under sail in front of the harbor. Then we contacted the helpful harbor master and when winds calmed down a friendly fisherman came with his strong boat, took us alongside and towed us into the harbor. Next day a helpful technician got the engine running again not without warning us, that this could happen anytime again...

We rented bycicles and rode to the center where we had a nice dinner at Bio Ristorante Amal.

Next day we took on our next leg and arrived after 22 hours in Santa Maria di Leuca. We visited the city and the famous light house and had a marvelous dinner at the well-hidden Trattoria Boccondivino.

On May 28th we sailed with nice southeasterly winds north via the straith of Otranto into Montenegro, where we arrived after 30 hours in Tivat, cleared customs with no problems, and got a mooring place in Porto Montenegro.
We had craft beers and steaks for dinner at The Black Sheep

Next morning we sailed round the beautiful bay of Kotor, moored in Kotor, climbed up to the Castle Of San Giovanni and enjoyed the wonderful view over Kotor Bay. Then we had our first typical dinner at Ponta Veranda: Pleskavica, Onions, and cabbage salad.

Early next day we declared exit in Tivat and sailed northwest into Cavtat, where we declared entry, cleared customs and payed the yearly Croatian fees to the harbor master. Then we continued along the walls of Dubrovnik to Celo Bay at Kolocep island, where we anchored and savoured pancakes with apricot jam.













With rather strong southeasterly wind we sailed next day into Lastovo, where we anchored in Mali Lago Bay and cooked spaghetti with tuna.

June 2nd we sailed to Vis, replenished our supplies, ate at Dudo Restaurant, and visited the famous Lion of Lissa. In the afternoon with no apparent reason we had to leave the city quai and moved to Kut in the east of Vis bay and moored there.

Nice winds brought us next day into the bay of Sibenik, where we visited the wonderful city in light rain. In the afternoon we continued through long fjords to Skradin, where we moored in the marina and had a remarkable good dinner at
Konoba Dalmatino.

Early next morning we visited the Krka falls and then sailed back to Sibenik and onwards Uvala Zincena on Otok Pasman, where we anchored and fried a nice steak with potatoes.

From Pasman we sailed next day through the Kornati archipelago and continued to Ist, where we moored at the village quai. At Lako Cemo we enjoyed lamb chops grilled to perfection by a nice grillmaster on a sophisticated barbecue.

On June 6th we sailed further north through Ilovik channel and finally moored in Marina Mali Losinj. We had a nice walk round the beautiful city and had a fine dinner in the nice garden at Konoba Hajduk.

At 09:00 next day we wanted to sail through the turning bridge at Mali Losinj, but it was broken. So we sailed round the southern end of Losinj and east to the  beautiful Uvala Meli in the southern end of Otok Cres, where we anchored, enjoyed a nice swim in crital clear waters, and savoured two nice brancinos prepared in our oven.

Finally on June 8th we had to tack against northerly wind along the east coast of Cres, rounded Cap Jablanac and then the wind ceased. While we had to motor again the engine stopped 3 miles north of our destination - the diesel bug hit us again. I cleared the fuel lines again and bled the diesel pump in the secret ways I learned thwo weeks ago from the nice Calabrian mechanic and so we reached our final destination ACI Marina Cres in the evening. We had late dinner at Konoba Roza and slept very good in our boat safely moored in nice surroundings.

Next day I scheduled a date with the Volvo mechanic on site for a full motor service and cleaning of both tanks and then we went back home to Vienna.

We sailed 186h and logged 972sm in 17 days.

You may download our track in gpx-format
or view it directly on GoogleMaps