cavtat
15 AUGUST 2022
Another first as we checked into Cavtat, Croatia was "Med Mooring" on the Q(uarantine) dock. The process is to put your anchor down as you are backing towards the dock, ensuring the anchor has taken hold and then tying the stern of the boat to the dock all the while missing any other boats that are already moored on the said Q dock. Mission accomplished!
Tony then took all the necessary documents and went to various locations for Immigration, Customs and Passport control to check us into Croatia. Whilst he was away I was happliy chatting to another Australian lady on the neighbouring yacht. Looking up I saw a slightly larger vessel preparing to dock along side us, at around 40m the boat/ship was rather imposing and as I watched and waited and then panicked slightly when the middle of their vessel starting getting closer to the bow of our boat. Taking my trusty fender to the front of the boat I realised how ineffectual my one sausage fender would be against the might of my neighbour. Fortunately the skipper began to rectify the issue and I could relax.
Upon Tony's return, we left the dock and motored around to the bay on the other side of Cavtat to drop the anchor for 5 days of staying put in the same place. We went ashore in the late afternoon to take a walk around the small but very pretty town. The town is very much tourist based and there are some great restaurants that we took advantage of over stay in Cavtat.
Thursday arrived and along with the new day our first visitors, Barb & Darrell flew in from Perth. It was great to see some very familiar faces from home and to catch up, show them around our home and of course to celebrate with some beers.
Friday was even more exciting (no offence Barb & Darrell) as Ben and Sarah were due to arrive from Perth later in the afternoon. But before the excitement of seeing them for the first time we had some excitement of a different kind!
We were sitting in a bar after lunch finishing our drinks when Tony noticed a change in the wind and from our position in the bar we could see that the wind had certainly whipped up in the bay. Croatia, Montenengro and Albania is prone to very strong winds coming down from the high hills that line the coast and they can come out of no where and cause boats to drag their anchors. They are know as Katabatic winds and the local winds in Croatia are called the Bora.
With great haste Tony, Darrell and I jumped in the dinghy to get out to Phantomas as it was clear that our anchor had most certainly begun to drag. It was that dinghy ride out to the boat that felt like we were moving in slow motion as the 9.5hp engine just wasn't going fast enough. We reached the boat and the boys jumped on and I turned back to the harbour to go and retrieve Barb from the bar (those that know Barb would realise that being stranded in a bar is more of a bonus than a problem!)
Once the boys had the boat reanchored, as the wind had abated somewhat, we relaxed slightly and then it was time for the kids to arrive from the airport. Daz took the dinghy into the harbour and came back with the kids. As you can tell we were pretty pleased to see them and vice versa and the smiles stayed on our faces as we all caught up on the news of the past 3 or so months.
Another first as we checked into Cavtat, Croatia was "Med Mooring" on the Q(uarantine) dock. The process is to put your anchor down as you are backing towards the dock, ensuring the anchor has taken hold and then tying the stern of the boat to the dock all the while missing any other boats that are already moored on the said Q dock. Mission accomplished!
Tony then took all the necessary documents and went to various locations for Immigration, Customs and Passport control to check us into Croatia. Whilst he was away I was happliy chatting to another Australian lady on the neighbouring yacht. Looking up I saw a slightly larger vessel preparing to dock along side us, at around 40m the boat/ship was rather imposing and as I watched and waited and then panicked slightly when the middle of their vessel starting getting closer to the bow of our boat. Taking my trusty fender to the front of the boat I realised how ineffectual my one sausage fender would be against the might of my neighbour. Fortunately the skipper began to rectify the issue and I could relax.
Upon Tony's return, we left the dock and motored around to the bay on the other side of Cavtat to drop the anchor for 5 days of staying put in the same place. We went ashore in the late afternoon to take a walk around the small but very pretty town. The town is very much tourist based and there are some great restaurants that we took advantage of over stay in Cavtat.
Thursday arrived and along with the new day our first visitors, Barb & Darrell flew in from Perth. It was great to see some very familiar faces from home and to catch up, show them around our home and of course to celebrate with some beers.
Friday was even more exciting (no offence Barb & Darrell) as Ben and Sarah were due to arrive from Perth later in the afternoon. But before the excitement of seeing them for the first time we had some excitement of a different kind!
We were sitting in a bar after lunch finishing our drinks when Tony noticed a change in the wind and from our position in the bar we could see that the wind had certainly whipped up in the bay. Croatia, Montenengro and Albania is prone to very strong winds coming down from the high hills that line the coast and they can come out of no where and cause boats to drag their anchors. They are know as Katabatic winds and the local winds in Croatia are called the Bora.
With great haste Tony, Darrell and I jumped in the dinghy to get out to Phantomas as it was clear that our anchor had most certainly begun to drag. It was that dinghy ride out to the boat that felt like we were moving in slow motion as the 9.5hp engine just wasn't going fast enough. We reached the boat and the boys jumped on and I turned back to the harbour to go and retrieve Barb from the bar (those that know Barb would realise that being stranded in a bar is more of a bonus than a problem!)
Once the boys had the boat reanchored, as the wind had abated somewhat, we relaxed slightly and then it was time for the kids to arrive from the airport. Daz took the dinghy into the harbour and came back with the kids. As you can tell we were pretty pleased to see them and vice versa and the smiles stayed on our faces as we all caught up on the news of the past 3 or so months.