Tivat to Tivat via Venice
& Bok Crna Gora (again!)
2023 Season
For our second season aboard Cooinda we made a few declarations ahead of time with lessons learnt from our first. We planned:
to take our time more and drink in the places better ( both meanings!!)
spend the entire year living aboard including winter
finish making Cooinda the way we want her
Well we succeeded mostly but in achieving these, but didn’t really have the time to talk or write about the journey as we went. So here’s the story of our second season broken into three main parts. The first is Montenegro to Venice return Montenegro. The second is Grrrr…eece and lastly is our winter based in Mytilline on Lesvos.
Wintering in Montenegro was never meant to be a highlight but more a means to an end, however, as mentioned previous it was a highlight as much for the place and its beauty but probably more the people we met there from locals to fellow liveaboards.
As April drew to a close, with some sadness we liveaboards left in our various directions promising however to meet again up the track. Happily more than year later, we as a group are still in contact weekly.
We set off north up the Adriatic Sea with a 2 + day sail to Venice to be there in time for Sandy’s birthday. It’s a special place for us as the place we were engaged on a gondola 32 years previously. The passage up there was a solid workup but uneventful. The Adriatic is a busy waterway! The weather for arrival was fantastic and when recovered from around 60 hours at sea we reacquainted ourselves with the sights and wonderful restaurants on the island and thereabouts. It didn’t take long to catch up with the first of our new friends from Porto Montenegro, PM22’rs, as Todd Wexman and Catherine Lorenz and lovable Essy were already in Marina Santelena on board their impressive HH50, SV Lickety.
The usual stuffing around with checking into a country forced us to cross town and await the pleasure of the Carbinieri and Costa Guarderia, who unlike other places were wholly uninterested in our arrival. Sandy’s Birthday was fun and pretty low key if you can say a birthday in Venice is low key! We ate and drank well at wonderful places including on Giudecca like Fondamenta overlooking St Marks. Of course we rode the vaporettas, and took in the tourist traps as well as some more out of the way gems like Burano.
We didn’t venture far from Venice on departure, in fact we made it only as far as the other end of the Lido lagoon. If you don’t know, and I didn’t, have a look at how Venice is protected by gates at the lagoon entrances. The MOSE is fascinating!
Choggia was our next destination with much of it too built on the water. It is a gem that avoids the crowds but is very Venice like, and certainly worth a visit.
There was a small errand I had to make whilst there. We had ordered a parasailor from a German company which we were assured was designed for our boat. On flying it in the marina in Montenegro we found it was too big for the boat and the “snuffer” which is a vital part of putting the sail away, did not fit in our hatches. So I drove across Italy to Genoa and back in the day to exchange the sail for a smaller loaner sail (until an appropriate one could be built and delivered to us).
Soon enough it was time to roll on to cover the Northern part of Croatia that we missed last year. We headed straight for Rovinj. Now that Croatia is part of the EU, entry was far easier than the previous year. As already alluded to the Austro Hungarian influence on this whole eastern coast of the adriatic is most impressive with forts and consequent “old towns” peppered along the coast. Rovinj is no exception and sited on a headland with two protected bays its elevated and its imposing cathedral/church makes it a pretty touchdown in Croatia. We were chased off the town quay which suited us really so we could stay in the adjacent bay. Like everything in Croatia a chance for a fee is not missed there too.
It didn’t take long to catch up with another of the PM22’rs in Australians Tim Bull and Karina Rook travelling on their trawler Matilda. We had a terrific lunch and catch up in a waterside restaurant. Tim and Karina have been travelling on Matilda for a while now and have extensive experience especially in Greece,their advice was lapped up as we plunged south towards the Hellenic republic.
The Croatian move into the EU certainly makes things better for travellers to Croatia now with their requirement to streamline to EU regulations, however not everyone gets the memos there! Part of the deal was of course the adoption of the Euro from the Kuna which is welcome save for the fact the government decree that a 20% premium be added to the prices pre conversion on changeover date to allow for costs and inflation. Croatia was already expensive!!
Travelling in the Northern Adriatic in early May means very changeable weather, so from sunny Rovinj it was on south to the old Roman town of Pula in grey and threatening skies with constant showers. Pula enjoys a very protected harbour and along with its Roman heritage and was more latterly a home to a large shipbuilding industry in the days of Yugoslavia. The very large and well preserved amphitheartre built in 60AD seated 20,000 and is used still today. Pula’s strategic postion not only made it an important centre for the Istria region, best known for wine and olives, but fought for and fortified especially by the Austro Hungarians. It was home base to their impressive naval fleet from the 1800’s with an impressive castle built by them to protect it. An extensive array of tunnels known as the Zerostrasse was added underneath during WW1 to protect the citizenry and serves as a comprehensive museum today. Both in Roman days and in the Austro Hungarian days it would have been quite a town.
It was “Enough of the big smoke for a bit” and so it was across the sometimes challenging at that time of year, Gulf of Rjeka, through to the unspoilt islands off the mainand just south of it. We ended up going to an island (an Otok) we could pronounce amongst many we couldnt. It was called Molat in a bay called Luka Jazi. A lot of these islands come to life in summer with big city denizens moving to the islands to open up their restaurants and holiday businesses for the summer season which turned out does not occur in May! All was not lost as it was a pleasant place to walk around.If you recall the kids book “Who sank the Boat?” we did our samaritan best to help a bunch of Serbians from writing their own chapter and towed them back to their yacht as darkness approached.
Nothing is very far on the Croatian coast so next stop in Zadar saw us there for a couple of days forming a new habit, exploring old towns or stari grads. We anchored in a small bay and went ashore, where along with everything from Roman through medieval to Venetian architecture we were witness to a couple of wedding parties. These fests were certainly boisterous if the car procession and post church nuptuals are any measure. With a view to dragging tourists their way the city has done a nice job of the foreshore boulevards including the addition of novel underwater chime tubes like an organ powered by wave movement.
We worked our way down th inside passage from there past Sukusan and out to the Cornati Islands through the known to be picturesque National Park which on blustery grey and rainy day didn’t quite match the brochure that day. They have a starkness and a unique beauty but were not welcoming us that day. Sibenik town quay just a bit further south however was a welcome and warming spot. The entrance to the harbour has an impressive gateway in Fort St Nicholas through which ships must pass to a very protrected harbour and waterway. Whilst there can be a sameness to these old towns given their pedigree from Greek, Roman, Venetian, Hungarian (Hapsburgs) and some Italian occupations, Sibenik is somewhat different, with the gently sloping street maze behind the city walls having more “quaintness” in our opinion.
Trogir situated just north of the popular Split, was our next stop. It is known for its well preserved Roman and Gothic architecture with the Kamarlengo Castle a good example of this. The island joined to the mainland by a small bridge has a plethora of restaurants (konobas) along the shore which we shunned this time for one inside the walls. Croatian fare like so much in the Balkans is dominated by red meat with cevacipi a specialty along of course with fish in the coastal areas. And who should be in town but Mikey Nicholls and Linda Purcell off Jabulani 2 (yep more PM22r’s) and as is usual with them it was a fun night and only a little more subdued than normal. Sometimes however you need a break and it was here pizza was called for!
We had been on our own for a few weeks essentially and with the weather on the turn, Sandy was craving company other than mine by then, so it was on to meet Jonathon and Carol off Dory in the Stari Grad on the island of Hvar. This town is super pretty sitting at the end of an elongated and protected bay and is in fact Croatia’s oldest town. It was great to meet up with the crew from Dory, it being as if we had only left them thre previous week not the previous year. We ate in a terrific resaturant with fine wine flowing all the way back to Cooinda. Whilst the german fellas on the adjacent boat were enjoying themselves boisterously, we imbibed wine and whiskey a plenty and in the spirit of foreign relations invited the germans aboard. It was foolish to think that they would soon be going back to their boat!
It was a very pretty sail in loose company from there around past Palmizana and Hvar town to near the town of Vela Luka especially on the superb sunny day we had that day. We anchored in yet another pretty and peaceful bay and settled in for an evening,for a slightly more subdued night with Jonathon and Carol. They had talked of Lastovo Island and its delights the previous year, so it was there we headed the following day to a magic little bay near Pasadur adjacent to the entrance of what the suprisingly numerous in Croatia, submarine pens. Fortuitously friends from Porto Montenegro (PM22’rs) were anchored in a nearby bay and joined us for sundowners which turned into dinner. We hadn’t seen Stephan and Ana off Okolo since enjoying a couple of meals with them in January in Sydney. It was a great catch up with them heading north to our south. Not far around the island we stopped off at Porto Rosso in another bay which surprisingly was not surrounded in the verdant green we had grown used to in Croatia. The small marina is home to a well known restaurant with the waiters doubling as marineros to help you dock on the floating pontoon there.
A short sail from there back to our second favourite island in Croatia of Korcula to get ready for our first guests of the season, the Lawsons. To our surprise some more PM22’rs appeared in the adjacent bay. Chris and Christine Ellsay off Stray Kitty are very experienced cat sailors and super nice Canadians we had a lot of fun with over the winter and indeed over an impromtu dinner aboard Cooinda. We anchored near the pretty old town and having picked Scott and Trish up we had a look around, drinks in the medieval tower you get to by ladder and dinner at our favourite restaurant there. Joining us again were other good friends again in Mike and Linda off Jabulani 2.
It was great to see Trish and Scott and as you’d expect they fit in quickly to our boating life. We enjoyed some nice sails and ended up at Polace with the crew from Dory again at the town quay at Jonathon’s fave there for dinner. We couldn’t not take the Lawsons to another of our faves in the beautifully protected bay at to dine at Maestral. . Again it didn’t disappoint with the anchovies divine. It was then back to Nico’s again and this time to meet the (in)famous Nico this time. A stop off for lunch at historic Ston was worthwhile. Back in the time of the Dubrovnik republic, it was a fortess frontier town protecting the salt pans and its most valuable attendant trade. Plenty of wine, fantastic fresh fish and guitar and song from the boys and Trish made for a very fun and memorable night at Nico’s. Dubrovnik called and so we anchored off the marina and made our way to the old town, museums and up the cable car for a sundowner aperol or two.
We loved Montenegro so much that we wanted to share some of our experiences with Trish and Scott albeit just a taster. The trip down was in calm seas and zero wind but a stunning day for Montenegro to reveal herself. Stuart Cheyne off SV Escape obviously saw us coming and left as we arrived! At our old haunt at the magnificent Porto Montenegro we showed them around before heading off the following day to beautiful Kotor via the Lady of the Rock for a short visit. Lunch the following day was amazing at Catovica Mlini, where after anchoring off in the bay and a short dinghy ride up a somewhat hidden creek,a beautiful garden appears set beside a very old farmhouse come large home where the food is sublime. It’s not quite what you’d expect there in Montenegro.
All to soon the Lawsons were off for an appointment with Phil Collins in the Canary Islands. Our woes were sadly gathering mass from here.
In the previous October, on a trusted recommendation, I got a design done for a new lithium battery setup from a fella named Lloyd from a Trinidadian company, Temprite, based in Trinidad (yeah I know, I should have stopped there). The design was a little out there but seemed achievable and was promising good numbers. LLoyd went further and offered to supply the equipment and even to fly over to install the lot. Lloyd is a very positive person who despite my warnings of potential Montenegro customs and shipping issues assured me of success. Me too gullible accepted these assurances.
All went quiet with Lloyd and by January I was very doubtful of any success and sat at the end of some ridicule for my trust. Eventually with a little outside help, LLoyd contacted me with a sorry tale of home invasion and bashing which only got worse with him hospitalised for Covid. A couple of months on, recovered but still impacted, Lloyd assured me of the shipment. Eventually after contacting his shipper directly and nearly me thinking I achieved gold, he discovers what I had said all along, it can’t be done and so he too went into silent mode. I ask for my money back and after some ducking and weaving and gnashing of teeth etc he agreed. (edit: It took a further 14 months (march 2024) to get my money back minus $2000 USD because his shipper lost one of the batteries). Needless to say avoid Temprite in the US and Carribean imho.
Having gone to the trouble of getting solar panels installed on a bespoke frame, we decided to pick up the ancilliary inverter equipment to make use of the panels as designed. So taking advantage of “Goods in Transit” available to boats travelling through Montenegro, we purchased the equipment again saving the 24% tax on goods we would have paid anywhere in Europe. The supplier, YES, based in Herzeg Novi, offered to install the equipment in a few days which despite the 200 euros a day in the Porto Novi marina seemed a good idea at the time. Promises in the marine repair / installation world are more often than not, unfulfilled and YES too were long on promise very poor, dodgy and expensive on delivery. Their insistence on adding extra equipment nearly caused the boat to burn down on the day before departure, fortunately Sandy’s acute sense of smell detected the burning smell early! To add insult to injury we had gone just a few hundred metres from the customs wharf on departure at 5 in the morning before the first fan belt broke, closely followed by another forcing us to nurse that engine and run one only to Corfu (just in case!). Avoid YES from Herzeg Novi. Very dodgy!
Edit: Expensive problems persisted for months afterwards made all the more difficult as YES rewired systems but no diagram or explanation were given and plans not followed.
We did enjoy a visit to Herzeg Novi old town which like everwhere enjoys a colourful history and tales of savagery including from the Ottoman fleet commander Barbarossa. Sadly it was only towards the end of our time in Montenegro, in Herzeg Novi. did we find a coffee shop to rival Melbourne’s best.
We caught up with Edward and Nina for a very enjoyable meal by chef Edward before departure which reminded us again just how much we enjoy the place and its people.
So it was good bye to Montenegro again.
