Croatia

Oh my, I've fallen way behind with my posts. But so much is happening...
Passage to Croatia was one of the easiest ever. There was just enough breeze to sail, but not enough to create waves. We weren't very fast, but the ride was very smooth. Unfortunately we didn't see any dolphins or anything else interesting. We reached Ubli on island of Lastovo at about 11 in the evening and landed at the customs dock. The policeman was already waiting for us, they've seen us coming on AIS. We did the entry formalities quite quick and he was helpful and polite. He even let us stay at the dock over night, since we had to visit harbour master office in the morning. We slept well, despite the big ferry that was tied next to us and was leaving at 4.30 in the morning.
Next morning Captain visited harbour master office and paid the cruising permit and visitors tax. And then we sailed on to island of Korčula. Lastovo is very pretty, but it's a nature reserve and one has to pay visitors fee and in most anchorages there's additional fee for anchoring. Too many fees for us, sometimes it feels like a rip off.
After a short sail we landed in bay Pržina on SE corner of Korčula. It is a nice bay in settled weather.

We needed some rest and decided to stay there for couple of days. We did some washing, had a nice morning chat with Slovene crew from neighbour boat and swam a lot. On one evening we treated ourselves to fried calamari and french fries and beer, of course, in the beach bar, and after made a walk to the village to do some shopping. On our way we saw these pretty and wonderfully perfumed flowers.

The next day we moved just around the corner to the group of small islands just East of town of Korčula. We had a beautiful view from our anchorage.

Next day we sailed by the town of Korčula...

...and around peninsula of Pelješac and made a stop in bay Divna for a swim. It was pretty, but soon in the afternoon wind got stronger and was pushing some waves into the bay, so we sailed on to town of Ploče.

We anchored deep in the bay in front of the town and had a calm night. Next morning we saw these guys that were rowing one of the traditional boats. The town in the background is not pretty,...

...but the other sides of the bay was beautiful.

That afternoon we picked up our friends in the harbour, they were going to sail with us for 10 days. It was nice to get company after sooooo long of just two of us.
There was some bad weather forecast, showers with stormy winds, so we sailed to bay Lovište, that is most protected in this area. Already later in the afternoon wind picked up and got to 30 knots. We managed to anchor in plenty of space with plenty of chain. There was no rain, but wind was strong all afternoon, evening and through the night. But we slept quite good, because we saw already in the afternoon that all the boats around us were anchored well.
Next morning we even got few rays of sun, but stayed in the bay since the weather warning was still not lifted. During the day couple of more boats came in and as I watched one of them anchor, I said that they anchored much too close to the shore and were in danger if the wind turns. It was blowing Jugo, the SE wind, and later it was expected that it will turn to NE, to Burja. But usually it turns through West and North, so clockwise, and it is usually the strongest and most dangerous when it is changing direction.
And exactly that happened in late afternoon. First the rain started, then wind turned West and got stronger. Captain turned on the instruments so we could check the wind, that got to 50 knots sustained with stronger gusts. All the boats rotated around their anchors and all held, just the boat we were watching before got close to the shore and the crew was preparing to leave. We don't know if they were too slow or wind was too strong for them to get the anchor out, but a few moments later we saw this - boat stranded and crew in life raft.

They all got to the shore safe. After the storm the sun came out and the boats started to gather to help pull the stranded sailboat back into the water. It was very interesting to watch. A couple of smaller local fishing boats with the local diver got there first. They put some lines in place and then one pulled one of the halyards (dvižnica) from the mast to keep the boat heeled, other two pulled on the line that the diver tied around the keel (kobilica). They moved the boat a bit, but not enough. After another hour a big fishing boat came to help and the sailboat was in the deeper water in minutes. We all cheered to the fishermen that were helping.

Next day we saw the sailboat sail away, which meant it didn't got too damaged, not at running aground nor at the rescue mission. But we also saw couple of dinghies being returned to the owners from across the bay and one super yacht that came back for their anchor and the chain, that they must have left in the bay when they were leaving in a hurry during storm.
Next day we sailed off as well, first to the bay Račište on island Korčula. Plan was to have a lunch, swim a little and maybe row ashore. We were there for 15 minutes, when a grey cloud came over the hill and in matter of seconds rain was coming down, it was blowing more than 30 knots, our anchor was dragging and two of our crew were in the water. We managed to get everyone on board, lift the anchor and as we were sailing away, the squall was already over. But it reminded us that weather is unpredictable and can change in seconds.
That evening we anchored in front of the monastery on small island of Badija, just East of Korčula. There were several boats already there, but in the unstable weather we were having, protected anchorages get very crowded.

Before dinner some of us wet for a hike around the island. This is the monastery which is being renovated.

I was happy to see almost domesticated deer. It is being fed by caretakers...

...and they look quite majestic. They often come to people to check out if they can get any food.

Next day we sailed further South, by on pretty villages and vineyards. This village is called Podobuče.

We anchored at the SE point of Pelješac and I went snorkelling after a long time. The place wasn't great an I was struggling a bit with the new camera, so only few photos turned out decent.

I like this pretty Moray eel.

In the evening we sailed on to Šipanska luka, where we stayed for the night.

Next day we sailed to Dubrovnik. This is the entrance to the harbour.

We anchored the boat East of the town and went to town with dinghy. This is the view to the harbour from the town walls.

Dubrovnik is very pretty, we were glad that there were less tourists there than in "normal" years. Just the weather was cloudy, so the photos are not so great. Do you also see the eyes with eyelashes and mouth here?

Stradun or the main promenade.

I saw plenty of cats...

...and pretty and narrow alleys.

This is town gate.

After some shopping for groceries and a delicious ice cream we returned to our boat and sailed to island of Koločep to the bay Donje Čelo. Night was calm and we slept good, despite the ferry that was turning next to us shortly after 6 in the morning.