Croatia

First, let me give you an update on our current situation. We're in Stari Trogir at the moment, sailing to Rogoznica tomorrow to wait out some bad weather. We're alone on boat again, taking it easy, not sailing unless we have to, cleaning, washing and doing boat projects. And swimming, snorkelling and reading books. We have no timelines or strict plans, we only have to watch the weather and sail the boat slowly up North before the weather gets really unpleasant.

I was planning on travelling home for two weeks this Monday to see my family, but due to the spreading of Covid infections in Croatia, Slovenia decided to impose a quarantine on everyone travelling from Croatia, so I stayed on Heron with Captain. I was really sad about it. I hope we'll manage to get home without problems in early October, when we leave Heron in Monfalcone for wintering.

And now I'll just continue where I left off in my previous post, some three weeks ago. From Koločep we sailed to bay of Žuljana on Pelješac. It was already late when we got there.

We weren't there before, so we sailed around a bit to find a good spot for anchoring. We anchored the first time, reversed the boat to set the anchor, and it didn't hold. We anchored again and again we dragged. We moved to another spot and only in second try anchor held. We were all frustrated, me particularly. But later in the evening, as the wind picked up, all other three anchored boats dragged, except us, as was clearly visible on our anchor watch.

Next morning in full light I took some photos of the pretty bay.

After breakfast we sailed on towards Korčula. It was blowing quite strong.

We anchored again in front of the monastery on small island of Badija and were well protected from the wind and the waves.
Next day we sailed on to Lovište again. We anchored in a small bay a bit away from the town for swimming and I finally went snorkelling. I saw quite few nice things, but am still struggling with my new camera, so there are only few decent photos.
I think this is a European bass or brancin ( Dicentrarchus labrax), a bit darker specimen, but the fins look right. It was not very small, some 40cm, which is already big for the size of fish I usually see.

This pretty thing is Turbinate monodont or pegavka (Osilinus turbinatus).

We had a nice evening in Lovište. There were more boats there than the week before.

Next day we first sailed to bay Divna on Pelješac. I went snorkelling again and was surprised to see so many pretty things. This is one of my favourites, the Red-black tripplefin or rdeči sprehajalček (Tripterygion tripteronotus).

And this might be a female or a male in non-mating suit. Look at the pose.

This one is Zvonimir's blenny or jelenoroga babica (Parablennius zvonimiri).

I was thrilled to see one of the nudibranchs, kodrasti perjaničar (Hypselodoris picta), I couldn't find the English name.

I really like slugs, but don't find them often. This one is very small, only up to 2cm. I didn't find the English name, in Slovene it is called pisanček (Thuridilla hopei).

These reddish small trees are red seaweed, in Slovene called pernata koralina (Corallina spp).

These are the babies of the only coral fish in Adria, the Mediterranean chromis or črnik (Chromis chromis).

This big guy is Warty crab or kosmaj (Eriphia verrucosa).

In the evening we sailed on to Blace and had a nice dinner in a restaurant Mali Ante. The bay is quite closed and sheltered, but the water is not so very clear.

Next day we sailed SE to the bridge, that is being built between mainland and Pelješac. It is quite impressive.

After making a stop in uvala Soline for a breakfast and a swim, ...

...we sailed on to Ploče and said good bye to our visitors. They were driving home and we immediately sailed NW along the mainland shore to pick up our next visitors the next day. The wind was getting stronger, the waves bigger and we couldn't find a good bay for anchoring on mainland, so we had to sail to Brač to uvala Luka. It was one of the worst sailing days we ever had, by the time we got Brač it was already dark and we were tired, hungry and in a bad mood. Luckily we managed to anchor in narrow and deep bay well and had a calm night.
Next day we picked our next visitors in Omiš. it was really hot and humid, we had to load lots of things onto the boat, and were very glad when we were back on Brač for swimming and snorkelling.
I like how delicate the Trumpet anemone or marmornata morska vetrnica (Aiptasia mutabilis) looks.

I only find Green ormer or petrovo uho (Haliotis lamellosa), when it's empty.

And this is an Oyster or ostriga (Ostrea edulis).

One of the places we visited in next days was Bol on island Brač. This is the monastery,...

...and this the town. Of course we anchored off the famous Zlatni rat for a swim.

Another pretty town we saw was Stari grad on island Hvar.

We went to the town with the dinghy, but it was already getting dark and although we could see all the lovely stone houses and narrow streets, it was too dark to take photos. But it was well worth the visit.