July sailing

Last week in July we were sailing again with couple of friends. We got to Mali Lošinj rather late in the afternoon on Sunday, stops and heavy traffic prolonged the traveling time. It was really hot and we were hungry, so we sailed just around the corner to bay Uvala Engleza, first jumped into the water to cool off and then started the grill. After plenty of good food and some more swimming we were all in good mood and decided to stay there for the night. 

In the morning weather was cloudy and there were waves rolling into the bay. The South wind has started earlier than forecast. We decided that the best place to be in such weather was the wide bay in front of town Olib that is well protected from South. We anchored there in early afternoon in strong SE wind but we were lucky and even had some sunshine and swimming. The night was still very windy but we slept well.

Next morning was cloudy but not so windy any more. After breakfast we saw a small boat visiting anchored boats and Captain assumed they were fishermen selling fresh fish. As we had plenty of food of all kinds I said I was only interested in an ice cream. And what do you know - they only had ice and ice cream, so we had to buy some. Yum! We were very much surprised that the prices for the ice cream were the same as in supermarkets.

In the meanwhile the wind turned to North and soon the waves started to roll into bay and it became uncomfortable. After studying the forecasts (we always check several different ones) we figured out it was time to escape to one of the bays between island Pag and Vir, nowhere else in the area we would be protected from all sides. The forecast was predicting SE wind turning to W then to N in the night and then to strong NE the next day. So after some sailing, in early afternoon we anchored in bay Uvala Jasenovo just S of island Pag, where we already anchored in the beginning of July and it then proved to be well protected and not busy and even quite pretty. After some swimming and a few drinks, two friends on a motor yacht joined us and in the evening we had a great evening meal with plenty of different dishes from grill and also plenty of drinks.

The night was pretty wild, wind from the West was pretty strong and in the morning the NE wind was also blowing with over 30 knots for couple of hours. But it didn't bother us too much, we had a great coffee break on our friends motor yacht, with coffee made by proper coffee machine, with good cookies and even better company. 

In late afternoon we sailed off and anchored  in front of town Vir for the night. The NE wind was still strong but it was mostly the loud music and shouting from the shore that was very annoying. So next morning right after breakfast we sailed to Ist where we hoped to have some more peace again.

The wind was forecast to turn to SE again in the night, so we anchored in North bay. It was empty and very peaceful, just as we hoped it would be. We had a lazy afternoon of swimming, reading and I even went snorkelling.

In the evening Captain and the rest of the crew climbed up the hill to the church to watch sun set.

In the meantime I was taking photos of sun set from the boat.

Before going to bed we had to chase an Italian sailboat away, they had the idea that best place for them to anchor was right next to us, although there were no other boats in the whole bay. But they didn't argue and re-anchored a bit further away. Which was absolutely right, the wind turned in the night and had they stayed where they were originally it would not end well.

Next morning we sailed towards Olib, on the way we stopped just N of town Olib for a swim. Not far from us this beauty was anchored, it is Black Pearl and is the second longest sail boat in the world. At the time - these things are changing often.

After a nice meal and some swimming we sailed on to N side of Olib that is more protected from S wind and more suitable for the night. There were already several boats there, obviously others were paying attention to weather forecast as well. But we still found a good anchoring spot a bit away from the crowd in W side of the bay. Again we had a nice afternoon of lazying, reading, swimming and snorkelling.

Here are some photos from both my snorkelling expeditions, the one in Ist and in Olib. None of the places are great snorkelling spots, but in the absence of other choices I was glad to even had these two opportunities.

What I saw under water were all the usual suspects, no big surprises. This is the Red sea squirt (Rdeči kozolnjak or Halocynthia papillosa).

I saw several Red tube worms (Pisani pokrovčkar or Serpula vermicularis)

This is another Sea squirt, in Slovene named nagubani kozolnjak ali mali svet (Microcosmus spp.). It is named mali svet or Microcosmus because it is usually overgrown with all kind of organisms, as a true "small world".

Here the Red spotted horseshoe (apnenčasti cevkar or Protula tubularia) on the left is in company of Red tube worm (Pisani pokrovčkar or Serpula vermicularis).

This is the Brown Kidney sponge (ledvičasta spužva or Chondrosia reniformis)

Three Twin fan worms (dvoperjaničarji or Bispira volutacornis)

This is a Slender goby (peščeni glavač or Gobius geniporus)

Here the Red tube worm is in the company of Stinker sponge (snopasta hrapavka or Ircinia fasciculata)

This pretty sponge is a Crater sponge (Rjava skorjevka or Hemimycale columella)

As is often seen, there are small Mysid shrimps (mizidni rakci or Leptomysis spp.) in protection of the Snakelocks anemone (voščene morske vetrnice or Anemonia viridis) 

These are the Mediterranean sand smelts (veliki gavuni or Atherina hepsetus).

I didn't see many Mediterranean fan worms (Spalancanijev cevkar or Sabella spallanzanii) this time.

I don't know which clam this is...

My first octopus this year.

This is the Rocky shore hermit crab (Zelenkasti rak samotarec or Clibanarius erythropus) with chequered eyes.

Young Salemas (salpe or Sarpa salpa) were grazing on algae.

In absence of other fish I took photo of this Two-banded sea bream (fratrc or Diplodus vulgaris).

The Violet sea urchin (belobodičasti morski ježek or Sphaerechinus granularis) was adorned with fashionable accessories.

This is the ink of Sepia (sipa or Sepia officinalis), I didn't see it bust must have frightened it because the amount of ink was quite huge.

Here the red algae (obrobljena luskavka or  Peyssonnelia polymorpha) in the middle is growing on Brown Kidney sponge (ledvičasta spužva or Chondrosia reniformis). The lighter brown sponge is Chicken liver sponge (krompirjasta spužva or Chondrilla nucula).

Here is another sponge - the Red encrusting sponge (rdeča skorjevka or Phorbas fictitius) 

Next morning we already had to sail back. We made the first stop for breakfast and swimming near Ilovik. Then we sailed along Lošinj and made a second stop for lunch and some more swimming N of little island Murtar.  At 2pm we were moored in our marina. Captain stayed on board of Heron and I drove back home with our friends. Although the weather was not ideal, we had a very nice week.
 

Sailing to Zrmanja

In the beginning of July we were sailing with our friends for a week. We started from marina in Mali Lošinj, where Heron is based this year. First day we sailed along Lošinj, made a stop for swimming and anchored in uvala (bay) Sunfarni for the night.

Next day, on Thursday, after big breakfast and some swimming we sailed around South end of Lošinj, by on Ilovik towards East to island Pag. We anchored in bay Košljun for the night. We were all surprised to see that there were no other sailboats around and only few motorboats. We had a very calm night.

Next day we sailed between Vir and island Pag towards Pag bridge.

On our way we saw a sun watch built in 19th century.

We anchored in bay Vlašiči. There is a wetland at the end of the bay and we rowed there with the dinghy. We saw an egret (bela čaplja)...

...and plenty of salt loving plants. Unfortunately I didn't see any dragonflies.

After some swimming we sailed on by on these elephant toes...

...and old fortress...

...under the Pag bridge.

This bridge is quite high but there is always some nervousness present when we sail underneath one.

We then sailed behind Vir towards South and anchored near small town of Ražanac for the night.

Weather forecast was not great and already in the night we had some SE wind Jugo, but we still slept well.

Next morning we sailed on towards South to new Maslenice bridge.

The surroundings are very wild and rugged.

From the shade under the bridge some goats were watching us.

Next we came to old Maslenica bridge (the new one is for the highway, the old one is actually not so old, it was rebuilt after it was destroyed in war in 1991).

 It is made of steel and painted red and is very pretty.

Then we sailed through Novigradsko more and entered the river Zrmanja.

Only when we were very close to the canyon we saw where we should sail. Well, there are red and green posts marking the waterway, but its difficult to trust them when all you see are high rocks all around you.

In every river bend on slow side (the inner side) there was lots of plants growing and among them were the swans.

The scenery was really beutifull...

...and rock formations impressive. 

We hardly met anyone except swans.

There was absolutely no wind and water calm and all the rocks and sky and clouds were reflected in the water.

The waterway was rather narrow, one could see the very shallow water right next to the markers.

Above in the Velebit hills one could see the highway leading up to Sveti Rok tunnel and the cars and trucks driving on it.

At the end of the navigable part of the river there is the town Obrovac, it is really not pretty so I didn't take any photos. We planed to stop there for ice or coffee and some fresh bread, but couldn't find enough space on the waterfront to tie Heron, so we turned around and sailed back. But before we could made a stop for a swim the wind and rain started and we hurried to Novigradsko more and anchored Heron, it felt much safer there than in the narrow canyon in stormy weather. Then we sat there for couple of hours to wait out the rain.

We were all blown away by the beauty of the canyon, we were just a bit sad we didn't get to swim in the river. Next time...

Later in the afternoon, when the rain stopped, we sailed back under all the bridges and anchored in bay Ričina. There is a pretty little church there...

...and lots of vegetation.

And only one other sailboat was anchored in the whole bay beside us. This was another great thing about sailing in this area, it was not at all busy and crowded, in two days we only saw three sailboats and couple of smaller motorboats.

Next day we sailed towards Olib. We were accompanied by several yellow butterflies, Brimstones or citrončki. I just read that English word butterfly is supposedly derived from butter yellow colour of Brimstones. 

We anchored twice around Olib for swimming and in the evening we moved to our "usual" ancorage, the NW side for the night. Next morning we woke to a warm sunny summer morning with all the beautiful colours Olib has to offer. 

Although the rain and wind from the day before cooled both air and water, I had to go snorkelling. And was happy I did - it was again so very pretty. I found plenty of White Sea-Squirts (Bradavičasti kozolnjak or Phallusia mamillata), this one is in company of Black Sea-Squirt (Črni kozolnjak or Phallusia fumigata).

This is a Common tusk shell (Navadni slonov zobček or Dentalium vulgare).

This is the Bryozoan (mahovnjak), covering something I don't recognise.

One of the prettiest tunicates, the pink social seasquirts (zadružni plaščarji).

And here is again a gelatinous ball, I believe a cluster of eggs of some Bristle worm (mnogoščetinca).

The trophy of the day was this Redbrown leathery doris (ploščati perjaničar or Platydoris argo), I'm always so happy when I find a nudibranch. 

When I dove for the second time to take more photos, it was gone and I was surprised how fast it disappeared. After a while I noticed that it was climbing onto algae to join another one, maybe in hope of a romantic date.

And just because it's so pretty - a Red tube worm (Pisani pokrovčkar or Serpula vermicularis).

In the evening we moved to the anchorage on East side of Silba and in the evening had a delicious meal in Vila Velebita. Despite the shower that came at 4.30 in the morning, we slept well.

Next day we sailed back to Mali Lošinj, with couple of stops for swimming and meals and in late afternoon drove back home.