Long hot summer - part 4

Next morning, on Thursday the 5th, the SE wind was already there and small waves were rolling into the bay Vinišče. So after a coffee and a short swim we sailed off to Rogoznica again. We figured it would be the best place to wait out all the storms, heavy rains and strong winds from almost all sides, that were forecast for that night. 

Outside the bay the waves were already bigger, but we could at least sail. In early afternoon we anchored in Rogoznica in the middle of N part of the bay. There is some fetch for S wind and so we got some waves, but I didn't want to go into the narrow and shallow E side of the bay, that was protected from the waves from S, but in my oppinion didn't have enoug space for the night, when the storms would turn the wind from S to W to N and then finally to NE. In strong wind and bad weather I really like to have plenty of water on all sides of the boat. There were several other boats in the bay, but there was plenty of space and we were quite a distance apart. The storm started at 11.30 in the evening with very strong wind from North. It pushed the boat, that was till then hanging to the North in South wind, violently over the anchor to the opposite side. And the movement of the boat made us feel being pushed against the side of the boat like in a fast accelerating car. I only experienced this twice till then and each time it shocked and scared me, you just hold your breath and hope for the best. Luckily our anchor held and we still had plenty of space around the boat. There were lights on all the boats in the bay, two of them were dragging, so the crew had to let more anchor chain out, and one of the boats, that anchored in East narrow part of the bay, sailed to the middle and had to re-anchor in heavy rain, that started right after the first gusts of wind. There were also many lightnings along with heavy rain and howling wind and it looked quite wild, so I stayed up and kept the anchor watch until 1am, when things started to calm down a bit and all the boats in the bay were safely anchored.

Next morning the sun was out and you would hardly guess what was happening in the night, just the water was a bit colder and murkier. After some time there were plenty of reports on Internet of how strong the wind was, how in some areas around us they had the record rainfall and how many boats got torn from their moorings or were even pushed onto rocks and sunk. Considering we only had to endure some waves during the day before and got frighten a bit in the night, but had no damage and didn't even need to re-anchor the boat in the pouring rain, I think I can say we got away just fine. And Rogoznica has again proven to be a great shelter for weather like this.

In late morning we sailed off towards N and made a first stop in bay behind Mala Oštrica for a swim and snorkelling. Although the water was very murky I still managed to find several interesting things.

I haven't seen the Mediterranean fanworm or Spalancanijevega cevkarja (Sabella spallanzani) often this year.

A pretty duo of empty Date shell or Morski datelj (Lithophaga lithophaga) and Zvonimir's blenny or Jelenoroga babica (Parablennius zvonimiri).

Beside alive Pig-tooth coral or Kamnito nakovalce (Balanophyllia europea) on the right, here is also a dead one or rather just the skeleton on the left. I haven't seen anything like it yet.

Here is another duo - in foreground there is a Five-spotted wrasse or Kosirica (Symphodus roissali) and behind it a Painted comber or Pirka or Pisanica (Serranus scriba).

And this Grey wrasse or Gnezdivka (Symphodus cinereus) pressed itself into the ground and hoped that I didn't see her.

Here is another Slender goby or Peščeni glavač (Gobius geniporus) with kaleidoscope eyes.

This empty shell is inhabited by a solitary crab, the Striped hermit crab or Obročkasti samotarec (Pagurus anachoretus).

The red spots belong to Boring sponge or Spužva vrtalka (Cliona spp.).

I don't know what the white thing is, I assume it could be a sponge.

I was happy to have found another Common cuttlefish or Navadna sipa (Sepia officinalis).

And here is another Sharpsnout seabream or Pic (Diplodus puntazzo).

Later in afternoon we moved more to the inside of the bay, to a small cove just to the SW of the main bay. There was just one more boat there and it looked really calm and peaceful.

In teh evening we saw many of small fish there, I'm not sure what kind they were.

Bay was really pretty.

Later on we got a beautiful sunset, this cloud was on the opposite side of the bay...

...and sky above our boat changed from golden...

...to pink.

We read that there are Mouflons on Oštrica peninsula behind the "Chinese wall" and for two days Captain kept on saying: where are they? And on next morning I noticed something moving on the shore and saw two brown hoofed animals strolling along the shore. They were quite a distance away, but they looked much more like Deer than Mouflons. Luckily I had my phone at hand and I managed to call the Captain, so he could see them too, before they disappeared into the woods.

In late morning, when the light got better, I went snorkelling. It wasn't as spectacular as I expected it to be, but I still found plenty of interesting things.

This is the biggest and most beautiful European thorny oyster or Morsko kopito (Spondylus gaederopus) that I've ever seen. And it was alive!

There were quite big Mullets or Ciplji (Liza spp.) circling around the bay.

The Noah's ark shell or Noetova barčica (Arca noae) was unfortunatly empty, but still pretty.

I read that there is less and less ot Cushion corals or Jadranskih kamenih koral (Cladocora caespitosa), so I'm happy when I found one, especially so healthy and pretty one.

As I learnt couple of years ago, these are the eggs of a some Bristle worm or mrest Mnogoščetinca (Polychaeta).

And this is a mystery - it looks like a glue, but I can't think of who would want to glue one rock to another. If I have to tip, I would say it is maybe some eggs from some creature again?

There were several Warty crabs or Kosmejev (Eriphia verrucosa) in the bay...

...but I've never seen this threatening or defence pose.

This pretty orange thing is a Bryozoan or Mahovnjak (Bryozoa) growing around an algae.

In the afternoon we headed back through the fjord of river Krka...

...and anchored in Prokljan lake for the night. Next day, on Sunday September 8th, after some small boat projects and a swim, we sailed back to the marina. Bad weather was again forecast for the night and we observed dozens and dozens of boats sailing into marina and seeking refuge. The marina staff had their hands full and they told us some boats that sailed out in the morning came back in the afternoon. No doubt that the news of the damage that last bad wether on Thursday caused, made people more scared and cautious. 

Night wasn't too bad, there was quite some rain, and some wind, and of course no waves. Next morning we got some more rain, but in the early afternoon the clouds started to break. I said my goodbyes and drove home and Captain stayed for some more adventures.

Long hot summer - part 3

We anchored again on SW side of Rt Kuknara in Drvenik Mali, it was too crowded in Krknjaši in Drvenik Veli that was our plan A. We spent the afternoon swimming and lazying around, and I of course went snorkelling.

This is one very small, probably a baby, Scaldfish or Morski jeziki (Arnoglossus spp.). You can see how small it is by comparing it to the size of the parts of sea grass leaves that lay around it.

What a pretty portrait of a Tompot blenny or Velika babica (Parablennius gattorugine), and look at those eyebrows!

I'm posting the photo of every octopuss that I saw, they are so rare and I'm happy every time I see one.

What I also saw under water was that our anchor was sitting on a rocky bottom and there was no sand around where it could dig itself in. So after the dinner we decided we are moving to SE of the island to a bigger bay with sandy bottom. We thought since the NW wind already died down, the waves that were coming from the same direction, would too. But as soon we rounded the cape Rt Kalafat we were hit by not so small waves and we realized there was no way we could anchor and then sleep in bay Uvala Vela Rina. So we needed plan B. Again. We figured out that waves are probably coming from the North Adria because there was much more wind up there, just like two days ago when we fled from Hvar. The most protected bay in the vicinity is Rogoznica, we tested it already many time in all kind of wild weather, so we sailed there. And we had a peaceful night.

Next morning we moved just around the corner to a very pretty bay behind Marina Frappa for a breakfast and some swimming. Afterward we sailed to bay Mirna and had a great afternoon and delicious dinner. And late morning next day we sailed back to our marina.

We again spent one day in marina in Skradin and again it was really very hot. On Monday, September the 2nd, we first drove to Šibenik in the morning. We needed to visit a chandlery and I knew this is going to be expensive and take a long time. But it wasn't too bad and we got the most important thing we desperately needed - the water filter housing for our fridge, the old one cracked as Captain was cleaning it and it started leaking. Afterwards we did also some normal shopping for fruits and veggies and other fresh things. But we didn't need very much, for the last week it was just the two of us on the boat.

In the afternoon we sailed off and anchored in Uvala Mirna in the evening. There were still several boats there, but not so many as in August. Unfortunately there was this catamaran with people that were partying and were really loud till the morning, and though they were not anchored very close, the noise still woke me up a couple of times.

Captain replaced the cracked water filter housing and the next project was to replace the zinc on our engine shaft. For that we needed a quiet bay, not too deep and with sandy bottom, since Captain wanted to change it while boat was in the water. And I would dive and retrieve any part or tool that he would drop while changing it. So next day we sailed to Uvala Vinišče above of Drvenik Veli.
While sailing into the bay we made a stop a bit outside of the anchorage, where the shore was still rocky, so that I could go snorkelling. The water was a bit murky and the bottom very overgrown with algae, but to my surprise I found plenty of interesting things.

I found this pretty the Purple starfish or Škrlatno rdečo zvezdo (Ophidiaster ophidianus)...

...and the Ball alga or Kroglasti kodij (Codium bursa).

But even overgrown landscape can still look pretty.

There were also plenty of fish there, this one is the Sharpsnout seabream or Pic (Diplodus puntazzo)...

...and this is the Slender goby or Peščeni glavač (Gobius geniporus)

Snakelocks anemone or Voščena morska vetrnica (Anemonia viridis) looked pretty with its pink tentacles.

After a long time I saw the Needlefish or Igle (Belone belone). They are really fast and shy, so not easy to photograph.

I also saw the Warty crab or Kosmej (Eriphia verrucosa) as he was feasting on dead sea urchin. And he kept on eating and was not bothered at all by me coming close and taking photos.

I also saw several Barnacles or Velike vitičnjake (Balanus spp.)

Probably the best thing I saw was a Common cuttlefish or Navadna sipa (Sepia officinalis)...

..and because it is so rare and special, here it is one more time.

This pretty algae could be red algae Janija (Jania spp.).

And this is a cyanobacteria, in Slovene it is called Nihajka (Oscillatoria spp.).

This is a green algae, the Pennyweed or Verižnica (Halimeda tuna).

This is another portrait of Tompot blenny or Velika babica (Parablennius gattorugine), and this one was even smiling!

I was surprised to have found so many interesting things there. Next we moved to the inner part of the bay in front of small town of Vinišče. There were already several boats anchored there. Soon we went into the water, Captain to check if it was possible to change the zinc and I was checking the visibility and the bottom. Visibility was not the best, but the water was only some 4-5m deep and the bottom of almost white sand, not just very good for anchoring but also to see any piece of equipment or tool that would fall to the bottom.

Only moments after we got into the water these guys came by - the Pompanos or Pegasta lica (Trachinotus ovatus). This was the first for me, I haven't seen them before, and they were really fast and you could tell they are predators.

And then other predators came as well, the Greater amberjack or Gof (Seriola dumerili). I've seen them only once before. This was a big surprise for me, I didn't expect to see so much in so shallow bay surrounded by the town.

Captain tried to remove the old zinc, but it was galvanised to the shaft. He spent quite some time working on it and managed to chip some of it away, but couldn't remove it. So we decided to try again next day.

After the calm night we waited till noon to have a good light and then Captain attacked the corroded zinc with even more tools. And success! Here he already removed it and was cleaning the surface...

...so the new zinc would have the good contact.

This is the trio of zincs - left is the new one, in the middle the one that Captain occasionally hangs into the water and was used for about a year and on the right is the poor corroded one that he removed from the shaft. It really was high time!

And here is the end result. And Captain didn't drop anything and I didn't have to dive for any screws, zincs or tools.

Afterwards I went snorkelling, I was still impressed with what I saw the day before. This time I did some more exploring and found a pretty and very healthy Cushion coral or Jadranska kamena korala (Cladocora caespitosa).

These pretty anemones are often found on sandy bottom, they are the Golden anemone or Zlata vetrnica (Condylactis auratica).

This handsome guy is probably the Black goby or Črni glavač (Gobius niger), just look at that back fin!

This time I saw the Wide-eyed flounder or Širokogledi romb (Bothus podas) again.

Where our chain was touching the ground there was plenty of fish, this time a bit different than usual - the striped Sand steenbras or Ovčica (Lithognathus mormyrus), which I don't see often and I probably haven't photographed before, and Gilthead seabream or Orada (Sparus aurata) on the right.

Haven't seen many of these this year - the eggs of Banded dye-murex or jajca Čokatega voleka (Hexaplex trunculus).

Since we spent two days in this bay we didn't have time to sail further South. And the weather was forecast to turn the next day, there was going to be lots of SE wind, which is perfect to sail NW. So we spent another night here. Unfortunately it wasn't very calm, again one catamaran anchored relatively close and people on it were partying and yelling till the morning. And I have the suspicion, it was the same one as two nights back in Uvala Mirna. In nights like this one would wish to have a small torpedo to make them stop.