Happily bouncing from cove to cove - September 12, 2023

Scott Farnsworth
Sep 12, 2023
5 min read

Updated: Sep 17, 2023

SUMMARY No getting off the boat today unless it was to get in the water. Speaking of which, the Adriatic is beautiful - pretty cool temp-wise but very refreshing and crystal clear. We are being spoiled with great meals, snacks and beverages. Gin and tonic appears to be the group’s favorite cocktail. - Karen

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DETAIL I get up late and others are already up, enjoying coffee. There’s no schedule here ‘in the islands’. The coffee maker is just ‘push a button and the beans grind and the coffee is made’, so we’re pretty self sufficient.

At a certain time the table for eight is set up and it becomes obvious that breakfast is almost ready. It’s always lots of cut up fruit. Today we’re having eggs and bacon. Jure went it to town and got us fresh bread.

At 9:30 the anchor is pulled up and we head for our next destination. It’s a different cove and it’s estimated to be about two and a half hour away. Where we go and how we get there (motor or sail) is dependent to some extent on the weather. If it looks like it’ll be sunnier over there and more cloudy over there, we head to the sunny spot.

Getting to our destination is always a lot of the fun. It’s relaxing and the views are constantly changing. It’s fun watching the changing landscape which is mostly just natural grass, trees, and lots of rock. The boat’s big but it’s designed to be managed by just two people.

There are winches for the sails with buttons to pull on them slowly or quickly. The buttons are on the floor so there are also caps to go over them to prevent a button from being pushed inadvertently. Occasionally, though, they forget to put the cap back on. At one point Karen’s going up on tip toe to clothespin a towel to the drying line. In the process she steps on the winch button and we hear the determined whir of the winch. Thankfully there wasn’t a rope (line?) around the winch at the time.

To pull the forward sails up Jure or Matko will use a winch to pull on one of the lines. To retract the sail there’s another line. Easy, peasy, just two people. Their ship-to-shore communications is easy, too. It’s just a cell phone. We seem to have cellular service everywhere, especially with the antenna at the top of the mast.

Today we see the mainsail put up and then the different forward sails, the jib? The genoa? It’s fun seeing them unfurl, billow and then snap full of wind. The boat is much more silent and tranquil with the sails. There’s reportedly more commercial boats for charter in Croatia than anywhere else (4,000+ boats). We believe it. We see some big ones but Jure says that before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia there were much larger boats here, owned by the various Russian oligarchs. The Croatians could have seized them but it’s expensive to do the daily maintenance and it’s hard to sell them.

Before lunch the guys have a beer. They’re big cans so we split them. We each have 25% of a beer. Then 25% of another. Someone else joins us and we each have 20% of a third. It keeps the beer cold and we feel like we’re drinking less. We’re not.

For lunch we sit down to focaccia with onion and anchovies made into a sort of manzanella salad with arugula and tomatoes. All of the produce is beautiful and tasty. Even on the boat it stays fresh. Next is risotto with porcini mushroom, so good. And of course wine, lots of wine.

In the afternoon we do more swimming, bobbing, and paddle boarding. Scott on one of the paddle boards tries to outrun IronMan participant Noël. Not possible. I go tumbling into the water. After recovering and going nose-first into the water I chase down Noël now on another paddle board and into the water she goes. Paybacks are fun. Karen gets into the water at every chance and her injuries don’t seem to be slowing her down. She’s healing and there doesn’t seem to be any big problem to which we need to attend.

We relocate to yet another small empty cove for dinner but no swimming. We’re pretty much alone in this cove. We arrived just in time for an amazing sunset. What we did not do in swimming we made up for in drinking. Karen had wine and tequila. Professional mixologist, Noël, makes gin and tonics for everyone.

Dinner is delicious tuna steaks with ‘grandma’s potatoes’ and wine. For dessert Karen and I finally break out the Belgian chocolates we purchased in Bruges.

In the small cove it really got dark. We turned off all the lights on the boat and laid on the trampolines at the bow of the boat looking at the stars. You could really see a lot of stars and a lot of the Milky Way. Good day, but we have to get off to bed. Tomorrow’s another day on the water.

Photos

When we first awake, look out the window. Yes, still on the water. Yes, sky still blue. Yay!

Always a good breakfast. Plenty of coffee. No wine or other alcohol.

Wide awake and happy from breakfast

We have to do the dishes. OK, that's a lie, but we do help carry them into the kitchen for Jure the captain/dishwasher

Relocating. Loving the cool breeze and awesome views.

This lighthouse was being put together around the same time that the US was putting together the US constitution. They're both still standing (for now).