1 & 2 June - Mljet - the National Park island on the Dalmatian Coast, Croatia

1 June

We were meant to leave that morning from Korcula marina at 9am.  We had all gone off to run our personal / collective errands as soon as we were awake.  Some had volunteered to do some grocery shopping at the fresh market.  Others had gone for their compulsory morning cup of coffee.  Our skipper had gone for supplies.  One of our shipmate complained that he did not take along her shopping list.  Poor skipper when there are hard to please crew members. One had failed to take note of departure time as agreed the night before. Ugly politics had begun on board now that folks are more familiar with each other.  The courtesy between strangers travelling together have deteriorated.  We had gone earlier to breakfast at Gelejia, a cafe not far from the marina where  we enjoyed good scrambled eggs and coffee in serenity by ourselves.

It was 9.30am before the shore lines were cast and we made our way out of the marina. We had to called in at the refuelling station.  Some ship mates were interested in dictating who did what tasks when we were approaching the refueling station.  Someone new was assigned to throw the stern line to shore.  It fell straight into the water.  An interesting situation could have arisen but luckily nothing bad happened.  My travelling companion and her friends once toyed with the idea of using a sailboat to teach basic management principles in practice when she was still living in Singapore.  Especially in high winds and strong currents, the exercises would demonstrate well decision making techniques, understanding the skills and limitations of the team members, clear communications, appropriate times for training personnel, etc.

Our intention for the day was to sail to Mljet, the National Park island of the Dalmatian but there was hardly any wind.  So we motored the entire way to Mljet.  A sailboat can be both an advantage and a disadvantage in these waters.  Sailboats have smaller motors so they are slower when there is no wind.  My travelling companion was getting tired of the constant loud music being played in the cockpit so she spent sometime hanging out by the jib sail at the bow and at other times at the swim platform at the stern.

Rain at lunch anchorage off Mljet

It was also the skipper's turn to cook lunch today.  He was making all of us pasta.  Around lunch time, we anchored in a cove near the island.  

Round about that time, it began to rain too. Some of our ship mates went for a swim. Since our travelling companion was not swimming, she went below deck to help with lunch preparation.  The dish was penne (there were the wholemeal and the normal options) with bolognese meat sauce.  We learnt a secret ingredient that day - the Croatian equivalent of stock powder, Vegata.  :-)  Later we would find out that it contained MSG :-(

Polace, Mljet

It continued to rain after lunch.  Actually the rain got heavier.  Out of recreational options, we pulled into the protected inlet adjoining the village of Polace which abuts the national park.  The national park covers the western half of the island.  The restaurant that served the traditional "meal under a bell" that our skipper had recommended was also here in this village.  The inlet was lined with restaurants with moorings for boats and eager helpers standing by.  We moored in front of Antika, the recommended restaurant.  Our skipper had taken the initiative to order our dinner as it usually take more than 3 hrs to cook and more hours to prepare.  We were advised that we have a bell of mixed veal and lamb and another of octopus.  Yum.  We were looking forward to dinner already.

The rain made it feel really cold.  The original plan to explore the island that evening was postponed to the following morning.  The skipper briefed us on nearby attractions for those brave enough to slog through the mud and wet.  The couple and two young ladies went exploring.  One shipmate went to have coffee and cake at Antika.  Others went for drinks and smoke there.  We went to check out the preparation of our dinner by Antika's staff.  We watched the firewood being prepared.  Embers from the firewood was used in cooking the bells  by heaping these on top of the covers.  The bells were slowly cooked over carefully controlled wood fires below it. As it was cold and wet, being close to the cooking fires had its own advantages.  

Dinner being cooked

While the rain continued outside, we spent time on boat, enjoying having the space to ourselves as we worked on our blog and the pictures we had taken.  There was not only shore power but we were also able to connect to Antika's free wi-fi.  All the places that we had been so far on this adventure have offered wi-fi connectivity as a enticement or a value add service.  

Swim beach

The rain stopped shortly before dinner so there was an opportunity to explore ashore.  We went to have a look at the ruined palace and the famed swim beach before dinner time  

Palace ruins

Sun finally came out in the evening

our delicious dinner

Dinner was delicious.  The octopus was juicy and not the least bit chewy.  It and the veal-lamb combination were most delicious.  We were told that the octopus were caught in winter and then snap frozen to tenderise it.  We all ate a little more than we intended.  When the conversation turned to airing of personal grievances by some, it was time to leave the table.  The men were the first to leave and we followed shortly after.  We also had to go and visit the ATM to ensure that we had enough funds for tips to the skipper when we enter Dubrovnik.  The end of our voyage was fast approaching. 

Fishing village feel

As there was no bank in the village, the ATM was attached to the wall of the Tourist Information building.  It took us a while to find it as we had walked past it initially.  It turned out to be an interesting walk as we bumped into other folks visiting the village.  We also stopped a while to enjoy the music coming from what looked like a Viking war ship.  It was another tourist boat.  Back at our boat, we turned in early, induced to sleep by the hearty dinner and the cooler than usual weather.  Some of our shipmates were watching the latest episodes of the Game of Thrones.  Game of Thrones is rather popular in Croatia as quite a few episodes were shot on location on several of the Dalmatian islands.  There is even a tour exclusively for fans that would like to visit all the sites that were part of the set for the series.

2 June

Truck maneuvering through palace ruins

Since we slept early the night before, we woke up at 6 am.  We decided to take some photos and spend some time to soak in the atmosphere now that it was sunny again.  The fan and lights in the saloon of the boat was running since last night when our shipmates had been watching Game of Thrones.  They must have forgotten how to turn them off.  We turned them off and went to sit on the deck to watch the day start in the village.  We saw delivery vans attempting to fit through the arch in the palace ruins.  The driver had to fold in all his side mirrors, then drive partway through, and then come out and readjusted his mirrors before proceeding on.  His vehicle barely fit, and it took a while.  Cars and bicycles followed and everyone was really patient. Some fishermen started out to sea.  Gulls were already busy too. 

Soon the rest of the boat were awake. Breakfast was at Antika.  We got our park tickets from the booth in front of the restaurant.  Some of our ship mates had opted to cycle to the national park.  Since we were rather unstable on bicycles especially in hilly areas, we opted for the bus to the lake and a walk back to Polace. We had to wait for the national park bus.  A bus pulled up and we indicated that we were heading to the boat jetty near the big lake. The driver beckoned us to enter the bus. Only when he was halfway to our destination did he tell us that he was not the park bus but since he was going the same direction, he took us.  The villagers in Polace were very friendly and helpful to visitors.

When we arrived at the lake site, one of our shipmate who was with us had not bought the ferry ticket to go the monastery so she waited for the national park bus to get her there.  In the meantime since there was a ferry leaving for the monastery, we jumped on board with the understanding that we would see her later on the island in the middle of that big lake.

The decommissioned monastery

The Benedictine monastery of St Mary had been decommissioned since the 18th century.  It is sort of a museum and its grounds are still well preserved.  There is an ancient stable there that is good condition with two donkeys.  It was their braying that attracted us to check out the ancient stables.  The buildings are well preserved.  As we wandered the ground, we bumped into a friendly elderly couple. The gentlemen remarked to us : If only the stones could talk, what stories they would tell us. He must have noted our interest in the structures as we were busy photographing.

A view of the lake from the monastery

We started chatting with this friendly couple.  We discovered that they are from Denmark so we told them about our upcoming trip to Silkeborg where we will be visiting our friends for a long weekend. They were very kind to offer their help should we encounter difficulty as they live in Copenhagen.  The wife then introduced us to their daughter, Annemette, who now lives in London with her husband and two kids.  They were the same couple with some folks waiting for the park's bus earlier in Polace.  We had showed her young daughter the safe way to approach patting a strange cat before we jumped into the bus.  We had a good chat and we exchanged email to stay in touch.  My travelling companion told her about her dream as a child to have friends in every country in the world.  And she replied that she would love to be one of her such friends.  What a nice and friendly lady.

We spotted our other shipmate that had gone for the boat ticket.  Soon we spotted the rest of our shipmates on the bikes across the lake.  Somehow in the wandering to get some more photos of the place, we managed to either miss the boat departing for the jetty or our shipmate had left on the wrong boat.  The result is that we would not have any company to walk back to Polace.  That's alright.  As soon as we alighted on the lake shore, we started walking in the direction of Polace.  There were some trucks heading down the road too, and one of them stopped and offered us a ride.  We decided to take it partway to where we would be able to shoot an overview of the bay.  

Ruins of the former monastery at Polace

Vinegar used in pest
control for olive plants

Walking back to Polace, we found the ruins of a former monastery that was there as well as the path that our shipmates who had gone hiking the day before had described to us.  As we still had time before our scheduled meeting time at the pier, we did some exploring at the ruins.  There were some interesting bottled with dark liquids in them hanging from some of the trees.  We wondered what these were.  We would have to tap on the local knowledge of our skipper later.  

Our skipper explained that the villagers hang bottles with vinegar in them to attract the bugs that would otherwise be attracted to the olives.   These bugs could destroy an olive crop. Basically, these are natural organic pest control mechanisms.  Brilliant.

We got back to the boat some 15 minutes before departure.  As we had time, my travelling companion ducked into the gift shops of the national park to get Roy a cap as he collects them.   Our shipmate had indeed taken the boat to the wrong jetty but she had seen the bridge between the two lakes on Vis island as a result.  She had walked back from there. And she had managed to get back right on time.  As soon as she was on board, we casted off.

The weather was so much more welcoming than the day before with the sun shinning.  We were able to observe that the national park has entrenched fire breaks between the trees and shrubs to ensure that the entire space is not destroyed in the event of a fire.  Hmmm ... this principle could be applied for management of other hazards ....

Fire breaks in the tree line

Under sails again :-) 

As soon as we were outside the shelter of the bay, we put the sails up ... oh, it was glorious to be sailing again.  That is what sail boats are for ... to sail ... and to enjoy nature ... we sat under the sails as our sailing trip will soon be over ... who knows when the next opportunity to sail would be as the winds here can be so erratic and we have a timetable and scheduled stops to adhere to now that there are only two nights left of this voyage