31 May
Our skipper advised that the day was one where we had to cover the longest sailing distance. We started out of the harbour at
8.30 am. There was no chance to sail as there was hardly any wind and not in the direction where we needed it to be for our destination. Along the way, a pod of bottlenose dolphins came out to play. We were lucky enough to capture a single good shot of one when it was near the bow.
It took us around 3 hrs to get to a point on
the north side of Korcula Island. Korcula is
a long island. We found a nice sheltered and warm bay and proceeded to jump in for a swim.
Even our skipper jumped into the water this time, although only for for a minute or two, before he came out again as fast as he went in. We stayed in the water for some length of time on this occasion as it felt warm after a while.
The Adriatic is very salty so less energy is required to float around. We swam around a bit. Kate and Don took to doing somersaults competitions from the
stern platform.
After the swim, we started the motor and were underway again. To save time that day, lunch was prepared and eaten while underway. The intention was to get into port with sufficient time to explore this very interesting island where Marco Polo was born, catch the sunset and then go to dinner. As it was coming up peak season for sailing in the Adriatic, the marinas were getting crowded early in the afternoon as boats looked to shelter for the night. Even with booking, it was sometimes a challenge to get a good spot in the marina. A good spot would be not so far that it would be a hike to get to the facilities. The facilities on board the boat served as emergency and last resort facilities. Space was limited on board. Bathing is possible from the stern but there would be so polluting to the marina that it would be frowned upon when there was a shower facility in the marina. The Croatians do try their best to keep their waterways and marinas clean and pollution free. In most cases, they succeed.
We arrived at Korcula marina
around 3.30pm. Along the way, we have noticed large vineyards on the hill slopes of the island. From afar, Korcula looked like more like a fortress than a harbour. The distance between Korcula and the Dalmatian peninsula is not great. Some wind
and kite surfers were traversing the waters in between. We had to keep a good look out as they were crossing the paths of our boats and other boats coming into the marinas. Some risk takers were cutting it really close
when they crossed our bow.
 |
| Approach to Korcula |
Korcula is the most populated island in Croatia. Pop : +15,000. It also has a long and complicated history, having been part of the Venetian, the Austo-Hungarian, Ottoman and even the Ragusa empires. There are many interesting destinations on this island. We would only have time to explore the city of Korcula itself. The marina is adjacent to the city. Marinas on these islands are like train stations in European cities - often located adjacent if not in the middle of the cities.
There was a queue for the marina. Some argy bargy took place at the
entrance. It was a reverse in berthing spot. Usually, there is a single bow line made fast to a cleat on the dock to secure the boat. There, the dock master requested that we secured the boat with two bow lines on two cleats on the dock. Securing the boat in the Adriatic (and the same technique applies in the Mediterranean) is different from securing a boat elsewhere in the world. As the tidal difference is far smaller here than elsewhere where we had sailed, and since there are so many boats in a packed marina, the boats were secured to balance the two. Extensive use of fenders is employed to prevent boats rubbing against each other. Parking in the marina reminded us of staying at a hostel - very social and up close with your neighbours. Parking in the marina was further challenged by many new sailing crew like some of those on our boat who failed to understand that asking for a turn so that they could impress the skipper when something needed to be executed quickly meant that they were holding up others queuing to park in the marina.
Long day voyages give everyone on board a sense of cabin fever. As soon as we were docked, we dispersed - to the facilities, the nearby cafes and bars, and walks. Skipper, himself, went for a smoke as soon as the boat was docked. We decided to explore this place by ourselves before meeting up with the others for the drink at sunset. Our skipper had reserved a place for us to watch the beautiful sunset. Local knowledge of best view spots was definitely an advantage.
 |
| The exhibit at the front of Marco Polo Museum showing him dictating to Rustichello |
We wanted to visit the Marco Polo museum but it was closed for maintenance although the lady there gave us some information brochures as consolation. We discovered that the great "Travels of Marco Polo" was actually penned in prison by a fellow prisoner, Rustichello, suggesting the possibility that Marco Polo could not read or write. History knows Marco Polo as a Venetian because Korcula was under Venetian during his time.
 |
| A view from St Mark's bell tower |
Plan B was activated - we went instead for a
walk around the old city. We stumbled on to St Mark's Cathedral and the adjoining bell tower from where one has a 360 degree view of Korcula and the surrounding sea. The entry way into the bell tower was very narrow. One part of it was single person pass only. It has a "sophisticated" traffic light system to assist with right of way.
 |
| A vista of the sunset |
We went first to the Cathedral then the bell tower. The view was indeed superb from up
there. We just had enough time to go and check out what looked like fortification from the photo above, which was the pier for cruise ships before going to Bar Maxima where we had all agreed to meet for sunset drinks. Bar Maxima is located in one of the towers overlooking the Adriatic and the Dalmatian peninsula. It uses the open air roof of that tower. The drinks were brought to the roof top by an interesting version of the dumb waiter. My travelling companion had Safe Sex, a mock-tail. The sunset views there were unbelievably pretty. We all had a great time enjoying it.
After the sunset, Don and Liz opted for a romantic dinner while the rest of us ladies had gourmet pizza on the "restaurant terrace" entertained by a band playing around the corner. We went our separate ways after dinner. My travelling companion was keen to take advantage of the free time to do some serious night photography in this picturesque town. The rest of the ladies except for the one that was not feeling too well headed out to paint the town red; the unwell one went back to the boat for an early evening.
In the streets, there was an air of festivity and celebration. This was probably due to the number of visitors from the docked cruise ships. We walked in search of beautiful spots to do night photography. We were delighted with our finds. Follow this link below to see more photos of that spectacular sunset and our stash from that night photography trip. More day pictures from Korcula will be published shortly on the same Facebook site (accessible without facebook accounts)
On our way back to the boat, we walked onto a neighbouring boat that looked a lot like ours. Lucky for us, no one was home or all were asleep so we beat a hasty retreat before we surprised anyone or ourselves. The marina was that crowded. All boats were touching the neighbouring boats, separated only by fenders. We found our boat, then took our stuff to go get a shower at the bathhouse. It was a great idea to take showers during odd times, especially shortly after the facilities have been cleaned. All earlier complaints we have heard from our fellow shipmates about insufficient water pressure or hot water did not materialise at all.
We saw a fellow traveler attempting to connect to the Marina's wi-fi near the shower facilities. Apparently, there was a problem with the strength of the signals or the bandwidth. And on our way back to the boat, some party animals from neighbouring boats whistled at our travelling companion. She just ignored them and they left her alone. Although the marina tried to discourage partying on board and within the marinas, there would always be those who push the envelope. Thankfully, they turned the music down shortly before midnight.
The rest of our shipmates returned shortly after midnight. We had not noticed before but some of our fellow shipmates are not the most considerate as they stomped around, oblivious to the others that were already fast asleep. They must not be used to living with others in confined spaces. Our suitcases were all too big to reside in our bunks when we were in it although during the day, that was where they stayed. So each night, the ritual was to move them out to the saloon before heading to bed. And each morning, we moved them back onto our bunks for storage.
Our laptop was fully charged from shore power. What a luxury. We proceeded to jot down notes for our blog and processed some photos to post on FB so that our fellow shipmates can enjoy them too before heading to our bunk.
No comments:
Post a Comment