| So back again, same place later in the evening, eating at the restaurant poolside we laughed at the staff who got into a mild panic at the slightest puff of wind, frantically winding in all the awnings. Well the laugh was on us, as when we got back to the boat we were frantically winding our bimini etc, and trying to tighten up the bow line. All was well but this was a big bura blow. We later spoke to some American people in Catvat, and this night they got 50 knots dislodging their anchor and they spent the whole night driving the boat backwards and forwards across the bay until daylight. We were rather chuffed to be tucked up in the marina. The morning woke sunny and much less windy, we had a fairly slothful day, a few chores to do, in fact we might have had two more nights there as we were a bit undecided as to where to go, and after the bura we were a bit gun shy, what would the weather be like at Cavtat. It was a good thing we stayed as our narky couple next door were replaced by some excellent French people who we spent some time with. And on the other side some lovely Croatians. So it came time to set off for our last night in Croatia. We ambled around the old city walls, they look so spectacular by sea, and on to Cavtat. We met these Americans who had the nasty experience of the bura, they have had a rough start to Croatia, they left Montenegro and had trouble with their engine, so they stopped at the first bay they came to, put down their anchor whereupon they were set upon by the local harbourmaster. When they got to Cavtat the paddy wagon arrived and took him off to JAIL!! After his moment in court they decided he wasn’t very guilty, but guilty enough to pay court costs of $1000 NZ. The reason for all this was that he stopped at a bay before checking into immigration etc, and getting his cruising permit. They decided that engine problems were nearly a good enough reason, but not good enough to spare him the court costs. Then he had to pay his $400 NZ cruising permit. We had a feeling there was going to be some wind, I backed up on the anchor so hard, when I swam over it with my goggles I couldn’t even see the anchor, only the end of the chain. In the evening we went into the village and had a few drinks and lovely meal with Lester and Donna Smith from Mount Maunganui, the evening was balmy and beautiful, but we were always mindful of how quickly the bura blows up, and as it happened we just made it back to the boat in time, the wind started. The other thing about it is that it will turn in any direction, and in the morning we woke to find that we had swung around to the rocks, and they were not that far away. So we upped and went around the corner to do the Customs thing. Our first encounter with this activity, but I wondered how difficult it could be to leave a country, but it did turn out to be a bit of an event, their little power trip and they have one hanging on a string. Then we had to go to the police, but of course his office was closed, so we found him on the pier where we were growled that we didn’t have our boat on the departure pier and that we didn’t see him in the office. Anyway without too much ado we farewelled the last of our Croatian terra firma and set sail down the coast to Montenegro, in 3 knots of breeze. We rounded the peninsular on the entrance to Montenegro where we had to be vigilant about not staring up at it and its buildings, a set of binoculars or camera might have meant serious implications, this is Croatian owned and a very sensitive spot, and it is under surveillance of the United Nations. Actually there are a few places in Montenegro where cameras are not advised, it gets a bit tricky to know what’s what. We headed for the first customs checkin place, but with its huge ships fenders and not a sole around it was too difficult for two of us to navigate, so we put the peddle down and headed for Kotor at the end of the track. Montenegro is a group of water ways connected by canals, and massive mountainous hillsides, it is really quite airy, and spectacular to travel through. We had the peddle to the metal as we thought the immigration office might close at 5. As it happened we tied up and arrived to find they would return at 7 pm, so we went off to explore. I was slightly missing the familiarity of Croatia, and we had pounded over waves left over from the bura, and the sun and everything, so being a bit tired, the first impressions of Kotor were not that striking, and the first people we encountered not friendly, so sitting having our first beer I felt a bit shell shocked. But a bit more delving into the walled city and things were getting brighter. Kotor is a walled Venetian city, and the views from the various little squares with a spire and then straight up to 1000 metres or more. There is a walk up a quarter or third of the way which we are going to endeavour to walk tomorrow. I was concerned that I could not contribute to their language, back to English only was a bit out of place until I discovered they speak Croatian, which surprised me as I thought having tried to shoot each other up, and the tensions between them they wouldn’t be sharing the same language. So I am back to Dobadan and Hvala Liepo etc. We got back to the immigration, then he sent us to the harbourmaster, we paid our 90 euro to him, back to immigragion, another 10 to him, and on to the police. It all went surprisingly smoothly, but the politzia took the cake. Their ramshackled little office, (I didn’t know if it was the remnants of my rocky day at sea, or if the wind was lifting the hut around, but I was on the move) and one of them was undressing while watching the news on tv, so momentarily without his gun. I was just waiting for him to produce his can of beer. The policeman looking policeman attending to us put a halt to things while he watched something of interest on the tv, actually it was lots of fires, I couldn’t make out if something had been blown up, and when I enquired as to if it was in Montenegro they assured me it was alright. Actually the police were the gruffest of anyone we have met here yet. So we were free to go, I felt a bit like the American at Cavtat. There was just one more thing to attend to, the marina fee, 32 Euro, and we enquired as to where to get their courtesy flag, when we tried to get one in Dubrovnik, they said the country was too young to have a flag. We see they do have a flag, but it is true they are young, I think they are only 2 years old. We learnt there was to be a Carnival in the evening, and it turned out we had the box office seats. We just sat back with our gin in hand feet up and watched the parade go by. Lots of noise and hoopla, by the time we hit the pillow I was no good for conversation. This little place is absolutely not to be missed, we have now had a most successful day, discovered and dined and so much more planned for tomorrow, stay tuned, I am too hot now to expand, well maybe I have just expanded a little, around my middle, but there we are!!!!.... so until next time it is still Dovezenja |
