Limerence Update #68

July to August 2005

Croatian Islands

We cruised the Dalmatian Islands of Croatia for over a month after leaving the city of Korcula. In true Mediterranean sailing style, we motor-sailed almost all the time with low wind on the nose. On tiny Klement Island we dropped anchor in Tarsce. It was quiet in the early afternoon, but by 5pm twenty boats had come in and surrounded us! Since we were there first, we got the “best” spot near the rocky beach. It’s disarming initially to have a conversation with a completely naked stranger, but in this anchorage we got a crash course.  People lounged every where on the rocks, soaking in the sun. Doug and I kept saying “Wow. I can’t believe this. That family heading toward us in the small dinghy is completely naked. Wave and act nonchalant.” 

Moving north we cruised to the Island of Brac and the little town of Milna. We tied up in the ACI marina on the city docks. The boat next to us was a family from Slovenia on their two week summer cruise. We told the Captain we were thinking of stopping in Albania. He does business there and immediately picked up his cell phone. Soon we had information on how to enter the harbor at Durres, and reassurance that it is now safe to travel in Albania.  

The little fishing village of Milna is very quaint.  I’ll always remember Milna as the place where we ate the best fried calamari in the world. It was so fresh it tasted like tender pieces of lobster. In front of our boat was a restaurant that prepares spit-roasted lamb twice a day. We watched the lamb go round and round for hours. Croatians prepare most of their meat and fish over wood and charcoal fires on the grill. They also cook food in a shallow kettle with a lid, called “under the bell”. It’s their version of the crock pot! A salad consists of cabbage, onions and cucumber, and tomatoes. It's always the same. The vegetable served with main courses is swiss chard with boiled potatoes. As anywhere, every place offers french fried potatoes. That is a world wide favorite!

After a stop in Rogoznica, we cruised north past Sibenik and into the KRKA River on the mainland. The river is 8 meters deep and navigable to the town of Skradin which is about ten miles up the river. We motored into the ACI marina in high winds and Doug decided he didn’t “like” the slip we were assigned, so he backed out. After a gentle reminder from the red-shirted marina attendant that he was the “boss”, we were permitted to go to another place. While we were comfortable in the marina in Skradin for a few days, it proved to be one of the noisiest places we have ever stayed. The people on the docks were all on holiday and partying like crazy, and the disco played until dawn.

Skradinski Buk Waterfalls - 9am	Skradinski Buk at 3pm

The KRKA National Park consists of the river and surrounding mountains and water falls. The river starts in Knin and makes a 47 mile journey inside a limestone canyon. It finally spills over into the spectacular Roski Slap and Skradinski Buk waterfalls. It is a very popular tourist destination, and we were warned to board the transport ferry early and get to the falls by 9am. We did that and it really paid off! We got to the park and it was pristine without another tourist in sight. The water falls cascade from many different places and make a spectacular sight as you climb up the park paths. We took a small boat tour farther up the river past the Monastery of Visovac, and to the Roski Slap. When we returned to our ferry boat to go back to Skradin, the park was filled with hundreds and hundreds of tourists, many swimming in the cool river water.

The Deckers	Limestone gorge on KRKA River	Tour Boat

From the KRKA Park we anchored in the river near Zaton before stopping in Sibenik for a day to have a tear repaired in our jib sail. We got the name of a sail maker from the crew of the Sunsail Charter yachts.  The city docks were a busy place to stay, but so convenient to town. We were right in front of the famous Cathedral of St. James. It is completely repaired since damages from shelling in 1991. Many of these Croatian towns and buildings are originally Venetian. Our guide book didn’t rave about Sibenik, but we found it delightful. We rode our bikes up and down the long jetty in front of the city, and enjoyed the sights and sounds of domestic life echoing from shuttered windows along the cobblestone alleyways.

Next on our list was Trogir. It is set on a small island off the mainland and is a jewel. It is another Croatian city listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Because it’s so close to Split, and the airport and daily ferry services, the city is bursting with tourists. We realized that we were not used to hearing the sounds of airplanes or automobile traffic. It was difficult to walk through the morning vegetable market because of the crush of people. We enjoyed Trogir much more in the evening and did our usual routine of sitting in a sidewalk café and people watching the Eastern European tourists. As August approached, we sensed greater numbers of  families on summer holiday.

Morning market in Trogir	Kamerlengo Castle - Trogir	Loggia and Clock Tower - Trogir

We now were working our way back to Dubrovnik. The city of Starigrad on the island of Hvar was another “must see”. It is located at the end of a long bay. We tried to anchor several times in the small fjords on the side of the bay, but there wasn’t enough room. We ended up at the city docks. We enjoyed riding our bikes all over town and around the beaches. We were relieved that there was no “Disco”. The second day a large ferry boat came into the harbor sporting “DISCO” signs all over it. It had speakers the size of those used in Yankee Stadium.Yep. It is a FLOATING disco that goes from port to port. What bad luck!! The sounds of disco music screamed until 5am the next morning. We thought the Colombians played loud music, but now we’ve learned that the Europeans love it too!

Luka Polace National Park - Mljet	Guarding our anchor

 We anchored for a few nights in several inlets along the southern coast of Korcula, and then returned to the anchorage in  Mljet to Luka Polace National Park. It really felt good to go back to a familiar spot! We had nice weather for a few days, and then sat out several days of high winds and rain. The anchorage is very protected. Plus, we had the services of the small town, so were quite comfortable. The place was getting crowded, and Doug had to stand on the deck at times and glare at boats that tried to anchor too close!  We noticed an American flag on the other side of the harbor! What a nice surprise to meet some friends from Barcelona, Mark and Winnie on the boat Grand Jete.

Wall of Dubrovnik	Doug and Judy walking the walls	Walled city of Dubrovnik

 We ended our stay in Croatia by returning to the ACI Marina in Dubrovnik. We wanted to “walk the walls” of the old town, get the laundry done, and do some maintenance on the boat. We had been having engine problems for weeks with the engine sputtering and losing RPM’s, requiring us to frequently change the fuel filters. Doug made the diagnosis that we had “bugs” or bacteria fungi in our diesel fuel which were plugging our filters. These non-plants often called "fuel bugs" need water to survive. They find water at the bottom of the fuel tank. They are anaerobic and don't need oxygen. When they eat the hydro-carbons in the diesel fuel, their growth and waste products create sludge. The only solution is to drain all the fuel, and meticulously wipe dry the inside of the tanks. First we went to the boat yard and had the fuel pumped out from our tanks. Doug wiped them clean with rags. We then filled with new fuel and added biocide to the tanks.

We think this problem developed because we let down our "guard" here in the Mediterranean. In 1998 we added another filter to the standard filter system on the engine, because diesel engines like clean fuel! It's a large capacity water-separating Racor 500 fuel filter with glass bowl. The filters' turbine-shaped internal passages create a centrifuge action that separates solids and water from the fuel into a glass inspection bowl. This makes it easy to see how much water or debris has collected. Inside the filter is a 10 micron element which provides protection from dirt or bacteria from entering the engines fuel injectors. We also have a vacuum-gauge that monitors the filter and  indicates when the filter becomes dirty.  In addition to the Racor filter, we put the chemical biocide in the tanks which deters the growth of bacteria. We stopped doing this after Barcelona because of the cool temperatures of the water and lack of growth.

We refueled in Dubrovnik and checked out of Croatia on Saturday, August 13^th for the country of Montenegro. As we made the six hour passage, our engine sputtered and acted up! We thought we had a problem with the injectors, but later found that it was a fuel issue again. Unfortunately the fuel we took on in Dubrovnik was contaminated with four liters of water. We never suspected that we had taken on dirty fuel from such a busy fuel station. Perhaps we were filled with fuel from the bottom of their tanks.We had to do the whole messy job of cleaning the fuel tanks again upon landing in Herceg-Novi Montenegro. We hired two mechanics who pumped all the fuel out once again, and cleaned our tanks. This is a record. Cleaning the fuel tanks twice in a five day period!! Doug has added to our regular maintenance list the task of draining the bottom of our fuel tanks every year to eliminate any water. 

Our fuel issue solved, we were free to explore the beautiful country of Montenegro.

Fair winds friends,

 Judy and Doug

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