9 replies to this topic

[Hirilonde]

I am leaving in a couple hours to fly out to start my 3 week summer cruise. My wife and I have been invited to join my friend Andrea and his girlfriend Angelita aboard his X-Yachts 36-2. We will leave Oberon's home port of Monfalcone, Italy Saturday to sail to Dubrovnik. From there we will slowly hop the islands of Croatia back. I should have i-net some times and will post some pictures.

Oberon
 _DZ24917.JPG   176.44K   14 downloads

[wkisting]

Hope you're having a wonderful cruise. Be sure to post some pics. Great looking boat.

[Hirilonde]

Internet connection in Hvartska (Croatia) is terrible, so pictures will not be possible until we are back in Italy on the 25th or the US 11 September. I have however taken many.

We cleared customs in Umag a week ago Saturday and sailed 300 miles over the week, stopping each day on a diffewrent island to reach Dubrovnik yesterday. We spent yesterday afternoon and today touring the Old City of Dubrovnik, home port to one of the greatest maritime civilizations in the world dating back to the 12th century. Tomorrow we begin a slow island hop back to Monfalcone, Italy.

On a lighter note I have been photo-documenting bollards, as the stone and concrete docks (cays, quays) in thhe Med use these almost exclusively as the means of tying up. Some of the photos are of stone bollards that are 700 years old. I have also been taking pictures of the small local wooden craft as I find them.

More later..............

[wkisting]

Welcome back Dave! How was the trip? Any pics to share?

[Hirilonde]

Thanks Wes, just got back last night. I need to move my pictures to my desk top and do some serious sorting and culling. I took, well, umm, a lot of pictures (1200). I believe that if you take enough you are bound to get a couple good ones I will get some up in the next day or 2.

[Hirilonde]

Still a lot of sorting to do and weeding out the junk, but here are a few pics of my trip:

When entering Croatia, like any country by sea, the boat and crew must clear customs. Croatia also requires a formal permission from their Coast Guard to sail in their waters. We sailed into Umag on the Istrian penninsula and tied up to the quay and did both.
 Umag customs.JPG   104.29K   9 downloads

Though we never had any spend much time in our bow wave we did sight dolphins several times on the trip. The one time they did spend a minute in our bow wave my camera was not handy.
 dolphin.JPG   55.85K   8 downloads

Croatia has a lot of rocks. So many that there are but a few places that even have the slightest bit of sandy shore
 DSCN0385.JPG   131.92K   5 downloads

Lots of rocks and lots of islands means lots of lighthouses. I have a bunch of lighthouse pictures and will post more later.
 DSCN0407.JPG   116.32K   5 downloads

I have always found sitting to leeward while at the helm the most comfortable. Oberon had a very comfortable option.
 DSCN1120.JPG   176.24K   6 downloads

The Med uses IALA-A navigation markers. (the US uses IALA-B ) After many years of coastal navigating this took a little study and a period of adjustment to get a handle on. The primary marks, called cardinal marks don't mark the channel per se, but mark the safe side. There are 4 cardinal marks and this one designates the south side of the mark as being safe. (obstruction to the north) Since there are situations where it is not clear whether you are entering or leaving (in reality you may be doing neither) I like these marks as there is no doubt what they mean.
 keep south.JPG   66.76K   5 downloads

More as I continue sorting.............

[wkisting]

Looks like a beautiful area. I wouldn't want to run a boat onto those rocky shores, but they sure make for beautiful pictures.

I hadn't seen navigational marks like those before. The mark atop the buoy tells you which magnetic/compass direction side of the buoy is safe, right? That would take some getting used to, but it makes a lot of sense and resolves a lot of the confusion that can arise with the U.S. system in unfamiliar waters.

[Hirilonde]

What is wrong in this picture entering a harbor? IALA-A navigation system does use red and green similarly to how we do in the US, that is to mark channels. In Croatia they are used almost exclusively in the final entrance to the harbor.
 ENTERING.JPG   144.61K   7 downloads

From a natural beauty point of view I would have to say that the Kornati Islands, which have been declared a national park by the government is the most exotic section of the Croatian islands.
 Kornati sign.JPG   233.3K   9 downloads

There is almost no one living within the national park area, yet many of the islands have these stone walls across them. I never did find out what they were built for. In some areas of Croatia walls separate pastures. In others they are used to clear farm plots like in New England. This one is about 5 feet high and 2 feet wide.
 Kornatis 1.JPG   178.65K   9 downloads

Much of this area has little vegetation.
 Kornatis 2.JPG   138.21K   9 downloads  Kornatis 4.JPG   186.05K   7 downloads  Kornatis 5.JPG   105.54K   10 downloads  Kornatis 6.JPG   141.66K   10 downloads  Kornatis 7.JPG   108.41K   12 downloads

We spent one night anchored in the middle of the national park. The Croatian government has set aside several locations where anchoring is allowed. In the rest there is no anchoring allowed at all as this is an area set aside to protect the marine life, and in particular Poseidon Grass. This is a seaweed very important to the breeding of many fish in the Adriatic. I took 1 of very few pictures of the 4 of us (myself, my wife Linnea, Angelita, our host Andrea). Finding a stable place to set the camera for a timer shot on a sailboat is tough.
 Kornatis pose.JPG   125.47K   9 downloads  Kornatis 3.JPG   86.31K   8 downloads

[Hirilonde]

I hadn't seen navigational marks like those before. The mark atop the buoy tells you which magnetic/compass direction side of the buoy is safe, right? That would take some getting used to, but it makes a lot of sense and resolves a lot of the confusion that can arise with the U.S. system in unfamiliar waters.

Sorry Wes, missed your question. The cones on the top do designate the safe side, as do the black and yellow bands.


They have sound and light sequences as well. A series of 3 flashes or short blasts for east (3 o'clock) 6 for south, 9 for west and continuous for north.

Exactly Wes. Anytime safety is controlled or assisted by something new there is a period of discomfort. But then it dawns on you that there is no uncertainty with this system. At least if you have a good compass and know how to use it. But then a compass is probably a good idea when cruising any way

[wkisting]

Pretty neat. Looks like you had gorgeous weather.

That stone wall looks like an awful lot of labor to mark an arbitrary point in the midst of nowhere. It also looks like it's on an extremely steep hill, which probably made it quite a feat to build. Must've been something important there in the past maybe, but that doesn't look like the kind of spot I'd expect a farm or pasture, unless it levels out nearby (or maybe it's not as steep as it looks).

What's the old stone fort atop the high hill in the pic with the filename "Kornatis 6.jpg"?