Weather, Grebastica, and retracing our steps south

Weather, Grebastica, and retracing our steps south

Monday 19th July... Linda - Windy night again. The weather has been so changeable the last week or so and has basically stopped most of our plans to get to the various islands around Sibenik. There are a lot of anchorages but you really need calm weather as they are not too protected and a lot have weedy bottoms so not good enough holding if it's blowy. Murter and its coastline was very nice, but after last night's loud music and a forecast for more wind we'd pretty much had enough and wanted to start heading back south again. 

Today wasn't really a good day to be on the move, but about 9am there was a couple of hours break in the wind so we took advantage and left for somewhere better.... we hoped. That was until we reached plan A anchorage at Tribunj. Forecast 12 knots wind. Reality 30 knots wind. We attempted to anchor but it was a bad idea and so we moved quickly as the clutch kept slipping on the windlass. On paper this should have been a good option, protected from the North East. 

We went south with the wind and waves getting a little bit of respite along the west coasts of Prvic, and Zlarin islands. By the time we got to the south of Zlarin we expected more wind as we crossed to the mainland, but luckily it was much much calmer. We'd identified an inlet at Grebastica (on the mainland) where we thought it would be possible to anchor. It wasn't far to go, but by the time we arrived we realised that we had been on the move for four and a half hours!

Here at Grebastica was 100% better. We anchored and settled down. It's actually very nice, but a bit strange that this morning we had never intended to come here. I guess with sailing you need to be prepared to change your plans at the drop of a hat. There's alot of holidaymakers about, paddleboards galore. In fact when we were anchoring two young lads on a paddleboard were intrigued to watch what was going on.

North shore at Grebastica

We anchored near to this blue boat

Inclement weather makes for nice evening skies

Looking to the sunset

Now the south shore this evening

Water getting very calm now

Tuesday 20th July... Linda - Day 2 in Grebastica. So we went ashore early for a little walk around the bay. It's only a tiny place with a handful of informal cafes and a couple of shops. There's a lot of holidaymakers with children, the most we've seen. It's got a real nice feel about it. We haven't found a sandy beach yet in Croatia. They're all pebbly but still lovely and the tourists don't seem to mind at all. I forgot to take my camera.

Yet again it was a windy afternoon and the waves were coming into the bay. I got my knickers in a twist about the weather, but to be honest Thesee handled it all perfectly. And the kite surfers were out to give us some entertainment.

Bat wing Foiler

This expert kite surfer was great to watch

Kiddies aquapark near the boat

This morning before the afternoon winds

Why can't it be like this all the time?

First thing this morning

Wednesday 21st July... Linda - If you've ever heard of the Wall of Ostrica you will know where we are tonight. Taking a bit of a gamble on the weather, we moved a short hop around the peninsula north of Grebastica and into an anchorage actually called 'Mirine' but most people know it as 'Wall Bay'. I've been wanting to get here for quite a while as the depths are great for anchoring, but you have to pick the right weather window as it's very open to the north west. There is a spectacular medieval wall here on the peninsular, apparantly built in the 15th century to protect the locals from the Turks. Copy and paste this link into your browser for more info....

https://secretcroatia.blog/2010/01/10/the-wall-of-ostrica/

On the way we passed a very large sailing yacht taking up the whole protected anchorage on one of the small islands nearby. The weather was on our side today and we got 'lucky' with our choice. In fact we did a joint paddleboard around the bay this morning, me sitting, Dean paddling. It was delightful. We really like this area a lot. Still, everywhere is nice when the weather is kind.

The big sailing yacht

Bridge on the mainland

Don't think we would get under this one

Entering the bay, here's the Wall of Ostrica

Now the other side 

This is looking the other way, 

across the peninsula to where we were last night

Our neighbour tonight, a trimaran

Sunset over the 'Wall'

Thursday 22nd July... Linda - Today was all about 'The Wall'. It was such a lovely calm day, we could not think of anything better that would improve this anchorage. First thing, we had the dinghy off and Dean rowed us ashore for a walk along some of the footpaths on the peninsular behind the 'Wall'. We had read this was a hunting ground and were on the lookout for deer, but in fact all we found were goats. Still, quite exciting! 

Dinghy docked near the 'Wall'

Views of the 'Wall' along the footpath

Lovely morning for a legacy walk

Views over the nearby town of Zaboric

Walking back now, downhill

Big spiders hanging across the bushes

Goat spotting

...and another here

This boat our only neighbour for most of the day

Arriving back at the 'Wall' where we'd left the dinghy, it was time for some posing photos. Dean decided to go for a walk right along inside the 'Wall' but I was too hot so sat and waited for him in the shade of this amazing 'Wall'.

Look, it's me on the 'Wall'

Now, I'm on the biggest stile you'll ever see

There goes Dean on his solo expedition

Friday 23rd July... Linda - My oh my, another beautiful morning at the Wall of Ostrica, but we have to move on, this time another short hop to Primosten. A buzzing old town, and new town for that matter as we found out when we went ashore from the anchorage this afternoon.

En-route passing the Butlins of the Adriatic

it seems

Final approach around the old town headland at Primosten

Submarine? Not quite

I bet this place has graced a few tourist brochures

No paddle-boarding today so we covered it up. Do you remember we made this cover back in Licata? First time we've used it on the move.

So into town this afternoon. Very touristy and very nice, lots of bars, restaurants. We chose a restaurant for dinner this evening.

Clocks for sale

In the old square

Small pretty houses caught our attention

Always head for the local Church

Looking over the rooftops

Church proper now

This resting place worthy of someone special

Back in the streets we found a metal shop, selling all sorts of figures made of metal (of course). In fact, Dean has one of these figures at home. 

Metal figures display

Viking signage

Metal wall-climber

Then we stopped for a drink at a water's edge bar, when a very odd looking water vehicle appeared. What on earth is this?

Erm.... not sure

We got more shopping from the fairly large supermarket and then went back to Thesee for a couple of hours before returning to shore for dinner this evening. Lamb on the menu, can't miss that.

In the garden restaurant, first ones here

Trying the local red wine

Ready to get stuck into that lamb

Saturday 24th July... Linda - Time to head south again and back to the main islands around the Split area, so it felt like quite a lot of sailing.... well motoring actually. It's typical when we were going north we motored into the prevailing north westerly winds, and was expecting to catch them for sailing south again. But now we are going south there is no wind at all. Annoying in one way, but in another by being calm this week we've been able to visit anchorages that would have been impossible otherwise. 

Our journey started just after 9am, with a planned lunch stop at the Blue Lagoon on Otok Drvenic Veli. It was busy when we arrived but we got a space good enough for a quick dip and lunch. 

The lighthouse - Hrid Mulo

The Blue Lagoon is very shallow, we could not get any closer

After our whistle stop at the Blue Lagoon we set sail for the south coast of Solta and onto the island of Brac. The wind didn't hold out though and we had to motor again. We reached our Brac anchorage at 4pm, it's just outside the town of Milna. We got a good spot to shelter from some winds coming through in the next day or two, and the place soon filled up. Here we were thinking we were going to be lonesome tonight, but it's crowded. Even with massive superyachts, so it was quite interesting to watch everyone coming in and trying to find the best place. The one drawback here though is the 'rock and rolly polly' waves from all the passing traffic and ferries. We were just sitting outside having dinner and finishing a glass of wine when all of a sudden all the boats started rolling a lot. Our cutlery drawer started opening and closing on its own with the waves, and I just about managed to save the last of our cheap wine from Licata. 

One of our neighbours tonight is this superyacht called 'Anima Maris'. Yours to charter for a mere 69 thousand euro per week. You can split that with your other 11 guests though!  How the other half live!

Anima Maris - it is rather beautiful though

Sunday 25th July... Linda - Very nice morning, some boats departed, we checked weather again, decided good to stay. Everything was good in the anchorage so we dinghy'd the mile into Milna town for fresh bread and a coffee. The nice old seadog gentleman on the town quay said it was OK to leave our dinghy there. He looked well past retirement age, and seemed like he would never want to give up his job (hobby) willingly. Bless him. There's not a lot here, a number of cafes, two bakeries, couple of gift shops, and some lovely old buildings, so less is more as they say. Yes it's worth a visit and a coffee. 

Our anchorage this morning

Boats next to us tied stern to shore

Going into Milna in the dinghy

Sunday and the congregation waiting

Lovely harbourside restaurant

Another nice bell tower view

In the backstreets

This boat stood out being light blue, very unusual

All sorts of boat styles here in the harbour

Along the shore into town

More shore views

Lovely buildings and waterside restaurants

We weren't out for too long. When we got back more boats had departed and we had a new neighbour, this lovely superyacht. It looked very sleek and has been here all day. 

The anchorage was packed this afternoon, boats anchored all over the place, about three right in front of the superyacht. Tonight it's very quiet, I think they must have all gone to other islands. I guess if you are chartering a boat you want to see as much as possible. We still have the superyacht here though. Oh and I'm getting much braver going in the water. The water here is super clear. I actually stayed in for about 10 minutes today. Next goal is to swim around the boat.

The next blog post will be called 'Thesee on tour around Brac'