Cavtat to Trogir

Thunder storm

As we had left Montenegro and were steaming fully bunkered towards Cavtat the skies turned quite brooding and dark. Interestingly I had southerly wind from the stern but this cloud with precipitation and lightning seemed to come closer and closer. I guess the wind was from another direction at higher altitudes and it was coming closer to us. Like seamen all over the world knows, you always expect rain when mooring, it definitely looked like some for us in the offing.

Cavtat

I made the approach to Cavtat and surfed moderately but luckily nothing was broken. As I came closer the swell subsided and when I rounded the cape to enter the Cavtat bay it became calm but the rain started and we got absolutely soaked as I turned and positioned us for the stern to mooring. Our agent Ivo was on the jetty to receive lines and as we tied up the last one the rain stopped. Had to do a quick change of clothes and then we received provisions onboard and we started putting last touches for the upcoming charter the next day.

Cavtat

In the evening I had the time for a short walk ashore with my Mate and went to Atlas for some Cevapi as recommended by our agent Ivo. It was really worth it and we gulfed down the cevapi with some tasty ajvar and onion with local bread. The town is very small and everything going on there is on the waterfront, which is quite long as well as they have another waterfront on the backside into the bay behind the town. Restaurants are along the seafront catering for almost any cuisine, not so much Asian apart from sushi is there.

Cavtat

Cavtat

Next day we had strong southerly wind, the opposite of bora, the jugo (equivalent to sirocco) blowed hard and the swell was going high off Cavtat and the Croatian mainland. We received the guests and moved in the bay next to Cavtat for swimming and riding off the weather at anchor. In the evening the wind had already subsided and next morning it was lightly from north. We hoisted anchor and sailed for Sipan island in a low swell from south. We surfed a bit as one always does with a sea from your stern quarter.

Cavtat bay and moonrise

Jakljan island and full moon

Having spent the day off Sipan we hoisted anchor and quickly moved off Jakljan island and rode at anchor for the night, well, we were at anchor every night... The island has a very cosy corner where there are many small bays where other yachts had tied up to the rocks. The next morning guests enjoyed swimming and watersports, we waited for spare parts for our tender that had a broken down starter. As we received it and repaired we discovered that the boat still did not work and had a broken actuator. I had to rent a replacement tender as this spare was much more difficult to find and was ordered from Holland. Luckily I got a recommendation from a contact and same evening had delivery of the replacement tender.

Mljet island

Mljet sunset

Next day we motored for Pomena on Mljet island as guess wanted to do an excursion to the St Mary's monastery at the lake on the island. One had to take a taxi 2 km to a ferry jetty and then another 2km by boat to the monastery that was on a smaller island in the lake. I had paid entry online but those vouchers had to be exchanged into tickets on arrival and taxi had to be ordered, a bit of a chaotic entrance to the Pomena ensued but in the end everything was organised and the guests got their excursion.

Mljet, Pomena

The next morning the island got attacked by local tourboats and I counted more than a dozen coming in like a string of pearls, many of them moored straight onto the Pomena jetty discharging their passengers and afterwards they tied up on the rocks in the bay. As we watched this going on we then slowly hoisted our anchor and headed for Lastovo island.

Mljet island, Pomena

Mljet local cruisers

In Lastovo the guests wanted to visit the Zaklopatica bay with the many restaurants. I approached around noon and the westerly breeze was up and quite fresh. I first went to the bay west of Zaklopatica but then I noticed they have cables on the bottom there so it was not for us to anchor there, inside Zaklopatica was too tight with mooring buoys and other stuff so definitely insufficient space, not to mention the narrow gap looked quite tight and unsafe to even try. I then went behind the headland east of the bay and anchored a cable offshore, the wind did not come in there so it was perfect for the guests to enjoy swimming and watersports. The only thing a bit sporty was going onto the bay as the breeze had lifted a bit of a swell off the entrance but by afternoon it calmed down and was good to tender.

Lastovo

The night was very good in Lastovo but guests did not like to stay so early morning we weighed anchor and headed for Korcula. After a few hours of motoring we arrived at the islands just south of Korcula to avoid the strong afternoon breeze that blows like a windtunnel off the old town normally. The port captain popped by to check our paperwork and complained a bit but I had it sorted quickly.

Korcula

Korcula

Korcula yard

Korcula town

Next morning we were again out early as there was a longer sail to Vis island. We passed Korcula town in nice morning lighting and got some postcard views of it. We also passed by the lonely Plocica island with the solitary house at the west end of it, this time south of it as before we had gone north. The house apparently an old Austro-Hungarian style lighthouse, it is available for rent and has 2 apartments for 14 persons. It offers a minimun week stay but one needs to bring all provisions for the week, boat transfer is from Korcula. They offer "authentic, off-grid rustic living with thick stone walls, simple Mediterranean furnishings, and a large stone-paved yard shaded by century-old fig and tamarisk trees", I can believe that but I'm not sure if I'd like to stay a week on the island. The electricity is sun powered and water comes from a cistern (probably not potable unless boiled).

Vis

As we arrived Vis, one could see the large bay opening up to the main town and it looked very busy with boats and ferries. So I decided to anchor a bit outside of it near a disused submarine bunker. We managed to find good rocks to tie up to and anchor held well in 30m of depth. We only stayed the morning and early afternoon we packed up and sailed for Carpe Diem beach resort on Pakleni island. It was a short one hour motor so soon again we tied up to the rocks and set up water sports gear. Here the guests went to Laganini for lunch which they praised very high and they also in the evening visited the Carpe Diem.

Pakleni, Carpe Diem beach

Then on the 7th day their time was up and I weighed anchor to arrive Trogir at about noon to disembark my guests. Everything went smooth despite the marina being a bit exposed and windy, there were no boats in my way so it was easy to back in and let us drift to our berth. We tied up and rigged the passarelle, I did the final accounts with the principal and we said our goodbyes and so one trip was over.

m/v Viking

I also saw this general cargo ship m/v Viking (IMO no 7600287) passing us and checked that on Equasis she had had 44 inspections in her lifetime and in 2023 she had been detained by port state inspection in Iceland. The grounds for detention was: Emergency systems: fire pump insufficient pressure, Fire safety: fire-dampers not as required and Structural conditions: beams, frames, floors corrosion, damaged. Looks like she was getting pretty tired and ready for a refit that maybe took place as they were let go and she's passed 4 port state controls since and she also frequently visited the US east coast. Nowadays she's under Turkish management and ownership with previous owners as follows: Viking Marine Ltd since 2025, Esani Shipping APS since 2019 and Sama shipping AS since 2009. She was built in 1977 originally by Sterkoder Shipbuilding - Kristiansund, Norway as Norrviken until 1992, then renamed Norro in 1992, Nor Viking in 2019, Nord Viking in 2019 and today as Viking since 2025. She also has flown Norwegian, Danish and Bahamas flags and today she flies Vanuatu flag with registry in Port Vila. She is a typical Norwegian coaster with a huge excavator on deck making her self loading and discharging, 49 years old and still going strong (I hope).

Trogir castle

In the evening I gave crew shore leave and went myself for dinner at the Garden restaurant where I had visited myself some years earlier. It was just when covid finished and I had delivered m/y Caipirinha from UAE here. Incidentally she was still in Trogir and as per industry news I had read that she had been sold to an American client.

Anyway, it was time for us to rest and recuperate as we had now completed 30 days of solid charter with 3 clients. It was safe to say we all needed some well deserved r&r.