Having provisioned and setup we all got up in our best and ready to receive. I hopped in the van and went to the hotel to meet he new guests and brought them onboard. Unfortunately vans can't drive along the narrow jetty at ACI so crew had to trolley the luggage down the quay onboard. After a brisk morning exercise we had everything onboard and it was confirmed we set course for Vis. The weather was a stiff southeasterly so not very nice. It was agreed we try and anchor in Komiza bay on the western side of Vis.
Split ferry
Split, ACI marina
Vis
As we went along the straight between islands had a easterly swell up to a meter coming from the side but at least we had working stabilisers. As I rounded the north western corner of Vis we entered Komiza bay, it was howling 30knots in gusts there but as I got close to the town the wind lessened a bit. I anchored just a cable off the town wavebreaker but the waves from southeast still kept coming around south at reduced height, the sky was overcast most of the time so not a very nice start of the trip. I watched the life ashore, it was very relaxed with holiday makers lazing in the sun in front of a church at the shoreline.
Vis, Komiza
Vis, Komiza
Vis, Komiza
Vis, Komiza
As night set in we still had some wind but it was reducing. The clouds amassed on the islands ridge and was massive backdrop to the lighted church on top of Komiza. The next morning there was a bit of wind left but mostly gone, we heaved up anchor at daybreak and set off towards Korcula. As we rounded the Vis northwest corner we also discovered the seas from yesterday mostly gone, only a slight swell remained.
Sunrise
Sunrise
Vis
Then when we approached Korcula the sun came out in earnest and the weather looked summery again, we motored through the channel and anchored at our usual spot at Planjak and tied up the stern to the rocks. The same goats could be seen again grazing at shoreside.
Approach to Korcula
Korcula
Korcula locals on Planjak Is.
Then next day we had in the program Mljet, this time instead of Pomena we went to Polace and went early. As we arrived we had first dibs of the spots and I anchored off the shore and tied up a bit away from town in the main bay. There was a number of yachts coming and going, some I managed a shot below.
Mljet, Polace, visiting yachts
Mljet, Polace, the western entrance
Moonrise and helicopter
We watched m/y Moonrise receive or disembark guests multiple times by helicopter, she's allegedly owned by the inventor of the messaging application WhatsApp.
Mljet, Polace
Mljet, Polace
s/y Eos
Sailing yacht Eos is the only sailing yacht built by Lürssen ship yard in 2006, Rondal/Huisman supplied the rig, and the remaining naval architecture was completed by the yard, at the time of her launch she was the largest sailing yacht in the world but is now superseded by s/y Black Pearl and s/y Koru. In 2012 she hit the headlines with a fire onboard off the coast of Norway but the crew managed to extinguish it and the yacht survived. Below some of her specs:
IMO number: 9377456
Tonnage: 1,500 GT
Length: 92.92 m (including bowsprit)
Beam: 13.50 m
Propulsion Twin screw with 2 × 1,740 kW MTU diesel engines
Sail plan: 3-masted Bermuda rigged schooner
Speed: 16 knots
Complement 16 guests, 21 crew.
m/y Moonrise
This yacht is the new Moonrise launched in July 2025, built by Feadship, (Hull 1013) is a custom 101 meter long yacht. While it closely resembles the 2020 version, it was built as a an upgrade with larger volume and most likely more modern gadgetry.
Technical Specifications:
Length Overall (LOA): 100.70 meters
Beam: 15.70 meters
Draught: 4.20 meters
Gross Tonnage: 4,124 GT (compared to the 3,945 GT of the 2020 version)
Hull & Superstructure: Displacement steel hull with an aluminum superstructure and teak decks
Engines: 2 x MTU 20V4000M73
Cruising Speed: 16 knots
Maximum Speed: 22.5 knots
Range: 8,000 nautical miles (a massive figure for the usual 4000'-5000')
Mljet, Polace, sunrise
Mljet, Polace, sunrise
Then we got up at crack of dawn to move to our next destination to Pakleni and Hvar islands. The weather was magical with the lighting giving exquisite pics of the scenery, see above.
m/v Europa 2
Enroute we met the cruise ship Europa 2, she's a 2013 French built from STX St Nazaire originally for TUI cruises Gmbh but today she's owned by Hapag Lloyd Bahamas as could be seen from the funnel sign. Taking a quick look in Equasis showed me that she has had at least 63 inspections during her operational life but has never been detained so obviously maintenance regime is on top of things. Some of her specs below:
Tonnage: 42,830 GT
Length: 225.62 m
Beam: 26.70 m
Draught: 6.3 m
Decks: 7 passenger decks
Propulsion: Diesel-electric with four MaK 6M43C, 24 MW total
Speed: 21 knots
Capacity: 516 passengers
Crew: 370
Lighthouse on Scedro island
Pakleni Is
Pakleni Is
Pakleni was kind of busy and we managed to stick us in off Carpe Diem next to 2 other yachts. As we sat there we suddenly saw a lot of smoke emanating from behind us and I only needed to check multimedia and I saw that some small powerboat had caught fire and burned down. Luckily without loss of life. Soon we sent our guests for lunch at Laganini and then we went to dock in Hvar Town.
Boxed in Hvar
Hvar Port and castle above
In Hvar port you have to be in time to dock and if you're even a bit late it is considered a no-show with full price to pay. The berth/ night is nearly 3000EUR. The boys have their system pat on, you make your approach and they tell you when to drop each anchor and then you just back in stern-to. Theparticular night we went in we were packed and was asked to get as close as possible fender to fender. They first filled our row with 9 yachts and then they piled sideways another 7 tourboats in front of us. Like a mini Monaco yachtshow.
Sutivan on Brac
After Hvar we then could not get out before the tourboats and other yachts beside us had been let go so we were on our way around noon, the wind was again strong southerly so we spent the day off Milna and then moved for dinner time off Sutivan.
Sunset
Then next day we moved off the Soltan island in Necujam bay, it was a fantastic place although there was nothing on offer, interestingly they had named several places after famous venues in Croatia but it was perfect for watersports and spending the day onboard. The next day we went off and anchored off Bol as we had a restaurant booking but eventually this idea was cancelled and we moved to a small bay off Stari Grad.
Zlatni Rat
Zlatni Rat was heaving, due to the busy area and the seagrass it was also prohibited to anchor off it. The small promontory is a quite famous for being a pebbled beach that moves with the weather, the beach changes its form every season depending on the winds but they do have a myriad of activities in their website for it.
Bol
Near Stari Grad we tied up on the rocks in a small bay before the town. We were next to a Croatian yacht that we had been shadowing for the duration of the charter. The water was really clear and sheltered from westerlies. The guest enjoyed another day on the water and I put together the draft invoice for the trip.
Stari Grad
Stari Grad
Then the last morning we set off after breakfast and after some 2 hours we were tying up in ACI Marina Split. The sailing boat next to me had a whinge that my anchor was on top of theirs and they were leaving just now and could I redo my anchor. Oh well, I did that and retied alongside with one anchor only, we tied up and discharged our guests and luggage. As we watched the taxis take off for the airport we also cast off leaving the whinging sailingboat next to us still doing departure.
Kastela
As we left Split port we turned a sharp right and headed for Marina Kastela for some downtime. The marina was not bad but again we were on the end of the wavebreaker and there was not space for a car so everything had to be trolleyed the 500m it was. Good exercise...
Sunset Kastela
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to comment anything :)