Split

Tuesday 16 June

Left Korcula at 6 a.m. as again we wanted to get ahead of stronger winds forecast for later in the day and headed for Stari Grad on Hvar Island, reputedly the oldest town in Croatia and one of the oldest in Europe. A lovely day, also a little cooler and a good journey of just over six hours. We were very happy with the town quay at Stari Grad which has recently been extended to accommodate more yachts and has both electricity and water. Although there were not many boats when we arrived by late afternoon the quay was almost full but unlike Korcula it was peaceful and we loved it here. The wind did pick up but fell again by nightfall and despite a clear sky when we went to bed it rained heavily in the night.

Hvar island is famous for the lavender which is grown there and it is for sale everywhere.

Stalls selling lavender

Wednesday 17

Left at 8 a.m. as again a little worried about the wind although it had dropped overnight and headed for Split which was a short journey of about three hours. 

Leaving Stari Grad, Hvar

In all of my blogs I have gone on and on about the wind, naively never having taken it seriously into consideration when we first set off five years ago, but now we have experienced most of the stronger winds, in particular the mistral and especially the meltemi but quite the scariest sounding of all is the Bora. I have read hair raising stories that it halts sea traffic and turns cars on their sides, ripping off roofs etc. So to finish off our adventures so far this year, and possibly for ever, we arrived in Marina Kastella, not far from Split and close to the airport, in a strong wind and yet again enjoyed mooring in a strong cross wind.  We finally tied up with three lazy lines and three of our own on the pontoon and it was confirmed by the marinero helping us that this was indeed the beginning of a Bora and that it would pick up during the night. 

We have heard again from Peters and May, the shipping agents, that the sailing dates have been put back  again to any time between 01 - 15 July. We have, therefore, decided to return to the UK and will leave here on Saturday morning.  The marina will only give us a month's contract for leaving Sequel on land as July and August are high season and they want to maximise their income.  So yet again Sequel will come out of the water on Friday morning.

Thursday 18
We have now experienced the full force of the Bora and, although the Captain is pleased we did, I have never been so scared on Sequel as I was for most of last night (but that may be because I have forgotten some of the other times already). It was horrible.  The wind increased in strength as the afternoon wore on and continued at full force through out the night.  At 3 a.m. the Captain got up to check on the bimini which we were both convinced was going to be blown off the back of the boat. In fact I got to the stage where I was hoping it would just go and I could go to sleep, although was also worried about my washing line going with it and where I was going to hang all the washing today. The noise was particularly alarming, a combination of jangling sailing boats, the endless, ominous, whistling of the wind, the waves in the marina and the bimini being shaken to bits and then the odd crash just to add to the atmosphere.  I am now sitting here at 5.10 p.m. with the sun shining and a light breeze as if nothing had gone on and the bimini is completely intact (and the washing is dry).

Apart from recovering from the most horrible night we have ever spent on the boat, we have as usual been washing salt water and dirty rain from the boat and cleaning up. Time to pack now but we will be back in the next month to see Sequel safely loaded on to a ship. And then we will collect her when she arrives in Rotterdam to take her back to Maasbracht where she was built.

Absolutely cannot resist adding this photograph which greets me every time I open my notebook to write my blog and one of my favourite photos of both the Captain and the First Mate and the only person to ever say 'Aye Aye Captain'.