ZADAR, CROATIA - Here we go, the first leg of this summer’s voyage towards Venice. We’ll spend about a week heading up the coast from Trogir to Zadar through what has become pretty familiar sailing territory to me. Mari, a Swedish San Franciscan, will join for the fourth time, all in even years. Lissa, a Puerto Rican San Franciscan, is a Geja virgin. We’re all good friends from back home.
(Thursday, July 10) Woke up in the hostel to a crazy rainstorm! The weather had been totally stable since my arrival on July 5th, but the forecast did call for some bad
weather ahead. Mari, Lissa, and I checked out of the hostel in the morning to move aboard Geja. Remi, an old buddy from Norway that was passing through the area, joined us for a day of what ended up being mostly just a big grocery run. So horribly inefficient we were today, there was no chance of sailing away. Anyway, the weather forecast was crap.
After a quick relocation this evening from Geja’s no longer available boatyard spot to the anchorage, my anxious crew, Remi still held captive, started pouring drinks. Out of nowhere, a boatload of Austrians floated by in their dinghy and happily agreed to sing along to Anton Aus Tirol. We finally left Remi by dinghy at the bus station so he could resume his travels, after which we went to town for dinner and drinks. The Yacht
Week, a floatilla of hundreds of young party people, was in town, adding some life to the early-season midweek party scene. Lissa proved to be Geja’s top party animal tonight, dancing on the go-go platform donning a blonde wig.
(Friday, July 11) We were all eager to get going, and by noon the anchor was up. We should’ve filled up with diesel, but being the final day full day of the charter boat week, there was a 90-minute wait at the fuel dock. We headed north into some heavier than usual headwinds, bashing uncomfortably against the small but steep chop. It was a most unpleasant first day, and I often reassured first-timer Lissa that, “this isn’t why I sail here.” I was pretty stressed about the fuel situation, constantly questioning whether we should’ve just reefed down
and tacked our way up the coast with the motor off. Not soon enough did we pull into the wonderfully protected bay at Rogoznica, the first fuel possibility north of Trogir.
With the wind still blowing hard from the north, Rogoznica became our home for the night, paying a record 40 euros for a mooring ball. Lissa whipped up a mean risotto dinner, after which she and I passed out for hours in the cockpit before retiring properly to our bunks. Boating life can be exhausting.
(Saturday, July 12) A beautiful calm and clear day! We had perfect sailing conditions for the short hop up to Primosten, where we grabbed a mooring under sail
power alone. It was a brief stop though, as the plan was to reach Vodice tonight. I stayed aboard tackling some lingering boat projects while the girls wandered the pretty town.
We sailed off the mooring in Primosten and proceeded up to the marina in Vodice. I promised a bustling party place, but the season hadn’t quite kicked in yet. Still, we had plenty of fun at Makena and later at Exit, though I was kicked out for disputing a bar tab. I’ve been in Croatia too long to be worked
over by a dishonest bartender. We all reconvened on board by 4am with lightning visible in the distance.
(Sunday, July 13) At some point before sunrise, some crazy storm blew through Vodice and scared the hell out of us with its thunder crackling just overhead. Good thing that it’s such a well-protected marina. Steady rain continued until 1pm, and dark clouds lingered nearby enough that we decided to stay put for a second night, despite the marina’s $85/night rate. We spent the afternoon at the beach bars down the road where I just missed the chance to wax my chest at a beachside beauty salon (it was closing for the day). Tonight we watched the World Cup final at a local restaurant. Another agonizingly boring match.
(Monday, July 14) The weather forecast still wasn’t great, but better weather is on the horizon. What really stands out is how cold it is. Long sleeves and pants were a necessity last night on the town, and both of Geja’s emergency sleeping bags have been unrolled.
Ready to get moving again, with Mari’s persistence, we got going at 9:30am this morning. The weather was iffy, and there were few other boats around. After an hour of uneventful motoring, the sky began to get funky. A dark chunk of cloud started to whirl in a mini-vortex above us, and the wind direction started flopping around. Not wanting to get caught in a zero-visibility thunderstorm so near to shore, we ducked into a nearby bay and chilled out on a mooring buoy for a bit. Uno anyone?
The weather cleared before too long, and we continued up the coast a bit. I’d heard of a small music festival called Electric Elephant that was concluding today in a bay near the town of Tisno. We anchored there to check it out. Wasn’t a whole lot going on as we strolled around the festival grounds. It was mostly Brits, their tolerance of the gray and cool weather much better than mine.
We kept going around the corner to Tisno, a small town with a drawbridge hindering our further progress. We dropped anchor in Tisno’s shallow bay and paddled
ashore. The drawbridge was set to open at 5pm, so we had some time for a stroll and some grocery shopping. We cleared the bridge just after 5pm and motored through the lake-like waters along the eastern edge of the island Murter. By 6pm we were ready to anchor at the remote and impossibly named island of Zminjak. But with clearing skies and enough daylight left, we agreed to just keep on going out to the Kornati Islands. We finally got the anchor to hold in the bay at Ravni Zakan in time to enjoy an amazing sunset. Lightning is visible offshore, so I’m really crossing my fingers for a peaceful night
.
(Tuesday, July 15) The steady but comfortable breeze we had overnight continued into the morning, allowing us to sail out of the bay with no assistance from the motor. Under sunny skies, we had some wonderful sailing, making two tacks before settling into a super beam reach up the Kornati island chain. Ready for a break after two hours, we sailed into a little bay and dropped the hook, tacking several times before dropping anchor with no motor assistance.
After a lunch/swim break in some super-clear water, we motored a bit further and took a berth in the Vrulje, the only place that resembles a village in the mostly uninhabited Kornati Islands. Tying to a floating dock is free provided that you eat at the restaurant of the dock owner. Eager to do some hiking, which is excellent in the tree-less Kornati’s, we scaled a nearby peak and were blown away by the view of the surrounding archipelago. And we were amused by the wildlife, in this case meaning cats and donkeys.
(Wednesday, July 16) We left Vrulje fairly early, meaning before 10am, for a short hop over to my favorite spot in the Kornati’s, the Caribbean-esque Levrnaka. We scored
a perfectly shallow spot to anchor just at the swim line. For lunch I fried up some crepe-like pancakes, my signature dish. We had an awesome chill-out day, swimming and floating in the crystal clear bay.
We want to reach Zadar tomorrow at a decent hour, so staying overnight in Levrnaka isn’t an option. At 4:30pm we left the bay with a decent breeze blowing, and had a boisterous sail up the rest of the Kornati’s. We even kept the motor off as we sailed through the narrow channel separating
the islands from Dugi Otok to the north. We then had a choice between taking a berth in a cute village or spending another night (and subsequent morning) in “the wild.” The girls chose the latter, so we tacked our way into Cuscica, a roomy, quiet bay at the southern end of Dugi Otok. The girls do miss their GSM connectivity here, however.
(Thursday, July 17) Another beautiful morning in paradise, the weather seems to be stabilizing. This is the last day before returning to “civilization,” so Mari and Lissa
wanted to max out the time spent in this pretty little bay. While they swam, sunbathed, and did their bikini model shoots, I tackled a project that I’d begun last month back home. The shelf in the salon that holds the pots, pans, and booze needed some partitions to help keep things more orderly. I precut the wooden pieces on my table saw at home, and finally assembled it all today. This simple project took years of planning - I‘d measured the diameters of my cookware and booze bottles two summers ago. But that’s how it is to own a boat so far away.
It was great to just chill out in one place for the first half of the day. Lissa has adapted well to Geja’s limited galley, and keeps churning out tasty meals, including
today’s lunch, a Greek salad. We finally took off for Zadar at around 3pm, sailing close-hauled all of the way to the little bridge between Ugljan and Pasman. We then beat our way under sail most of the way up the innermost channel to Zadar, taking a slip in Marina Zadar, all the while coordinating with an incoming crewmember, Vilja.
While the girls enjoyed their first proper showers since the weekend, Vilja, a returning crewmate from 2010, arrived. She was thrust straight into pre-party mode,
especially after Mari and Lissa invited aboard several Dutch teenagers from a neighboring boat. The DickPic song was on heavy rotation, the lyrics just as amusing with each play. As I became tired of the young visitors, I blasted the music of their countrymen, the Vengaboys. Disgusted, they left in a hurry, allowing the girls and I to finally head off to dinner at the not-so-unusual hour of 10:30pm. Despite the commotion on board, Mari was checking out alternate flight options, not wanting to leave on her scheduled flight tomorrow morning. Lissa is sticking around until Sunday.
Bruschetta, one of my favorite Croatian restaurants, did not disappoint. Wandering the town for some late night action, though, wasn’t quite up to par. This coming weekend is the first
of the Croatian holiday season, so things haven’t quite amped up yet. Still we gave it our best shot, and I was particularly drunk by night’s end. At a pizza stand along the main road back to the marina, I complemented a local on his 80’s vintage BMW, similar to mine back home. With poor judgment, he handed me his keys, suggesting that I take it for a spin. With even poorer judgment, I did it. I drove 100 meters or so the wrong way up a one-way street, then turned around and returned. No damage was done, but it was pretty high on the stupid scale.
(Friday, July 18) Ooh, what a rough morning for me. When the fun level reaches a certain high, as it did last night with my overlapping crews, I can really lose count of the drinks.
Mari, trying until the bitter end to postpone her flight, left the boat this morning, ending her fourth stint aboard Geja. Lissa, Vilja, and I eventually managed to find some breakfast in town before strolling around in the midday heat. Long forgotten is the cold weather from earlier this week, as it’s baking now. We committed to staying a second night in Zadar – always nice to have a lay-day between legs. This allowed time for me to finally get my chest waxed, with the girls along for moral support (and for their entertainment). The pain was
bearable – hopefully it will look good when the redness and spots fade.
Back in town this evening, we stumbled upon a really charming restaurant in the center of the old town. We took an after-dinner stroll around town, but between the heat and our exhaustion, none of us were up for staying out. The town was definitely abuzz, though.
Mari and Lissa were a delightful crew to get the summer journey going. We ate well, as Lissa adapted her cooking talents well to Geja’s limited galley. It took me some time to get fully into the voyaging spirit – maybe the area is just becoming too familiar after all of these years. But once the sun was shining and we reached the pristine bays of the Kornati Islands, the summer sailing spirit returned in full force.