Malua
An Adams cruising yacht
We left the Marina at Vieste and anchored under the cliff of
the
town on the southern side. It was quite shallow and had good
holding. That evening it was calm with no swell, such a
change
from the day of our arrival when the wind was comming through quite
strongly. After a great meal and good nights sleep we were
pulled
up anchor at 0600 and set sail for the nearest Croatian island about 60
nm away. There was not much wind so we had to motor sail most
of
the way to the island of Lastova. The town of Ubli is
situated in
a small bay with just enough room for the ferry which was docked in
from of the harbour master office. 
We
tied up at the customs and immigration dock. The port police
officer a lady who spoke very good english wanted to know where I was
from and if the global finanacial crisis had hurt Australia.
She
was very interested in OZ and its wide diversification of people. She
observed that May and June the number of vessels checking in at her
area of responsibility had dropped by more than 50% as compared to last
year.
I walked round the bay to the Harbourmaster office. A drap
office
but with a network connected computer. He filled in the
detail of
my cruising permit on line using drop down menu options... the most
sophisticated I have yet seen. The speed at which he took the
1765 Kuna or 252 Euro or $450 Oz was swift. He accepted cash
but
not credit card although there was a ATM right outside his
office. I then received the normal cruising permit for One
year. I'll use it again next year 2010.
We did not stay but motored south east to a lovely bay called
Skrivena. The same name as the Canberra water storage 
dam.
We dropped anchor and started to open a bottle of wine for the normal
sundowner when the ugly head of money grabbing Croatia
appeared.
We had been warned that at every anchorage a boat will appear and
attempt to take money from the "rich yatties". On our first
occasion I deceided that there people were in fact legitimate because
they were park officials along with information, uniform and a well
fitted out RIB. The fee K20/person/night Not a lot but the
start
of what is the norm of Croatia. The next day we took the
bikes to
the shore and set off up the winding road to the main town of
Lastova. We had been informed it was only 5 km
away. Well
after about 4km up the road we reached the top of the hill but the town
was no where to be seen. We headed down the road at break
neck
speed only to reach the botten of the valley with a further hill to
climb to reach the town pearched on top of a cliff overlooking the
northern side of the island. It is a one road town with a
pub,
tourest information centre and supermarket. 
We
stocked on bread and set off down the valley and up the other side
before reaching the summit and the long free wheel down to the bay in
which Malua was anchored. We were pleased for the exercise
but
not the heat and the long push to get us to the top of each
mountain. Lesson learnt was to check how far a local 5kn easy
bike ride actually is!
After lunch we set off in a NW direction for the Island of
Korcula. Suppost to be the greenest island in
Croatia. The
wind was from behind so we had a good sail towards the eastern end od
the island, rounded the cape with a distinctive light house.
We
deceided not to go to Kortula town or the recommended bay to the south
east but to drop the anchor in Lumbardo bay, just north of a
marina. The following day we sailed NE to ??? bay with its
Monestery on to the town of Korcula with its fort and walls.
It
is said that Marco Polo was born here but the Venitians dispute
this. The marina looked crowded and not the place to stay so
we
moved east to the bay called Banja. The holding was not good
at
all and after many attempts to get a good hold I deceided to try the
fishemans or admaralty anchor. It took first time. Luckely
there
was no wind so it was not tested when the boat swung. We
lowered
the RIb with the bikes and went ashore to ride into the walled town of
Korcula. Small with narrow streets. The supermarket
was
good so we stocked up on a few essentials before we set off northwards
the following day.
We were heading to the island of Vis to see the Blue Grotto of Croatian
fame. One has to arrive in the morning between 9:00 and 11:00
to
get the best effect and see it was some distance off we anchored for
the night on the southern side at a place called Rukavac.
Again
not good holding and a few boats around but in the end we got the
anchor to hold. Off the next morning in flat calm to the
island
Bisevo. You dont need to know where the Blue Grotto is
because
the number of vessels heading in that direction will tell
you.
There is a bay and you have to drop the hook in at least 25 m of
water. Luckely there was no wind and a number of people on
there
yachts to keep an eye on yours. Into the RIB and rowing to
the
entrance to the cave. Again the Croatians had their hand out
for
money. This time 30k per person. You pull your RIB
through
the low entrance and then you are inside a large cave with this
wonderful blue light filtering up from the water. When we
entered
there were only two other inflatables but we were disturbed by three
local tourest boat that barged their way into the best place in the
cave. Luckely we had taken our photos and soon left the cave.
We sailed to the main town of Vis called Komiza and anchored out hoping
we were far enough out not to be charged to anchor but no a yound lad
with a shirt and a local badge came along side and charged us 70k for
the night. We went ashore and walked up the hill to the 13th
century Benedictine monastery of St.
Nicholas, so-called Muster. It has been built on through the ages but
the latest Baroque style was added in 1652. Work was underway
pumping concrete into the foundations to stop it falling
apart.
The marina/harbour was filling up as we returned to Malua. We
were pleased to be anchored out from the inevitable chaos of the
charter boats going astern onto the dock.
As the sun set two small fishing boats started to put out a
fishing
net. One at each end in an attempt to catch a shoal of
fish. After encirceling the fish they hauled the net in by
hand,
a very difficult task. When the final purse was along side
they
pulled it abourd with about five buckets of small fish. What
an
effort for such a small catch. Nothing was thrown back
because it
was too small. No wonder the Med has been fished out.
We set off to try and get as far north in one hop. We called
into
see the sunmarine shelters built into the mountains. There
are a
number of island scattered around this area however few have good
anchorages especially if the wind is coming from the south as it was
for us. Great sailing but no anchorages. We passed
through
the chanel between Klement and Maninkovac and did a turn of the Havar
bay. Very crowded and not a place to stop. The wind
was
still in our favour so we set off to find a bay on the southern side of
Brac. As we came closser it became obvious that the wind was
in
the wrong direction so we turned to the east and passed through the ???
channel and into the bay with Milne at its head. We had
sailed
60nm that day and just needed a place to anchor which we found in a
lovely isolated bay.
Here are some photos Croatia