Pula / Istria

I can't find a bus station, but an express bus offers its services for 5 euros. You can't miss it. Unfortunately, it only goes as far as the central bus station, and I don't want to bother with the travel options to the marina, which is a little further out. It's still early in the morning.

So I stroll through the city centre with my wheeled suitcase. In typical Croatian fashion, the city centre is paved with large stones. Didn't I read that tourists with their clackety-clack trolleys have been banned from Dubrovnik? I try to carry my suitcase as much as possible, as I'm uncomfortable myself.

The amphitheatre looks great, then Eros Ramazotti will be singing there tomorrow evening... Is he still there? Sold out. What a pity, surely an event to enjoy a concert at this sublime venue. Never mind. I want to go sailing.

Two family cruises are on the agenda, which means that sufficient swimming time has to be factored in and shore excursions are not quite as high on the agenda. I get some important tips from skipper Jörg, who has finished his tours in Pula. Above all, he builds a bridge to our friendly counsellor Alex from Kiriacoulis Yachtcharter. It's always good to have a connection to the base. I'm handed a few lines that I can use to relieve the anchor chain, as an anchor claw is not part of the standard equipment. But this gives me a chance to try out the water cleat I'd heard about before my trip. A good knot, I can already say.

The approach to Pula makes us look forward to discovering Istria and its offshore islands. After all, we are flying from the sea directly over the areas we will be travelling through over the next two weeks. That looks very promising. The airport is one of the smallest I have ever seen in Europe; apart from the obligatory Norwegian Air plane, there is no aircraft in the hangar. Since my daughter lives in Norway, this airline has been haunting me.

In the evening, we anchor in a bay behind the island near Medulin. The anchorage holds, but is more "mud" than sand, as we see when we pick it up.

After dinner, music blares over to us. And I learn something I should have known a long time ago: Think carefully about whether you offer to take the 18-year-olds to the shore in the dinghy and pick them up at the end of the excursion, whenever that is. As if you had never been 18.

After I'd dozed off, the call came in the pitch dark. Outboard motor on and off we go. It's not so easy to work your way through the many anchored ships, it's harder to find your way than you think. To make matters worse, the dinghy's engine stalls and can't be persuaded to start up again. No chance of paddling against the wind. So we let it drift back and take our time with the next launch attempts. Arriving at the jetty, the wretched engine switches off again.

It's fantastic to drift through the many mooring buoys, especially as they are barely recognisable. It starts up again after the umpteenth attempt, but then finally fails 100 metres from the finish line. Fortunately, the wind drives us right to our ship. Quintessence: Don't give it too much gas, not every Honda likes that. The ventilation was open and the choke was only pulled to start. No idea what the engine didn't like so much.

We set sail on Sunday morning in perfect weather and make our first diving and swimming stop at a few islands south of the charter base. It's not easy to find a free spot in high season, and the bottom is relatively rocky. This will lead to some unpleasant manoeuvres.

After the tranquil start, we set our sights on another trip the next day. Our destination is the small island of Susak, which has an anchorage in the north-west. Once again, we are not alone here, the northerly wind is not ideal either, but we are moored and can enjoy the beautiful clear water.

The route takes us to the island of Cres in the small town of the same name. The ACI marina there is not cheap, but has excellent sanitary facilities. A short walk to the beautiful old town centre is then almost obligatory.

There are plenty of restaurants in the tourist area of the town, and on another visit we tried Konoba Roza on recommendation. It is a little out of the way and not on the waterfront, but you can also eat well there. Especially in the tourist areas, however, you can say goodbye to the idea that you have found a cheap holiday destination in Croatia. Croatia has really caught up, if not caught up.

Some time after casting off in the morning, we are accompanied by a group of dolphins. A spectacle that mesmerises the crew and me every time. These creatures have fun swimming in front of our bow and do so for a full 5 minutes. What a sight! The only question that remains is which species is swimming in front of us. It's probably the bottlenose dolphin. No wonder we come across them here - after all, the Cres-Losinj Dolphin Reserve is the largest marine reserve in the Adriatic with a total area of 526 km².

We reach our anchorage in the evening. Not ideal, the wind direction has changed and once again the anchor manoeuvre is not easy until it finally takes hold.

Music by Geoff Harvey from Pixabay

But now finally to the blue grotto, the Plava Grota. A fellow skipper had told me that it was so crowded that he was reluctant to take a trip there. But we have to try!
In fact, it will be a lesson in anchoring without fear. The rocky bottom is clearly visible, the anchor holds with little wind load, but our sway radius is too large. There is even a metal rod on the rocky coast that we can use as a mooring line for the shore line. It feels better, but... it's really tight! I had to be persuaded to give up my watch and dive into the grotto myself. It's impressive to swim through the sometimes really cold water and then enter the dark grotto. A lamp is not a bad idea. When you reach the main room, you can see the light shimmering beautifully blue from the outside. It is also possible to dive out, but I won't go into that here.

The evening should take us to Mali Losinj. The marina is full, and the staff on the radio don't exactly make this clear in a friendly manner. Alternatively, we are told to moor at the side of the harbour on a quay intended for large ships. Wait, wait... we are already very close to the mooring we are aiming for, a motorboat simply pulls up and moors there. Strong character, truly. But this only confirms my unshakeable opinion of people travelling on a boat like this. There must be something fundamentally wrong.

Neighbouring marinas also have no space. That leaves only the western part, where you can drop anchor. There isn't much room, our neighbour in the Cres marina sets off again, but has difficulty retrieving the anchor. The bottom is very rocky, so be careful. We tie up near a "no anchoring" sign. An upturned anchor is the sign that you have to be careful here. Contrary to our usual practice, there is no red line to indicate the prohibition. Shortly afterwards, the harbour master collects the money. After the previous treatment, I don't quite understand why you have to pay at this point. But this legitimises our anchorage. The anchor does slip once. A difficult spot for safe anchoring.

Off to Unije. There are supposed to be beautiful anchorages there, as well as buoys for mooring. Indeed, crystal-clear water, the anchor holds well for once, a great swimming stop. In the evening, we head to the Maračol anchorage.

Not cheap fun at 70 euros, but mooring with the help of the marineros is an experience. I have someone explain to me how we should moor and the buoy is quickly reached.

But what we then conjure up for a macramé with the mooring lines, which are miraculously pulled up from the ground, is beyond me. The men give us instructions and somehow we end up with 4 mooring lines on the cleats.

Nothing stands in the way of a cosy get-together after a long swim, apart from the fact that I almost have to politely ask our neighbour to switch off his awful diesel engine. But the noise and stench at dinner time is unacceptable, even though I realise that I need to top up my battery.

In the morning a rubber dinghy comes alongside. Bakery service! Great, just the thing for our breakfast. However, the fun comes at a price... I'm not sure why a few rolls and pastries cost over 40 euros. It tasted good anyway, and it's original fun anyway. The final leg of the journey takes us north again in the Kvarner Bay. Before that, we made an anchor stop in Susak, but I wasn't quite so convinced. Beautiful, yes, but not exceptional. We spent another night in Martinsica. The comments on Navily mainly centred on the boisterous winds that can prevail there.

We don't have much room to anchor, but we find an acceptable spot near the harbour. However, the anchorage is not supposed to hold well at this point. The crew go ashore and I have a feeling about the weather - the wind is expected to pick up overnight.

When the crew moors with the dinghy, the wind picks up just in time. Anchor alarm on and then off to sleep. I can't sleep because the gusts seem to come from different directions. I have to orientate myself again and again and take bearings of the landmarks for some neuralgic points. At half past one it comes as it had to...

We are moving well astern, the anchor has broken free. I start the engine and the crew come on deck to lend a hand. This is what exemplary seamanship looks like. We head to roughly the same spot where we were before. Not an easy task at night and with so many boats moored there. I demand a little courage from our helmsman, as we have to get quite close to another ship to drop anchor there. As expected, it takes a while for the anchor to take hold, as we have drifted a little to the west again.

We have the harbour entrance across, certainly not the best place, but on the other hand, nobody will be entering or leaving this small harbour in the middle of the night. Far from it, two fishing boats arrive at 5 o'clock, but they get past us easily.

We had agreed to set off before sunrise. Over 20 knots of wind, that's something to do. The sails are set, a little stern wind and then... unbelievably, we are clear of the anchorage and the wind dies down abruptly and can only be described as a gentle breeze. We had imagined it to be very different. And caused us, at least me, a sleepless night.

Istria lies ahead of us in the early afternoon. The wind is back, we can sail beautifully and head north. The ugly cement factory can be seen from afar. An outrage against nature, unfortunately there is no other way to put it. Naturally, the sailors stay away from this place, as there are plenty of beautiful places and bays. I see on Navily that there is a beautiful anchorage bay right next to it. Is that compatible with the factory and the lorries you see driving around there?

And how! I'd classify the bay of Brovinje as an insider tip.

Before we end our journey in the direction of the marina in Pula, we spend the night in my favourite bay. As usual, Uvala Karvan is empty, but it's such a beautiful place. Once again I long for a visit to Frankys Bar, a small kiosk-like building with a view of Kvarner Bay. Next time, I'm determined to launch the dinghy and land it on the rocky coast.

The anchor is once again more on the ground than it has dug in, but the wind is once again holding back. You have to be able to let go sometimes... And indeed, it was a quiet and restful night.

On the last day at sea, we go to the petrol station in Medulin. Unfortunately we arrive a little too late, we have a few yachts in front of us. On the other hand, it is a spectacle to watch the sometimes hair-raising manoeuvres (if they take place far enough away from us). Of course, a ship has to be moving in order to be steered. But if everyone is standing on the spot and rocking gently without losing their position, why do some have to rock back and forth at 3 knots? The same applies here... just take it easy. In my opinion, however, we were a bit too relaxed on the longer entry through the Medulinski Zaljev. It gets quite shallow there, and with a draught of over 2 metres you shouldn't venture too close to the shore. Everything went well again.

One last detour to the dinosaur island of Fenoliga. Palaeontological finds of footprints and even dinosaur bones make this place mystical. We drop anchor one last time and find ourselves in a narrow spot for boat traffic. It's more than busy on a Friday afternoon, the charter ships are all on their way to home base, and on the other side a shallow buoy warns us to pay attention. I prefer to stay on board, as nothing really has to go wrong just before the end of the journey. However, I would be curious to see whether the footprints can still be admired there or whether the stone will be removed and exhibited in a museum. That will remain a mystery to me for the time being.

The boat was moored a little close to the mooring lines of the other boats, but it was still possible without threading. And although the restaurant in the marina is quite good, you can walk to the Restoran Škuža. Sunset included, but next time we'll book earlier so that we can sit closer to the water. We would call it home-style cooking, but with great Croatian dishes.

A great end to a great trip. See you again, Pula!