Southern area Bar to Polace
This voyage would take me back to Croatia. I was scheduled to meet my guests in Cavtat on September 25. Todd and Louise are a sailing couple from Utah with a life-long dream to sail the Croatian islands who had found my website www.croatiaunplugged.com Now I would introduce them to the country that was a second home to me.
Bar / Montenegro, Friday, 9 / 23:
In the morning I ran the necessary errands to clear out of Montenegro. The Harbor-Captain was first; we know each other, the whole affair took but 2 minutes. On to the customs-department. The officer on duty did not feel like working (a quite common attitude of officials on the Balkans) as his shift ended in 30 minutes; fortunately the new guy felt like earning a pay-check. He produced a huge binder, containing documents of all ship-arrivals (commercial and pleasure) since January. The papers were not organized in any order and one can imagine how long it took to find "Nepomuk's" little file. The final visit at the police-station was a matter of minutes, still it was almost noon when I returned to the boat.
Marina Bar
Most Mediterranean countries take formalities not too seriously but this was Montenegro and Croatia with their unique relations. I had cleared out of Montenegro, "Nepomuk" was already flying Q yet there was no way to reach Croatia before sundown. A night-run alone..? Pedra, my slip-neighbor merely stated: "Don't worry, if someone asks tell them you have engine-problems, you should have engine-problems in Bigova, it's nice there."
Leaving Bar at 12:00, wind was NW at 15 kn in compliance with the saying there is either no wind on the Adriatic or it comes from the wrong direction. I did enjoy beating though, the boat was going around 6 kn. After passing Budva I recovered the sails at 18:00 and following Pedra's suggestion motored into Bigova. He had been right, this was my kind of place... and no authorities who could have asked.
Bigova
Total: 34 nm (sail: 28 / motor: 6)
Bigova / Montenegro, Saturday, 9 / 24:
In the morning I took a stroll through town: people were friendly, striking up chats as to who I was, where I was from and where I would go. A small grocery store carried basic foods and beverages, a few restaurants and most importantly: no tourists. It felt like going back to the time before a terrible war had scarred this country and her people. I would have loved to stay longer but had a schedule to keep.
Leaving Bigova at 9:30, wind was still NW at 8 kn, making for slow sailing, shifting to NNW during the day and increasing in strength slightly. Arrival in Cavtat at 19:30. This was my port of entry to Croatia, the customs-pier was easy to spot. The offices of Harbor-Captain, police and customs are located in the same building. The officials were all very friendly and asked me to come back tomorrow as (yes you guessed it) they did not feel like working since it was late. At least in regards to their work-ethics the once bitter enemies seemed to share common ground.
Cavtat is essentially a peninsula and I decided to anchor in the southern bay just off shore from the office-building.
Cavtat
"Nepomuk" was secure at 20:30. The location turned out to be choppy and noisy: charter-planes approaching nearby Cilipi airport seemed to go directly over the masthead all night long. There was also sudden swell into the bay making for an uncomfortable night; not an anchorage to recommend. But I had arrived safely and was well within schedule. Tomorrow I would look for Todd and Louise.
Total: 41 nm (29 sail, 5 motor/sail, 7 motor)
next: Part 2 - Cavtat to Komolac