Nice long sailing days, good wind and lots of sun, so off to our next destination, Zadar!
On the way, we pass this ‘harbor’ which is actually more of a jetty and where a friendly American John is the harbor master.
John’s family is originally Croatian, but his grandfather emigrated to the USA in the early 20th century. Like many Croats on the Dalmatian coast, where there were poor economic conditions at the time when Croatia was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Many Croats moved to the United States in search of economic opportunities and settled in industrial cities such as Pittsburgh, Chicago and New York, where they found work. John also grew up in New York and returned to Croatia at a later age, where he now runs this small harbor with his son.
Another nice stop was this heart shaped island. I have to say, you mainly see that shape when you fly over the island, because when you sail in like that, it is ‘just’ an island. So we saw a lot of young people who I think had an Instagram moment in mind, but that doesn’t really come across when you’re in a bay near the island (unless you have a drone of course!). It was nice and shallow there, which made the water temperature high. So I took this moment to clean the side of the boat with a sponge and boat cleaner. Because especially when you’ve been in a harbor, there can still be some floating sea grass or diesel traces sticking to it. So this photo was taken from above the boat, where I’m looking for support with one hand on a fender and cleaning with the other hand 😉.
Anchored at the next island (Croatia has 1400 islands!) and raised the anchor in the morning (took a nice scoop of sand up with me!), because we were going to have guests on board for a week! My uncle and aunt and their 2 friends flew from Rotterdam to Zadar and in the morning we would pick them up in a bay on the west side of Zadar.
It was a warm reunion! My uncle and aunt sailed with us on the Cote d’Azur last year and they liked it so much that they came back this summer. The city of Zadar is also a great place to spend a day. The old city and the sea organ along the coast that makes sounds when waves wash through, are the highlights. We also tried out one of the restaurants for lunch!
We had some great sailing days together in the area around Zadar, swimming a lot, snorkeling going around the bay on the paddleboard.
As I wrote earlier, the ports in Croatia are expensive, especially in the summer months. And with 6 people on board, you need a lot of sun to keep the energy supply running via the solar panels (think of refrigerators, freezer, cooking, showering, etc.). But with the long sunny days that went well, we could also make enough fresh water every day via the water maker (we have a water tank for 600 liters). So we were not dependent on ports, but self-sufficient and could therefore anchor a lot in the beautiful bays.
It is also a bonus when you can see a firework show like this from the water in the nearby village, after a nice BBQ on board, beautiful!
It was a nice week and I am grateful that we can also share the fun of the catamaran with friends and family! My uncle and aunt and their 2 friends have described their experiences of the sailing holiday here! Finally, we sometimes came across such beautiful islands with crystal clear blue water that we took the drone to get a total view from above, see the result here:
