Lunch Date at the Uncanin Residence

With Dubrovnick done, it was time to head to Korkula to see Rade and Marinka and their new addition (baby, not house). We had a great time with Rade 3 years ago and unfortunately this time he was up to his ears with work, house and new baby so he couldn’t come sailing with us this time.

We stopped off in Mljet National Park on the way to Korkula, a nice anchorage off a small village.

Next morning, we set off early to Zavalatica, Rade’s Village on Korcula, as we needed to get there by lunchtime.

Talk about good timing, it was a National Holiday in Croatia and Rade had the day off. Perfect planning – of course.

Once again the wind was on our nose so we motored over in light winds. We pulled up at the dock in…. and went for a quick swim off the back of the boat in beautiful clear water.

Lunch was brilliant. Marinko (Marinka’s Dad) had been slow cooking the meat all morning and it was particularly delicious. Especially when washed down with Rade’s Posip wine, 12 litres of which found its way onto La Mischief , along with some Olive Oil. Thanks Rade.

After lunch, Marinko drove us to Korkula Town, where we had a walk around the city walls, stopping for a drink overlooking the Adriatic Sea.

We finished off a brilliant day with a few (more) drinks on La Mischief.

Next day, we were off to Hvar.

Croatian Hospitality A+

We arrived in Zavalatica to be greeted by Rade, a cousin of a good friend of ours, who helped tie us up to the wall, which we had all to ourselves. After some quick introductions and a beer or two, Rade whipped us home to meet his lovely wife, Marinka, and his Father in law, Marinko.

We were then treated to his wine (quite good) and his grappa (strong – not so nice!!!!), along with some of his olives (which were yummy evidently). Then it was off to see a big of Korcula by car. We headed over to Vela Luka, a largish harbour town, which looked well worth a visit. Along the way we drove through Rade’s vineyard and along a pleasant inland highway. After buying some fuel and stopping off for some cocktails at a nice bar we headed back to a wonderful feast that Marinka and Rade had prepared for us. What wonderful hospitality.

Over a few more glasses of Rade’s wine, we hatched up a plan to sail down to Dubrovnik to pick up Mark and Leanne, and then back to Rade’s to watch the AFL Grand Final at 6.30am in the morning. Then we would sail back to Dubrovnik to drop everyone off at the airport. Simple really. Rade fitted neatly into this plan as he could delay starting work and come along with us for the week.

So next morning at 6.30am, Marinka dropped Rade off along with enough wine to nearly sink the good ship La Mischief, and off we went. Rade was having a great time sitting up at the helm station taking in the wind and the sea as we bashed our way into 25kts.

It settled down as we entered the straight between Mjet and Peljesec and by the time we got to Dubrovnik, the seas were really calm and we anchored right in front of the main town – prime spot.

Safely anchored, we took the dingy into the old port and found Mark and Leanne waiting for us. With them safely aboard we had a full boat of 7 – but La Mischief has heaps of space so it worked really well.

Rade had a cousin who worked at the Excelsior , a rather posh hotel on the cliff face, so after grabbing pizzas in the old town we walked up there to sample his cocktails (which were rather excellent), whilst sitting on a balcony overlooking La Mischief in front of Dubrovnik all lit up at night. The hotel had a wall with pictures of all the rich and famous that had stayed there – no usual – Richard Burton and Liz Taylor etc. – funnily enough nobody asked us for our photos.

Next day, we spent a lovely morning, showing Brad, Bec and Cas around the old city, whilst Rade (who’d seen it all before) had a great time lazing about on La Mischief. We did the wall walk and Brad got a little infatuated with the waitress at the bar on top of the wall. Definitely a tick.

We finished the morning at a great restaurant overlooking the bay. Rade came and picked us up in the dingy after we got back and we spent the afternoon swimming and paddle-boarding.

Next day it was time to meander slowly back, visiting some of the highlights between Dubrovnik and Korkula. First stop was Otuk Lupid island, where we found a beautiful white sandy beach at Uvala Sunj. It was perfect, great beach, with a couple of bars behind, all a comfortable swimming distance from where we dropped the anchor. A perfect lunchtime stopover.

From here it was a short sail to Sipanska Sipan on Otuk Sipan, where we were planning to continue our Tour De Fork. We anchored off the restaurant where we were planning to eat and went off exploring the town. We were particularly interested in all these renovated buildings, quite big buildings. completely wrapped in plastic.

Then it was off to continue our Tour De Fork. Hopefully someone will help us out with the restaurant name as neither Google nor I can come up with its name. Anyway, whatever it was called it was damn good. We each ordered a main course, either fish or veal and then they proceeded to bring us out a hundred and one entrees, all brilliant. Couldn’t argue with any of them. When we finally got to the mains, we did have an argument about which was better – I think the veal won. Then it was onto desert and coffees. Somehow we didn’t sink the dingy on the way back to La Mischief.

Next morning it was up early and off to Mljet. Rade got a good laugh around our pronunciation of Mljet, but came round to our way of thinking in the end. Bit of an in joke with Howie.

The wind had started to pick up from the south so we had a lively sail up to the top of Mljet where it was lovely and protected. The top end of Mljet is a national park and is a wonderful wilderness. We found a beautiful anchorage in a bay near Pomena at the northern end of the island. It offered the perfect shelter with beautiful clear water around its edges. We anchored in the middle and backed into the shallow water tying up to a tree on the shore at the back.

It didn’t take long before Brad was jumping off the roof into the water, enticing Bec, Mark and Leanne to follow suit. Leanne was careful make sure she cleared the lifelines on the side of La Mischief, which made for an interesting face plant on her first attempt. The bay was dead calm so out came the paddle board and canoe and everyone had a great time whiling away the afternoon.

Next morning, after a swim, we were off back to Rade’s so we repay Rade and Marinka for their hospitality with an Australian BBQ on the back on La Mischief on the wall in Zavalatica. We arrived just after lunch, delivering Rade safely home. The girls took off with Marinka to do the food shopping, whilst the boys remarked the anchor chain and then had a bonding session over a beer or two, waiting for the girls to return.

We had a great night on La Mischief, with Marinko, Marinka’s dad coming along together with some other friends of Marinka and Rade.

Then it was off to bed to get some sleep before getting up early to watch the AFL Grand Final at Rade’s the next morning at 6.30am. (Yes….that is how far I’m behind in my Blogging – need to put in a big effort to catch up).

For pictures of Dubrovnik (Take 2) see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200362833666353&type=1&l=904eb9555e

For pictures of our trip back to Korcula see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200377239026478.1073741880.1620379103&type=1&l=1a1c5c6cd0

Marco Polo waz Here

After a wonderful sunny day at the Blue Lagoon, we awoke to overcast and windy conditions for our sail across to Korcula, 55nm away. We cut across the western ends of Brac and then Hvar and sailed toward the strait that separated Korcula from the mainland.

Korcula is the most populated of the Dalmatian Islands and one of the largest. It’s also home to some pretty good white wine. We headed for Korcula town, which the lonely planet guide describes as a stunner.Its another walled city, a mini Dubrovnik overlooking the channel that runs between Korcula and the mainland, complete with narrow marble streets and a row of restaurants and bars high up on the wall overlooking the sea.

Our plan was to anchor in Uvala Luka, half a mile from Korcula Town but it looked a bit yukky, especially when a big power boat pulled up an old fishing net on its anchor, so we headed around the corner and anchored at a very pleasant spot just in front of the old monastery at Otok Badija, another Ooroo recommendation.

Safely anchored, we thought about dinner and discovered one of the restaurants mentioned in a Sailing in Croatia tourist book we had picked up was a 15 minute dingy ride around the corner at a small village called Lumbarda. We made a reservation and set off to find Zure, no 64 on the Tour de Fork 2013 hit parade. After a bit of a walk, we found it tucked away up a small road well away from the touristy spots on the waterfront.

The food was exception, all home grown. We discovered salted fish – didn’t sound particularly nice, but the waiter insisted and he put us on a winner. The octopus dish was great as was the fish, caught fresh that day. And the turkish coffee at the end of the night was awesome – and I don’t drink black coffee.

Next day, we headed off to explore Korcula town. We had a great day wandering the streets, looking in shops, and visiting the Marco Polo museum, where we brushed up on one of history’s great explorers, who was supposedly born in Korcula according to the myriad of Marco Polo shops that were scattered around. Interestingly Marco brought back spaghetti to Italy from China amongst other things. At the end of the day we headed for the Massimo Bar to open so we could climb the ladder to the top of the turret where it was located and enjoy a couple of cocktails, which were delivered from below via a pulley system. Cool.

Next day, we thought we should go for a walk around the Island where the monastery stood. It took an hour or so to do the walking track that went around the coast. Then we had a footy game to listen to on the internet, as Freo flogged the Swans (yes…I know I’m miles behind in the blog – too busy having fun to write about it!)

My good friend Zeljko’s cousin, Rade lives on Korcula in a small village called Zavalatica and we had arranged to call in and see him on the Sunday. We pulled up anchor and headed around the island to Zavalatica, which is on the south side of Korcula. But the wind gods conspired against us and with 40kts on the nose we decided to turn back and wait a few hours. It was a good strategy as this gave the wind time to drop off a bit and once we made it around to the south side we had a very pleasant sail to Rade’s village.

We got there about 5pm to find Rade on the town wall ready to help us tie up.

For pictures of Korcula see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200362836306419&type=1&l=3c81e296a5

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