Last Post, Tuesday September 30, flying between Paris and Seattle We have had a convoluted trip home. We left Dubrovnik in a taxi together for the airport. No easy way home and we all had different routes. Ron and I flew to Gatwick on British Airways, took a coach (bus) to Heathrow and took another flight (British Air) to Paris. Ron and I spent a short night in a funny little hotel at the airport, Ibis. Small and inexpensive-the bath may have been smaller than the boat. This morning we boarded Air France for Seattle. We had free frequent flyer business class tickets so I am not complaining about the 10+ hours in air. Heathrow security is very strict and I was lazy when I packed my carry on and it was gone through very throughly and hand cream and shampoo thrown out. Very little in each of the containers but they don’t allow more than three ounce containers, even almost empty ones.
Dubrovnik deserves a visit from every traveler. Croatia, like Poland, is another very Catholic Country. The Catholic churches are very vital, full of worshipers of all ages. The Cathedral seems to serve as a community center in addition to a lively church. The steps in front were the stage for musical entertainment almost every night. The outdoor café’s were perfect seating for watching the entertainment as well as the people. In the evening the cruise ship day trippers were gone and it felt like we were locals.
In addition to the Catholic churches we visited a large Serbian Orthodox Church and marveled at the icons. Since the war in the early 1990’s most of the Serbs left and have not returned. Our hotel was on the Jewish Street. We happened to go to synagogue on Yom Kipper and were not charged admission. It also included a small and very moving museum with 13th century torahs and artifacts from the holocaust and explained some of the persecution that they endured since the 1500’s. It is the second oldest Jewish Synagogue in Europe and very beautiful. It was an orthodox synagogue and I went up in the balcony where the women sat for the services. I got into an interesting conversation with some Jewish women from South Africa and Australia and learned among other things that the children are free to sit down stairs or upstairs until the girls reach the age of 12. The idea is that the men may become distracted by the women while they are worshiping. They told me some very moving stories of family member’s experiences during the holocaust.
Between earthquakes, the recent Civil War and earlier attacks Dubrovnik has been a city under siege but it seems they somehow find the energy to rebuild and go on. The Croatians have been friendly and outgoing and eager to talk about their Country. Other than their incessant smoking and breakfast Pivo (beer) not much different than Americans. I will say they look pretty fit, and we didn’t see any gyms. Climbing stairs and walking seem to do the trick.
European Trip Map
Planes & Trains & Boat Routes
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Arriving in Dubrovnik-Late Post
We left the sleepy little harbor of Okukje on the island of Mljet a couple of days ago. The town, with a population of 40, has about 4 restaurants, all with their own docks. . About six yachts were moored at the dock of our restaurant (no charge, some docking fees at other locations were over a hundred dollars a night for a big boat like ours) but this dock had no water or electricity. We had plenty of water and the boat had a generator so we needed neither. We shopped at their little store and ate dinner at the restaurant. Food was great and we ended up partying with a fun group from Wales. We shared a big fish and it was great.
We motored on to Dubrovnik-still no wind. We toured the harbor of Dubrovnik which was small and crowded. We then proceeded to the Mooring’s harbor where we turned in the boat after spending our last night on the Rubis. Ironically it rained some in the night and the wind came up! We had learned from other people that the week before we picked up the boat had been windy but we had glassy seas and little wind. We really enjoyed our time on the boat despite having to motor. It was a big comfortable boat that took us places we would never had gone any other way.
The mooring was about 15 minutes from the old city. We look a taxi to the old town and walked down to our pension. No cars in the old town which kind of reminds us of Venice except that instead of canals there are narrow, steep, cobbled, stair step lanes. What a lovely city! Quite small, hilly, walled and lots of old lovely buildings. Lots of damage from the bombing in 1992-95. They have repaired all the roofs and the outer walls but many homes are still gutted on the inside.
The only drawback to Dubrovnik is the up to7 or so large Cruise ships that dock here and unload as many as 30,000 day trippers every day! They flood the sights, restaurants and streets. Some wear wrist bands and look like they just escaped from the hospital!
We sat in the main street, called the Stradun, and drank coffee and watched the people. We saw two weddings and watched the wedding parties and guests parade through the streets-very fun. We are a seafood lunch and Patti and I had the mussel’s marinere
The hotel where we are staying has a small lobby with three rooms stacked above. It is a restored 600 year old house. Winding stairway to the fourth floor where our very cute room and bath are. The downside is that it is 78 steps from the square to our quarters.
We have been touring the old town all day. The curtain wall around it is still intact, and runs over a mile. Many, many more steps involved, but great views of the city and the surrounding countryside. The town itself is paved in stones polished by thousands of years of people walking on them. It is very clean and a great place to sit around and watch the people go by.
We are having problems uploading pictures but will keep trying.
Ron, Bev and the Crew.
We motored on to Dubrovnik-still no wind. We toured the harbor of Dubrovnik which was small and crowded. We then proceeded to the Mooring’s harbor where we turned in the boat after spending our last night on the Rubis. Ironically it rained some in the night and the wind came up! We had learned from other people that the week before we picked up the boat had been windy but we had glassy seas and little wind. We really enjoyed our time on the boat despite having to motor. It was a big comfortable boat that took us places we would never had gone any other way.
The mooring was about 15 minutes from the old city. We look a taxi to the old town and walked down to our pension. No cars in the old town which kind of reminds us of Venice except that instead of canals there are narrow, steep, cobbled, stair step lanes. What a lovely city! Quite small, hilly, walled and lots of old lovely buildings. Lots of damage from the bombing in 1992-95. They have repaired all the roofs and the outer walls but many homes are still gutted on the inside.
The only drawback to Dubrovnik is the up to7 or so large Cruise ships that dock here and unload as many as 30,000 day trippers every day! They flood the sights, restaurants and streets. Some wear wrist bands and look like they just escaped from the hospital!
We sat in the main street, called the Stradun, and drank coffee and watched the people. We saw two weddings and watched the wedding parties and guests parade through the streets-very fun. We are a seafood lunch and Patti and I had the mussel’s marinere
The hotel where we are staying has a small lobby with three rooms stacked above. It is a restored 600 year old house. Winding stairway to the fourth floor where our very cute room and bath are. The downside is that it is 78 steps from the square to our quarters.
We have been touring the old town all day. The curtain wall around it is still intact, and runs over a mile. Many, many more steps involved, but great views of the city and the surrounding countryside. The town itself is paved in stones polished by thousands of years of people walking on them. It is very clean and a great place to sit around and watch the people go by.
We are having problems uploading pictures but will keep trying.
Ron, Bev and the Crew.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Dubrovnik
We left the sleepy little harbor of Okukje on the island of Mljet a couple of days ago. The town, with a population of 40, has about 4 restaurants, all with their own docks. . About six yachts were moored at the dock of our restaurant (no charge, some docking fees at other locations were over a hundred dollars a night for a big boat like ours) but this dock had no water or electricity. We had plenty of water and the boat had a generator so we needed neither. We shopped at their little store and ate dinner at the restaurant. Food was great and we ended up partying with a fun group from Wales. We shared a big fish and it was great.
We motored on to Dubrovnik-still no wind. We toured the harbor of Dubrovnik which was small and crowded. We then proceeded to the Mooring’s harbor where we turned in the boat after spending our last night on the Rubis. Ironically it rained some in the night and the wind came up! We had learned from other people that the week before we picked up the boat had been windy but we had glassy seas and little wind. We really enjoyed our time on the boat despite having to motor. It was a big comfortable boat that took us places we would never had gone any other way.
The mooring was about 15 minutes from the old city. We look a taxi to the old town and walked down to our pension. No cars in the old town which kind of reminds us of Venice except that instead of canals there are narrow, steep, cobbled, stair step lanes. What a lovely city! Quite small, hilly, walled and lots of old lovely buildings. Lots of damage from the bombing in 1992-95. They have repaired all the roofs and the outer walls but many homes are still gutted on the inside.
The only drawback to Dubrovnik is the up to 7 or so large Cruise ships that dock here and unload as many as 30,000 day trippers every day! They flood the sights, restaurants and streets. Some wear wrist bands and look like they just escaped from the hospital!
We sat in the main street, called the Stradun, and drank coffee and watched the people. We saw two weddings and watched the wedding parties and guests parade through the streets-very fun. We are a seafood lunch and Patti and I had the mussel’s marinere
The hotel where we are staying has a small lobby with three rooms stacked above. It is a restored 600 year old house. Winding stairway to the fourth floor where our very cute room and bath are. The downside is that it is 78 steps from the square to our quarters, and then about 42 more to the top room..
We have been touring the old town all day. The curtain wall around it is still intact, and runs over a mile. Many, many more steps involved, but great views of the city and the surrounding countryside. The town itself is paved in stones polished by thousands of years of people walking on them. It is very clean and a great place to sit around and watch the people go by.
We are having problems uploading pictures but will keep trying.
Ron, Bev and the Crew.
We motored on to Dubrovnik-still no wind. We toured the harbor of Dubrovnik which was small and crowded. We then proceeded to the Mooring’s harbor where we turned in the boat after spending our last night on the Rubis. Ironically it rained some in the night and the wind came up! We had learned from other people that the week before we picked up the boat had been windy but we had glassy seas and little wind. We really enjoyed our time on the boat despite having to motor. It was a big comfortable boat that took us places we would never had gone any other way.
The mooring was about 15 minutes from the old city. We look a taxi to the old town and walked down to our pension. No cars in the old town which kind of reminds us of Venice except that instead of canals there are narrow, steep, cobbled, stair step lanes. What a lovely city! Quite small, hilly, walled and lots of old lovely buildings. Lots of damage from the bombing in 1992-95. They have repaired all the roofs and the outer walls but many homes are still gutted on the inside.
The only drawback to Dubrovnik is the up to 7 or so large Cruise ships that dock here and unload as many as 30,000 day trippers every day! They flood the sights, restaurants and streets. Some wear wrist bands and look like they just escaped from the hospital!
We sat in the main street, called the Stradun, and drank coffee and watched the people. We saw two weddings and watched the wedding parties and guests parade through the streets-very fun. We are a seafood lunch and Patti and I had the mussel’s marinere
The hotel where we are staying has a small lobby with three rooms stacked above. It is a restored 600 year old house. Winding stairway to the fourth floor where our very cute room and bath are. The downside is that it is 78 steps from the square to our quarters, and then about 42 more to the top room..
We have been touring the old town all day. The curtain wall around it is still intact, and runs over a mile. Many, many more steps involved, but great views of the city and the surrounding countryside. The town itself is paved in stones polished by thousands of years of people walking on them. It is very clean and a great place to sit around and watch the people go by.
We are having problems uploading pictures but will keep trying.
Ron, Bev and the Crew.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Diane's Version of the mooring at Hvar
This is the real story of the docking in Hvar, apparently our captain posted a rather sanitized version of the story yesterday, and I will attempt to paint the true picture of the event. (We are not sure if this has already been posted, we had some problems, so ignore this entire thing if you already read my first attempt)
So, let me begin. When sailing into a town, the captain looks first to tie up to shore, which is tricky enough, but when we got to Hvar, the new hot spot, all the slots were full. So next, he searched for a buoy to tie up to. We spotted one in between 2 other smaller boats that were already tied up. Ron backed the boat between the other boats, while RT and Kenny played snag the buoy with the pole, this is much harder than it sounds, the captain has to keep the boat from drifting (think crashing) into the other two boats, while his crew flails about attempting the grab the buoy with the pole and then tying it off with the rope (called line on a boat). As sailors are inclined to do, I believe there were some choice words being used as they tried and tried to catch the elusive buoy.
Once that was accomplished and the front of the boat was secured, the next step is to tie the back of the boat to shore. This is when things really got interesting. Ken and Ron lowered the dingy and set off for shore with the line, only to discover that 1) the dingy did not have a plug and shortly they would be rather damp and 2) the rope was hopelessly tangled, apparently not properly stored by the last folks who used the boat. Fortunately, RT had seen some extra plugs, so he got one of those quickly and they shoved that in the hole. As RT was at the helm of the boat, trying to keep it from crashing into our neighbors as it swayed back and forth, Ron and Ken were in the now no longer sinking dingy trying to untangle the rope – that took about 20 minutes. I was in the cabin trying not to have a nervous breakdown, Bev and Patti were much more help on deck watching the other boats and trying to help RT keep ours from, as Ron puts it, “gently knocking into the boat next to us”, I call it a boat crash. You have to visualize our vessel, it is just short of the QEII in size, and is a little hard to maneuver. Again, I am sure our captain would disagree. So, after what seemed like an eternity, the guys got the rope untangled, tied it to shore, and were back on board. I had vodka.
Bev is sure the story will be retold over the years, anything they say I will verify, there is not enough exaggeration in the world to really do this event justice. As evidence of that, our always calm, unruffled captain, went below and took a shower. I need to be sure that you realize he was the picture of control and competence this time too, even in the trickiest situations, he never loses his cool, he has me for that.
Diane
Every crew needs an “in house philosopher” and we have Kenny. In addition to being an able crew ape and gourmet cook, he comes up with the best advice for living the good life. One of them is “what will happen will happen whether you worry about it or not.” and “suffering is wanting things to be different then they are.” He reminds us that Mark Twain said, “I have had many problems in my life and some of them actually happened.” All this philosophy comes in handy when the ice cream stand is already closed after dinner or the wine at dinner a disappointment all the dock places filled or the OJ we purchase tastes like orange soda.
Diane
So, let me begin. When sailing into a town, the captain looks first to tie up to shore, which is tricky enough, but when we got to Hvar, the new hot spot, all the slots were full. So next, he searched for a buoy to tie up to. We spotted one in between 2 other smaller boats that were already tied up. Ron backed the boat between the other boats, while RT and Kenny played snag the buoy with the pole, this is much harder than it sounds, the captain has to keep the boat from drifting (think crashing) into the other two boats, while his crew flails about attempting the grab the buoy with the pole and then tying it off with the rope (called line on a boat). As sailors are inclined to do, I believe there were some choice words being used as they tried and tried to catch the elusive buoy.
Once that was accomplished and the front of the boat was secured, the next step is to tie the back of the boat to shore. This is when things really got interesting. Ken and Ron lowered the dingy and set off for shore with the line, only to discover that 1) the dingy did not have a plug and shortly they would be rather damp and 2) the rope was hopelessly tangled, apparently not properly stored by the last folks who used the boat. Fortunately, RT had seen some extra plugs, so he got one of those quickly and they shoved that in the hole. As RT was at the helm of the boat, trying to keep it from crashing into our neighbors as it swayed back and forth, Ron and Ken were in the now no longer sinking dingy trying to untangle the rope – that took about 20 minutes. I was in the cabin trying not to have a nervous breakdown, Bev and Patti were much more help on deck watching the other boats and trying to help RT keep ours from, as Ron puts it, “gently knocking into the boat next to us”, I call it a boat crash. You have to visualize our vessel, it is just short of the QEII in size, and is a little hard to maneuver. Again, I am sure our captain would disagree. So, after what seemed like an eternity, the guys got the rope untangled, tied it to shore, and were back on board. I had vodka.
Bev is sure the story will be retold over the years, anything they say I will verify, there is not enough exaggeration in the world to really do this event justice. As evidence of that, our always calm, unruffled captain, went below and took a shower. I need to be sure that you realize he was the picture of control and competence this time too, even in the trickiest situations, he never loses his cool, he has me for that.
Diane
Every crew needs an “in house philosopher” and we have Kenny. In addition to being an able crew ape and gourmet cook, he comes up with the best advice for living the good life. One of them is “what will happen will happen whether you worry about it or not.” and “suffering is wanting things to be different then they are.” He reminds us that Mark Twain said, “I have had many problems in my life and some of them actually happened.” All this philosophy comes in handy when the ice cream stand is already closed after dinner or the wine at dinner a disappointment all the dock places filled or the OJ we purchase tastes like orange soda.
Diane
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sailing in Croatia
On Monday we sailed from the island of Vis to a nearby small island where there is a sea cave named, for the color of the light, the Blue Cave. When we arrived it was pretty jammed up, and Diane commented that she was not that fond of caves, much less sea caves. As everyone agreed we set sail for the island of Hvar and the port of Hvar town. The sailing was great. The big catamaran really covers the water. On arrival the port was packed and we were lucky to pick up a mooring. The lay of the mooring required that we tie off the bow to it and take a line ashore. My inadequate preflight was obvious when one of the crew pulled out the long line from its storage locker. It was a rats nest and Ken and I spend 20 minutes sorting it out. No harm done, but I was irritated at myself for not making sure the line was flaked properly beforehand.
The boat is new, commissioned in April of 2009. Moorings calls it a Moorings 4600, but it is really a Leopard 46 built by Robertson and Caine in South Africa. I have sailed an earlier model, the Moorings 4500, in the southern Caribbean so I am familiar with the boat. They have improved it with the addition of two crew cabins, one in each hull forward, a hard top over the aft deck area, and a raised helm station with a hard top. The salon must measure 10 by 10 feet. It is air-conditioned using its own generator. There are four main cabins each with their own electric head and shower. Length overall is 46’4” with a 24’10” beam. It sleeps 12 and we only have 6 aboard, so we have lots of room. Electronics include the usual sail instruments as well as a color GPS chart plotter as well as an autopilot. It is a very comfortable and fun boat to sail.
Ron
The boat is new, commissioned in April of 2009. Moorings calls it a Moorings 4600, but it is really a Leopard 46 built by Robertson and Caine in South Africa. I have sailed an earlier model, the Moorings 4500, in the southern Caribbean so I am familiar with the boat. They have improved it with the addition of two crew cabins, one in each hull forward, a hard top over the aft deck area, and a raised helm station with a hard top. The salon must measure 10 by 10 feet. It is air-conditioned using its own generator. There are four main cabins each with their own electric head and shower. Length overall is 46’4” with a 24’10” beam. It sleeps 12 and we only have 6 aboard, so we have lots of room. Electronics include the usual sail instruments as well as a color GPS chart plotter as well as an autopilot. It is a very comfortable and fun boat to sail.
Ron
Our Captain
Yesterday, Ron shared with you his experiences with the licensing and the Croatian officials. The rest of us thought we should share some observations of our leader. First, as all of you who know Ron, know that he can do just about anything, which comes in very handy when you need someone to captain a boat. Just a few comments on the boat, it is HUGE, Oprah would feel right at home on this thing. I have taken to referring to it as “the big ass boat”; we are making a statement when we sail into port. So, having an experienced, fearless, competent captain helps us all sleep at night. Next, as you all know, Ron is a walking encyclopedia; he knows something about everything, which comes in handy if you are writing a term paper. What you may not know is that he has a laundry fetish. The man loves to do laundry. Now, in his defense, he packs light and is very tidy, so washing frequently is a must. However, when you are on a boat and wash out your clothes, you need a place to dry it. So, as we sail the Dalmatian Coast, we have laundry flapping in the breeze off the sides of the vessel, sort of like the “Klampits visit the Adriatic.” We are thinking a new TV series is in the making.
We had an interesting night last night, the Germans – a couple of boats over – were up partying until the wee hours of the morning, which meant that we did not get much sleep either. Then, this morning, the German right next to us took issue with our use of the generator, and had a few words with Ron Thomas. So we got under way rather quickly. This has not been our experience in the past, folks are usually quite friendly. We are on our way to the island of Hvar, which is becoming quite the hot spot with celebrities, the next “new place”. JayZ and Beyonce were there before we left, so who knows we may spot someone famous. We’ll keep our eyes peeled and let you all know.
Diane
We had an interesting night last night, the Germans – a couple of boats over – were up partying until the wee hours of the morning, which meant that we did not get much sleep either. Then, this morning, the German right next to us took issue with our use of the generator, and had a few words with Ron Thomas. So we got under way rather quickly. This has not been our experience in the past, folks are usually quite friendly. We are on our way to the island of Hvar, which is becoming quite the hot spot with celebrities, the next “new place”. JayZ and Beyonce were there before we left, so who knows we may spot someone famous. We’ll keep our eyes peeled and let you all know.
Diane
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