Rogoznica – Saturday 9 June 2018

After I posted my blog last night the weather deteriorated badly.  The lightning was so frequent the sky was almost as light as daylight at times. The thunder was constant and sometimes seemed to be just above us.  By the time we got to bed it was raining quite hard.  We didn’t know what we would do today and thought we would play it by ear as the day progressed.

The rain got worse.  At about 1am I was awakened by a huge clap of thunder that shook the boat.  By 6am the rain was torrential and showed no signs of stopping.  So we just went back to bed and waited to see what would happen.  Eventually at about 10am the sky started to clear and it was dry. There seemed to be a bit of wind, so we decided to be brave and go.  This was a lovely stop, but we really didn’t need another day.

So at 11:30 we set out. Richard thinks he found a free anchorage just 20 miles away.  That would be a first here in Croatia.  There was a bit of wind, but you guessed it, it was on the nose all the way.  By the time we got out of the river and into open water it had got up to a force 3 to 4 and the sea had got rather choppy.  The sun kept disappearing behind clouds so we were actually cold and had to put sweat shirts on!  I got fed up with the conditions.  At one point it was so choppy I could barely get down the companion way. Although I was not sea sick I decided to go below and have a nap just to be warm and comfortable.

We arrived here at about 4:30 pm and were disappointed to find that there are now no anchorages.  They have put mooring buoys in and of course charge for them.  The buoys have large loops at the top, so it was a yellow peril job, but with a bit of wind it took me two goes to clip on.  Of course as soon as we were attached to the buoy the man who wanted to collect the cost of the mooring appeared.  They always turn up after you have fought to get on the buoy.

The place is a bit of a disappointment. We could row ashore, but there is no reason for us to do so.  It has been too cold and windy to swim and the water temperature is only 22C.  So we just had a quiet afternoon on the boat reading and doing the Times puzzles. Dinner on board.  We tried one of the wines I bought.  It was a Pinot Nero.  Not bad, but I suspect my pallet has been ruined.

One thing here confuses and bemuses us.  That is the etiquette of anchor lights.  We have always been taught that you do not light an anchor light if you are on a mooring buoy.  However here we regularly see about half the boats on buoys with their anchor light on.  We wonder if the charter companies tell them to light them.  Any suggestions are welcome.

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