Ohhh no let’s go, solo!
Today was the day we’d been dreaming about/dreading for years!
With a mixture of excitement and trepidation, we were about to embark on our first yacht charter, just the two of us.
After a quick visit to Lidl for provisions, we made our way to the marina to drop off our bags, do the paperwork for our charter and get our hire car back to the airport.
Once we’d dropped the car off, we only had to leave the car park and cross the road to wait for bus number 37 to take us quickly back to Trogir. This same bus also goes to Split in the other direction. It cost us €2.50 each from the airport to Trogir…. bargain!
After a quick wander around Trogir, we headed back to the marina to wait for our message from Novo Eurospectra that our boat, Sileb, was ready.
We’d found Sileb and Novo Eurospectra on Boataround, a booking platform for boat hire. Their prices are always competitive and so far, we’ve only had good experiences.
We found the staff all extremely helpful and friendly. Maja, Ivana and the team recommended great places to go and safe marinas in case of bad weather.
We also had Fern assisting us from her living room in Felixstowe!
TIME TO STEP ABOARD
At around 15h00 we received a message to say Sileb was ready. Armed with our newly purchased lumpy pillows, we trotted along to find her and excitedly boarded for the first time.
Sileb is only a little boat, a Dufour 36, but quite adequate for us 2.
With 3 cabins, we now had to argue who went where. It was Janine’s turn to take the forepeak, so that was easy!
After the engineer/technician completed all of our checks, explained information about the boat and Fern gave us our briefing in Felixstowe, we were ready to go!
If it had been earlier in the season, we’d have left the marina but as it was getting dark earlier, we decided to get unpacked, blow up the mattress topper (which has become Janine’s new thing to carry) and take the mattress out of the spare cabin to make Alison’s bunk more comfortable.
One way to have a row and get sweaty, is to try to manipulate a large mattress through 2 small doors and shove it under another mattress. Not an easy task but we did it with a lot of shouting and swearing!
I’ve never quite understood how these boats worth 100’s of thousands of pounds have awful mattresses? They’re either rock hard foam if they’re new or compressed to 3cms of worn out foam if they’re old. These were the latter. I think boat companies need to really work on finding decent mattresses!
We’d decided to cook on board tonight so out came the pasta and jar of tomato sauce! Alison cut up the veg and before we knew it, we were tucking into dinner.
We were tired so an early night and our beds beckoned.
WAKEY WAKEY!
After an awful sleep, it was blooming cold and uncomfortable. The church bells started ringing at 6am followed by the first flights out of Split airport. We got up and went to the shower block.
Soon after we were ready to leave. Our plan was to head to the blue lagoon but after a couple of hours ‘sailing’ at a measly 3 knots, and every boat in the area heading there being a Sunday, we changed our course and headed towards Brac and our first stop, Lucice Bay.
We’d contacted the restaurant that owns the mooring buoys, Konoba Familja, and they informed us that although they were closed, they’d left mooring buoys out for people to use. How kind! A few hours later, we arrived at the bay and headed to our chosen buoy. We were the first to arrive for the evening so made our way to one that looked well sheltered. Within seconds of our approach, an old guy in a tin boat was approaching and ‘guiding’ us in…..
As Janine was standing at the bow with her boat hook ready, this unwanted distraction caught us off guard. Slowly Alison approached and before we knew it, the old fella had demanded our mooring line and tied us to our buoy!
Now we always appreciate help, but it always comes at a cost in Croatia! Mr nice helpful guy was asking for €50 to use the buoy! Now knowing the restaurant was closed and the owners telling us we could use the buoys, we weren’t having any of that. After explaining we’d contacted the restaurant, we offered him €20 for ‘helping’. Although not happy, he accepted and took off to wait for his next victim.
We have read about this guy on Navily, an app we use to find information and it seems him and his wife will cook you dinner and deliver it to your boat. If he’d had offered this, then €50 for the night with dinner is almost acceptable but he doesn’t. Seems dinner is on top!
Janine finished tying us up safely and promptly dropped the boat hook…
It was the first night and the first time we’d ever dropped a bloody boat hook. She charged down the deck ripping clothes off only to discover all the fenders were tied to the guardrail wire! A few minutes later, after moving all of the fenders and with the boat hook gently drifting away, in bra and knickers, Janine dived in to retrieve it…the old fella was lucky she didn’t get naked this time!
Boat hook and Janine safely back on board, we got our drinks and salty snacks and prepared to watch the victims of the ‘old fella’
The next boat to arrive was full of Americans. We could hear them arguing with him. They settled on €25!
He’s on a nice little earner with all the ‘free’ buoys. The restaurant told us they’d left 7 out so he could be ‘earning’ €350 a night if everyone paid €50 We’re in the wrong job!
After eating our Lidl cheese lasagne, which we’d bought for our studio without an oven, we settled in for hopefully a peaceful night’s sleep.
After Janine made sure her airbed wasn’t too hard or soft, we both headed to bed with extra blankets!
We can’t say we ever sleep well on boats. The topper is actually an inflatable camping mat from Decathlon in the shape of a coffin! The widest part is probably the same width as Janine’s arse so not much room to manoeuvre, and it makes a noise every time you move!
One bonus is that it doesn’t go down and does add a bit of softness, so is better than nothing…but not as good as the 5cm memory foam topper she takes on road trips and cruises!
WHISTLING IN THE WIND
After another cool night and a leisurely breakfast on deck, we were heading to Vrboska on Hvar Island.
Vrboska Marina is an ACI Marina and the girls in the Novo Eurospectra office had recommended it. Being an ACI Marina, we got 30% discount on overnight rates so we’d booked online for the night. We couldn’t quite believe the price. Around €44 including water and electricity.
After a great day sailing, the wind had picked up and we’d managed a few lovely hours cruising along, we started our approach to the Marina. Alison called in on the radio and he instructed us to proceed.
Hovering around the entrance to the marina, we could hear someone whistling but could we see them? Nope!
On it continued until we finally spotted a guy on a balcony waving at us frantically. He made lots of gestures indicating to turn the boat around and reverse down the channel to our berth, between two other boats.
With everything prepared, Alison started her approach in to the channel and our allotted spot. By now the guy from the balcony was waiting to catch our lines and with one attempt, we were in! Alison had ‘parked’ and her legs had stopped shaking! Within minutes our stern lines and lazy lines were all secured, engine off and relax, we’d done it!
After quick showers in the immaculately clean block, it was time for a drink and salty snacks as usual. We’d got in early, around 15h30 so we’d have time to investigate the town before dark. Soon we were off for a wander to see what Vrboska had to offer.
It’s a lovely little town. Not a lot was open, not a single ice cream shop but several bars and restaurants and the small supermarket were. I imagine in summer, it’s packed. After our little wander, it was back to the boat for….yep, you’ve guessed it, pasta!
The marina is really nice. We didn’t see another charter boat so very peaceful. In fact, we didn’t really see anyone on their boats except a German couple that looked like they’d been there a while. We were looking forward to a peaceful sleep…until the bin wagon arrived.
LAZY DAY
No rest for the wicked, we got up and peered out of the hatch. It wasn’t the nicest day. Rain was forecast and no wind, so we made the decision to stay another night. By lunchtime the wind had picked up and it was raining. We’d thought about hiring quads to explore the island a little but it wasn’t nice enough weather so we just enjoyed doing nothing!
After a lazy afternoon, we got ready and went to eat out at Restaurant Škojić.
It was packed and noisy! Where had all these people come from? We hadn’t noticed any more boats arriving but they had!
We ordered our pizzas and got chatting to the couple sat beside us. They had ordered a mixed fish dish for two. When it arrived it was immense, enough for at least 4 people but they scoffed the lot!
Our pizza arrived and was very lovely. As usual we only ate half. The rest would make a great lunch on our way the next day.
Alison decided to try the Nutella crepe and dessert wine before we wandered back to the boat and to try and walk our dinner off!
RACING AND CHASING
Next morning and we were up early, as usual. Quick shower and we were ready to go. We had 20 miles to cover today to get to our next stop at Bobovisca.
We’ve been here before twice, once on a mooring buoy and once tied to the shore after having dropped the anchor. Previously we had boss girl Fern with us, who knows how to do everything! This time alone, we were going on a buoy.
We’d booked the buoy so weren’t worried to be there too early but we do like to get settled.
We had a fantastic sail today, racing the following clouds and staying just ahead to keep us dry and in the sun.
Sileb is fitted with in-mast furling and self tacking jib. It’s almost like driving an automatic car! It’s sailing the easy and lazy way and ideal for sailing with just the two of us. It made life easy for the sandwich chef to rustle up some lunch.
After a fantastic day sailing and ‘racing’ another boat on the way, we were heading into the channel to Bobovisca.
We weren’t the first to arrive but there were plenty of buoys to choose from. We chose our spot and got tied up to the buoy. Soon after, a guy turned up to secure us with the lazy line and take our cash. In Bobovisca, all the boats are secured front and rear so the buoys are pretty close together. Seeing as you don’t swing, it works ok.
The nightly rate has gone up since we were last here a year ago. For our little 36ft boat it was €50 just to tie up to a buoy! As we thought we may be staying 2 nights due to a forecasted storm, we managed to get the price down marginally to €45 a night. We paid the guy €90 and moaned about it!
Each day we received a weather warning and forecast from Novo Eurospectra by WhatsApp. Tomorrow, they wanted everyone secure and sheltered by midday. We were glad to be securely on our sheltered buoy for a couple of nights.
After sitting on deck and eating yet more pasta for dinner, we had a nightcap and turned in for an early night…like every other night!
BLOWING, BANGING AND BOUNCING (ooer Matron…)
Upon waking up on Thursday, the sun was shining and the sea was calm. Had we made the wrong decision to stay 2 nights?
A few boats left their buoys and a couple stayed. With nowhere to go, our dinghy had been deflated due to the space it took and the problem of Alison being too short to see over it, we dropped the swim platform and dangled our feet. The temperature wasn’t quite warm enough for a morning dip, maybe later…
We saw the mooring guy pull up on his tender next to our yacht with a €10 note. He’d decided to charge us €40 a night for 2 nights! Croatia is going to price itself out of the market soon. We’re thinking it could be time to try Greece again!
By lunchtime the buoys were beginning to fill up, we had made the right decision. We checked our lines were well secured and waited for the wind.
With a very large boat on the buoy next to us, when the wind blew, we swung to within about a foot of each other! We had both made sure we had a couple of fenders and our Big Bertha in the right place to stop us banging.
As night approached it was blowing a hoolie.
Eventually, after making sure everything was secure, we went to bed. Did we sleep? Not a chance. We were being battered and blown by a huge storm, thunder, lightning, rain, we got it all!
At 02h30 we were on deck trying to re-secure the bimini which was clanking about and threatening to take off. The lines were creaking and groaning, the boat was swinging and we were not going to sleep!
By around 6am, the wind subsided and we both went to our cabins for a couple of hours kip! By the time we woke up at 8am, we wondered if we’d dreamt it? A light breeze was blowing, the sun was shining and calm was restored.
After a leisurely breakfast we said goodbye to Bobovisca and started on our way back to Trogir.
HEADING FOR HOME
On arrival back in Trogir, we were met by a couple of guys in a RIB just before the marina. One of them jumped on board to refuel us and take us back to our berth. It’s a free service offered by Novo Eurospectra, I think more to save their boats from damage. They’re a small family owned business that own all their boats. They really take pride in the care and maintenance which makes a huge difference.
The week had flown by. We were relieved to be back safely but wished for more. Out came the usual salty snacks after tidying the boat, putting the lines away and packing.
After a quick shower, we were heading into Trogir for a wander.
We’d decided to eat our last jar of pasta sauce so back to the boat for our final pasta dinner on board. Last nights on board are always a mixture of ‘can’t wait for our own bed’ and sadness to be leaving such a wonderful lifestyle yet again.
FROM CABIN TO COMFORT
Saturday morning we were up early and ready to leave by 08h30. We were heading to a small b&b in the middle of the old town, Villa Teuta. We had contacted them to see if we could leave our luggage until our room was ready.
Upon arrival, we saw everyone eating a beautiful looking breakfast and asked if we could join them? Of course we could. By 11 we were being shown to our room, it was lovely! Not only had we had a fantastic breakfast, we were in our room hours early.
It suddenly dawned on us that we’d left our drinks for today in the fridge on the boat! We’d saved 2 or 3 bottles of soft drinks and a couple of beers to enjoy but alas, someone else was no doubt enjoying them along with the rest of the food and drinks we’d deliberately left behind!
Tonight we were going out for dinner. We’d hoped to have been eating in the restaurant, it had been packed when we’d passed the week before but it was closing for the winter at lunchtime.
A quick look on TripAdvisor and Alison had chosen to eat at Konobo Skrapa tonight. Janine picked chicken and Alison her usual pizza! The food was nice but Janine needed to use her serviette to soak up the oil. On the way back to our lodgings, we picked up the obligatory ice cream, the first in two weeks!
Finally, we were in a comfortable bed!
We slept like logs and looked forward to another lovely breakfast, this time inside due to torrential rain! And what a feast! Omelette, cheese, bread, pastries…a very generous helping of goodies. Plenty of food to send us on our way.
After a great stay, we were heading back to the bus station and the number 37 bus back to the airport. The rain had cleared and all too soon, we were on our way home.
