Retracing Our Steps

Having now arranged our trip to the UK, we needed to leave our private bay and head back to civilisation. We had flights booked from Split Airport so we reserved a mooring for ZigZag at the nearby Baotić Marina on the outskirts of Trogir.

We lifted our anchor, said goodbye to the swans, and motored out of the lake and down the river. We decided to stop at one of the many fish farms along the way for some fresh shellfish, and chose the one with Popeye painted on the side as it offered the prospect of large mussels! We just had to shout over what we wanted to the ‘mussel man’ and he pulled up nets that are tied onto his platform, weighed out a couple of kilos for us, then came to the boat on his tender (with his dog sitting on the front) to deliver them.

Once out of the river, we headed south following the path we had previously taken. We had one of the best sails this season, with a force 5 westerly wind, we sailed all the way on a beam reach with one reef in both sails at an average speed of 7.5kts, we were flying along!

It didn’t take us long to complete the 24nm journey back to Rogoznica where we anchored again in Uvala Podglavica.

We spent a couple of hours cleaning and de-bearding the mussels and whilst the sun set cooked them up in some white wine. They tasted so fresh and were delicious but I didn’t appreciate how fiddly and time consuming the preparation would be, however, they were definitely worth it!

The next day we had another great sail 22nm further south, with similar winds to the previous day we reefed the sails and were doing great speeds. It was perfect sailing weather and there were lots of other boats out on the water.

We anchored for the night at Vinišće, as we motored into the bay the wind picked up and we dropped our anchor with the wind blowing 25kts. From our previous visit, we knew that this would not be a problem as the seabed is thick mud which offers great holding. We did not go ashore here this time as we wanted to keep Ed and Fred safe!

Our next stop was just 6nm to Uvala Racetinovac, a bay opposite Trogir and Baotić Marina.

This is a beautiful uninhabited anchorage on the northern side of the island of Čiovo. It is surrounded by trees with an old ruined building on the shore which was the summer residence of the Racettin family from 1630, who gave the bay its name.

We have seen these Hajduk football club signs painted in many random spots where you would least expect to see them!

After a couple of days here preparing the boat and packing ready for our departure, it was time to make the 2nm journey across the bay to the marina. The wind picked up just as we lifted our anchor, and increased to a force 6 as we arrived. Luckily the berth that they had reserved for us was in a perfect position in relation to the wind, we were able to take a long run up reversing into the wind and straight into the spot. Thankfully it all went to plan and we were quickly tied up and secure.

Baotić marina is located east of Seget Donji Harbour at the entrance to Trogir Harbour. It is a very smart modern marina with restaurants, swimming pool, small convenience shop, laundry, chandlery, and with spacious indoor and outdoor showers, definitely has the best facilities we have ever seen in a marina!

We had one night here before leaving Croatia the following day so we decided to make use of the evening water taxi that runs from the marina to Trogir (As usual, we were his only customers!) We had great views of the town as we approached.

It was much busier than when we had previously visited with super yachts moored along the Riva and the streets and restaurants were filling up as the evening drew in.

We sat down in the square for a cold drink, surrounded by the medieval buildings, we felt like we had gone back several hundred years! (Until an aeroplane flew over only just missing the top of the towers). Everyone was out all dressed up, children were playing in the square and the town Loggia appears to be a great location for them to play and climb over the ancient court tables, it’s good to see that after hundreds of years, they are still being put to good use.

After a couple of drinks, we headed back to the taxi to return to the marina.

We had booked into the marina for 3 weeks and they had requested that we would be stored out of the water while we were away. Our flights were booked for the following day so we had a busy morning before we left. We had to get our covid tests, have ZigZag lifted, get her and ourselves ready and get to the airport by 12 noon!

This almost went to plan, the marina staff had booked a test for us to be done on the boat at 8am and then lift out at 8.30am. The medic was little delayed and arrived at 8.30, after the tests were done, we slipped our lines and hurried to the lifting bay. There was already a boat there so we waited, nothing seemed to be happening so after a few minutes I called the marineros on the VHF and was told that we were at the wrong lift and to go to the crane for smaller boats on the other side of the marina.

When we arrived at the correct place, they said that they needed to remove our back stays and topping lift. Having not been lifted by this type of crane before, it was a little worrying particularly as by now, the morning was slipping away. They very quickly jumped on the boat, got to work and did what they needed to do to prepare her for lifting. The straps from the crane then came down, scooped her up and lifted her out of the water.

The hull looked a lot better than we expected with hardly any growth, Paul just scraped off a few barnacles before she was put on the tractor and taken to her space on the dock.

The marineros were very efficient and within an hour she was out of the water and on a very sturdy stand with everything reattached.

It had been a very hot and hectic morning, we managed to get everything ready, received our negative test results, had time for a quick cool down shower (in consideration for anybody that sits near us on the plane) before our taxi arrived to take us to the airport.

We arrived at Split airport, which has a brand new air conditioned, spacious and efficient terminal building. Armed with our documents and covid paperwork, we managed to pass through to the departure lounge quickly. The flight was on time and the plane was only half full. We were finally able to relax, Heathrow, here we come!