Messing Around in the Water

After a morning swim to untie our lines ashore, we motored out of Taršće bay and around some of the small islands in the archipelago.

We passed Otok Marinkovac which had busy beach bars playing chill out tunes and bays full of Superyachts. There is a well known night club here called Carpe Diem which parties through till dawn most nights. We decided not to stay!

Continuing north towards Split, we passed Hvar town and sailed between the islands of Brač and Šolta.

As we approached our destination, a black cloud descended and a few rain spots appeared with sounds of thunder in the distance, so we quickly anchored in the large bay just in front of the Poljud Stadium. We were beginning to wonder if it’s always stormy here as as we got rather wet when we were here last year. Thankfully it didn’t amount to anything this time and it wasn’t long before the sun came out and temperatures started rising into the high 30’s.

We had come to Split to prepare the boat for our first visitor since moving onboard two years ago. After clearing out the front cabin and bathroom (storage room) we went for a walk into the City and around the familiar narrow streets and squares. We also explored some parts of the Roman Palace which we hadn’t previously visited, it’s always interesting to see how people have built their houses in and around the old Palace structure over the Centuries.

We met up with Kevin for a couple of cold drinks to help combat the heat before taking him on board ZigZag.

With the wind blowing from directly in front, we set off on a slow sail as we tacked our way back and forth around the coast. We eventually arrived at the small fishing village of Vinišće and anchored for the night. This large bay has good holding and is protected from the wind and swell so we enjoyed a calm evening. After a cooling swim we lit the barbecue and had a few drinks onboard while the sun went down.

The next day we travelled further around the coast and stopped for lunch at the popular Blue Lagoon south of the island of Otok Drvenik Veli. It was busy when we arrived with lots of other boats and tour boats but we managed to find a spot to drop our anchor. It felt like we could be on a Caribbean island.

We spent a couple of hours here swimming and snorkelling, the water was crystal clear but unfortunately as with many places in the Mediterranean, we didn’t see many fish or sea life here.

After a lazy afternoon we continued on to Nečujam, a bay on the north side of the island of Šolta where we anchored with long lines ashore. It was difficult to find suitable rocks to tie onto but so much easier with an extra crew member onboard, we eventually managed to secure ourselves safely.

This was a lovely bay surrounded by trees, there was not a big town here but it certainly wasn’t a quiet bay, there is a sunken ship in the bay which several trip boats stop at daily and 100’s of people jump off of these into the water to explore the wreck.

Kontesa was a 25m wooden ship which sunk in 2010 submerged at a depth of 4m and lies only approximately 1m below the surface so it was an interesting spot to explore and there was a couple fish swimming around it.

The next morning we planned to leave but three trip boats had anchored in front of us and the water was full of swimmers. This made our departure impossible so we stayed another day, it was no hardship for us!

In the afternoon a small boat visits the bay making cocktails, he had a roaring trade with everyone calling ‘Mojito Man’ to their boat, we of course had to join in!

After a relaxing couple of days swimming, snorkling and paddle boarding we decided to leave early the next morning before the trip boats arrived. We headed towards Baotić Marina, close to Trogir and stopped for lunch and a swim in a small bay on the way.

Once moored in the marina we visited the beach bar for sun downers and then took the water taxi in the evening to explore Trogir town, one of my favourite places. We found a very nice restaurant amongst the ancient buildings where we enjoyed lovely fresh fish cooked to perfection.

The next day, Kevin took the ferry back to Split and we made the most of the morning in the marina; shopping, washing and topping up our water tanks which should keep us going for another couple of weeks.

What a great week! The air temperature is in the high 30°s with the water high 20°s and it has been lovely having an extra crew member and a new playmate onboard.