We have had a good nights rest and didn’t hear the overnight rain so must have slept soundly. We can dry out the boat and again the forecast is for little wind today so we can go up the eighteen miles to our next destination, the beautiful bay of Okuklje in Mljet.

We are not the fastest people to get going in the morning and it is gone 10:30 before we are ready to move. The bay is pretty empty at this stage with just one other boat still anchored. I retrieve the anchor and our buoy, untangling the mess of knots as I go and we are off for our first island in Croatia.

What wind there is, works for us quite well. We decide to get some sail up which improves our speed and we are going along beautifully under a full main, with the traveller moved to optimise performance, and the stay sail with the tell-tales showing the wind going across the sail perfectly. We are motor sailing but not putting too much pressure on the engine as we progress at a shade under 7 knots. At this rate we will arrive at around lunchtime in the bay so hopefully we will find somewhere good to anchor.

There is a bit more traffic here including a motor vessel Casanova, that seems keen to come straight at us. Slight adjustments on both sides and the 50m boat, three times the size of us, slips by our port side.

Actually the advantage of motor sailing with little wind is the sea state is calm but you are still getting a fair bit of wind, albeit generated by your engine pushing the boat forward. To be fair we could probably have tried to sail it but I expect it would have taken six hours to get there and this is a popular and busy location.

A couple of hours later and we are starting to drop sails and looking for the entrance to the bay amongst all the tree lined hills. This isn’t as easy as you’d think but eventually it comes into view and we get into the approach ahead of another boat.

Maria has read about the restaurants in this bay and there are three to choose from but two of them Maran and Maestral seem to be the most popular and reasonably sized. Maestral seems to have the better reviews and so that is our decision. As we get into the bay, we are looking for somewhere to anchor but there are different coloured buoys across the bay and no obvious spaces to drop anchor. Since we don’t know the story on the buoys we decide we should probably moor stern to onto what can loosely be described as docks. As you come into the bay, the first docking area you see is for Maestral and then another is right outside Maran with two people ready to accept us and pass us the lazy lines for our bow. However, although there is a chair and table at the Maestral dock, but there is no-one there. Having told Maran we are going to the other one, we have to change our mind when we can’t get to the other dock easily.

To be clear, it is possible for us to stern-to moor on mariadz without assistance but it requires some preparation and care. Firstly we need to drop the rib and attach it to the bow so it is completely out of the way. Then I have to rig two lines to the stern, take them around the davits to the swim platform. Maria then needs to bring Mariadz in very gently so that I can step onto the quay but obviously not so close as to crunch the swim platform against it. I can then tie both stern lines which allows maria to power forward against these lines to keep the stern away from the dock. The next job is to grab the lazy line and run it to the bow to hold Mariadz straight and off the quay. Finally we need to loosen the stern lines so we can tighten the lazy line before tightening the stern lines again to keep mariadz pinned where we want her. Quite a faff, and very reliant on perfect boat handling that gets me close enough to get on and off the boat but not so close as to damage the boat. If there are people to help you the margins are much better and you have the boat further from the quay, so less chance of damage. A good enough reason to change our plans. Also, since we thought we were anchoring, the rib was still up in its davits and we were not very prepared this time!!!

Maria brings mariadz in very slowly next to a large 45 foot catamaran. The quay has an obtuse angle to it, like a flattened V, and the guys are positioning us right on the apex which isn’t great but we will get it sorted out. Unfortunately it does mean that we end up quite close to the dock and therefore can’t drop the rib to get on and off. However, maria has handled Mariadz beautifully and you can see that the Canadians on board are impressed with her effortless boat handling. And for once I threw the lines properly and both lines got ashore fine! In fact the only concern was that the guys had pulled us close to the catamaran and our push pit mounted fortress anchor was very close to their hull. A few fenders on that stop any potential problem. We get talking to the Canadians who are three lovely couples that have been good friends for nearly all of their lives. They welcome us warmly and suggest that we all eat the house speciality, peka, in the evening.

We find the other boat that has followed us in is also coming into the dock and they come in very nicely too and nestle next to us on the other side. We are wedged in, which is fine for now but could present some challenges when we want to leave.

The bay is very picturesque, obviously more so for having mariadz in it. Maria and I decide to brave the fact that it is approximately 20 degrees in the water to go for a little swim close by the docks. Bracing is a word that describes it, although there may have been little patches of warmth in there. We are not in long before showering down on the swim platform with the water still warm from the motoring we had done to get here.

It’s lunchtime, we are settled and it seems appropriate to break out a couple of beers before doing a little exploring. In the lovely heat, with a beer inside me and laying on our outside sun bed area, I may have momentarily drifted off…. Now apparently when I sleep I may snore a little and I am assured by our neighbours that this was quite loud and not like a kitten gently purring as I thought…. Oops sorry! At least it made them all laugh.

In my embarrassment I agree to go for a walk around the bay, if only to visit the other restaurant and see what it is like. It’s actually a lovely little harbour. There is a shack which seems to be the only shop and is closed because of the national holiday. We also pass the smaller restaurant which seems very quiet before getting round to the other side of the bay for Maestral. However, when we look at their outdoor barbecue there is a cat asleep in it. We won’t be eating there, we like cats! There are quite a few steps to climb to get to the restaurant but when you get there the view is fantastic with Mariadz sitting amongst five boats now. We decide to have a drink with them and mention that we had intended to come to them. It seems they have a sunsail flotilla of eight or nine boats coming in but they also mention that you can pick up either of the two white buoys in the harbour which are their’s, the red ones being Maran and the sole orange one being for the other restaurant. We are all very disappointed that it hasn’t worked out especially as the restaurant itself looks great, has fantastic views and is reasonably priced. We agree that we will return this way at the end of Croatian tour as the last stop before our return to Italy. But that will be next week!

Dinner has been booked early and so we have to rush back to get ready, have a quick sundowner with our new Canadian friends and into the restaurant five metres from the boat. The conversation and some wine flows at the dinner table and we are amazed at the strength of friendship our companions have built over forty plus years. The food is very good with both veal and lamb in our peka, very tasty and a lot of it. At the end of the evening, the bill arrives and it is by far the most expensive meal we have had but we have all had a good time and enjoyed what we have eaten.

A nightcap for our Canadian friends, includes Maria breaking out the liquors like an Italian. Not just a bottle of limoncello but amaro amongst others. The moorings charter boat doesn’t have a great glass selection but of course Mariadz has everything and the conversation continues until people start drifting to bed.

In the morning, we are greeted to another beautiful day but with a little more high cloud than previously, I’m sure this will burn off through the morning. Everyone seems to be going in their separate directions today and all planning to leave early. Rather than squeezing out of the gap like a champagne cork, we decide to let the catamaran go first. This is going well until their guard wire gets caught on our anchor holder. I am able to get this off quite quickly as they come off the power after my call but there will be a little reshaping needed to get that right again.

It is now our turn to go and we now have a familiar routine. I take the lazy line off as maria keeps the boat forward against the stern lines. I then release the line nearest the boat we are still touching as maria steers towards it which would swing the stern out. Held only by the other line, Mariadz comes off the other boat gently and creates a gap. A touch of bow thruster to straighten her up and we can go dead straight out of our berth.

Today there is even less wind than yesterday, in fact there is none it seems. The wind instrument showing 6.5 knots on the bow as we power through the water at, you guessed it, 6.5 knots. The trip to korcula is about 27 miles and we intend to anchor just below the old monastery and take the rib into korcula town. Be tourists for the day, not something we usually do.

So it is pretty much three hours under power with no sails while Maria sunbathes and I write these blogs. After about an hour I notice that Casanova is back, the motor yacht that steered at us the other day coming out of Dubrovnik. We are on a convergent course and will pass less than 100 metres apart, not something we are comfortable with. I adjust course and speed up but I can’t get enough of a distance to get 2-300 metres ahead and after ten minutes if futile trying decide to slow us down and pass behind Casanova, which has made no change to course or speed.

Maria is bored and wants some dolphins and so I pick up the phone to speak to them. Unfortunately they are fully booked at the moment visiting other yachts but can probably get to us in about ten minutes. Maria seems happy with that, let’s hope they can find us! Half an hour later and they still haven’t turned up but Maria seems to have forgotten about it so I keep quiet. And then she remembers and calls me useless 🙂

The approach to Badija is reasonably complex. The channel to the south of the island which you approach from is very shallow and although it is supposedly deep enough for us, there isn’t enough margin for error. We like to be safe. So we decide to approach from the islands to the south of it Planjak and Kamenjak which has a deeper approach. We can then turn north up to Badija.

We are an hour away from our destination when I notice a large yacht which, as I recall, was in our first anchorage in Dubrovnik. They seem to be heading in a similar direction to us and it will be interesting to see if we are together again.

We follow the yacht into the islands as Maria sulkily returns to her sunbathing having not seen a single dolphin and convinced that they are not here despite apparent sightings in Brindisi a few months ago.

As we turn the final corner, we can see the monastery on the far shore. There are quite a few boats anchored but I have found us a nice spot in shallow water of about 5m. It will be a bit of a squeeze but we are getting more confident of our positioning when anchoring and I am sure I will be about fifty metres from the nearest boat when we finish. I remember to attach the anchor buoy and we drop anchor and drift back on about 20 metres of chain. Our rope snubber is on and two other snubbers to protect the windlass. I know it is overkill but I am not taking any risks with my little baby.

First, we need some provisions. We are out of fresh vegetables and I have no cereal either but most importantly this was the island that produced a very nice white wine when we had fish the other night. So we get in the rib to go to korcula town, an impressive stone walled village on the sea. As we approach there is a marina just outside of it so we decide that would be a good place for us to leave the rib short term. As we get in, the marina is incredibly tight with lazy lines but no much room in the middle between the boats. I can’t imagine how we would ever get Mariadz into here. We see a workboat with two members of staff and being honest types we decide to ask them permission to leave the rib for 15 mins. They tell us where we can moor. As we tie up some English people are passing and direct us to the nearest reasonably sized supermarket.

Two shopping bags later and we are done, lots of fresh vegetables and other essentials. As we get to the till we ask about the local wine, Maria has a picture, but the girl pretty much laughs at us and shakes her head. Is there a wine shop nearby, a shrug of the shoulders. Oh well. As we come out of the supermarket there are two sign posts for wine shops! We could be back on here…. We tentatively go into the shop, maria with phone in hand, picture at the ready. The lovely girl behind the counter, smiles. Of course we have this! Wonderful. We’ll have six of them 🙂 now laden down with three big bags, we walk back to the rib. On the way to the town we had been a little into the wind and although Connie, our rib, is really good there is a little spray as we bounced off the waves. The return is smooth and quick and in no time at all, we are back to the monastery and Mariadz nestled in the blue Green Bay looking beautiful. So what better idea than to go for a little swim in these beautiful crystal clear blue green waters. Did I mention they are 19 degrees and freezing? I’m sure we will get used to it once we are in but it takes a good few minutes to get into the water and we don’t stay long.

Those who know us recognise that we aren’t the best tourists, we don’t like to be walked around tourist attractions but the monastery looks lovely and we decide to go in and take a walk around the island. There seems to be a lot of work going on with diggers and workers making lots of noise. I’m sure it will be ready for the season and they work a little late but don’t really disturb us. The monastery itself dates back to the 14th century but seems to have gone through a major renovation in this century and looks traditional but very clean. Typical for us we arrived fifteen minutes after the building itself closed but we had a nice walk around the gardens 🙂 while we do this, we find something else the island is famous for, the deer roaming the land. They seem a little wary and there are strict instructions not to feed them dotted around the land, which seem to be ignored regularly we notice,

It is a beautiful spot and we settle down for a nice quiet evening, some sundowners and eating on board, a hot stone where we cook meat on the aft deck. It’s so relaxing and we feel a thousand miles away from any stresses.

So the first part of the journey is done. Most British yachts have to do some kind of VAT shuffle every eighteen months to ensure they aren’t importing their boat into the EU and hence have to pay VAT. We don’t think this is a problem for us since our VAT was paid in Malta, part of the EU but we will keep records just in case. But we wanted to go to Montenegro anyway and we had to meet up with friends so lots of good reasons to go.

We have had a nice few days in Montenegro and vow to return to see more of the country. For now though, we have to go back down the river and turn North towards Dubrovnik. We have checked out by noon, which is basically the reverse of the order we checked in but it is 35 miles to Dubrovnik and the wind will not be helping us much. We want to check in and then go on to anchor somewhere rather than go into a marina and daylight may be an issue so we need to get moving.

With the lack of wind we will be motor sailing and with this lack of wind, it means the apparent wind will be quite close to the bow since we are generating most of it by using the engine to power us through the water.

As we head out of the river we have Croatia on the northern bank and Montenegro to the south. We turn to the north protected by the old batteries that used to protect this coast and we are on our way. The wind is westerly so it does help us a little and with a full main and close hauled stay sail, we are making good progress at over six knots as we fly by a catamaran struggling along at 3 knots, they won’t get to Dubrovnik until the early hours at that rate.

We have heard stories of the Croatian authorities fining boats for entering their waters before checking in. Our first available port of entry would be Dubrovnik but we are staying a little way off shore and definitely not travelling between some of the islands and the shore, which apparently really gets their goat and can only be forgiven by a €200 donation. The coast here is becoming a familiar but still spectacular view with huge tree-covered mountains and hills plunging into the water. It seems a million miles away from a flat east anglia that has been home for so long.

The trip up is a single tack and with very little company after we pass the catamaran. At one stage a police motor launch goes past us, hopefully we are far enough off shore and already flying our Q flag to demonstrate we are on our way to a port of entry which should placate them.

As we approach Dubrovnik, maria mentions that it is 17 years since we last visited when we were on a cruise ship touring the Adriatic. At the time we had dreamed of doing these kind of tours and finally we have got there, if only for short trips at the moment. However, this is a completely different approach and for the life of us we don’t recognise anything.

As you approach Dubrovnik you are directed to the port at Cruz where the Croats have helpfully put a huge yellow “Q” on the building so you know where you are going and the harbourmaster, immigration police and customs are all there. Once again, Maria gets to sunbathe while I check us in to Croatia. As you approach, you can see that this is still set up as a commercial dock with bollards every twenty metres for you to tie onto. We normally like to get a mid line on first so that clearly isn’t possible. There are also big black rubber bumpers that stick out half a metre, I guess you don’t want to touch those or you get a big black mark on your hull. Maria gets mariadz nice and close to the dock but it is still very difficult to lasso the bollard and I miss, twice! I am going to need to develop a better technique for this… fortunately the police have come to greet us and one kindly takes a line and passes it back to me and the stern is tied on. That means that maria can use that line to bring the boat in tight to the dock and I can get the bow line on.

Once settled, I can get to the harbour masters office to start the check in process. Maria has already booked and paid for the tourist tax on line so I have the vignette, or cruising licence to pay. To check in I need the ships registration, proof of insurance and the crew list – which helpfully is documented on the Montenegro vignette since the only copy I had was electronic. Once these formalities are complete, I can go to the police and get our passports stamped as returning to the EU. This is easy and he also needs the ships registration, the new Croatian vignette and the crew list. The final stage of this is the temporary resident forms since we are in Croatia for more than two days. While these are being completed I can pop over to the customs office who, like Montenegro, are not too bothered and just want to see the crew list and vignette. We are then all done, really efficient and friendly. Although they seemed to be more friendly to Maria, waving to her as we left. So the moral of the story is clearly to take a pretty girl with you.

After releasing the lines, we come off the dock in our standard sideways motion and then Maria can turn us around and we head out the couple of miles to the anchorage we have chosen for the night, U. batala near Zaton. This is not far from Dubrovnik but seems another world.

There are a few boats anchored but lots of room and we decide to anchor in the middle of the horseshoe bay near to the village. Even here it is over 10 metres deep and although we are not expecting any bad weather I still put out a fair amount of chain so we can be safe. Normally I put out a buoy attached to the anchor, this helps us to understand the position of the anchor and hopefully informs others thinking of anchoring too. After our unfortunate experience at Portimao last year, where someone picked it up, the buoy is now clearly marked as mariadz anchor. Anyway when we anchored in Montenegro I had forgotten to put it on, but I remember this time. However, as the buoy goes in the water there is a knot in the line and it sits directly above the anchor but just below the surface of the water – typical.

U. batala is surrounded by a horseshoe of tree lined hills/mountains and has a nice restaurant on the sea front. So we decide to drop the rib and eat there this evening. We are offered a menu but then told that there is fresh fish: Bream and Bass. It looks wonderful and is cooked with some vegetables and filleted at the table, wonderful with a lovely drop of white wine from one of the local islands. We will need to visit that island and stock up.

We get back to the boat and have a chill in the cockpit before going to bed. When we awake in the morning, there has been rain overnight. The climate seems a bit strange because of the high mountains, it can be pouring down with rain one minute and then the next it is bright sunshine. Still we weren’t ready for it and the cushions and covers are soaked. Oh well, they will dry during the day.

Our first proper trip out in Mariadz of 2023 was the start of our holiday to Montenegro and southern Croatia. A quick two week trip around this part of the Adriatic. A month before we had removed the hula hula skirt around mariadz by going out into the bay, anchoring and then scraping it off by hand. The difference in handling on the way to the anchorage and the way back was night and day. She was now ready for a summer of nice trips. We have also been removing non essentials from the boat, including the passerelle, we have a wooden plank with wheels and space is at a premium, but more of that later.

We had decided, both having new permanent jobs, that we would maximise our holiday by including the May bank holiday. So on the Friday, we go off to the port police to check out for the boat and to get our passport stamped. At the office the friendly policeman who is dealing with us asks if we are going to Montenegro to reset our VAT clock. This relates to the eighteen months that a British boat has in Europe before it is classed as imported and you are required to pay the local Tax. We were both very keen to point out that the VAT for the boat was paid in Malta so it is European VAT paid already. In two weeks, when we return we will be able to test this with the customs team who have been singularly uninterested in us so far. So after some time, our passports and boat papers have been stamped and we are ready to go.

We are back to the boat and doing final preparations whilst we finish work. By 6pm, we are ready to go for our overnight trip to Montenegro, a distance of about 120 miles. We have checked several forecasts including our beloved Meteo and they are all predicting a very nice 14 knots right on the beam, the best place for it. We should have a lovely sail over. We drop our lines and gently leave our berth, go past the castle at the entrance of Brindisi and parallel to the long sea wall. It’s exciting, our first proper holiday in the med on our own boat and we both need the rest and reset from work life. As we exit the entrance of the outer harbour, the wind isn’t where we expect it. Instead of blowing a north westerly onto our beam it is blowing northerly, possible with a bit of east in it! We also notice that despite having cleaned up the log, that tells our speed through the water, we do not have speed showing on our instruments which also means that the wind speed is the wind going across the deck so we need to adjust it to consider our speed and direction.

This has torpedoed our chances of a nice sail across to Montenegro. With the wind in that position, we are beating into it with seas crashing against the hull, slowing us down. It’s going to be a bit crashy and a bit slow since we don’t want to double the distance by tacking across the Adriatic. There is a reason that gentlemen don’t go to windward!

We start under sail but the wind is pretty much coming from our destination so I have to aim a bit more east trying to balance speed with direction. At this stage we have most of the main out, the staysail and about half of the headsail. The wind across the deck is about 20knots meaning the actual wind is probably 15 knots, pretty much in our faces with a corresponding sea slowing us down with waves crashing against the hull. Normally we would expect to knock out 120 miles in about 17 hours but this is clearly going to be slower.

We have decided on this trip that we will take it in turns to get some rest, up to a couple of hours at a time each. Hopefully it means we won’t be too tired when we arrive and, despite a late night and a poor sleep before leaving, we should be fine to stay awake.

The sailing is mostly uneventful for the first few hours and Maria is resting. I can see a fishing boat on AIS going slowly and towards us. We are also on AIS so they will be able to see us. At night we are sporting a tricolour light at the top of the mast because we are under sail. For some reason, the fisherman doesn’t seem to like this as they check out where we are with a large spotlight shining on our sails. They go harmlessly along our port side as we keep beating into the wind.

We settle down for a long sail. Sunset is lovely and the stars come out and it is spectacular. Our daughter Rachel has informed us that Rowan John Park, our first grandson, has had a star named after him. If only we knew which one!

However, we are going slowly. Mariadz normally likes a minimum of 45 degrees off the wind to sail nicely and there is no way we can go off in completely the wrong direction so I am trying to pinch the wind as much as possible, making us go slower but closer to our destination. When Maria awakes we discuss it, we are going too slowly so we agree to start the engine and motor sail. We will need to bring in the headsail so we can go closer to the wind but we should make better time. Our speed increases to about 6.5 knots which is closer to the seven knots we normally plan on when we have good weather.

It is getting close to dinner time and Maria has decided to stay Italian for our meal this evening. She has made an orecchiette and cime di rapa dish. Quite simple but really tasty and just what we need as we prepare for a long nights sail.

As Mariadz ploughs her way through the Adriatic, we take it in turns to get our rest but the trip is uneventful with hardly any ships getting near us. Before long it is sunrise but we are barely half way to our destination. Interestingly, it is not long after this that Maria looks at the horizon and says she can see land. That can’t be right, we are fifty miles from our destination and at least forty miles from land. However, it is exactly right since the spectacular mountains of Montenegro rise high and fast from the water line giving a spectacular view.

For the next few hours we are watching the land getting slowly bigger and bigger. It seems to take ages til we are entering the mouth of the river which leads to Porto Montenegro, our destination for the night. As we do a British registered Grand Banks motor cruiser nudges a little ahead of us but it gives us someone to follow.

The scenery is breathtaking with tree covered mountains on all sides. These seem to have villages and purpose built developments dotted around and you can’t seem to see how they access these since they are surrounded by trees with no obvious roads.

We call in to the marina who direct us to the customs dock. One of the problems we have when coming to unfamiliar marinas is knowing how high the pontoon that you will moor to will be. Sometimes they are inches above the water with quite a step down, or they could be dock level. In this case they towered three feet above the deck with strategically placed ladders which whilst useful for climbing the gap, struck as perfect things to scratch the hull of the boat since they sit very proud. We decide to stop about half way along the dock, noting that the motor boat we saw is right at the front. A policewoman came up to us and tells us we have to move right up to behind the motor boat. There doesn’t seem much room between their stern and the next ladder, which I don’t want to go near but Maria steers Mariadz expertly a few metres parallel to the dock until she is closing on the expected berth. A member of Porto Montenegro comes out to help us by taking our lines and then we are sat there and ready to check in.

I grab our papers and am escorted to the group of offices where all of the officials wait for us. First stop the police for a passport and boat papers check. We have our stamps so it is over to the harbour masters office to get our vignette to allow us to travel around Montenegro, we are only expecting to be there a few days so I have to take the week long option. The tourist office allows me to pay the tourist tax before finally speaking to customs to tell them we don’t have much money and little alcohol. It takes a little time, especially as the port staff prepares some papers for us to submit but it is very efficient and costs us a little but nothing for the marina where we are staying the night.

As we are about to leave, I ask the port staff whether we can stop at the fuel berth and fill up our fuel. We didn’t want to do this at Brindisi where it is €2.20 per litre, or €1.65 if we take our cans to the petrol station – several times! In Montenegro, the price is €1.34, much more palatable and the cheapest fuel we have had since Gibraltar last year.

But first we have to get off the customs dock. Coming in was easy, just drive into the cul de sac and park up on the right. Going out would take a bit more though. You can’t just turn the stern off the quay because the bow would slam into the dock. If there is any wind holding you onto the dock then you will need to spring off, once off it is east since it opens up to allow you to turn around in front of the audience of the public swimming pool before heading back out of the marina. There is little wind but we have perfected our little sideways exit and have to do this in astern. So maria turns the wheel hard over to port to take the stern off and then uses the bow thruster to stop the bow going near the dock. Once mariadz is far enough off the dock, she can start to turn to perform the 180 turn to head towards the fuel dock. Performed perfectly. The audience at the pool don’t get to see a disaster and Maria refrains from taking a bow to rapturous applause. Of course now I have about fifteen seconds to change the boat around, moving fenders to the other side and making sure they are touching the water for this very low pontoon. Last is the three lines, bow, mid and stern ready to hold Mariadz in place. The two guys on the fuel deck are very helpful taking lines and making sure we are fine but of course maria has brought her in nice and slowly so there is no drama. 477 litres of fuel later and Mariadz is full up and ready for more fun.

I have now told Maria that we are expected to go into the middle of the marina and take berth C06, quite a long way in. This is of course the first time we have been out, apart from taking her to get her bottom wiped clean (Mariadz not Maria) so it is almost a year since the big voyage from the UK to Italy and confidence is obviously a little low. Maria is now apprehensive about squeezing Mariadz into this berth but we set off. The trick in these situations is to be just fast enough to have total control as going too slow can cause it’s own problems as does hammering around at full throttle! Maria is very comfortable with her boat and starts to bring her in. We are constantly talking in these situations. Staying to the left on approach before swinging Mariadz around to the other side, going into astern and starting to bring her into the double width berth we have been given. maria is doing it brilliantly and it is isn’t long before we are a few metres from the dock with the marina staff waiting patiently. I throw the line, hopelessly, it falls well short of the dock. Gather it up and throw again – same story. The wind is starting to get Mariadz as does going very slowly at this stage so Maria needs to do some corrections to keep Mariadz in the gap and away from the boats on either side. As she brings Mariadz back in, we go with the other line which this time reaches its destination and is looped around and returned to me. I can finally, at the third attempt get the other line ashore and we are now sitting with both stern lines on. I ask for maria to go forward to get the stern steady and then use the bow thruster to control the bow whilst I get the lazy lines for the bow. Our helpful marina staff hand me the lazy lines, which are remarkably clean and I tie them off at a reasonable tension. This is something we have now learnt. Initially have the boat quite a way from the dock, tie on the lazy lines and then use the stern lines to bring her towards the dock providing tension on the lazy lines and making sure she doesn’t move. I go aft to tighten up the stern lines and we are good.

When we don’t have the passarelle, we lower the swim platform and put the plank on it. This works fine although it can be a bit awkward if the rib is up in the davits. You are on your hands and knees. We are quite a good distance from the dock and the plank only just reaches. If only we had a brilliant passarelle that plugs into the stern and gives you a safe route down to the dock, now where is that……. Brindisi!

In the end I have to loosen the lazy lines on the bow so that we can get Mariadz closer to the dock after we have lowered the rib and tied her to the side. It takes time but all is done and we are able to see the marina and all its facilities. Whilst at the fuel dock we had asked the locals for somewhere to eat that wasn’t too commercial and touristy. They had given a recommendation and when we went to the marina office to check in with them, they also recommended the same place.

So we set off for a reasonably early dinner, remember we have had relatively little sleep so an early is night is in order. The restaurant of choice was Big Ben, funny name for a Montenegrin restaurant but apparently inspired from the owners time in London when studying and coming up with the idea of the restaurant. There is a wide selection of food from burgers to pasta and pizza but we are keen to have something local and have some great starters and traditional meet mains. Far too much food as usual but washed down with some local wine and not ridiculously expensive, probably half of what we would have spent around the marina for something less authentic. Finally the view across the bay was awesome, a perfect end to a hard day travelling.

We get back to the boat for a quick night cap prior to the sleep we have been imagining that will set us up for the holiday. Early the next morning someone has gone on the catamaran behind us and closest to our heads in the bedroom and started using power tools to bring out parts of the hull. It means we don’t get the restful lie in we were hoping for. It also makes up our minds, we are not normally ones who want to go into marinas, when in England and going out on the boat we much preferred to go and find a nice quiet anchorage.

We also need to catch up with our new Brindisi friends, Mike and Mio, who asked us to bring a new carburettor for their outboard which they had delivered to Brindisi. They have been around Montenegro for about three weeks trying out different anchorages. We have decided to go into the northern bay and anchor in somewhere called morinjsk saliva. A lovely little anchorage which apparently has a lovely fish restaurant which is a short rib ride down a river. We are eating a Barbecue in the evening, however a light fish lunch may be just perfect.

I have explained to the marina why we are leaving earlier than expected which was due to the noise and not the €130 cost for mooring. We are ready to go. Dropping the lazy lines while maria powers forward gently. I then remove the stern line adjacent to the boat we moored next to – there may have been two spaces but we didn’t “park” in the middle of them! That brings mariadz towards the middle of the two berths and gives her some room to manoeuvre. Maria confidently takes Mariadz out of her berth, pulling her rib Connie along behind. It is a short six mile journey to the anchorage in a calm inland waterway at a gentle pace so there was no risk pulling Connie along in the water. There is a channel that separates these two bays which is quite busy with ferries going across regularly so it is a bit like frogger avoiding these but that is the only complexity apart from finding exactly where you want to anchor when you arrive. With huge mountains rising around the water, it is clearly very deep but we have enough chain to choose our own spot and find something that is front of a beach bar. Maybe somewhere for later.

We are anchored and will be meeting Mike and Mio later so decide to get straight off and find this amazing fish restaurant. As mentioned it is up a short river from where we are and there is a little bridge by the side of the beach bar so we head towards that. We are able to get under this with only a little ducking but this does seem quite shallow, then there is a gentle scraping of river bed against Connie’s fibreglass hull. Stopped we have to reverse back out with half of the outboard out of the water to make sure it doesn’t contact the bottom, a much bigger problem. We spin around slowly and sheepishly return under the bridge, maybe we should walk. As we reappear from under the bridge, there is a man standing there. “Restaurant”, “yes” – the river entrance is a hundred metres away tucked around a little outcrop and hence why we didn’t see it. This river is much nicer, it has abridge but with headroom and is much deeper. As we appear from under the bridge there is a fantastic motorhome and caravan site right on the waters edge with people setting up in their own private waterfront gardens. As keep going, it is very picturesque and we can see two more bridges and the beautiful restaurant in front of us.

We haven’t really dressed up so we are not surprised to be put into a quiet corner away from other guests, actually that is pretty much what we wanted. Maria is the food expert but the food was wonderful and whilst not cheap, it was excellent quality with really good service. On our return we quickly catch up with Mike and Mio, who have now arrived, before getting a little rest and doing some boat chores before the evening.

A wonderful evening with our new friends as we barbecued using our lotus grill which hadn’t been used for a while so took some coaxing. It wasn’t too late a night although apparently Mio has a set time she likes to get to bed but she hasn’t met a rule breaker like Maria before!

After a great nights sleep, having tidied up the boat before we went to bed, we get ready to check out from Montenegro to head to Dubrovnik in Croatia. leaving the anchorage, we wave so long to our friends, and head to the offices to check out. It is the same but opposite of the check in procedure and we are again ably assisted by the Porto Montenegro staff, it is worth staying there just for the convenience their help provides. Maria does the same as she had done a few days before and we are in and out quite quickly,

We have now left montenegro to start the rest of our holiday touring the southern islands of Croatia between Dubrovnik and Split.