So after City’s glorious victory in the FA cup despite the best endeavours of the officials on the pitch and in the VAR room, it is half way through our holiday and time to start thinking of heading back south east and eventually towards Brindisi.

Our destination for today is Uvala Poplat on the western side of the island of Korcula. Of course the winds are blowing in from the south and east because that is the direction we are heading! The west facing bay looks really nice but getting there is going to need us to tack a little.

We are the end boat on the pontoon so our exit is easy with Maria making the boat go sideways away from our companion and then going straight ahead. We also use the lines to help with this, releasing the stern line nearest to the other boat which helps us to shift away. Drop the two lazy lines on the bow and walk slowly back aft while those lines sink to the bottom so we don’t get one wrapped our prop. Finally release the last line on the stern and we are already on our way.

There are quite a lot of boats out today, none of them going in the same direction as us mugs though. We do see one beautiful square rigged cruise ship, Sea Cloud, but when Marina checks it out, it is about £9,000 for a week. Maybe will stick to our own mini cruise ship.

After a big tack, we are now heading directly into the bay and as we get closer it is time to get the sails out.

Mariadz has in-mast furling and we are generally pretty good at getting the sail in and out without any problems. The trick for us is to keep tension on the sail using the outhaul while the continuous line brings the sail in. On this occasion, however, the continuous loop gets caught in a handle bar in the cockpit under the winch and locks itself tight. We look in disbelief at the beautiful knot under tension with the sail still mostly out and now our means of getting it in blocked. I can’t even move the furler to free mode which would remove the tension and allow us to undo the knot. After a few minutes of thought we decide to try and wedge a flat head screwdriver to ease the knot a bit. Miraculously, this works after a little time and we are able to free the knot, carefully make sure that the continuous line doesn’t play with anything else it shouldnt and get the sail in.

We arrive in Uvala Poplat and there is one other boat in the anchorage. Their position means we need to drop and anchor and attach to a tree but we are confident of this and interestingly after we have finished they do the same on the other side of the bay.

As mentioned we have an anchor buoy to let us know where the anchor is which proves very useful. It has 20 metres of line on it which is doubled at the moment because we generally anchor in less than ten metres and it means it is close to the anchor. Today we think it will be ten metres depth so I attach it and deploy the anchor to see the buoy bobbing a metre under the water, drat it must be eleven metres! We lay out some chain as I get prepared with our three lines combined, y shaped mooring line ready. As Maria holds station, I attach the line to the boat and then off to find a strong tree. I climb the rocks to get to my chosen tree, having remembered to pull out the ribs anchor, attach it to the boat and launch it at the rocks so that the rib doesn’t float away. I have just finished tying the knot when I notice that the line is underwater and has an angle in it. It is clearly snagged on an underwater rock. By now my bowline around the tree has been pulled taut and I can’t get enough slack in the line to undo it. Frustrating isn’t the word. So it’s back to the boat, get the boat hook to unsnag the line. Nope! I get to the line but can’t shift it because it is under tension from both sides. Right! I now have to go back to the boat, undo both lines at the stern, gather in the line until I get to the rock, unsnag it by driving away from the rock before putting it all back together again. That works so it is back to the boat again being careful with the lines and making sure they don’t get caught in the prop. I successfully tie on the first line however the other mischievous line that I want to tie to the other side of the boat has snuck out of the rib and immediately wrapped itself around the prop, stalling the engine.

Everything we do which should be simple is having unwanted issues. I lift the engine clear the line, tell it off for going out without permission like a naughty child and lower the engine. I attempt to restart and there is nothing, grrrh. So I wonder if there is a cut off I need to check. Lift the engine, take the top cover off engine, take a look, nothing obvious and lower engine. Why won’t it start, maria suggests checking the safety cut off, yes it is in place just below the ignition but it is a fair ask since we first got the boat there have been engine start issues that have been exactly that. However, the gear stick is still in drive where it was when the engine stalled which will stop the engine starting. Into neutral and Connie starts first time and purrs in tickover. I can now tie off the second line onto Mariadz. As I finish this, I look back to the tree and the line is caught under another underwater rock. This one is closer to shore, shallower and easier to clear. Having done this and back on board Mariadz, I can now tighten the chain a little to straighten the boat and get the shore line holding us.

We are sitting pretty, at last. Something is telling us today is a day for problems.

Another boat comes in, a bavaria 37 cruiser which is often a charter boat. They go around the entire bay, which is quite large, before deciding that their best place is about thirty metres from us. Still it’s a front row seat for the show. We see their dinghy doesn’t have an engine on and the man has to row it to shore having thrown a very long line into it. The guy goes onto the rocks in bare feet (ouch), that doesn’t look nice. He also has a very long line which seems to be completely tangled together now. You can feel his frustration, somewhat similar to my own an hour previously. It takes ages to untangle the line but eventually he gets the line around a large boulder and drops the rest back into the dinghy. However, he is struggling to row the boat and pay out the line. After a few minutes watching his pain, we call across to offer some help which after initially being refused, is gratefully accepted. So I am back in the rib, avoiding all lines and heading to join him near the rocks. I attach a line to his dinghy and start to tow him back to their boat as he pays out the line. On board he is able to tie it to their cleat and my work is done. All done for now and they invite us over for a drink as a thank you for the help. A little later we pop over and meet a really nice Slovenian family. They are having a reunion family holiday with their 35 year old son and 29 year old daughter. They speak excellent English and correct all of pronunciations of the places we have visited 🙂 so we are starting to learn a little more about Croatia.

On our return to Mariadz, Maria makes up a nice dinner with pork chops and a little pasta and then it is off to bed. As we switch the lights off their is a strange ticking noise we can hear. We start taking up floor boards desperately trying to understand the cause of this noise before the ticking noise is traced to pistol prawns outside of the boat. During our search, we see some water in the aft bilge and quickly hoover it up. Being lazy, I put the water down the toilet. Maria is worried she didn’t just hoover up water…. Why was I so lazy as to not dump it overboard. We now have a blocked toilet. I am hoping that whatever it is has got through the toilet and been caught in the joker valve which would be easier to fix. So of course it isn’t that. A job for when we stop next.

The next morning we set off early to sail to Lastovo on our back to Mljet. As usaual the wind is coming from over the Lastovo island so similar to yesterday there will be a tack required. We are actually making reasonable time and the southern tack is quite fast.

Tonight we will be docking on the sea wall in lostova, the restaurant, Konoba Aragosto, has had good reviews. We are on approach it looks a pretty well protected bay. As we get in, we can see one other boat outside of the restaurant as i finalise getting the fenders and stern lines on. In quite a strong cross wind, Maria gets Mariadz going backwards onto the dock. Someone is there to help us and as they often do he is keen to give me the lazy line straight away. I ask him to tie the stern lines first so that Maria can power the boat away from the deck held by these. I get them ashore, those distant memories of messing that up are hopefully behind me.

Once we are settled we can set to fixing the toilet or at least understanding what is wrong. Firstly we need to know where the blockage is, a pretty horrible thought when you are talking about toilets. I recheck the back of the toilet. There is nothing in the non-return joker valve and water in the pipe so I next go to the diverter box (which allows us to go from the sea to the holding tank. When I open this up, it is full of calcium so I clean it up. So I have now gone right the way to the through hull which when wide open doesn’t let water into the boat. It is blocked and we can clear some out but the right angle bend at the top of it, stops us getting it all. Ave attacked it quite hard and we are now able to get water coming in but there still seems to be a problem with the emptying of the toilet – one for tomorrow when we aren’t in a dock and I can go under the boat and try and clear the outside part.

This glorious, messy and smelly exercise takes me pretty much to dinner, especially by the time we have cleared up the boat and me. Shortly before that though, two people in uniform come to the boat and tell us we have to pay a fee for entering the national park so we get stung for €40 for entering the national park. We go to the restaurant for dinner and and have a mixed starter of meat, cheese and gherkins, a John Dory fish which we share and a pancake and ice cream pudding. With some wine and sparkling water, our bill comes to €160. The most expensive meal we have had. It was nice but not the best we have had. A few nightcaps on board to finish the night and it’s off to bed.

In the morning the two boats either side of us are making lots of noise at 8am, so that means we will be up then! Our plan to go to vucine bay on the mainland of Croatia before going to mljet tomorrow. The winds should be ok but it will be tight and potentially like the last few days with some tacking going on

We are thinking of leaving but need one of the boats to move ideally since we are squeezed tight. We have nearly had one problem with our kedge anchor protruding proud of the rest of the boat and we don’t want a repeat. There are ominous black gloves to the west of us and just as one of the boats is thinking of leaving, a huge storm blows in with strong winds and rain lashing down, nobody is going anywhere for the moment. It’s a good wash for the boat but we have the mesh sides up which allow some rain in! So all of our cloth covers are wet. However, this is all coming in from the west completely against any of the weather predictions. Although I guess as this heads south then those winds will come in as predicted.

An hour or two after our intended departure time, the outside boat leaves and we are ready to go too. It means we won’t arrive at the anchorage until gone 4pm, late for us.

As we get out of the bay, it is an easterly wind of 12-14knots. We will motor sail with most of the main and the stay sail so we don’t heal over too much. Mariadz, and Maria, don’t like that. We want to head east and it would take a very long time just sailing and tacking there. Maybe if we had more time. We start heading north east towards the island of korcula that we have visited already, actually our heading is pretty much straight at korcula town on the far side of the island. Rather than two tacks maria would like to break it up a bit more into four tacks which also gives us some options if the wind changes direction, I guess. As we finish our final south eastern tack we have lost a bit of time but the wind has shifted south a little which allows us to aim directly for our destination as the sun comes out to dry our stuff and make Maria happy.

We are about half an hour out when I see a yacht with sails down with a motor boat in attendance. The motor boat seems fine but the yacht is on a collision course. We are sailing on a starboard tack quite close to the wind and in the groove and it looks like that sail boat will pass just behind us. Until I notice the tow rope between the two of them when they are about half a mile away. Ah. Maybe we will go behind the sailing boat then… it’s a quick diversion and we are soon back on our course.

We approach the beautiful bay of Uvala Vucine and there is one other boat who are right where we wanted to anchor, at least we are good at choosing spots! We anchor a little south of them but in a good spot in 8 metres of water. The water is so clear you can see the chain all the way back to the anchor and when we float past it the anchor too.

The water is fantastic and clear so we have to go for a swim and use Maria’s new personal watercraft which goes at 4.3km hour. It’s really good fun and a lazy way to swim. I go and check the anchor and do a quick tour of the boat.

We also fly the drone again to get some great views of the bay and mariadz in it. It is beautiful. The drone landing is still very stressful but no damage done so a result.

A Sunsail boat full of brits comes in. We all watch the glorious sunset and then eat our bbq dinner on deck drinking some very nice wine that we bought from our favourite enoteca in San Michelle. A little taste of home since we are going back soon. At the end of the meal, Maria decided to feed the fish the left over bread, they are going wild for it.

In the morning we are woken by bird song and the sun shining full on my pillow. We decide to have another swim before leaving without about 100 fish. Then it is on our way to Mljet with no wind. As we depart our friends that we met in Mljet, Annie and flinn say they are coming to the bay and will arrive during the morning. Such a shame that we have just missed them.

It’s a scorching day with what little wind there is offsetting the wind that Mariadz is making by driving forward. It is reminiscent of the coast of Africa last year when we watched Christian reading a book with sweat dripping off his face, must have been a raunchy book.

We have messaged the Maestral restaurant, brother and sister Tim and Linda, and told them we will be there at 1pm, and we arrive in the bay at 12:58. Linda comes to help us with the mooring buoy which was nice and we settle down. There is a 50 foot cat on the other buoy and we seem quite close, we are also close to the “roundabout” of rocks in the middle of the bay.

It is really hot and we decide to go for a swim giving Marina another opportunity to play with her James Bond toy. It also gives me a chance to check the distance to the shallows and also to review the holding weight at the sea bed that we are attached to. Actually the bay is quite deep until you get very close to the central rocks and we are attached to a three foot cubed lump of concrete. Mariadz is safe. While we are swimming there are three large yachts that come into the bay and go back out, maybe they were hoping for our mooring buoy.

Our dinner is booked early at Maestral but we are grateful that we booked since they are full of boats and people tonight in contrast to the other restaurants in the bay who have 3 and 4 boats on their docks.

It is time for dinner and we are looking forward to this, we checked the menu when we were here last week and it looked lovely. Maria has seen the five course tasting menu which looks good but like a lot of women, just wants to change a few things on it… we are decided and also take Linda’s advice on Croatian wine, this is a white from the Dubrovnik region, which is excellent. I’m sure if we were going back we would buy a few bottles of that.

The meal and view, including Mariadz gloriously sitting in the middle of the bay, are perfect. At the end, they offer us a choice of liquors but again Maria can’t choose and we have both. This is the most expensive meal we have had on holiday but it was fantastic.

We had decided to have an early sitting for food, so we could chat to the siblings a little but it also meant we were back on the boat shortly after West Ham started playing for their first European honours in forty plus years. It’s another victory while we have been away and we know Kristy, Stu, Isabella and bump will be happy.

A quick nightcap and off to bed to get a good nights rest before the long journey back to Brindisi.