JetPlane

Back on the water…

Graham — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:03:16 +0000

On our way from Hvar (Pakleni Otoci) to Trogir, via a lunch stop at Šolta.

Panorama from Tvrdava Španjola

Graham — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 05:45:53 +0000

From the castle in Hvar town.

Exploring Hvar

Graham — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:41:38 +0000

Weather forecast remains poor, so we Took the water taxi out to Hvar town, 20 mins away, for an explore. Wandered the twisty back streets and eventually ended up at the Castle—Tvrdava Španjola—on the top of the hill overlooking the bay. Good views out to sea and good dungeons too. Lots of wind up there though and we had a blowy drink on the restaurant terrace there.

Lunch in Mizarola in the central square was lovely: tagliatelle kaštela was very good. Wandered on after lunch to the Dominican Friary and the streets behind the waterfront. Finished our trip with a visit to the supermarket to provision the boat.

Water taxi back to Palmižana Marina, and Michael made a lovely chilli on board the Astrea, with some chilli peppers and home-roasted spices from Sean next door. There are seven S&CA boats in the marina this evening, and most of the crew ended up on the Commodore’s boat, spilling out onto ours next door. I was in bed at 12:30 with the party still going full swing next door. I’m getting quite partial to rum and coke.

Day in Hvar?

Graham — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:58:23 +0000

Rough night on the pontoon, with the constant noise of waves slapping against the hull. Rain overnight and hatches had to shut, I woke to a few spots of light rain on my body, which was rather nice.

Weather forecast for the next few days isn’t great and it’s gusting strongly. So it looks like we’ll spend the day at Palmižana Marina and getting a water taxi out to Hvar town for an explore.

Kevin made a lovely breakfast, Michael and Adam are cleaning up now.

Mobile Blogging from here.

Dinner at Bacchus,

Graham — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:12:36 +0000

Had some pre-dinner drinks on the boat before wandering across Vlaka Island for dinner. The path split into three, to different restaurants. We chose the left-most path ending at Bacchus restaurant, which has a glorious view over a bay. The tables are under olive trees, heavy with fruit. We had a lively meal cooked in a brick oven: squid, octopus, beef and scampi (langoustines). All served by a lovely waiter, Simon. Adam bought us icecreams on the walk back to the boat. Gorgeous meal in a memorable setting.

Back on the boat, the wind is getting up and the waves are slapping against the hull. Force 25 predicted overnight and tomorrow. The Commodore’s boat is having a lively party!

At Palmižana in Hvar

Graham — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:04:23 +0000

Managed an earlier start today. Off at 8:30 from Vela Luka, after a lovely chocolate croissant for breakfast, thanks to Colin and Adam who slipped silently ashore before 7am for some shopping.

Good sail to Hvar, where we stopped at the NW side of Jerolim, for lunch. Jerolim is a naturist island and the rocky beaches were busy with nutty-brown bodies when we anchored up. Had a lovely nude swim and sun on the deck, then were joined by two other boats from our flotilla, and Jason, Chris and Reggie swam over for a beer. We spent four lovely hours there (Colin went ashore and bought some dodgy looking ‘oregano’ on the island from a hippy commune). We slipped off the anchor on head sail, then sailed off, which was fun. Confusing confluence of winds around the islands and we made good headway under the genoa alone—Adam got 4 knots.

Now on Vlaka at Palmižana Marina. Kevin did a good job of reversing into our berth in the cramped Marina, but we left a space next door and the Commodore’s boat ended there, expertly parked by Jason, who slid the boat into a narrow gap effortlessly. Three other boats from our flotilla are here too.

Vela Luka on Korčula

Graham — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:57:56 +0000

Had a pretty slow start at Vis, didn’t get up till almost 9. I opened the Johnny Walker black label and I was pretty impressed about the quality. Will be buying that again.

Lovely sail over from Vis to Korčula Island, in preparation for getting somewhere to shelter from the sirocco predicted for Wednesday (with winds of 35 knots). Used the home-bottled anchovies and capers I bought from the old women on Vis Market to make a niçoise salad—very tasty and the anchovies were super-powerful! Had this on the move. The wind dropped after a couple of hours and we motored round to a small anchorage on Korčula called Gradina, in full sun and sheltered. Anchored up for a couple of hours for an afternoon swim. Colin, Adam and Barry rowed ashore to explore and the rest of us swam and lounged on deck. We were the first of the moored yachts to break ranks from Gradina and were followed out by six boats, all racing to Vela Luka. Missed our chance on a buoy, which was snapped up by another yacht. Had a long discussion with the harbour master and tried to get a discount by bribing him with a beer—he didn’t bite and we had to pay full rate for our position at anchor in the town harbour. Goos spot though. 80 Kuna (£10) so we can’t complain.

Had pizza this evening at Pizzeria Wimbledon 2001, which was good (but not spicy enough). All the pizzas looked identical, with finely shredded ham, most unusual.

Back on the yacht for some nice wine and more of the Johnny Walker. The good wine was a Dingač Vrhunsko Vino, “Madirazza”

Big fish!

Graham — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:04:49 +0000

Wandered from Vis to Kus, across the bay. Pleasant walk to get there and found a good restaurant — Konoba “Vatrica”, where we ordered a beautifully grilled 2.3kg emperor fish for five of us (Barry had a steak). Wandered back past the open air cinema showing Inception on the large screen. Finished off with duty-free whisky (or rum) on the deck. Someone on the Russian boat next door is playing the accordion ‘Country Roads’ and ‘Hotel California’. Time for bed.

Tweets this Week (2010-09-05)

Graham — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:00:00 +0000

*Sake Tasting at the Punter* blog post http://www.grahammccann.org/JetPlane/?p=2068 #
Weather's god enough for a BBQ—it's smelling lovely and hopefully we'll be able to sit out long enough to enjoy. http://twitpic.com/2k0p3l #
Amazing carved watermelon http://j.mp/dvQP3H #
Belgian beer time, so at the Elm Tree. Michael's Satan Gold is alcoholic, my T'Gaverhopke Paasbier came with 'an acquired taste warning'! #
Dinner at Free Press—very indulgent, but too lazy to cook ! #
RT @MikeyCbg: Excellent piece by Joan Smith in response to latest Catholic outburst: http://bit.ly/aSzato – thanks for link @NatSecSoc #
Oops, two pints of Budvar with dinner was a bit much. On holiday from tomorrow, so have a holiday feeling. #
Lunch with Adam, Barry and Michael at the waterfront at Split. Blazingly hot and sunny. http://twitpic.com/2l5f6j #

Night in Vis

Graham — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:48:37 +0000

Disastrous first attempt to make tea last night ended up with using the salt water tap (who’d have thought!). But a good night sleep even after lots of Babic red wine Managed to leave our mooring about 10:30, the first boat from our flotilla to go. Not much wind, and on the nose so we motored out to Bobovisce for a lovely lunch stop. Colin swam for the shore and tied our stern to to a tree. Lovely swimming, a trip to the village. Melon and cured ham, with salad for lunch and a cold beer, courtesy of all the motoring.

Motored on to Vis: 21 miles for our first stop in Vis town. Beautiful approach past church and graveyard and moored on the town quay, with fruit market etc. Within easy reach of the boat. Time to head out for dinner!