SOUTHERN CROATIAN ISLANDS

Envoy is currently in Zuljana on the Croatian mainland north of Dubrovnik.

SOUTHERN CROATIAN ISLANDS
While the SeaPower alternator was being repaired we left Dubrovnik to visit some of Croatia’s southern islands.
A general impression is that the islands are fertile and lush with vegetation, have some great beaches, are not over-crowded (at this stage in mid-June anyway), and have picturesque small villages with plenty of interesting older buildings from Venetian times, although the later buildings have more of a European style about them than the postcard-friendly Greek buildings. The islands have been occupied since ancient times with successive inhabitants building fortifications against invaders and pirates.
First stop was Lopud with an excellent anchorage off a beautiful sandy beach.
This is one of the Elaphite group of islands, named after Greek elafos, meaning deer, although there are none to be found these days.

Envoy with other boats anchored in Lopud

We walked 2km across the island to the main town of Uvala Lopud to find a quaint village where there used to be a thriving community of several thousand (the island boasted 30 churches in the 16th century) based on fishing and coral harvesting.

By late afternoon the tourists had left our beach to walk back to their hotela at Uvala Lopud, and we had a swim in solitude in the crystal clear water, followed by a refreshing ale from a taverna.
Next day found us moored stern-to the old stone jetty in the small village of Okulje on Mljet island. This is a very small bay almost perfectly protected, and mooring is free if you eat at the nearby taverna.
Envoy stern-to quay in very-protected Okulje

This photo shows how small and sheltered Okulje is

 

 

This would have been idyllic but unfortunately spoiled by large amounts of floating litter. Today was our wedding anniversary so a perfect occasion to eat ashore, and we found the food basic but adequate and very reasonable at Kuna 155 (about NZ$34) for a full meal including some vin ordinaire.

Hand made wooden lobster pots

Here we met some Australians, Col and Pam Darling, cruising aboard their Lagoon 440 catamaran named “Finally My Darling” – the only boat we’ve come across so far carrying its own aircraft. Col is a pilot and has an Airborne XT582 Microlite powered with a 65hp engine and equipped with floats so it takes off and lands in the water.

Powered Microlite carried aboard Lagoon 440

Moving on to another bay on Mljet, Luka Polace, we found another perfect anchorage surrounded by forest and with a small village built around the ruins of a 2nd century Roman fortified palace (hence the name “Polace”).

Ruins of 2nd century Roman palace

Homer visited Mljet and wrote about this island, as did Apostle Paul, so we were in good company.

This fur-lined motor scooter with rabbit ears was for hire in Polace

We met up with some Australians, Kevin and Mae, who we’d met in Marmaris about three seasons ago, and had evening drinks aboard their yacht, Whisper.
Then to cap it off we again met New Zealanders Alistair and Viv from Largo Star, and had a great dinner ashore at a taverna where the specialty was various fish and meats baked under a large metal bell – delicious and tender.
Luka Polace is one of the entry points to the National Park Mljet, and we spent most of a day exploring it. The park is beautiful with unspoiled lush forests of Aleppo pine, some lakes and an island monastery accessed by ferry. Most people were hugely impressed, but it was a bit different for us, coming from New Zealand where this type of scenery is common place.

Typical scene in Mljet National Park

TECHNICAL – nothing to report
ENVOY LOG – up to 16/6/13 we had spent 80 days aboard and cruised 543 miles for 105 engine hours.