THE HISTORIC ANCIENT CITY OF SPLIT

Envoy is now at Cavtat, where we will clear-out of Croatia, and make the 175 mile cruise to Corfu expected to take about 32 hours.
To meet our friends Frank and Marie we moored Envoy in the Marina Kastela, just out of Split, and named after the nearby small 16th century Gomilica Castle on the water’s edge, one of the few castles to have been continuously inhabited since it was built.

Gomilica Castle adjacent to Marina Kastela

The marina is well sheltered, well-organised, has helpful staff, has supermarkets nearby and a regular bus service to Split taking about 40 minutes. The cost was a reasonable Kn 527 (about NZ$117) per night including power and water.
We met Frank and Marie in Split’s main piazza in a scorching 39d, and even that evening the temperature stayed above 30. We were impressed with the Split, Croatia’s second largest city, and spent several enjoyable hours exploring and getting lost in the Old Town built around the remains of a Unesco World Heritage fortified palace built by Roman Emperor Diocletian, dating from the year 300. Split’s narrow cobbled lanes and charming waterfront are full of historic buildings dating back hundreds of years, including the spectacular 15th century Cathedral of St Domnius.
Split's Iron Gate and typical street scene

Split's waterfront buildings are part of the former fortifications

I tried to see the Harbourmaster to add Frank and Marie to our Crew List, but found out that since 1 August there is no longer any requirement to change these lists when friends come and go, and this saves quite a hassle.

Marie and Frank enjoying a taverna dinner on their first night with us

Cruising 31 miles to Lucice on the south west side of Brac Island we found a nice group of three bays with clean sparkling water and only one other boat anchored there. One of the bays has moorings but the other two are free for anchoring. An entrepreneurial taverna owner came over in his dinghy to tell us about his fare, although we had already decided to BBQ aboard.
All over Brac are huge piles of rocks put there over hundreds of years by women clearing the land for cultivation of olives and grapes. What did the men do?

Brac is covered with huge piles of rocks

Next day we cruised over to Zavala on Hvar Island’s Zavala, where although there were many mooring buoys, no fees were being collected. We started to notice many wasps around, and Marie got stung on her hand with some nasty swelling that lasted a few days. A few days later Do got stung on her leg. Annoying wasps continued to be a feature of the area around Split and to the north, although there were very few flies or mosquitoes. Other cruisers commented on this also, and many had been stung.
In the morning we launched our big RHIB and went into the village of Stari Grad to have a look around and get three lpg bottles refilled. Getting lpg bottles from one country filled in another can be problematic, so it was a relief to find the right contact who came and took them away balanced on his motor scooter, returning an hour later and charging us a reasonable 450 Kn (about NZ$100).
This man balanced our three lpg bottles away on his motor scooter and filled them

Laurie and Di in Envoy's RHIB in Stari Grad

Stari Grad is a very atmospheric village and had a large supermarket at a nearby ferry terminal where we got our supplies for the first part of our journey together.

Di bought this fluffy toy for our new grandaughter, Lily

View of Stari Grad harbour

TECHNICAL - nothing to report