Dubrovnik, trained dolphins, fishing and sailing to Italy

Dubrovnik really is a 'must see' destination, so that's where we headed after Nick and Sally left us.  There really is an end of season feel on the islands now, and interestingly we are having trouble getting water - apparently on Mljet Island many of the restaurants and minor harbours rely on tanks of water and they are now empty.  By the time we arrived in Dubrovnik we had 9 litres of water in the tank.

Dubrovnik Marina really is a 5 Star experience:  It has a swimming pool, tennis court, ancient  ruin, walled garden, chandlery and most importantly a laundrette.  Obviously it also had water!  Apart from all that, it is also in a spectacular setting - a few miles out of the town of Dubrovnik, you pass under a suspension bridge to find the Marina nestled between huge mountains that would not look out of place in the Alps.  

Even when you know there is a 50 metre clearance, it is still very un-nerving sailing under a bridge!  Dubrovnik, entrance to ACI Marina.

There is a regular bus service from the Marina to the Historic Town of Dubrovnik (we expected no less) so it was off to see the Old Town - we did consider cycling, but fortunately decided against it, the bus ride was enough of an adrenaline rush as it was!

The old town lived up to expectations:  Walls up to 6m thick in places enclose the old city, there is a central main street, polished to a high gloss by the traffic of millions of feet over the centuries, lots of incredibly narrow side streets and a plethora of museums, churches and historic buildings.

A view from the walls - the round building is Onofrio, the ancient well, which has been providing water since 1438.

The Town Hall - no expense spared on the stone carving here.

The absolute highlight of Dubrovnik is the wall itself - it is simply spectacular.  Built between the 13th and 16 centuries - 2 km long, up to 25m high and between 1.5m and 6m thick.

Aview through the wall

During the civil war in 1991 - 1992 Dubrovnik was hit by over 2000 shells, striking 70% of the 800 buildings enclosed by the wall.  The roofs obviously needed repairing but the original factory that produced the tiles had long since closed, replacements of the same colour were impossible to find.

Although the new tiles blend poorly with the originals the old tiles are gradually being replaced.

The old tiles - traditionally created by kneading the clay like dough, then shaping it into a curve over a man's thigh before baking it!  (Photo by Geoff Slater)

The next big news was that we were expecting a visitor - Geoff was coming back for another visit.  He met us in Dubrovnik, and we went back for another trip round the old town - so good you had to go twice!

Geoff and Ian  - one of the many look out posts that are along the walls.

Geoff was sailing over to Italy with us, so having cleared customs into Croatia with just two people on the boat (significant paperwork exercise) we were leaving with three - more paperwork required ...  We went to the Official Exit Point where we tied up alongside the Customs Office and Ian went to complete the formalities.  This took some time.  

But - there were trained dolphins in the harbour - Dubrovnik continues to amaze - we were told that  6 dolphins had been airlifted over from the USA to locate unexploded mines.

The location of any mines was then given to the disposal team to deal with.

And once the area was cleared, the dolphins jumped onto the waiting RIB and were taken to the next bay to start work again.  Apparently they wrap them in special fleece and they go to sleep on the RIB.  You couldn't make it up!

Geoff was only with us a few days and had a flight booked back to the UK from Bari, in Italy, so we set off - unfortunately it was not a clear starry night, but we did have some great sailing  - at times enough wind to need a couple of reefs in the sails, and also a few hours when we had to motor.  We arrived in Mola di Bari bright and early the following morning - and the marina was full!  This was a first - there was a fishing competition planned for the weekend and every available space in the harbour was booked.

So - on to Monopoli, a couple of hours further south down the East Italian coast.

Monopoli was delightful.  A very tatty working fishing port with a couple of pontoons for yachts, but fantastically welcoming and not holding a fishing competition.

Routine Maintenance, Monopoli Boatyard was packed with traditional fishing boats

The old town walls - not quite of the Dubrovnik standard, but not too bad!


The historic old town - tiny alleyways, a central square and some impressive architecture.

We found a delightful restaurant in a converted wine cellar - Geoff treated us to a fantastic meal, and we got chatting to the owner.  Having plied us with all sorts of home made liqueurs, he introduced us to Natali, the local fisherman who supplied the restaurant.  They felt so strongly that we should do some fishing ourselves that we ended up going to Natali's boat the next day where he made us up a tuna line.

Natali, our personal Fishing Instructor, demonstrating the art of Tuna Fishing.

Somehow he manages all these hooks, but we were only going to attempt fishing with one!

We waved Geoff off and were planning to leave for Sicily, but despite no mention of it in the forecast, Natali said we should wait as there was a storm coming. 

And it was a mighty storm!!!  

Things calmed down the next day so we set off - and tested the Tuna line.

Not only was he an authority on the weather, but Natali could clearly instruct in the art of fishing!

Our catch was approximately 75cm long - that is a lot of tuna steak!

So we are now in Licata, our winter mooring - we've not been here long enough to really get our bearings, but it seems good so far.