Week Two – The Headmasters and their lovely wives!

The headmasters and their lovely wives arrived just in time for beer and champers on the aft deck (it was Lucy and Mark’s 19th wedding anniversary). An afternoon of swimming in the marina pool and chilling out followed by the men making a brief sortie up the river in the dinghy – there was an eerie mist over the water and the temperature dropped by ten degrees as we approached the weir!

A good night’s sleep, a decent breakfast followed by a shopping trip to the supermarket to stock up and we were ready for the off! Very little wind so we motored around to the old Town of Dubrovnik and then moored in a small bay on the island of Lopud, overlooking Dubrovnik.

 

  

 

   

Plenty of swimming, fishing, snorkelling and sunbathing and the we went ashore for a ‘leisurely’ walk around the island and up to the fort. We couldn’t have picked a hotter day to do this! We all made it though, and enjoyed the wonderful views from the top.

Mark got into trouble by taking a photo of the policeman working so hard ‘guarding’ the fort!

 

 

Justin, forever mindful of the water shortage on board, made the crew go ashore after everyone had left the island to have a cold shower using the beach shower! Helen, however, seem to find herself in the hot shower aboard?

A lovely still night at anchor and we left the following morning to head for Sipan via the supermarket on the island of Kolocep. 

On the way we decided to have a go at getting up the new cruising chute – there was very little wind but we did manage to sort out where all the ropes went!

Went ashore at Kolocep for some provisions and then continued up the coast to the beautiful island of Sipan. 

              

Check out those wonderful palm trees! (On Chris’s T-shirt!)

After a great night at anchor we made our way to the nature reserve at Mljet – managed to spot some dolphins on the way and got the cruising chute up in a little more mind (not a lot more though!)

Enjoyed a lovely couple of days at anchor on the island, although the holding for the anchor wasn’t particularly good, slipping a couple of times. The crew went ashore and enjoyed the minibus trip to the monastery. A couple of beers in the local bar followed as did a result for Mark!! 

The final night saw the wind build and the anchor alarm went off at 3 am – we managed to secure a better hold in shallower water but J had to sleep on deck for the rest of the night just to make sure!

The forecast wasn’t particularly good with a force 6 building to force 7 later in the day. We decided to pop our noses out and have a look and although it was very windy (35 knots) and the seas were very confused we went for it with a couple of reefs in and had an exciting sail back to Dubrovnik. (We later found out that they had cancelled the ferries due to the bad weather! – Oh well we made it and nobody got hurt!) Poor old Minnie really didn’t like the start but she was very brave and didn’t moan once!

 

By the time we arrived at the marina, the wind had died and we ended up having to motor the last few miles. No one was in the mood for cooking, so a pizza from the cafe was ordered for supper.

 

The final day – a lazy morning, recovering from the excitement of the previous day and then a bus trip into the Old Town of Dubrovnik. The crew walked the walls while J and Helen found a bar for a beer. WiFi allowed us to catch up with our emails from the boys.

                

We ended the day with steak and chips at a fabulous harbourside restaurant.

 

The crew bought us a couple of brilliant sun beds for the boat – Helen seen here in her pyjamas checking them out!

 

We had a fabulous week with Chris, Minnie, Mark and Lucy and it was very sad to see them leave. Next year – Turkey!?

Here are one or two more photos from the week! Cheers!