Croatia here we come!

In the last episode of What the Hell are they Doing, we had just left Gibraltar for Ibiza. It was a day sail to the lovely island. Initially we anchored on the south side of the island. The anchorage turned out to be less than desirable. There was a large amount of boat traffic and the bottom wasn’t great holding. Also it was very rolly. We moved the next day around to the northwest side of the island , near some of the larger towns. That was a total shit show. First of all we were nearly hit by another sailor who has never read the International Handbook of Boating Rules and Regulations, and therefore didn’t know that a boat under sail power has the right of way over a boat under engine power. Or maybe he was just an asshole. I finally got to use the airhorn, which is super loud. It was very satisfying.

Apparently there are protected grasses everywhere in the shallow waters so anchoring in many areas is prohibited. So a lot of boat try to pack themselves into the small number of shallower sandy anchorages. We dropped anchor and then had to move maybe six times, either because the anchor wouldn’t hold or the shifting wind put us in a bad place. It was the hottest part of the day and we spent probably two hours on this, so by the time we finally set our anchor, I was so hot and dehydrated, I thought I was going to pass out. Not the highlight of my day. At this point I desperately needed a day of rest. We stayed there for a the next day and ventured into town the next night to an over 30 club where we thought we would go have a nice dance night. There were a couple different dance rooms that played various types of music. The largest room was no bigger than the size of our cockpit and packed. Turns out it was just a meat market for the older crowd. We decided it wasn’t our scene and went home. We left Ibiza the next feeling underwhelmed.

Another day sail to Mallorca, another island northeast of Ibiza. We only stayed the one night, but found a very nice anchorage with beautiful blue water that was finally over 80 degrees. It was the first time we had swam since we had swim call on the way to Bermuda. But the joy was short lived because of the jellyfish with tentacles that looked like an octopus’s that swam underneath me and stung me on my breast. It felt as though someone had stabbed me in the chest. I still have large welts and I’m pretty sure it’s going to scar. And no Mike didn’t pee on it.

The next day we left for Sardinia, Italy on the way to Naples. So here’s the thing, most of the Mediterranean countries belong to the EU and are also Schengen. Once you check into Schengen, you can move freely between Schengen countries without checking in with customs and immigration. However, you can only stay 90 days, then must leave for 90 days. Many cruisers have beaten the “Schengen Shuffle”. We are still learning the process. So with all of the chatter yachts here, the crew can actually check out of Schengen an on to their yacht and then as long as they don’t stay on land anywhere, they can stay in the Med as long as they want. So we checked out in Spain. What we didn’t do was check into our boat with our crew list. Like I said, we’re still learning. So we can’t legally stop anywhere unless we check back in and we don’t want to use up our Schengen days until we get to Croatia. So, what does that mean for us? Basically, we not stopping anywhere until we get to Croatia, 1100nm away. We were planning on provisioning at the commissary at the Naval base in Naples, as well as get fuel. Neither would happen now. Unfortunately we weren’t able to wait for good weather windows either, so we just had to go and hope for the best.

So far we’ve done very little sailing a far too much motoring. With no wind, the days have been long and hot. When we finally did some wind, it gusted to 30 knots. It was terrible!

We are finally in the homestretch. We should be in Dubrovnik Croatia tomorrow afternoon. All in all, this has been a painful and unpleasant crossing. I guess they can’t all be rainbows and roses. On the bright side, the sunsets, sunrises and moon have been beautiful.

I must share one funny story. Yesterday afternoon I went up to the fly bridge after lunch, sat down and put my things down beside me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something. I turned to look and there was something staring at me. I scared the bejeezus out of me, and somehow I defied gravity and my entire body left the chair and ended up on the floor. What was it, your wondering? It was someone’s homing pigeon, sitting there just behind the backrest staring at me. A few seconds later Stella came up saw it and ran after it barking. It flew away, but then came right back. I told Stella to leave it alone and she did. I wasn’t sure if it was hurt or hungry, but it definitely needed something. I offered it a bowl of water. It drank and then flew off.