Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Zadar and more

Zadar is a large city on the mainland of Croatia with 3 marinas and supplies of all sorts. We dropped the hook just outside the breakwater protecting the inner harbour and Old Town and beside of 1 of the marinas (N44°07.498' E015°13.333').

From the end of the breakwater, pedestrians can take a shortcut across to Old Town via a rowboat taxi.

All aboard!

We were able to accomplish so much in just 1 day. Picked up the special glue needed to repair our dinghy, purchased a much needed new bumper, found a self-serve laundromat in Old Town where we did our own laundry, and Jordan discovered a cool new contraption to replace his broken boat hook that he uses for capturing mooring balls.

The easy-to-get-lost-in Old Town was quite delightful with its numerous narrow walkways and alleys. We could tell the oldest lanes by the shiny surface stones from centuries of traffic that now makes them easy to slip on if there was the least bit of water.

Entry to 'Kingdom of Zadar'

The next day was to renew our internet for 1 more month and extend our cruising permit for Croatia for another month as well.

With errands done, we strolled over to the oceanside esplanade to see, or should we say hear, an intriguing and award winning creation by a local architect. He has created a wind organ that is powered by wave surges that come from under the marble steps of the waterfront walkway. The effect is a haunting harmony to the slapping waves.

Click on the link below to hear the sea organ!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n86pF-wQKrw

Steps of the music

The recent movie Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again that was largely filmed at the Croatian island of Vis was playing in English at the cinema so we decided to check it out since we were at Vis in July. We recognized many of the scenes including the steps in front of the bar where we had pizza.

After Zadar, we made numerous anchorages of little consequence. But we did find a sand beach at Otok Nin and Otok Olib, a rarity in the Med, at least from what we have seen so far.

While diving on the anchor at Otok Rivanj, Jordan had a curious spectator...


The unusual blues merging the sky and ocean at 20:30 just after sunset was beautiful at the teeny tiny rock island of Hrid Kurjak - next to Otok Olib - that we walked around and drift snorkelled. The only sea life that we could see was the abundance of sea cucumbers, if you could call them sea life!

A blue evening

Otok Olib has a small grocery store/market and mostly summer residences but not much else. Idle Olib it likes to be known as, and it certainly was. There are a few cars but they are only allowed on the few narrow roads in special circumstances. Otherwise golf carts or 'tractors' are means of movement.

Idling away the day

While we were there, the August meteor showers were at their peak, and as we had clear cloudless skies, we decided to sleep in the open cockpit making wishes to each shooting star. We saw several with Jordan spotting more than me.

Anchorages:
N44°07.498' E015°13.333' Aug 07 Zadar
N44°08.784' E015°03.339' Aug 09 Otok Rivanj
N44°16.269' E015°07.374' Aug 11 Otok Nin (Privlaka)
N44°17.413' E015°04.714' Aug 11 Otok Vir
N44°24.132' E014°45.592' Aug 12 Hr Kurjak
N44°24.949' E014°45.308' Aug 13 Otok Olib

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