Start of the 2024 season!

22nd February, water-borne again, en route from Marina Polesana, Pula, the new homeport of Belisama, to Marina Veruda, the largest marina in the area, and where the annual service of the hull can be done. First winter sailing, under still quiet Yugo (south) wind with temperatures around 10°C. Luckily, the sea is quiet. We struggle to reach 4 knots with engine running at 2200 rpm and heavy turbulences in our wake, indicating that something is holding us back in the water...

Let's see...

Learning Adriatic winds the hard way, 3 December 2023

Winter is finally here with temperatures ranging from 3 to 10 degrees Celsius. Today, went to Rovign, probably the most touristic place in Istria (see see previous post). The wind was blowing at gale level from the west-south-west, with occasional showers. It is interesting to note that there is still a lot of fishing going on in Rovign at this time of year.

Looking out to sea to the west is not very impressive on the picture, but I can confirm that it is difficult to walk in the streets of Rovign when the wind is blowing in your direction! This is either the Pulenat or Lebić wind, both coming from the west/southwest and reaching gale force.  Quite an impressive wind!

The Pulenat wind is known for raising the sea level in the harbours along the coast. 

Below is the forecast for Windy. Yesterday at 16:00, southwest winds were gusting to 24 m/s (86 km/h). Today, the forecast is for northeasterly winds gusting to 22 m/s. Quite a pair of slaps in a few hours!

At the beginning of November, while I was working in Egypt, the storm Ciaran reached the Istrian coast with some force and completely tore apart the canopy of Belisama. A lot of sewing to be done A lot of sewing to do before the next season starts. By the way, we already have a reservation for a berth in the San Giorgio harbour, the best located in Venice, for 3 nights at the end of May 2024! 

For the rest, the season is good for spending time in the bars, the oil bars of course, as there is a festival in Vodnjan to celebrate the new oil harvest! Quite an interesting learning and tasting experience.

In addition to the new oil festival, Vodnjan is also known for its church of Saint Blaise.

Saint Blaise church, Vodnjan

The church has an amazing collection of mummies and relics that you would not expect to find in a small town of 3000 inhabitants! The reason for this is Napoleon, who in 1797, while fighting the Austrians in the area, supported the Venetian revolutionaries to overthrow the Republic of Venice. As a result and to avoid looting, the holy (fake) relics from the Venice Cathedral were moved to the Church of St. Blaise in Vodnjan, in the southern part of Istria,  where they are still kept. 

The church houses a copy of the shroud used to wrap Jesus' body after his crucifixion, which is kept in the Cathedral of Turin. Although radiocarbon dating indicates that the original in Turin dates from the Medieval Ages, it is still revered as authentic by most Catholics. And any copy of the shroud that has been brought into contact with the original in Turin has the status of an 'official' relic. There are also two a thorns from the crown of christ and a drop of his blood among many pieces in the collection.

Finally, a year after having ordered a pellet stove for our house, we got it installed last week. The chimney had to go through the living room roof under the newly built terrace, where for 2 years, we have had water leakages whenever it was raining through the opening that I asked to construction worker to keep and close.

Very nice feeling now, with "quality" heat in the heart of our place. This corresponds to the end of the works that we initiated after buying the house four years ago in Štinjan.

Lot of of km under our wheels, lots of miles under our keel since September... 15 October 2023.

 We left you in Alexandria, Egypt, a month ago, as I was working there for WHO to setup a health emergency information centre. Still ongoing... <on the way back to Pul, through Vienna, we encountered a few wine yards ready for late harvesting. But could not taste!

On the highway to Croatia, we got surprised by a Gaudi inspired bathroom gaz station toilets. Not so common and quite remarkable!

Further south, we encountered a sun with two sundogs on the highway, reminding us of our northern sailings in the Baltic sea...

Then we made it to Pula and enjoyed the end of the season every evening along the coastline at the sunset.

At the same time, like every years, we prepared additional fermented food consisting of lemon, tomatoes, beet root, cornichons, cabbage and coleslaw. Yummi winter!

On October 13, because of a forecast of dark bura obscuro, we all sailed back to shelters.

Funny animals in the water along the coast. They are many and as you swim, you can feel them in contact with your skin. They are many but not as disturbing as you would feel, In any case, anyone would feel better without them along side. 

This Saturday evening, strong Bura Obscura, the one coming with rain, is announced for the following Saturday/Monday afternoon. We noticed lots of fishing bats getting out on Saturday evening, probably anticipating on the forecasted Bura. Let´s see what will happen ... 

Finally, the new location of Belisama in Marina Polesana for the winter, We are very happy that the place is no longer directly exposed to the Bora and other Jugo strong winds, but better protected from them all. Nice landing and looking forward enjoying lot of good mooring time here! 

Alexandria, 20 September 2023

I am on a work trip to Alexandria for a few days. It is one of the cities that played a significant role in the advancement of sailing in the Mediterranean and the world during its time.

The Alexandria coast, stretching over 40 kilometres!

For centuries, Alexandria was the largest city on the Mediterranean coast.

End of the sailing season in Croatia? 15-20 August

Today we went to Rijeka to discuss with the Furuno representative the repairs needed on Belisama to change the autopilot display and reset the network, which has been down for a couple of weeks now, forcing us to sail with Navionics on the mobile phone. Much to our surprise, Furuno told us that they would not be able to work on the boat as they close after the 15th of August to give their staff a rest at the "end of the sailing season"! No problem, we can wait another 2 weeks. 

But is it really the end of the sailing season?

First boletus of the season in Učka National Park area

First sign that boletus can grow nicely in Istria. What else...?

Fort Munida and Uvala Conki, 21-23 August

For the past two weeks we have been exploring the small bays around Pula, escaping canicular days (and work at home) by swimming in the sea all day. For the last three days we have anchored in Fort Munida, less than a mile from the marina and Uvala Conkli at 1.8 nm! I cannot resist showing you another one of the incredible sunsets we get here, as we left in the late afternoon for a sunset dinner on board in Fort Munida.

Sunset at Fort Munida, on the way to Uvala Conki.

But the place has much more to offer...

Rovinj, not to be missed, 9-12 August 2023

Our first destination in August is the town of Rovinj (pronounced "Rovigne" in French, [rǒʋiːɲ] in phonetic spelling, and forget about native English speakers as there is no "nj" at the end of words in English), 40 km north of Pula by car, 17 nautical miles by boat.

Sunset in the bay of Rovinj 

This is certainly one of the most beautiful places in Istria and attracts many tourists in the summer. We sailed there on the 9th of August, probably one of the worst periods due to the large influx of tourists. Let's have a look...