Korcula to Dubrovnik Katakolon September 11 - 20, 2001  September. 11: - we were numb as we listened on shortwave BBC to the horrors that were taking place in New York and Washington, while we were at anchor in Hvar. We did not see any of the devastation in images until we got English language newspapers a couple of days later. However, we saw some photographs in local Croatian papers. We have no friends or relatives in those areas, but we were grieving for those killed and for the families who lost loved ones, and felt tearful admiration for the passengers who chose death by crashing the plane in Pennsylvania rather than let it be an aimed source of destruction, and for the brave firemen and police who died trying to help people in the doomed towers of New York. We were glued to the radio for the next several days. We felt a sense of helpless detachment as those horrors and their aftermath swept the US, and here we were, remote from the situation, in the idyllic cruising grounds of the Dalmatian coast. We felt a strange angst at our continuation of cruising, but a determination to not let the forces of evil dominate our lives by changing our plans, and our deserved enjoyment of life. So we will continue on. That day, before the actual attack, as Croatia is six hours ahead of New York time, our friends, Judy and Barb left us in Hvar for Rome to fly back to Canada via London a couple of days later. We were concerned that their flight might be badly delayed or cancelled. However, we have since heard from them, and although they reported confusion at the airport in London, with massive crowding so bad, and security so heavy that they were asked to wait outside in the parking area, their flight to Vancouver was delayed by only two hours. We left early next morning, and experienced our usual contrary wind situation in which we were headed eastward (course 100 T) into an east wind en route to the ancient walled town of Korcula. We anchored 35 miles later in the well-sheltered Uvala Luka (42 57.1N, 017 08.0E), the next bay east of town, where we stayed for four nights. It was only a short 5 minute dinghy run from the local ACI marina, and town. The office at the marina was cooperative and arranged for gas bottle replacements, informed us of the laundry service which we did not use because of both expense and inconvenience of timing, and directed us to the fuel dock in the next bay over from Uvala Luka. We used their shower facilities and filled up our water containers each trip in to top up our water tanks on board. The town is a walled peninsula, circled by an external road with several entrance gates. A walled town has existed there since the 12th century, but it wasn't until the 15th century that the present city was built, at the height of local stone carving skills and with the ornate flourishes, columns and arches of Venetian architecture. We enjoyed particularly the town museum, housed in the Gabrielle Palace opposite the treasury and St Mark's Cathedral. The museum contained some antiquities from Greek and Roman times. The palace showed the style of wealthy homes in the 16th and 17th centuries and had a floor devoted to displays of ship building, an important industry for the town until recently. The kitchen on the top floor contained many articles and tools used in that era. We would highly recommend it. The Treasury was a worthwhile liturgical museum with an impressive collection of icons, sacramental vestments, relics, coins and triptychs. We were surprised that one of the triptychs was of Mary Queen of Scots, who appeared to have been held in high regard by the religious establishment there.  We also climbed the tower of Marco Polo's house. He was said to have been born in Korcula in 1254, although there is some possibility he was born in Sibenik, but at least definitely in Dalmatia, before going to Venice. His name was originally Pile, which in Croatian means "chicken", and over time became Polo - "chicken" in Italian.  Another enjoyable spectacle was the Moreska Sword Dancers, held in the outdoor theatre. They portrayed the story of two kings (the white king, dressed in red, and the black king, dressed in black), their armies fighting in intricate choreographed battle, their heavy steel swords clanging and sparking as they clashed in circular gyrations, of course for the hand of a princess. They have a local band, one level below that of a high school marching band, to provide martial beats to the syncopated clanging of the swords. The dancers are enthusiastic townspeople who have been putting on these performances since the 15th century (not the same townspeople of course). The spectacle is performed only on Thursday nights, and cost 35 kuna (about $ 8.00 Canadian). We met George and Liz on Amador, a British Vancouver 32, anchored in the bay and had them over for supper one night. We liked the Vancouver, comparing it favourably to our Ontario 32, one of the few boats in our size range which we would consider approaches Veleda in design and liveability. The Mariner outboard still continues to give us trouble starting. Judy can rarely get it started herself, and more than once when she took Sprite off for groceries or other errands had to row back, unable to start it. Departing on the morning of Sept. 16, we caught the extended cable from a buoy over 100 feet away and not wanting to disrupt its anchor, I went in with mask and snorkel to free it from mine. The fisherman had cautioned me a day earlier that his cable extended out near me. I had inspected my anchor previously and it was clear of his then, but I guess as we swung with the changed wind, my cable crossed his. No real problem, as conditions were calm and it was only 15 feet of water. We motored the 27 miles down Otok Mljet to Prozura (42 43.8N, 017 38.9E), and anchored in the pleasant bay, ringed with a shoreline of old homes and newer vacation homes under construction. We didn't go ashore and had the entire bay to ourselves at anchor. However just before midnight a Jugo or Sirocco came up with 45 knot winds, heavy rain and lightning, causing us to drag anchor. We hauled up the anchor, and headed for a central spot on shore that had YACHT DOCK painted on the concrete pier of one (closed) establishment. We were not sure of the depth, but thought if signed for yachts, it should be sufficient. However, while raising the anchor, we saw the town plunged into darkness by a power failure probably due to lightning strikes. We had only a flashlight on deck to help us in. The wind was gusting over 50 knots and swinging through 90 degree arcs. The wall was bracketed by small fishing boats with lines out to buoys on both sides of the YACHT DOCK. It would be all I would need to foul one of the buoy lines in my prop as I approached! We made it, with Sprite overhanging one of the buoy lines, but we were OK.  We doubled up our mooring lines and settled down for the second time that night to the flashes of lightning and the crack of thunder. The tension made it seem like a long time, but the engine was on for only 15 minutes from flashup at anchor to shut down alongside. It was no time to dally about in a pitch black storm driven cove circling around to find the best spot or angle of approach. I had identified the main direction of the wind and was able to make an upwind approach to the YACHT DOCK after circling only once while getting our lines and fenders ready. If we couldn't have made it, there was a large fishing trawler on the downwind side of the cove I would have gone for next. However, we made it on the first try. It was a tense 15 minutes! Even though alongside, we didn't bother walking along the shore line next morning, but just left, after a bit of a sleep in and a leisurely breakfast, for Gruz on the outskirts of Dubrovnik. It was a grey day, with intermittent rain, and once beyond Otok Miljet the seas were lumpy, the winds light but contrary, and we seemed to have a one knot counter current possibly caused by tide. We have not consulted tide tables in the Med, as the tides (except in Venice) are so minimal that we have not concerned ourselves with tidal heights or currents, except the few times such as this when we sensed a tidal current against us. Rather than staying on the outside, we went northeast past Mali Vratnik into Uvala Lupeska and down the inside passage between the islands to get more sheltered water. We noted that the high-level bridge being built across the mouth of the Rijeka Dubrovacka (the Dubrovnik River) has almost been completed. We turned down towards Gruz Marina from which we started our Croatian voyage on July 26, 915 miles ago. We went bows on, hooked up to shore power, comfortable to be in a familiar location again (42 39.4N, 018 05.2E). Next day when I tried to start Sprite, I couldn't get the Mariner to start even after taking off the cowling and advancing the throttle manually. The spark plugs were dry. The pistons were not getting any fuel. I rowed Sprite about a kilometre across the bay to the Mariner dealership of Nicholas Beck. It was a drizzly day, and he was in process of changing his shop, and didn't or wasn't able to remove the engine into a tank. When he first looked at it, the rain started in earnest. I waited, hoping it would ease up and he could look at it again. No luck. It continued to pour, so finally I got his phone number and walked the two kilometres around the bay in the pouring rain back to Veleda. We have had more miserable rainy, cool, windy weather in Croatia since the end of August than all the rest of our time in the Med from last December! The engine was ready next day and I walked around to get Sprite. Fortunately it was not raining. The trouble was supposedly the linkage to the throttle arm, which he bent and tightened, and adjusted the screw controlling the idle speed. The engine was working and after paying 250 kuna (about $55.00 Canadian), I motored back across to Veleda, and hooked Sprite on the dinghy tow ready for departure.  We met a Swedish boat, Flavia, with Annika and Bengt Westerlund aboard, and had a pleasant chat with them before departure. I was also able to send off and download the last of our E-mail from Croatia. We checked our Sea-Map disc at the internet Café to familiarize ourselves with the entrance to Levkas in Greece, which we would be negotiating in a few days time. We had already photocopied the chart from a friend met in Korcula. Just before leaving we saw George and Liz on Amador, whom we first met in Korcula a couple of days ago. They were getting ready to check out too. After we completed our payment of 204 kuna {about $40 Canadian} for three nights with power, handed in our crew list and had the customs people come down to stamp our passports (no onboard inspection) we departed just before noon on Sept. 20 for an overnight sail to Corfu in Greece.
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