Tenaya

July

2016

Part Four

August 13, 2016

ACI Marina - Umag

45 26'.31N : 0013 31'.05E

On July 7 we left Portorož Marina and motored to the picturesque harbor of Piran to clear out of Slovenia, then sailed to Croatia's first port of entry - Umag. Eleven miles in all.

Standing at the entrance of the marina is a customs and immigration office which made checking in easy. Once Tenaya was settled at the end of a long quay, later filled with charter boats, we walked around the harbor to the town center and bought Croatian SIM cards with plenty of data and sipped cold smoothies. The next morning we moved on, not sure how far we'd go.

Luka Krnica Anchorage

44 57'.03N : 014 02'.10E

We made it 69 miles - down the western coast of Istria, around the southern tip, and part way up the eastern side to a beautiful, quiet anchorage named Luka Krnica.

Several buildings are nestled on the northern shore behind some small fishing boats. Everywhere else is natural vegetation. We watched smoke rise from a van and then saw flames. Men stood by unconcerned. Eventually they pushed the burning vehicle towards the water. To my relief, it never exploded. Gotta love diesel fuel.

I would have jumped into the cool, clear water anyway, but I needed to check the prop again. Twice more it had not shifted properly.

Turns out our folding propeller wouldn't fold completely, which it must do to reverse directions. The anode was too big. Normally Jim installs this anode himself while Tenaya is out of the water, but the yard guy on Certosa offered to do it so Jim gave him one from our stock. Not sure how a larger size ended up attached. The photo shows how far the prop would close and the new paint already coming off.

It's tricky to remove and replace this anode without dropping something. Since my breath-holding skills are rusty, I bob like a cork and have no idea where my weightbelt is, we decided to have a diver change it at our next stop.

Punat Marina, Krk

45 01'.93N : 014 37'.52E

A narrow channel on the southwestern shore of Otok Krk leads boats into a landlocked bay with safe anchoring, a holiday town, a leafy island, a well-serviced marina, and an excellent yard. Jim and I arrived at Marina Punat on July 9 and planned to stay one month to complete a long list of chores. We could not have chosen a better place.

Tied to the outer 'Visitors' pontoon, we had a lovely view of the sunset each evening. The only downside was the hour-long transition from a strong Jugo (southerly wind also called a Sirocco) to a strong Bora (northeastly wind) which blew 30+ knots on the nose and banged our windvane into the dock because we were a little too close.

The valves and extensions for our toilet and holding tank began to fail when we were in Istanbul two years ago. A guy there made replacements that barely got us through last season. Jim ordered new valves, extensions, handles, and a plate from Hallberg-Rassy and had them shipped to Vento di Venezia. Either they never got around to installing them or didn't have the ability (they never told us why) but we left Venice with the existing valves in a precarious state and our new ones still packaged up.

Davor Marijanić from Brodoremont Punat in the shipyard came out to Tenaya the morning after we arrived with one of his technicians. Two days later the job was finished perfectly. No more worrying about the toilet.

The technician noticed the through-hull fitting was leaking ever-so-slightly and recommended replacement. We decided to replace all those below the waterline. Davor figured the job would take three days so we booked a hotel with air conditioning in Punat while Tenaya would be on the hard.

The yard has a really cool system for moving and storing boats - a remote control cart carries the boatstand wherever it needs to go.

On the second day Tenaya was out of the water we walked by to have a look and found a guy pulling a copper coil through a hole. Yikes, the refrigeration! We hadn't planned to replace that. Davor tried to order another but the distributor didn't have one because that part does not fail. We had to wait for the Isotherm to make more.

By then there were no rooms available because it's the busy season. We stayed on the boat with no water, no toilet, no cooking (because no cleaning) and no air conditioning. The carpets were rolled up in the forepeak and the floor boards were up in the head, galley, and everywhere else the eleven through-hulls were located. After a few days Jim put most of the floor boards back down and we settled into life in the air.

Jim replaced the prop anode, repainted the propeller, changed the engine oil, belts, fuel filters and impeller, changed the generator oil and filters, tightened the backstay, tested the mainsail, hung the jib, cleaned the winches, installed a new winch switch, cleaned all the rope clutches, washed all the lines, tested the EPIRB, fixed the watermaker, replaced the drinking water filter, replaced the batteries in all devices, greased the burp valve, tested the outboard, replaced a bolt on the boom, checked battery water, replaced the fire alarms, caulked the sinks, cleaned the bilge pump, pumped up the pressure for the water pump, replaced snaps on a rug, fixed the rub rail, and replaced two hatches and one roller shade.

I cleaned and varnished and now, as I write this, feel guilty for not doing more.

The marina has a good chandlery, a well-stocked grocery store, and two restaurants with quality, tasty meals at reasonable prices.

Punat gets more toursity the further south you go. Past bars and dance clubs and shops selling trinkets and beach gear, and beyond the channel, the rocky, scalloped coastline draws swimmers and sunbathers who are okay with dirt and pebbles instead of sand.

Not far from Tenaya was a pretty park with large shade trees, a few restaurants, a supermarket next to a cafe with inexpensive macchiatos and free water, a bakery, ice cream shop, and a stand selling croissants. Pretty much everything we needed.

One morning as I sat eating a chocolate croissant and reading the news on my phone I looked up to see a monk tying his small boat to the town wall.

It was time for Jim and me to visit the Franciscan monastery on Košljun, the island in the bay. Most people take a water taxi but we paddled our kayak.

"Man, tame the wolf inside you and you will see a friend and brother in every man, not a wolf." That is the inscription on this statue of Saint Francis and a wolf next to the quay on Košljun.

Religious orders have been on the island for centuries. The cloisters of Saint Mary's Monastery were built in 1594.

The Gothic style Franciscan Church of the Annunciation was built on the foundations of a Benedictine church dating from the 11th century. It was begun in 1486 and completed in 1523. In 1718 it was redecorated in the Boroque style.

Hanging over an arch in the church is a Last Judgement that was painted by Francesco Ughetti in 1654. Photos were not allowed but I bought a book with a picture and details listed on this page.

Here is a close-up because, as you may know, I have a thing about Last Judgements, especially the Hell part.

There is also a folk museum, an archaeological collection, a collection of sacral objects, and a graveyard.

The monastery has a library with about thirty thousand books including one of the few preserved copies of Ptolemy's atlas which was printed in Venice in 1511. Unfortunately, it is not on display.

Most of the island is covered in trees, some cultivated, others wild.

Hidden in the woods are the Saint Francis Chapel,

the Holy Cross Chapel with stations of the cross outdoors,

and a shrine to Mary, mother of Jesus.

Košljun is a peaceful place, a wonderful respite from endless boat chores and noisy holidaymakers.

At long last the part arrived to put Tenaya's refrigeration back together. Two weeks after we hauled out, Tenaya went back in the water, but not before her watermaker did a third flush and squirted the guys prepping the splash.

Dalibor was aboard to check all the new through-hull fittings to be sure none leaked. One did. They lifted us out immediately for two more days. Davor split the bill for the second haul out which cost the same as the first, 500 euros.

Davor and Dalibor of Brodoremont Punat.

It rained really hard and the new hatch over our bed leaked. Jim had followed the instructions from Lewmar exactly and used the glue he bought from HR Parts. When it leaked he researched it more and learned about a tape that HR uses for the original installation. Why Martin in HR Parts didn't tell us about that is a mystery.

We stayed four days longer than our planned month in Punat to wait for the tape to be delivered before we could pry the hatch off and reinstall it.

We finally had some free time! Jim decided to fly his drone from the wide quay to get some shots of Tenaya and the marina. We learned that wifi signals can disrupt the communication with the drone which sends it into "Return to Home" mode. Home can be plus or minus one meter, not quite close enough for the quay. So, with all the work and frustration Jim had working on the boat, now he's lost his favorite toy.

A marina guy pulled it up with a grapple hook and Jim was able to retrieve the last few frames.

Go to August 2016 Part One-

Molat,Split,Vis,LastovoCroatia Kotor,Montenegro

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