It was the 24th of May when we set sail from Vis and headed north towards the mainland.  We were en route to collect our first guests of the trip -Julia's cousin Magda and family from Zadar in four days time.  A comfortable crossing of about three hours brought us to a narrow and protected bay close to Ražanj.  We anchored and secured some lines to the rocks.  It was a beautiful calm evening so we sent up the drone for a better view.

The next day we made further progress towards our destination.  We were still without detailed charts as we had sailed beyond our downloaded area and had spent the night away from mobile reception.  We were now sailing amongst small islands and shallow waters so had to be wary.

As the traffic on the water built up we also restored our chart plotter resolution and navigated to a shallow protected bay for the night.  The 'Bikini Beach Bar' was the only feature on the landscape so we ventured across the lagoon in our tender to investigate.

The following day after 'school' we set off again -this time with ideal conditions and only a short distance to cover.  It was a rare pleasure to tack back and forth, weaving between the islands -until now every stretch has been on a single tack.

Our destination that evening was a sheltered bay on the eastern side of Otok Žut.  After failing to anchor a couple of times on the rocky seabed we took and mooring buoy and with it were obliged to dine at Restaurant Trabakul.  A lovely spot where the children were entertained by many stray cats begging for scraps.

We reached the Island of Vis on the 20th of May.  There were strong northwesterlies on the crossing so we hauled close to the wind, then motored head on as we approached the island.  We chose a tiny bay named Milna to seek refuge from the gusts.  There was space for just us as we dropped our anchor in shallow water and put out 30 metres of chain.

This screenshot of our anchor alarm shows a night spent comfortably in position but at about 9am we began swinging towards the shallows so we made a quick exit.

We had been reminded that family friends the Macgregors had a home on the island so I pinged Keith an email asking for tips and recommendations.  He responded with a list of top destinations around the island but that we would miss them by just a few days.  He put us in touch with their friends the Stancombs, who kindly offered to scoop us up if our timing overlapped.

On our second day we were still sheltering from the wind and happened upon a picture perfect bay just past the small village of Rukavac.  Today was our only chance to take up the Stancomb's offer of hospitality before they left the island for a week.  The town of Vis was only fifteen minutes away but with more strong gusts forecast we were anxious about leaving Dragonfly alone on anchor.  We decided first to walk to the nearby village and maybe go on from there by taxi.

Theodore hiked in the midday heat in his wetsuit!

As often happens with Jozefina and Theodore, one short walk took forever. Every bug and butterfly stops them in their tracks and has to be examined!  We followed signs to a restaurant, praying it would be open as the sun beat down.  We were in luck.

After a sweltering hike back, the kids cooled off as we prepared to batten down the hatches for the forecast gusts of 30 knots.. which eventually never showed up.

On our second morning on Vis we motored a few bays along to take a mooring buoy at Stiniva Beach.  I couldn't handle seeing James Bond sing so never saw the beach in Mamma Mia but clearly a lot of people did. There was a constant stream of day trip boats coming in and out of the deep bay to see this famous beach.

Around mid-afternoon we decided to push on around the southwestern tip of Vis with the intention of anchoring close to Komiža.  The blue track on the chart plotter screen above shows the moment we rounded the headland into large waves and 30 knot gusts forcing us to beat a hasty retreat!  We returned to our mooring buoy and had Stiniva bay all to ourselves for the night.

On the 23rd of May we finally made it to Vis town and moored up stern-to in the town centre.  Having been on anchor for almost a week it was a relief to be back in civilisation.  We found Vis to be clean, calm and welcoming. After a quick lunch at the nearest restaurant we set off to explore. 

​The island of Vis has a fascinating and layered history, having been ruled at different times by the Greeks, Romans, Venetians, Austrians, Italians, and later Yugoslavia. Founded as the ancient Greek colony of Issa in the 4th century BC, Vis is one of the oldest urban settlements on the Adriatic. Venetian influence is instantly visible in the island’s stone architecture and narrow streets, while the local Croatian dialect still carries traces of Venetian linguistic roots.

During the Yugoslav era, Vis was closed to foreign visitors for decades and served as a military base for the Yugoslav Navy. This period of isolation helped preserve the island’s character and protected it from the tourism we've seen elsewhere along the Dalmatian coast.

We found the Macgregor and the Stancomb houses -without their owners in residence. Such a shame! We will ensure our return route brings us back to Vis.

Convenient victualling at the shop opposite the quay and then on to a recommended restaurant a few steps away where every ingredient is sourced from the island.

Zefi unamused-bouche!

We discovered why everyone on Vis is so cheerful -the local wine is 16%!

In the morning we caught (but lost) a fish for this hungry cat. We then slipped our lines and headed over to the fuel dock.  We didn't like the look of the skinny pontoon so decided we could survive without topping up the tanks. After motoring out of the harbour we let the wind decide our angle of attack as we headed towards Zadar.  At this point we discovered we had sailed beyond the charts loaded on the plotter.  It would take me a day or so to work out how to extend our coverage and until then we navigated the old fashioned way -by Iphone!

Between the 15-17th of May we found ourselves briefly back in Warsaw so I took the opportunity to order a few bits and pieces for Zefi and Dor. Amongst the monkey bars and hammock was this little speedboat -received on the condition he'll be good for a year.

We had a hassle free flight to Dubrovnik where we stayed the night in a little hotel close to the ferry.  We caught he 8am catamaran back to Korcula -keen to get Dragonfly out of the overpriced marina we left her in.  While we were away Nickola the mechanic had been working through a list of jobs.  He carried out an engine service but couldn't solve the ongoing alarm buzzer.  He lubricated our steering and rudder, replaced our gas hose and tried his best to get the water maker going.  Sadly our dreams of remote desalination will have to wait until we are closer to a main dealer, though to be honest we can probably survive without it.  He also purchased a new dinghy for us so we said goodbye to our old one and gifted it to the local children's sailing school.

We spent some time walking the streets of Korcula and visited the town museum, this allowed Nickola a chance to finish the jobs.  Then we hopped onboard and motored a couple of inlets to the West of the town to a bay apparently called 'Tony'.  It was a relief to be on anchor again and a chance for Theodore to test out his boat.

We had a calm, quiet night and were the only boat on anchor in the bay.  The next day we set off without an exact destination but with the intention to cover some ground.  In two weeks we will have Julia's cousin Magda and her family onboard and need to collect them for Zadar airport further North.  The winds brought us to a little island just South of Hvar called Šćedro.

We arrived slightly weather beaten to a tiny sheltered bay with two yachts already moored.  We managed to squeeze in between them and successfully carried out our first line to shore mooring in living memory with an audience looking on.  Despite missing the sandy patch, our anchor and line held fine as gust of 20 knots bothered the bay.

We discovered that hammocks and wind don't mix but as soon as the breeze died down it was put to the test.

Julia's natural history lessons involved urchins and star fish.

Otok Šćedro turned out to be a slice of paradise and the most beautiful bay we've anchored in so far.  We all swam in the crystal clear water and the children 'dug for gemstones' in the loose stoney banks.

We had the bay all to ourselves in the morning so I took the opportunity to dust off my old drone and view the scene from above.

We hiked across the island to see the northern side. Julia and I used to hike a lot but as is often the case now, we were followed by two moaning, complaining children which detracted slightly from the experience.  We found refreshment (luckily) at the lovely Amfora restaurant.  Best of all the owner gave us a lift back to Dragonfly -saving us a long hot hike with heavy kids on our shoulders!

Back to our shiny new tender and a bay filling quickly with boats. After a smooth operation releasing our line and anchor without any shouting we were away!

We departed Lastovo Island on the 12th of May and set our course for Korcula Island.  In the photo above you'll see the dinghy is looking a bit lop-sided.  In the midday heat the previous day I heard a 'pop' and a 'hiss'! I assumed it was a nearby boat fiddling with fenders but it turned out to be a gaping split in the side of our dinghy.  I managed to fix it temporarily but will not risk mounting the engine on it again.  I've fixed it too many times and will look for a replacement asap.

We are also running the engine with my boxer shorts wedged in to muffle the water temp alarm that buzzes nonstop.  Along with the internal AC sockets up the spout, that makes three so I'm not anticipating anything else breaking just yet!

Our crossing from Lastovo to Korcula began close-hauled with a good breeze but as we reached land we had to motor into the wind and waves.  It was a relief to round the end of the island and enter calm, sheltered water.  The sea here is beautifully clear with a turquoise glow.

We dropped the anchor in five metres of water just off Otok Badija, a stone's throw from a beautiful monastry.

Julia prepared one of her classic Greek salads for lunch and we found a quiet spot to keep the kids out of the way for while.  Just then I received a message that some family friends were not only in Croatia but were in the old town of Korcula for one night, with time spare to meet up in the next couple of hours! At the same moment a water taxi came by offering a ride to the town so we jumped onboard and were on the town quay within five minutes.

It was a lovely coincidence to meet up with the DamB's, Duxbury's and Carew Prices's. After a drink and a catch up, they had to head back to their boat so we went for a quick explore before the sky turned dark and we retreated back to Dragonfly.

The next morning (13th of May) Julia and Theodore went across to explore the island and monastery.  Zefi and I did a reading & writing lesson.  Then we weighed anchor and motored a few minutes around to the ACI marina back in Korcula town.  We were leaving Dragonfly here for a few days as we fly back to Warsaw to see friends, plan a family party and make use of some flights we booked in error!

With a Dragonfly booked in to the marina for a few days I took the opportunity to find a mechanic. The marina recommended Nikola and he seemed unfazed by my long list of fixes as I showed him around the boat.  The engine alarm was the most urgent to investigate.  We then found a taxi and drove fifteen minutes to discover Lumbarda and it's beautiful beaches.

Supper in town that night was a bit of a disaster. A table of 70 managed to order just before us. After an hour of waiting the waitress admitted she didn't know when we might get our food. We had tired, cold, hungry children so we left!

The next morning as were about to leave I mentioned our AC sockets issue to the marina electrician. Within minutes he'd found the cause -our shore power negative connection had come completely away from the socket. This explained a lot!
It would have ruined our batteries to leave Dragonfly for five days with the inverter running and no shore supply connected.

The mechanic kindly fixed the cable for us and we left Dragonfly.  For the next few days she would be at the mercy of the clumsy charter boats coming and going from this busy marina.

The previous day Lyndi had very generously given Jozefina and Theodore some Euros and a tip off about a very special crayon shop.  We found it on our way to catch the ferry to Dubrovnilk and it did not disappoint!

We had some time to spare before our flight to Warsaw so we took a detour through the old town of Dubrovnik.

Wet and windy weather is expected while we are away so our timing seems fortunate.

On the map below I quickly plotted our route so far. About 600 nautical miles in just over 4 weeks.

On the 9th of May at about 2pm we arrived in Croatia on the island of Lastovo.

We had fantastic conditions and enjoyed the crossing from Vieste, with our friends onboard Pleione arriving half an hour later.  We had read all about the importance of registering your arrival as soon as possible so our first stop was the harbour masters office at Uble.  It was shut but there were instructions to buy our vignette online.  We were not able to do this as there was no option for a British registered EU resident boat.  Along with Floris and Ursula from Pleione we waited for the office to open at 5pm.

We waited at the bar next to the office. At the table beside us was a man drinking a beer with 'harbour master' printed on his shirt. After an hour or so 5pm came and went. After another ten minutes we asked him when he will open his office.  Looking surprised he informed us he just works with the ferry and the man we need will be in tomorrow when the office actually opens!  We confirmed this with a local policeman, then made our way across the bay to a sheltered anchorage for the night.

Pleione anchored with us and Ursula, Floris and his brother Martin joined us for a few sun downers, making their way back in the dark.

We had a wonderful still night on anchor and woke to a perfect reflecting pool.

I hitched a ride on Pleione to the office at 8am the next morning and we all managed to get our necessary paperwork.  We then parted ways but look forward to meeting up on another island soon.

Lastovo Island is a nature reserve now but the abandoned Yugoslav-era submarine bunkers are reminders of a less tranquil past.  We took in these sights as we moved to the north of the island to reach a new anchorage.  The South Easterly wind was expected at about 20 knots overnight so we positioned ourselves accordingly.

Lastovo makes for a fascinating nature walk with Zefi and Dor -lizards, butterflies and beautiful insects everywhere but also slightly scary abandoned buildings and creepy underground bunkers.

We retreated to Dragonfly as the weather started to turn and snuggled up for a film as the wind swirled us around our anchor.

The morning of the 11th May was our last night on Lastovo. We had been recommended Triton restaurant which has the benefit of it's own quay where you can spend the night if you dine in the restaurant.  We arrived before lunch and hiked to the rocky bay around the corner with the hope of swimming but again the water was a bit too chilly.

The restaurant has a lovely view!

Back onboard Dragonfly for a rather creaky night on the quay.  Our shore power seem to connect but no longer activates the mains sockets onboard.  I struggled to find a fix that night but soon the cause would be obvious.

We were slowly making our way towards Croatia after setting off in Sicily a month ago.  With two small children onboard Julia was understandably keen to avoid any unnecessarily long crossings so Vieste was our next and final destination in Italy.  From here we would have the shortest route across the Adriatic -we just need the right weather window.

I'll apologise here for mixing past & present tenses. It's tricky to stay consistent when events are in the past but the trip is ongoing.

Biscelgie to Vieste was a about 8 hours with good sailing conditions. We picked up a hitch hiking bumblebee for the journey.

Sums, spelling and snoozing down below!

The dramatic skyline of Vieste as we drew closer.

We are getting an engine alarm warning of a fault with the cooling water temperature.  I'm pretty sure this is a faulty sensor or corroded buzzer because it alerts even when the engine is cool. After a bit of research I checked the other possibilities. One being the fuel/water separator.  We are about to embark on an Adriatic crossing so it's not ideal but I'm am not too concerned.  In Vieste we tried to get a mechanic to give the engine a once over but the 2 nights we were there were a local holiday and festival so no-one could help.  Best fix I found was wedging a sock over the noisy buzzer!

Julia's birthday falls on the 8th of May and the children had been gathering shells to make her a necklace.

In Vieste we noticed these timber structures with outriggers pointing over the water and tried to guess what they were for. Wandering through the backstreets later on we came across this man building beautiful scale models of them. They are called Trabucchi -a rudimentary stationary netting contraption for catching fish without the dangers of going to sea such as storm and pirates.

A reminder that photos with a black border are taken with a proper camera, those without are Iphone.  I dislike the sterile photos produced by my telephone but so often it's the nearest camera to hand..

On our pontoon we got talking to a neighbouring boat who were also preparing to make the crossing.  They pointed out that we did not need to sail all the way to Split just to check in -there was a port of entry on the island of Lastovo about 5 hours closer!  This was great news as we were now looking at an 8 hour crossing with another boat for company.

Here we are setting off at 6am on the 9th of May, hot on the heals of Floris and Ursula onboard their Swedish Yacht Pleione.  With Julia enjoying the safety of more experienced sailors close by.

We exchanged photos of each other on the Navily app as we set off.

Another photo sent over from Pleione below. We had fantastic conditions for the crossing so didn't have to put up with the irritating engine warning buzzer!

We passed close by to a large cargo ship from Hong Kong.  We also caught the exact moment our log clocked 1000 nautical miles since purchasing and refitting Dragonfly!

Land Ahoy! We had safely crossed the Adriatic and were about to arrive in Croatia.

We left Brindisi on the 4th of May and headed further up the coast Of Puglia. We anchored for the night just past Monopoli in the little bay pinned above.  All anchorages along this bit of coast are exposed to swell and this was no different. As expected, we had a rocky night but woke up to a beautiful calm morning.

There were people clearing up the beach and burning piles of drift wood.

We were having breakfast when Theodore pointed out a bee on the deck. Unfortunately for myself and especially the bee it was a second too late and it stung me on the sole of my foot. 

From our anchorage it was a short hop of about 5 hours to our next stop in the pretty little fishing town of Bisceglie. As we prepared to enter the harbour we were stopped by the Gardia de Finanza. They came alongside and asked for our boat papers and passports which we handed over with Theodore's fishing net.  After a nail biting 45min trying to remain stationary and not look like we're making a getaway, they returned our documents and let us carry on with advice to insure our dinghy.

Papers returned and snuggly moored in Bisceglie:

This is a charming quiet fishing town with lots of little boats scattered around the harbour and a maze of narrow polished streets.  While initially it seemed quite an expensive stop over, we were offered a second night for free so took the chance to explore a bit more thoroughly and do some boat maintenance.

The leaves of the binnacle table needed reinforcement where the hinges were separating  the fibreglass laminations. While adding extra hinges I managed to drill right through the table into my finger!

The harbour is very shallow -we had only a few centimetres under our keel.

And we're off again. Next destination Vieste -the closest stepping off point for Croatia!

This is day two of our three day land based tour of Puglia and motionless, real beds.  Alberobello is famous for it's limestone huts with conical roofs called Trulli. These date back to the 14th century. Unfortunately this place is not a secret and even in April there were hoards of people congesting the streets and detracting from the magic of the place. It felt like Toarmina all over again.

Despite the crowds we enjoyed walking around the town, imagining life in these curious mini homes.  We had a lovely hotel booked for that evening so at about 4pm we made our way there to make the most of it.

Squeezing a lesson in whenever theres a quiet moment.

The highlight of our little road trip came on the last day when we visited Matera. Wow -this place is breathtaking! Built into the side of a steep limestone gorge, this ancient city has been inhabited since ​the Paleolithic period (10th millennium BC), making it one of the oldest settlements in the world.

​The Sassi di Matera (Sasso Cavioso and Sasso Barisano) are ancient, inhabited cave networks forming a sprawling, complex city.

People lived like this as recently as 1950.

We drove around to the far side of the valley where the truly ancient caves were.

Bluey never let us down

We returned that evening to find Dragonfly had coped well with the winds and was in fine shape. It was still gusting around 20 knots which gave us a chance to test which is the most accurate weather forecast app -Windguru seems to win most of the time.

The wind had kicked up some swell so we kept the car for one more day and headed south to Otranto -a beautiful small town and anchorage we had to zip past a few days ago to reach Brindisi before the wind.

We started just outside the town with a cliff-side beach that promised so much but turned out to be unreachable from the land. The colours of the water and cliffs were stunning but the kids were disappointed not to be digging in sand.

I remembered to bring a polarising filter.

Lunch and letters.

By late afternoon the kids were done with walking so we submitted to the tourist trap of seeing the town by tuk tuk -the kids loved it and the driver delivered us to the beach so it worked out well.

This is a good time to mention one of the hidden costs of sailing with kids -losing stuff.  They are constantly putting their things down, walking away and completely forgetting what the did with them.  Here you can see the last known sighting of Theodore's second pair of sunglasses in two day. Decent polarised ones too.  Hats and shoes also constantly disappear. We put walkie talkies around the necks of the children in case they go missing too.

Otranto has some beautiful beaches, clear water and amazing rock pools.

Once again we had strong winds forecast, 30 knots was expected to blow for three days.  We decided to secure Dragonfly in the marina at Brindisi, rent a car and discover Puglia.  It's tough sleeping onboard in a windy marina, cleats creek and the boat heaves on her mooring lines so we planned to stay on land for a night or two.

Julia has managed cooked up quite a few delicious feasts with our limited kitchen facilities!

In anticipation of strong gusts we secured Dragonfly with double lines and springs. We also packed away all cushions and wrapped up the bimini & flag.

Our trusty blue stead for the next 4 days -Panda's are the only car to be seen in here in Puglia!

Wet Lecce!

We all had soaking wet feet all day & competed for wrinkliest toes that evening!

Lecce has a plethora of elaborate Baroque monuments built from beautiful soft limestone.  This stone rapidly erodes creating beautiful patination and patchworks of repairs.  After struggling to park the car we were pleased to find the city not too crowded.  Limited by the walking range of Zefi and Dor we found an efficient route recommended online that passed the most important spots.

Our hotel that night had a Moroccan theme. We chose it because it had an indoor pool as well as an outdoor pool.  The strong winds had begun so the outside was a bit chilly and it was still too early in the season for outdoor unheated pools.

The pool was fantastic, with an indoor and outdoor section, also heated to about 29'.  We bumped into some of the only other guests at the hotel -a couple with a 3 year old boy. They were from Sicily where they too had a sailing boat. Needless to say the kids and grown-ups bonded quickly.

It was a long day and both Zefi and Dor were exhausted and fell asleep during supper. If you look closely at this photo you can see where we tucked a sleeping Theodore while we finished supper.

We were all very grateful for a good night's sleep in a real bed!

Delicious breakfast, a quick game of chess and we're off to our next destination.

Early on the 27th of April we slipped quietly out of Crotone to cross the Gulf of Taranto.  We were on our way to the heal of Italy with a reservation in the marina at Leuca.

Favourable conditions saw us get off to a flying start with a very civilised ETA.  Dragonfly cruises under wind or engine about 3 knots faster than Bumblebee could. This makes a big impact on our daily range and crew morale. 

Zefi was first to wake.

After a brisk first half of the crossing we eventually resorted to motor sailing before becoming totally becalmed.  This is actually ideal for us as the full speed sailing is exciting but gets tiring. Motoring along on a pancake flat sea is more conducive to home schooling and turtle spotting.

We also avoid marital friction by refueling and mooring in very calm conditions.

We visited Leuca before but my memory was hazy so I skipped back ten years on this blog. I discovered we only stayed one night and that was on the fishermen's quay and we were asked to leave. It quickly became apparent that we missed a gem!

The water quality is visibly cleaner than our previous two stops.  Within minutes of leaving the boat we found a lovely little beach where the children played happily in the (cold) water.

We saw these curious cut-outs in the rock all along the seaside. Luckily AI was on hand to explain.

Leuca has some interesting villas and a wonderful cascading waterfall that runs down long steps leading to a monastery.  This and remnants of bathing pools suggests this was a popular destination during the Victorian era but has been slightly forgotten since.

We found a sea pool which Julia couldn't resist dipping into.

As we set off from Leuca on the morning of the 29th of April we officially crossed into the Adriatic.  With the currents helping us along we hit 10.5 knots over ground. Next stop Brindisi.

There is a curious error with our mobile contracts which we are benefitting from greatly.  We should only have 14gb of data abroad but our phones don't realise we are abroad so we are chugging through unlimited data and saving lots of money.  This started in Warsaw -I got in touch with the provider as I was worried about getting a huge bill, they made a note on my account not to charge and said carry on!