Crews Letter #2004 14 After Venezia it is Downhill for the Season

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Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen:

After Venezia, it is downhill for the season. After the excitement of the Venetian waters, Chrissanthi, Stavros, Suzy, Francis, Aude and Arnaud, Perception is very quiet.

We make the short, one day cruise up to San Margaherita. There we must accomplish some chores: laundry, booking the Texas flights and settle on a schedule for the end of the season.

This year booking American Advantage, Venezia to Dallas and back is much easier and much faster. After Fred gets to the real operator and before he asks, Fred explains that is an expensive transatlantic phone call and that because American no longer flys to Venice, partners are involved. That means it cannot be booked on the Internet. Reservations are made and tickets are on the way.

From San Margherita, we sail across the Adriatic to Novigrad for entry into Croatia. It is a romp of a sail. For most of the 40 miles we are on a broad reach just ahead of a gathering squall line. We enter the Novigrad bay just in time to take in and stow the sails and pick up a mooring ball as the squall hits. Two tons of concrete makes a nice anchor.

The next morning we clear the formalities and enter Croatia.

The Croatia Police come along side and ask to inspect our papers. After all you have heard about the inappropriate footwear of US Coast Guard boarding parties, check out the deck shoes of this Croatia Policeman. The thing under the blue cover is what you think it is!

Everything is in order.

Diver Down

Wish we had a diver on board. In Rovinj, Croatia we cleverly wrap our anchor chain around the pipe and under a poured concrete footing of an abandoned sewer discharge system in 12.8 meters of water. We discover the problem as we are leaving the anchorage. We do not leave that day.

The manager / instructor for the local dive school helps us release our hold on the old shit. It takes him two tries, on successive days and an assistant to conclude that cutting the chain is the best <only> solution. He only makes one cut at the concrete footing, pulls the chain out from under it and the link to put the pieces back together means that we loose no chain length and probably no chain strength.

The kicker comes when Fred goes to pay the bill.

“How much do I owe you?”

“How much is it worth to you?”

“Uh” “Uh” Squirm. Squirm. Arg! The option without a diver was to cut the chain off at the deck and replace the anchor and chain, about a thousand dollars.

“Really, I have never done anything like this before and I don’t know what to charge.”

We had had a previous encounter with a diver in Rhodes, Greece, who recovered our anchor in 3 meters of water and knew exactly what to charge. He did not quote a price until after he looked at the situation. And he did not start to free the anchor until after we agreed to pay the amount requested. Based on that experience Fred came up with a number this Croatian diver seemed very happy with.

We weigh anchor and leave Rovinj 48 hours after the first try. It is great not having a schedule.

Winding Down the Season

We are now situated in the Trogir waters, about 150 miles south-southeast of Rovinj and just west of Split. We will meet our last guests for the season here next week.

The Croatia coast is lovely just now. Evenings in the low 70's, nights in the 60’s and days that top out in the low 80's, sunshine and good winds. It is not unusual to see as many as 50 boats with their sails up. Harbors are not crowded. Life is good.

Ease the sheet, please,

Phyl & Fred

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