By Andy Lund

Ed. note - This is the twenty-second installment of a multi-part series by Andy Lund on his ocean-crossing journey aboard Resolution, the Nordhavn 46 he took delivery of in February 2004.

Chapter 22

Monday, Oct. 2, 2006
We arrived Monaco this morning, greeted by my old Seattle friend Kevin Bonnie. He's working here now, and arranged the impossible - a berth in Monaco.

Here's a more in-depth recap of the "Resolution" Journal, covering July, August and September, from Malta to southern Italy, Croatia, back to Malta, then Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and Monaco.

We'll be in Barcelona for the winter by the middle of October. All is well.

Sicily and Siracusa
July 10: We left Malta in the morning for the 80 nm trip across the channel to Sicily and the ancient Greek and Roman town of Siracusa. Our departure was a bit delayed, due to some confusion about office opening times for outward Maltese immigrations clearance, but the Grand Harbour Marina folks rose to the occasion and sorted the problem for us. The crossing was pleasant, but we arrived Siracusa just at dusk. The "Yachting Marina" didn't answer their radio - later we were told that was normal for Italy - so we just side-tied to their floating pontoon for the night, and moved around to a med moorage spot the next morning. Seems the Italian marinas want your ship's document, the official papers, as security for paying the moorage bill. We can't afford for that to go adrift, so they settled (unknowingly) for a Xerox copy!

The marina was in a prime spot at the foot of the Ortigia, the old town, capped by an ancient Greek temple now functioning as the Catholic cathedral. Siracusa is on a very large sheltered bay, making it a superb natural anchorage. I wandered over to the town market, replete with excellent and inexpensive fruit and produce, great cheeses, an impressive fish market and even cheap clothes (made in China, I suppose). The old town's narrow streets were full of small restaurants and bars, up above a long stone town quay. On our second visit to Siracusa in September, I toured the Greek theater and Roman amphitheatre, both in quite good states of repair. After three days in Siracusa, we headed for Dubrovnik, a 390 mile, or three day trip up the Ionian and Adriatic Seas.

Croatia
July 14: We ducked into Otranto, just up the heel of the Italian boot, when it became obvious we would arrive Dubrovnik in the evening - not good for clearing customs and immigrations or getting mooring. Otranto is a little fishing port, and was incredibly crowded. A nice young fellow who ran the fuel dock allowed us to tie up there after he finished filling the last Italian "go-fast" boat, as long as we were off by 0700 the next morning. He even gave Mike a ride up into town on his scooter. Otranto had an old castle, but otherwise wasn't much, although I had a good fish dinner at the Osteria del Porto, recommended by the fuel dock attendant.

Sunday morning the 16th we arrived Gruz, Croatia, the port for Dubrovnik. The pilot book was a little vague on clearance procedures, so I tied along side the town quay and hiked a half mile to the customs and police offices at the ferry terminal. Turns out we were supposed to tie to the ferry quay, which I was gruffly told by an officious police woman, so we had to move the boat, wait for a huge ferry to leave, then tie to a single large bollard - not good. I guess there are a few ex-communist official types left in Croatia. The customs were casual and pleasant, the police woman finally did her immigrations job efficiently, although she came to the boat to see if Mike existed, and the port captain's office was very friendly.

Seems Croatia expects you to have a Captain's license, or some sort of written skipper qualifications. I have my US Coast Guard masters license, but had left it on the boat. When I explained that to the port captain, but mentioned we'd managed to find our way from Seattle through the Panama Canal and across the Atlantic, he laughed and said "OK, you're qualified!". We paid 240 euros (about $300 US dollars) for an annual cruising permit for Croatia, and that was it - done! I found a Herald Tribune, and we moved four miles around the corner to the Dubrovnik marina. It was up a fjord sheltered under a high hill with a Venetian style church overlooking the bay. Great spot, nice people, a good swimming pool, and a bus into town for about $2.

The ancient Roman, Venetian and Croatian city of Dubrovnik is one of the gems of the Mediterranean. Surrounded by high citadel walls, it is totally a walking precinct about a mile square - good thing too, since the mobs of tourists would totally prevent any cars from moving. All the damage from the Serb shelling during the Croatian war for independence from Yugoslavia in the early 1990's has been repaired, and the only sign of it were some new red tile roofs. The Croatians we met were very reluctant to talk about the war, but a few who did talk expressed concern that the Serbs still weren't reconciled to "losing" Yugoslavia, and that trouble could start again. My personal take is that problems could arise over Kosovo and maybe the Serb populated part of Bosnia, but that the Serbs don't really want another bloody nose from the Croats. The Balkans remain a smoldering tinder box, however.

July 20: We headed north through a string of islands to Polace, a sheltered anchorage at the north end of Mjlet Island. The islands are dry limestone, dotted with pine trees and scrubby brush. They almost remind me of the drier parts of the Gulf Island of British Columbia. Polace is part of a Croatian national park, but there is a little town on one side of the anchorage. We went in swimming - first time in the Med - and Mike commented the water was a bit brisk. That night we had good (but expensive) wild boar for dinner at the "Bourbon" restaurant. Croatian cooking was nothing special, with lots of pasta and pizza. Seafood was really expensive, a sign of how the Mediterranean is almost fished out. So the boar was a treat. Croatian red wines were pretty good, and reasonably priced, but not on the level of French, Italian or Spanish table wines.

The next day under warm, sunny skies, we continued north to the town of Korcula, on the island of the same name. We learned quickly that the July and August crowds on the water - lots of Italians in charter sailboats and go-fast boats - meant you had to get to a marina by noon if you wanted a place. We tucked into the Korcula marina, right next to the walled town, again surmounted by a pretty church, and had a great view out across the outer quay to the mountains on the mainland. Korcula is on a promontory commanding the sheltered passage north and south, so became wealthy charging tolls to the passing shipping. There was a good grocery, and a good, but expensive fruit and vegetable market. Croatia is no longer the bargain it apparently was in years past. We were to visit Korcula three times, spending over ten days there, and enjoying it thoroughly.

After two days in Korcula, we moved on north to Hvar, and anchored in a small bay opposite the town. Hvar itself is another architectural gem, built around a small, overcrowded harbor, and overlooked by a citadel half way up a 1000 foot hill. There was no room in the harbor, even to safely anchor, thus the spot we picked. In the anchorage we met a young Polish couple, Jurek and Adrianna, who were in Croatia for vacation and out for the day from Hvar in a rented skiff. We had them aboard for a beer, and were fascinated to hear how Poland has been prospering since the end of communism 15 years ago. They commented that all the young Poles moving to England since the UK labor market opened to them on Poland's joining the European Union two years ago, were either "girls chasing rich British husbands,or guys making money then moving back to Poland after a few years". We'd noticed how the restaurants in England were all of a sudden mostly staffed by Poles over the past winter.

We reached Trogir, near the Spit airport and about 25 miles NW of Split itself, on Monday July 24th. Trogir, another pretty town with Venetian architecture, had a great marina right in the center of things. We'd been advised to stay in Trogir, rather than in Split, and to visit Split by bus, and that turned out to be a good recommendation. Here my friends Scott Blake and Alison Horne from Bellingham joined us for ten days, having flown in from Seattle. Scott, Alison and I made the bus journey into Split - a one hour spine jolting trip on an ancient articulated bus. We then hiked all round Diocletian's Palace, which is a mile square area of the town surrounded by a wall, and full of Roman buildings, some still in good repair. The emperor Diocletian moved his capital there from Rome around AD 300, and built the complex. Houses, shops and restaurants were all built into the palace grounds, so it has survived all these centuries. Split otherwise was just a big city with dull concrete architecture. We took a taxi back to Trogir, to spare my fragile back.

All through Croatia we usually stayed at ACI marinas, These are a government run chain, originally built under the Yugoslav government over 20 years ago, and are all in prime spots. They are well run, clean and crowded, and cost an average of $65 a night. Anchoring in Croatia can be a bit risky, as the area is prone to sudden and violent thunderstorms with rain squalls, plus visiting the pretty and historic towns meant being tied up.

We headed back south with Scott and Alison, anchoring in Hvar harbor, just at its mouth, on a very settled night. We went in swimming, then hired a small boat to take us into the town quay. Mike had broken a tooth on an olive pit, so he and I went on a quest for a dentist. That proved amusing, and a bit painful for Mike. The huge (archaic) novocain needle she used to numb Mike's tooth made him wince, and she fussed at him for that - nice "bedside" manner! The dentist, a woman, was a bit imperious, as was her woman assistant. She patched him up with a fairly crude temporary filling, and said "get a permanent filling in ten days".

Back to Korcula again, where we ran into Jim Craig on the Canadian sailboat "Sun Fizz". We'd met him two days west of the Azores a year ago June, talking via VHF as we both traversed the Atlantic eastbound. His email was down then, so we sent an email to update his wife in Toronto on their progress. Funny to run into someone like that 13 months later, and pleasant to chat with him on dry land. We also met an interesting Slovenian couple, Aleksander and Barbara Ceferin, who were on their sailboat. She was a freelance writer, so Mike and I were interviewed about our adventures, and may end up in a Slovenian boating magazine.

We stopped in Polace overnight again, and headed back down to Dubrovnik. Along the way we passed, and talked via radio with, a Nordhavn 62 called "Grey Pearl" - Braun and Tina Jones. We were to see them again back up in Trogir. Scott and Alison took the bus into Dubrovnik town for the obligatory tourist run, while Mike and I took a day off. They headed north via bus on Tuesday August 1st, to catch their plane back to England and home from Split. Fun to have them both come all that way to spend a week afloat with us.

The next morning Mike and I headed back north to Korcula again, but had to turn around after 30 minutes when I realized I'd forgotten to pay the bill and collect our Croatian cruising permit. Oh well, I'm over 60 so I guess forgetfulness is to be expected. Enroute Korcula we spent the night at the south end of Mjlet Island, in a little cove called Okuklje. Our Canadian acquaintance had recommended this spot, so we tied to the dock in front of Baro's restaurant. The moorage was free assuming you ate dinner. Nice spot, although the food was only average. Not very crowded either, which must mean the Italian charterers hadn't found out about it yet.

Back to Korcula on Friday August 4th. There we found a good dentist, Denis Castelan, through the marina office. He worked on Mike's tooth over the next week, delayed while the infection and swelling went down, then put in a first class permanent filling. His charge, about $120 US dollars, for a week's attention, was about the same as the "amateur" harridan who put in the cheap temporary filling in a half hour in Hvar. In Korcula we were joined by John and Sue Spencer on Nordhavn 40 "Uno Mas", who tied alongside us, then later by Chris Samuelson and Sonaia Maryon-Davies on Nordhavn 57 "Goleen". Both had crossed the Atlantic in 2004 with the Nordhavn Rally.

Underway again on Friday the 11th, Mike's tooth all fixed, we headed north to Vela Luka, with "Goleen". There we med moored against the stone tow quay, but had to drop our anchor, since there were no leading lines (ropes tied to the sea floor to secure the bow). Technique is to drop about three boat lengths out from the quay, and back in. You hope no later arrivals fouls your anchors. We were lucky the next morning, but "Goleen" had some trouble getting disentangled. We had dinner aboard "Goleen" with Chris and Sonaia, the beginning of a nice friendship.

The next night we spent in Vis, the formerly closed island which had been Tito's World War Two partisan forces headquarters. The British special ops types sent in some liaison officers, air dropped supplies and Tito was never dislodged by the Nazi army. He later became ruler of Yugoslavia, from 1945 until his death in 1980. Vis was a pleasant, but crowded town. The quay was fairly exposed, so we spent an uncomfortable night. "Goleen" anchored at the other end of the bay. Early the next morning we were pelted by wind driven rain in a strong thunderstorm for a half hour, then got underway for Milna, on Brac Island, south of Split. "Goleen" had to run their engine to take the strain off their anchor.

"Goleen" and "Resolution" tied to the stone quay in Milna, supposedly in an appropriate spot - the marina was full. Turned out, no, sorry, there were some passenger boats coming later, so we had to vacate after we had lunch. We both then anchored in a pair of coves just outside the town. They were supposedly sheltered from the prevailing winds, but about 5PM a horrific thunderstorm with 50 knot winds and horizontal rain blew through. The chaos in our cove, with the anchored charter sailboats, was something to behold. We were fine, although I ran the engine to take the strain off the anchor. Two sailboats got tangled up and one cut his anchor line to free himself. His dingy, hoisted on a halyard, was flapping around like a loose sail. No one hurt, so in retrospect it was pretty funny, but it could have been dangerous. "Goleen" dragged anchor a bit, so after radio consultation, we decided to head three hours north to Trogir, and a known safe anchorage rather than stay in the exposed cove. "Goleen" had some trouble with their anchor chain, so we stuck with them. I was about to drop Mike off to help when Sonaia managed to untangle the chain, which had jumped out of its chocks.

"Goleen" and "Resolution" anchored right near the castle at the mouth of the Trogir harbor in the dark, at about 9PM, spent a quiet night, and found space in the marina the next morning. There we were joined by Braun and Tina Jones ("Grey Pearl"), John and Sue Spencer ("Uno Mas") and Scott and Terri Strickland (Nordhavn 47 "Strickly for Fun"). They had all made the Atlantic crossing together, so a mini Nordhavn rendezvous ensued, along with a fair amount of partying.

After four days in Trogir, we headed north for Skridan on Friday August 18th. Our neighbor Florian Mayer, an Austrian university student tending his father's friend's boat, helped us in. He was all alone, so we had him over for drinks, then dinner ashore. The next day we all took the tour boat up the Krka river into the national park and its famous falls. They were mobbed with Croatians on a hot summer day, so I sat under a tree while Mike and Florian went in swimming. Having seen Victoria Falls in Zambia, Niagara in Ontario and New York, and Bridal Veil in Yosemite, California, plus numerous unnamed but prettier waterfalls in British Columbia, I wasn't too impressed, but it was an interesting excursion.

Sunday the 20th we spent at the Kremik marina, near Primosten, where we found finger pontoons! First side tie since leaving Malta. The next morning I cleared us out of Croatia while Mike slept in - at least I thought he was sleeping. So when I came back, trying to let him sleep some more, I got underway by myself. A mile out, the radio crackled, and there was Mike, abandoned on the shore. Seems he'd gone to the store, and I hadn't noticed. So I turned around and picked him up, somewhat chagrined!

Malta
August 23: We had a smooth crossing of the Adriatic, to the Italian port town of Bari. We spent the night at the Club Sportivo, wandered the old town, checked out the obligatory cathedral, and took advantage of a good weather window to head direct to Malta the next day. After a 60 hour passage with mostly smooth conditions, we returned to Grand Harbour Marina in Malta the evening of Friday August 25th. We were delighted to find all the construction now complete, and three new restaurants opened up. The Chinese one, "Manchuria", was pretty good, and the continental one, "Two and a Half Lemons", was really good. We had callers while at the dock, John and Hazel Halliday, Brits living in Malta who have ordered a Nordhavn 76. We talked boats, and they invited Mike and me over for drinks at their apartment nearby, overlooking the harbour entrance, where we talked boats some more.

While in Malta we worked with Charlie Vella, of Yacht Services, the local Lugger (Alaska Diesel) agents, for some routine maintenance. We had the main engine cooling system flushed, the life raft and fire extinguishers serviced, the port stabilizer cylinder replaced (again), the squeal gotten out of the second VHF radio, three gelcoat gouges repaired and the cooling water pump replaced on one air conditioning unit. Mike changed engine oil and filters. All that required shifting berth to Ta Xbiex, in Marmaxett Harbour, on the opposite side of Valetta town. There, our neighbors on the wooden sailboat "Lady Wood", Ray & Vicki Vella (no relation to Charlie), and their two sons (Chris, in university in Dublin) and Zack (age 5), proved most hospitable. Charlie Vella also organized duty free fuel for us. We took 714 gallons (2703 liters) at $2.55 a gallon - less than half the price of diesel in France, Spain or Italy. Long range capacity saves big money!

We welcomed Ryan McFadden, Mike's younger brother, in Malta. He and Mike did the town a bit, and met up with a couple of Maltese fellows Mike had made friends with on our first stop. They played pool, drank some beer, and got to know Malta better. On Tuesday September 5th we took off from Malta with all our maintenance chores in hand, running overnight to Siracusa, where we'd been in July. There we met up again with the Stricklands, on their Nordhavn 47 "Stricly for Fun". Chuck Slater, also aboard "Strickly", and I drove north to Mount Etna, then took a gondola and a Unimog rough terrain truck up the mountain to about the 10,000 foot level. The landscape was stark, with the truck road bulldozed into the grey and black pumice. Way up the mountain you could see a lava flow, but viewing wasn't very good.

September 8: We took off in the evening, up the Straits of Messina, timing our departure for the strong tidal flow in the narrowest part, the infamous Scylla and Charybdis whirlpools of ancient Greece. Yes, they're still there, although weaker after an earthquake 300 years ago changed the seabed. At one point we were doing 11 knots northbound - normal top speed is just over 7.5 knots! The next afternoon we arrived in Lipari, one of the Aeolian Islands off the NE coast of Sicily, where we spent the night. The town was thronged with tourists, even though the season was theoretically over. That night we anchored in a cove on the west side of Vulcano Island, just south of Lipari. The volcano was steaming, but the cove was quite pleasant and good for swimming. We saw what appeared to be foam on the water, and found it to be zillions of small pieces of light grey pumice stone floating on the water's surface. Ever heard of floating rocks? Well, we've got some on "Resolution".

Italy
September 11: We set sail for mainland Italy in the evening, timing our departure to pass Stromboli Island, another active volcano, after dark. It put on quite a show, with periodic spouts of lava shooting from its peak, and weird lightning playing around the top. We were headed for Salerno, so we could visit Pompeii and Naples. On arrival in Salerno harbor, we found utter confusion and no moorage, so I phoned Capri (20 miles west) expecting to be turned away for the crowds. Lo and behold, they had space, so we cruised along the Amalfi coast, one of the famous shoreline drives of Italy, passing Amalfi and Positano.

We arrived Capri just before sunset, and were assisted into a great spot on the town quay just south of the center. Yes, it's a seriously tourist island, with megayachts, and really expensive shops, but it's also really pretty. The next day we took the obligatory trip on a small boat to the Blue Grotto, transferring to small rowboats to go into the grotto. There is a mob scene all around the entrance, a three foot high hole in the rocks, flooding and ebbing with the swells. The grotto itself is pretty dark, although the water glows blue near the entrance from the sunlight flooding in underneath. At least it was only 21 euros for the trip, which took us all the way round the island. But the two nights in the marina cost 400 euros, $500! We finally found a spot more expensive than New York City, which was "only" $200 a night, not $250.

The Capri marina staff organized us a spot in the marina in the town of Castellammare, 20 miles south of Naples, so off we went. The weather turned rainy and windy while we were there, so we spent five days. It's an Italian commercial and shipbuilding town, with no concessions to tourists, but very welcoming all the same. Here Mike's brother Ryan decided to go home early, so we bid him farewell.

Mike and I took the Circumvesuviana commuter train into Naples, and to Pompeii. Pompeii, buried in an eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD, was very well preserved, and has been carefully excavated. It's about two miles square, and easily absorbs the crowds of tourists. In my book, it equals Rome as an important place to visit in Italy. The commuter train, which runs every half hour between Naples and Sorrento, stops right at the west entrance, so visiting is very convenient. In Naples we toured the national Archeological museum, where most of the treasures unearthed in Pompeii are on display. We also had a great, inexpensive pizza dinner at a place called Trianon, recommended by a friendly hotel concierge. Naples has a bad reputation, but Mike and I thought it was great.

Tuesday September 19th we took off across the Bay of Naples, past the city then the island of Ischia, and out 70 miles in the Tyrrhenian Sea to the island of Ponza. Another tourist island, with overpriced and terrible restaurant food, but fun nonetheless, and really quite pretty. The next day we ran overnight to northern Sardinia, stopping for a night at Porto Rotondo, just north of Olbia and south of the tony megayacht harbor of Porto Cervo. Rotondo was purpose built for boats, and the harbor is surrounded with nicely designed condos, apartments and shops. It was pretty well closed up for the season, with a few yacht captains around, and some Brits on sailboats. One yacht captain, Pito Pacchiarotti, on the sailboat "Wabi Sabi", next to us, was most welcoming and hospitable. Mike went out for drinks with him, and met some of his family. He also gave us some good tips on cruising Sardinia.

The next three nights we spent in La Maddalena, a pleasant island town which hosts a NATO naval base and a US submarine squadron with tender. We went out to the small US Navy support compound and went shopping at the navy commissary and exchange. Nice to buy some "found in America only" products, like contact lens solution, canned chili and pop tarts (for Mike), plus Meyers Dark Rum (for me). Italy is the only country in Europe which readily permits retired US military to use the US facilities. The US presence over here is about a third of what it was during the cold war, and continues to dwindle. The subs go home next year, and some of the German based forces are shifting east to Hungary and Bulgaria.

Corsica
September 25: We crossed the Bonifacio Straits 20 miles to Bonifacio in Corsica. This really pretty little town is in a narrow fjord guarded by a citadel 300 feet up on a hill. Part of the town clings to the cliff face, overhanging the sea. The marina is along along the town quay, and the lower town is only about two buildings deep. Great spot, with really good, inexpensive restaurants - fresh mussels, fries and a glass of wine for ten euros! The shops were convenient, with produce fresher and cheaper than Italy. We bought some good Corsican wine, Comte Peraldi, for about eight euros a bottle, which we'd been introduced to earlier by Chris and Sonaia on Nordhavn 57 "Goleen".

After four pleasant and restful days in Bonifiacio - although I did hike up to the citadel and the upper town - we moved on up the west coast to Ajaccio. There we tied to the town quay, right alongside all the small fishboats. The fishermen were fascinated by our rigging, for the paravane stabilizers we can drag in the water, and I talked to one young fisherman (in my feeble French) who said how much he loved America and wanted to go visit. Our government and our President aren't winning any friends over here, but I do not sense any dislike of Americans as individuals. We fly our flag, and indeed hung a new one three weeks ago after the old one grew far too tattered and dingy.

I wandered the streets of Ajaccio, the birthplace of Napoleon and quite a lively, up to date commercial town. I even found a watchmaker who was able to replace the run down battery in my Breitling watch, a project I undertake every three years, which usually requires an expedition to a jeweler who sells Breitlings. That means Bellevue - the only outlet in the Seattle and Tacoma area.

The next day, Saturday September 30th,the two year anniversary of our departure from Bellingham on this great expedition, we headed on up the coast of Corsica. The mountains and red rock formations are absolutely spectacular. We looked into Giralata, a small town with a Genoese fort, reachable only by water, and decided not to stay. The southwest wind was setting up a swell and surge into the tiny harbor, and it didn't seem safe for the night. We reached Calvi, a lovely town behind a promontory crowned by the inevitable citadel, on the northwest coast of Corsica just before sunset, and found a good berth in the very convenient marina. No one around, so we just tied up, and they were quite happy about that when I went to pay in the morning.

Calvi is a spot to spend more time in, but we had a weather window which was threatening to close in, so we headed out Sunday evening for the 90 mile crossing to the French Riviera. We arrived Monaco (15 miles east of Nice, France) at about 9AM, and found my friend Kevin Bonnie had organized a spot on the Monaco Marine docks in the main harbor. Berthing space in Monaco is almost impossible to find, so Kevin worked a miracle. He had sold boats for Monaco Marine, who used to be the Grand Banks dealer for south France, so had good contacts. More on Monaco and the south coast of France in the next chapter.