Komiza to Bisevo to Vieste

Friday morning we set sail from Komiza to the island of Bisevo. Komiza was a very beautiful village with old world charm surrounded by crystal clear waters, though being the furthest out of all the Croatian islands which we landed upon it had the unfortunate condition of being occupied. The inhabitants left an unsettling impression upon us. Like their mainland countrymen they lacked warmth towards strangers. However more disturbing were their leers which definitely felt uncomfortable in a menacing way. One could say it's vibe was reminiscent of the horror movie Hostel. Even the children eyed us suspiciously. Mary is convinced it was a black thing, Terry is sure it was a Jew thing, Serge thought possibly it was a French-Canadian thing and Cynthia thinks it most definitely a tall blonde thing. Which ever the case, we made an early morning get away prior to 8AM. Our earliest departure yet and as an added benefit we set sail before anybody requested any dock fees.

We reached the east end of Bisevo with in an hour. We were anxious to find the world famous blue grotto. Apparently it is some sort of tourist attraction. Except we cruised in on the off season so it was abandoned. No guides just the big limestone rock. We read you could take a dinghy into the cave. We motored around surveying the face of the rock but we couldn't locate the entrance. There was a small hole that looked too tight for access. Cynthia and Terry (me) decided to launch the dinghy to get a closer look. As we went exploring we were happy to learn we were able to gain access through the small hole. As we entered the small entrance enlarged to a much larger dark cave. (Yes just like a Tardis). We creeped forward being careful to not scratch the inflatable against the rocks. We turned a corner into a larger cave that was partially lit through a crevice. Then we ventured further... deeper into the cavern. Then we turned into a magnificent blue pool of water that lit up the cave in a surreal sense. We spent sometime soaking up the ambiance before we realized our shipmates were probably worried. We headed back out to open water, Victorious! Next we switched over control of the dinghy to our shipmates Mary and Serge who began their foray.

After the blue grotto we sailed to the southern end of the island to explore a large crevice in the side of the island. This cave was set in a cove. While this cavern lacked the special effects of the blue grotto it's inner walls and crystal clear waters made it exciting to access by dinghy all the same. After our exploration and surveying of a large arch formation on the other side of the cove we prepared for our sail to Italy. As the dinghy was already in the water and the waters still within the cove we opted to perform some hull maintenance.

Shortly past 11AM we were underway towards Vieste, Italy. This was a 65 mile westward passage across the Adriatic Sea. While experiencing light seas we did fly the spinnaker reaching speeds as high as 8.3 knots. The voyage was incident free though we did have a start when the fathometer showing a depth of 150 meters suddenly went to 4 meters. We were crossing the main shipping channels at the time when the alarm sounded. We quickly disengaged the autopilot and attempted to avoid a possible grounding by steering hard to port. Fortunately the mysterious depth reading disappeared as fast as it appeared? Whale? Submarine? We will never know.

We reached Vieste under a star filled sky and were tied off by 10:30PM. We were greeted at the dock by a friendly and helpful dock attendant. In the morning we toured Vieste which is mainly a fishing and agriculture village. The town is situated atop a peninsula that juts out into the Adriatic making it the ideal first landing from Croatia. The homes, businesses, military outlooks and churches make for a picturesque setting. The people were friendly and did not stare as if we had something that needed to be wiped from our face.

An observation regarding Croatia; it's an enchanting land filled with an old world ambiance with crystal clear waters, too bad the Italians don't live there. ~Cynthia

Onward to Trani...