Pakleni to Korkula.. And a bag of stew

Here is yesterday's route, 36 nm or so.

We had anchored overnight between two islands on the Pakleni group south of Hvar. They are a group of low lying islands with multiple anchorages. This is a spot we had been to before so were comfortable with the anchorage on our first night out.

We started off into a brisk south easterly so motored for a couple of hours. As is always the case in the med the wind directions are not what it says on UGrib but modify themselves around the topography. So we then had a southerly and could sail most of the way to Korcula, although the last 10 miles were 25 knots on the nose. 

 While en route Margaret got involved in cooking in her nautical slow cooker, a fascinating bit of kit she made herself. It is bag of polystyrene beads.
The idea is you put the ingredients for your stew, curry, chilli or whatever, bring it to the boil for a few minutes and then stick it in the bag. I will let you know what occurs.

As is always the case while on passage, thoughts occur in a random manner and new things get noticed that had not been seen before. One that got me today was the colour of the new ropes that Toni had fitted. The usual thing on a boat is for ropes to be colour coded. But they have to be somewhat subdued to fit in with the ambiance of sailing. So generally ropes are white with flecks of various colours, or sometimes solid black or blue. I think the choice of bilious yellow and green must have been from a cheap job lot of off cust. These are really nauseating colours and have no place on a boat. I have seen such inappropriate colours used before on a boat with the result that it had to be sold!

 
Shortly after we started sailing this Bavaria 45 motored up along side us up wind and hoisted sail. I think this is a somewhat aggressive move in sailing etiquette, a bit like pulling up at the lights and revving your engine.
Anyway the second photo shows what happened to the hapless Bavarians!

And a question for the yachtmasters out there.

What are the day signs and nightlights for this fellow?



We arrived in Korcula which is hugely spectacular from the sea, with imposing medieval battlements. We anchored in a little bay half a mile from the main town. We rowed ashore and walked round to the town.

The circular battlements have been turned into a series of restaurants with possibly the most spectacular setting for an eating venue I have witnessed.
Having fed in a very sophisticated niche vege restaurant we wandered back round the battlements. We came across a bar with a jazz band playing outside. We ordered glasses of wine and enjoyed the ambiance. However the sting was in the tail £25 for two glasses of wine - at least it was very nice.
While Korcula is very spectacular it is pricey in similar measure.

There is significant rain in the forecast for tomorrow so we need to decide whether to stay in Korcula or move on the Mljet. Mljet is significantly more remote with a bit less to do. There was also a bit of a  thunderstorm with large hailstones this morning so all electronics stuck in the oven. This is supposedly a galvanic cage that is meant to prevent things getting fried in a lighting strike!