a little detour.. to Croatia

little village on the Krka River

Primosten

I told you we were about to set sail for a grand Baltic tour on Röde Orm. Well.... we made a little detour to Croatia first. Another sea anyway... Magnus took on a skipper assignment for a week to the condition I came along. I was all for it even if it meant spending 7 days with 4 Swedish guys, between 21 and 25, all in the military and making a big hole in my little budget ! When I realized that age wise I could be their mother, it was a shock… Despite the tight living quarters of a 33' Elan, everything went quite well. No one can be grumpy with temperature above 28 to 30 and a water temperature around 28 degree Celsius clear and inviting. It is a superb sailing ground of hundreds of islands in the Croatian Archipelago. Tourism has not quite destroyed the coast due to severe regulations of the Croatian government. Though, charter business is a big industry and the marinas numerous and expensive, there is enough places to anchor and feel isolated. I did not have time enough to ''feel'' the country as I like to do. I only could guess how primitive it must still be in the Dalmatian mountains. If the country itself is Mediterranean with its perfumes of ''garrigue'', ''maquis'', rich in herbs of all kind, the people do not have the Latin attitude, or Latin root language and somehow it was disturbing not be able to refer to something I knew. We can still feel the strong hold of the former eastern block and it is hard to imagine that Croatia was in a bloody fratricide war not that long ago. I usually spend a lot more time in any country I visited (even when I do not wish to…) and I would have love to go in the mountains, visiting small villages, tasting local food. But our 4 guys had other ideas about their vacations and besides some sailing, swimming they were more inclined to eye some pretty Croatian girls!