We left my beloved Rovinj on the morning of 9th July and set course to an anchorage known as Portic. We had a beautiful upwind sailing, with smooth seas and fast speed. However, during our sail we saw a forest fire near Pula and we started a discussion about fires in the summer in the South, including Greece, France and Portugal- I know, better discussion themes exist for sure.. We left the next morning bright and early towards Otok Losiñj and albeit not being an interesting sailing trip, we saw a turtle and 3 dolphins!! I hope we see many more in the upcoming future, I know I have missed them from our previous trip. It was funny though, all 3 of us shouting “dolphins” in two different languages . It was the first time for Elena to see dolphins in real life and this is one of the great things about this trip, she will experience so many cool things for the first time!

We anchored in Uvala Zadodarski, a beautiful bay with a rocky (what else?) beach so we took the opportunity to throw the dinghy in the water and stress our legs. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, the waves were gently washing the rocks and ..Jelle and Elena fell asleep. Elena was so tired , that she even slept during the dinghy ride back and continued sleeping on board until I brought her a plate of cooked fried rice- then she decided to wake up. She is definitely our child..

On the 11th of July we arrived to our destination, Mali Lošinj. Mali Lošinj is a touristic town, colorful and I have to admit, I liked it more than I expected. We stayed at the town quay, which made it easier to walk around the town but the swell in the harbor won’t be missed. Although there were multiple bars around the quay with live music, it did not bother us at night but we rather enjoyed it, listening to live music while we had a drink on deck. We even spoiled ourselves and tried the local cuisine in the Bocca Vera restaraunt- delicious pasta for us and tomato soup for Elena!

Having enjoyed the “land” life for two full days, on Wednesday we released our mooring lines and set sail to the next island, Škarda. This is an uninhabited island and the only reason was to anchor for the night, on our way to Ugljan island. The winds here are generally light and do not last long so we acquired the habit of doing small (5/6 hours) day trips and anchor midway our destination if we cannot make it the same day. It works for us and Elena and it gives us the chance to always end the day with a dive in the crystal blue waters from the boat! Our sailing trip to Škarda was magnificent, a half-wind sailing with 10 knots wind and 6 knots speed! The same night we saw probably the most huge moon ever, we tried our best to capture it in the video below!

On Thursday, 14th July we mostly sailed, and bit engined our way to Otok Ugljan, and more specifically Preko. We made it to Dalmatia! Preko is a pretty little village where we spent a day before visiting Zadar. Jelle worked while Elena and I explored the “beach” and the cute beach bar next to it. Jelle joined us in the afternoon and we all enjoyed a homemade pizza..

Don’t miss our next blog where we delve into the Dalmatian coast and visit historical cities and beautiful anchorages! Tot zo!