20. Sailing Hvar and the Pakleni Islands | Sail Croatia | sailing around the world

Last week we began our Croatian sailing journey leaving Dubrovnik and sailing up the coast towards Kočula. We enjoyed good winds and we reached the wine region of Lambada and decided to try out the local wines. This week we sailed to the incredible Paklini Islands before exploring the party town of Hvar. We restocked Kauai before enjoying a fun stay in the Hvar Anchorage and then we are off to pick up Jace's parents in Brac in Subotar. We are just leaving at Shedro, we are off to Paklini. It should be a downwind sail about 15 knots so yeah it should be a good sail. We were just talking about how well we've slept on this boat haven't we? Yeah we've slept really well. Until our first night crossing which was about 9-10 days ago and ever since then I've woken up at least twice a night wondering where I am and who's in control of the boat thinking that we're still on passage and you have as well. Maybe not as much as me but I've had a few weird dreams. I just usually get woken up by you going where are we? Who's looking out for the boat? Yeah every single night I'm hoping it stops soon. Yeah it's rather annoying really. Yeah. For me. Oh sorry. Only joking, only joking. Well it looks like the season has started. What happened to the rest of your jeans? Are you my grandpa? Because I'm sure that my grandpa would ask me that question. I know it's funny. It's a grandpa joke. Yeah not even a dad joke. It's a grandpa joke. After completing the 13 nautical mile sail from Shedrow we arrived in the Pakalini Islands. The islands are located off the southwest coast of the island of Hvar and are a quiet paradise with many bays perfect for anchoring. There are restaurants and beach bars ashore. It's freezing. It's really nice. Yeah really nice and peaceful and the water's beautiful. Turquoisey blue. Not quite as blue as Paxos though. So we were just sitting here enjoying a quiet sundowner as you call them and Jase has gone to help these guys out. They've had about just a few attempts at picking up their mooring ball so he's just going to help them out. It's quite windy. We then crossed the channel and headed towards Hvar, a short one nautical mile trip. It was a contrast from the quiet Pakalini Islands where we had enjoyed the anchorage mostly to ourselves but were looking forward to the vibrancy and atmosphere of Hvar. We dropped anchor and got ready for a day of restocking Kauai before we could enjoy all that Hvar had to offer. Well there's Kauai over there. We've left her in the Hvar anchorage whilst we go provision. Provision, get rid of rubbish, gas, water, fuel, whatever we can get done. We're actually not sightseeing, we're just going to go boating today but these are the jobs that you got to do. My parents are coming in a week so I've got to get to the boat before they get there. To go get more fuel. Unfortunately our draft is too deep to get to this fuel station which we've found quite regularly. Yes, just need an extra meter. Yeah that's all, just a meter. To be safe. Yeah. There's no way that you'd go in with 10 centimetres. No, not a chance. Well I'm going in to steal a bit of water from Hvar. The guy over there is really nice, he said to just go in and take some so yeah bring the tender in, in Hvar town. So these are the types of missions that you, not many people really talk about but you know we potentially could go in and moor at the quay but it's quite expensive and you know we only need a little bit of water so yeah I'd rather take the tender. She's electric anyway so it's charged by the sun so she shouldn't have any issues. Might have to do a couple of trips but that's all good. That's pretty cool anyway like just tendering into Hvar. How'd you go? Wow I filled up 60 litres. Right we've got our little tiny all chained up. Yeah. Padlocked, engine padlocked. Yeah we're ready to actually explore Hvar today we've done all our jobs. Yay. We get to have fun. Yeah. Hvar is one of the most popular destinations in the Adriatic. It is known for its history, nightlife and beautiful waters. Hvar is a magnet for charter boats from Split and it's easy to see why. There are four different options for sailors in Hvar. The first is to anchor at the front in the anchorage area, second is to tie to a mooring which costs around 325 kuna. The third option is to tie up to the town quay which is 650 kuna. The final option is to anchor or visit a marina nearby and get a taxi boat in. The first thing we wanted to check out was the Spanish fortress overlooking Hvar town. Construction of the fortress began in 1282 around the time pirates were rampaging through the Adriatic. The fortress has a lot of history including the time in 1571 when the entire town took refuge within the walls as the Turks attacked and set the town on fire. People will graffiti anything. What do you think about this view? It's great. It's really good. Excellent. Although we can't see Khoi. My Khoi's been bombarded with boats. I don't know where she is. Well you wanted pizza. Yeah I'm in heaven. I haven't had takeout in weeks. Has been. So yeah we're just sitting in the harbour of Hvar. Got a nice view. Nice view and very relaxing. The sun's trying to come out. The health kick is really setting in. Pizza, now beer. But we're only in Hvar for a little while so we're just making the most of it before we go back to the boat. Yeah good times. We had a really good day in Hvar and now we're just trying to chill out but it's probably the most stressful part of the day. We've got a lot of boats anchored around us and the one about 10 meters in front of us right now just dragged. We're just keeping our eye on them. Yeah anyway. We're off on a night time adventure. Where are we going? Well we're off to dinner in Hvar. That was a little bit of a last minute decision but we just thought we're here let's do it. Leave Kauai behind. We're gonna hit Italian again because we haven't had enough pizza today. Yeah it's just a beautiful night. So it's pretty calm on the water. So yeah happy. All I need to do now is get Trace in not wet. Yeah that's all I require. Looks like there's nightclubs going off already. That one we walked into. People are like going nuts on the dance floor. Is that a look of love? Maybe. It's been a while since we've had naughty food. Lunchtime today? The strong northerly forecast we found a protected bay one and a half nautical miles from Hvar town where we would stay until the winds changed direction. Well you've just set us up in a beautiful spot. Yeah just a little bit more rock climbing. I'm getting pretty good at that but yeah it's a beautiful bay. We're the only ones here and what we're about a kilometer from Hvar. You wouldn't know we're in a party town but um yeah it's beautiful. It's cracking arvo. Cracking haven't heard that word in a while. Leaving Kauai behind. We're just going on a little mission. She's tied off and uh we see a few deer in the distance. Hey buddy don't leave us. Hey come back. Come on girl. Hello. Hello. We're your friends. We're sailing again and we're off to see your parrots today. That's exciting isn't it? Yeah we are. Yeah it's pretty damn exciting. 10 knots of wind behind us and the sea state's calm. So yeah at this state leaving Hvar on to brunch. So babe you want to watch that? Yes just doing a little bit of uh cleaning and uh general linears right off our plucker. I was gonna say you've got a big ferry coming at you. Yep. It's cutting the corner. Yep. We want to cut the corner but we'll let him through. Any other big boats following us. We're used to people not waving back. That's the common theme these days. We're not getting any love. We get a bit. We get a little. Not proportional to how much we put out though. I think we wave every single time to every single boat so I guess we'll uh we'll lack out sometimes. It's been a fun sail. Um winds on the beam and the sea state's probably pretty rocky today actually. Um rockier than we anticipated um but the wind has been blowing for a while so I guess it's built up but um yeah it's fun. Not long. We're just about through the the straight and nearly at Brach. So yeah. Pick up some important cargo. Yeah see see my family. Mom and dad uh are flying flown in from Australia from the Goldie. All right well we've arrived in Brach. Brach. We look probably. Supertar Brach. Supertar Brach. We probably don't look amazing but Kauai's there in the background. Beautiful Arvo and we're off to see my parents. So um they're staying in a it's a hotel here um and we're gonna go shower there um and then go out for dinner. So yeah it's the first shower proper shower we've had um in five months. Don't judge us. Anyway we're going out. Can't wait to see my parents. It's gonna be fun aren't they? Who have we got here Jase? Oh we've got some stowaways. It'll be on film if you fall in. Geez you two have heavy luggage. How long are you coming for? I brought a lot of stuff for you. Oh great. Is there a place with sun all year round and pina coladas with pretty faces and sand on the ground?