Bay of Kotor, Montenegro

The castle lights at night form a heart with the reflection in the sea.

The Bay of Kotor was a very special place for us and thus, has its own dedicated post. It is actually one of the largest fjords in southern Europe. Divided into three basins, it provides a well-sheltered sailing area surrounded by tall majestic mountains. With many nooks and crannies to explore, one can easily spend weeks, if not months in there.

The Blue Cave (left) and one of the submarine tunnels (right).

On the way inside, we saw Blue Cave, (which we later dinghied into), and a few submarine tunnels. There is one that has a dock you can tie up to, but with the swell and wind, it wasn't ideal conditions for us at the time.

We sailed into the first basin, turned to starboard, and anchored off the Island of lowers. Legend has it that Pan, the Greek god of nature resided here. After dropping the hook and tying a line ashore, we set about to explore the area. There is a nature preserve at the end of this part of the basin and the dinghy only made it inside so far, due to the marshland. We drove around checking things out and then decided to clean up the anchorage of garbage. It all seemed to collect in this one spot, and so we figured we would do nature a service and help her out a little.

We always do our best to leave an anchorage cleaner than we found it. Ocean conservation at work!

After disposing of the trash, we settled in for some swimming and cooling off from the heat. Loads of laundry were hung out to dry in the sun and we ran the water maker. Next morning, we set sail for the third and furthest part of the fjord, at Kotor.

Roundabout at anchor in Kotor.

An UNESCO world heritage site, the Port of Kotor is a major destination for cruise ships, as we had one come into port each day we were in the anchorage. There is good reason for this though. Beyond the fortress walls lies a medieval village. It is as if you step back in time, wandering the village and stone streets. It is quite an experience and it took us several days to explore it all. We also hiked up to the fortress and castle. This is about an hour hike up a steep trail and lots of stairs. It cost 8 euro per adult, kids and the dog were free. We accomplished this early one morning and spent most of the day wandering around the castle grounds.

Behind the castle ruins, was a large meadow with a spring running through it, a small cottage/church, and donkeys roaming around. We later learned that the refreshment crew uses these donkeys to haul the drinks up the hill.

We meandered our way down the backside of the mountain, on a zig-zag trail. Thunder boomed and rain started to fall. We made it back inside the village walls and sat down at a cafe, just as the rain started to pick up. We enjoyed a lovely lunch and cold drinks, before setting off to explore the town a bit more. We stopped in for the kids to get a haircut. Jared took Sunny and Cadence back to the boat, while I stayed with the boys during their trims. It was a good thing he did, because our anchor had dragged when the wind turned around and Roundabout was very close to shore. Fortunately, it was still deep enough to avoid any damage and Jared pulled in our shore lines, reset the anchor with Cadence's help, and all was well by the time the boys and I returned to the boat.

Remnants of the drawbridge and fortress walls.

Artwork inside the fortress and castle walls.

Kotor rooftops.

Another view of the old drawbridge and inside one of the ruins.

We experienced many thunderstorms in the fjord. Lightning is quite the show against the clouds and tall mountains. We were very lucky to avoid a strike and appreciated the fresh water rinse for Roundabout.

We spent the next week or so sailing around the various parts of the basins and admiring the beauty. It really is one of our favorite spots and reminded us so much of the high sierras back in California. It was like sailing on a lake the entire time!

Kitten love! The kids wanted to recruit a few as additional crew, but we had to decline their requests.

Clock tower.

Wandering around Kotor village.

Lady of the Rocks: this church was built on an island of rocks, created by people throwing them into the sea during a religious ceremony each year. 

Our last few nights were spent anchored near the Port of Montenegro, next to a nice beach. The kids swam back and forth from the boat to the beach, which was great fun! The town of Tivat is close by, and the kids enjoyed scootering along the nicely paved walkways, playing on the playground (made to resemble a pirate ship), and submarine and naval museum. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in this lovely town. Families were out everywhere, enjoying the cafes, ice cream, beaches, and walkways. We met another sailing family, s/v Foggy, and Cadence loved playing with their little girl.

Checking out the glamourous Porto Montenegro. The pool is beautiful but very expensive.

Porto Montenegro is a beautiful and extremely clean marina. There are in-water garbage collectors and it is free to pump out your tanks (they do not allow dumping of tanks in the bay, being a UNESCO world heritage site). All you need to do is call the marina and set an appointment. They will help you with lines and take your trash, free of charge. The employees are very friendly, professional, and courteous.

At anchor near Porto Montenegro.

Duty-free fuel is available here and was one of the many reasons we wanted to anchor nearby. We called the fuel dock (vhf 8) to schedule our fuel appointment. Their schedule is booked about three-days out, so plan accordingly. All was required was a boat stamp (so glad we had one made up) and the cruising permit, along with the usual boat docs. At .60 per liter, we saved quite a bit over the usual 1.31 price! Well worth it, in our opinion.

After fueling up, we were taken to customs to check out. We had to leave the country immediately, as the duty-free fuel cannot be consumed while in Montenegro. With a rainstorm sending us off, we set sail for the port of Cavtat, Croatia.

We choose one souvenir from each country. This bell was a perfect choice, as the heart reminds us of the castle lights at night at Kotor.