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.

Montenegro

En route!

We sailed from Corfu straight to Bar, Montenegro. It was our first continuous and overnight sail, which totaled to about 24 hours and about 180 nautical miles. The trip was mostly uneventful, with calm seas and light wind for the majority of the journey. Jared and I traded shifts every few hours.

We started out motoring with the jib out. After most of the day with very light winds, we had enough to justify putting up the main. We averaged 6-7 knots into the evening and put in a reef as the sun set. Around 1am the winds picked up so we sped up to 8-9 knots. 3:30am found us bashing into sloppy seas (where did they come from?), so we reefed the jib a little to slow down the bashing.
As the sun rose at 4:45am, Matthew woke up to tell us his room was drenched with sea water. There was a couple of bucket fulls of water in the starboard bilge. It turns out the hatches were vented and not closed all the way. The port front cabin was also drenched. This would all have to wait until we were tied up to a dock though, as we needed to focus on entering the harbor.
After hailing several times, we decided to just tie up to the customs dock (you can go to the marina to handle paperwork, but since no one answered our call, we didn’t feel like we could just assign ourselves a berth).

We entered the commercial port around 8am and saw the customs dock next to the ferry area.
We found a spot between two coast guard boats to tie up, and a few minutes later, a customs officer greeted us and gave Jared directions to the harbor master’s building. I spent the next hour taking everything out of both front cabins, rinsing in fresh water and set to dry in the sun on the trampoline, lifelines, and jib sheets.  What a sight we must have been! I also had amassed a huge pile of laundry and got the machine going. In between that, I washed down the cabins with fresh water and vinegar and dried it all thoroughly (do not want mold anywhere). This included everything under the beds and taking bucketfuls of water out of those storage areas, as well as out of the bilge. With the hot sun, things dried rather quickly.

After getting a permit to cruise for one month (104 euros to cruise for 1 week or 174 for one month), Jared went to the customs office to show our permit and get stamped into the country. Turns out, Montenegro just scans the passports and does not stamp them anymore.

We left the customs dock for the marina around 9am. Tried hailing the marina office on the way in and they answered (office hours are 9am-1pm). After receiving our berth assignment, we motored over, took up the lazy lines, and were soon plugged in to shore power (air conditioning!) Ah, it felt so nice to have a/c! For 100 euro per night, we had unlimited power and water. I planned on taking full advantage of this! We usually anchor out, but it was so worth it to have a good night’s sleep and get all the cleaning done.

Painted streets.

I went to work doing several loads of laundry, as we had to clean all of the bedding, toys, and other items that were drenched in salt water. It ended up taking all day for this task but felt great to have it all done. We cleaned up the boat, washed her down with fresh water, and filled the tanks using our filter.

Waves!

The next couple of days were spent exploring the town of Bar. There are lots of shops, restaurants, and activities for families. We visited a little carnival, walked through a little nature park, and learned about some new fruit.

Produce market.

Landscaped gardens everywhere!

Walking through a park and playground.

We set sail for Budva early on Sunday afternoon, as we wanted to get out of the expensive marina (though it was so nice to have all the amenities close by). We anchored in a nearby bay, but our chain was in danger of wrapping around the large underwater rocks. After trying a few other spots, we called it and set out along the coast. We poked in to several other bays, but found the bottom to either be comprised of mud and not the best holding or entirely rocky. The bay near the luxury resort of Sv. Stefan would have been wonderful, except it was not protected with the winds and the boats already anchored looked as if they were on rocking horses! That's how we ended up at Budva bay.

Budva bay.

A large island provides two entrances into this bay and it is split in half by a very shallow reef. The reef is marked on the charts but nothing is physically marking it. We nosed around the south side of the bay, but it seemed the popular place for jet skis and small power boats to practice their donuts in. We skirted around the island and went into the northern half of the bay. There, just beyond the marina and the channel, we anchored in about 7m of water. We hit a nie sandy patch amongst the tall sea grass and settled in to enjoy the show. It was quite the show! Colorful umbrellas and beach chairs covered every inch of the sand. Restaurants blasted out music, competing for customers over their playlists. Power boats, jet skis, water skiers, paddle boarders, and parasailers cavorted around the bay. It was quite bumpy in the anchorage! If you like quiet and solitude, this bay is NOT for you. The music went until around 5am.

The next morning, after breakfast and a quick dip to cool off, we hauled anchor and sailed into the Bay of Kotor. There are a few anchorages along the way we added to our 'must explore' list, but at present, they were full to the brim with day tripper boats.

Entering Kotor. Croatia owns the peninsula on the left.

You pass part of Croatia on your port as you enter the bay. Kotor has three basins and is one of the largest fjords in the world! We sailed into the middle basin and stern tied to shore. This would provide a good base for exploring a deserted resort that is rumoured to be on the island we are tied to. According to one of our sailing friends, this resort looks very much as if the people just up and vanished. Type writers still have memos in mid-composition, notes tacked to the corkboard, furniture still in place, and rooms left as if the guests had merely stepped out for a bit. Fact is, everyone was told to evacuate immediately and were not allowed to return (impending war).

On my list is to procure the 777 Adriatic pilot guide, as these books are chock full of history. You really get a feel for the place if you know a little of its background. I'll be able to elaborate a bit more on the blog, after reading it.