I spent the days whilst Liz was in the UK getting the boat ready for our guests. As we were going to be based  in the Pula area for the next two weeks, I also went into Pula to suss out the town (lovely old part) and figure which were the best supermarkets. Our guests, Aly, Donna, Ben and Liz, unfortunately didn’t arrive until Tuesday as EasyJet decided to cancel their flight on Saturday and only once they were at Gatwick!

So, within an hour of arrival on Tuesday afternoon, we were off! First stop Portič, as it’s not far, has turquoise water and a beach bar. At about 8pm sudden squall came through and hit Nimmie sideways lifting the anchor. It immediately reset itself but we were now too close to another boat so we re-anchored in another part of the bay. A number of boats had the same problem so supper was put on hold until everyone was sorted!

Kayak racing!

Next day (Wednesday July 26), we ventured along the Istrian coast to Kuje as the picture in the pilot book made it look very pretty. Instead, it was by a fishing harbour with a beach bar that didn’t close until 3am! Still, the water was refreshing and we had a BBQ onboard. The following day we continued towards Vinjole where we had the bay to ourselves for the first few hours. Turquoise water and very sheltered. The water was absolutely freezing as it was fed by a freshwater underground spring. No wonder it was deserted!

Vinjole

We needed to be back in Veruda by Friday evening to ensure that we had a berth for the following week (as we were in a villa with friends) so a prompt start to the day to make our way to the marina. As we were coming into moor, the bow thruster decided not to work again and they wanted to put us in a space that was, apparently, “smaller than a gnat’s arse”. We made it with no injuries or damage but it was a close run thing!
We’ve spent the last week in Kamenjak National Park, Premantura in a lovely villa celebrating three 60th and one 50th birthdays. Great fun. One of the days we brought Sarah, Joey, Yvonne and Julie back to Portic.

A stunning sunset

Now we are back on Nimrod with Sue and Sheila. Back to Portic for the night but sadly have been invaded by charter boats on their first day – although entertaining in a scary way when they are a tad  too close to you and can’t anchor!

Sue trying to drown Sheila!