A Very Fine Natural Harbour

Kotor, Montenegro

Thankfully, our check out procedure in Cavtat was far less taxing on the Cap’n than our entry some five weeks earlier.  We even found the Q dock empty (we're still stunned!) but were again slugged a docking fee.  So, free at last, all crew legal and with a little wind, we managed a short sail to new horizons – Montenegro.

Imposing Montenegro coastline

Only 25 miles and yet a whole life-time away from Croatia, we pulled carefully onto Zelenika Q Dock, now on the challenging windward side of the bay.  Big black bumpers left their mark but the bow-thruster made for an elegant departure and we were soon anchored off the small private resort island (an abandoned Russian development) of Sveti Marko.  The Kotor fiord is quite stunning visually and the waters clean and relatively deep.  Anchorages then are few though not far, and we had lucked in to find both shelter and mud, so settled in for a relaxing Sunday afternoon watching locals at play.  Nearby, the peaceful monastery on the tiny Our Lady of Mercy islet set the tone for our stay in this delightful country. 

Perast Islands

Relaxing swim at Sveti Marko

Next morning we had something of a decent sailing breeze so took the opportunity to do a quick round of the inner bay sailing through the narrowest neck of Verige JUST as a huge cruise ship came silently motoring through.  Composure recovered, we sailed past the Perast Islands, Lady of the Rocks & St George, festooned with tourist boats and visitors.  There are other interesting historic buildings over in Perast town itself.  I was told by a local that the town once consisted mostly of villas owned by wealthy sea captains.  Then it was on to the town of Risan where we’d hope to anchor to look for Roman mosaics, but southerly winds prevented us so we set our sights back to Morinj where we potted about looking for a suitable place.  Nothing appealed here, so we moved on to Orahovac were we caught up with the French boat we’d seen earlier at Cavtat - its exhaust discharging great dark gobs of diesel all over us and the harbour – but no one seemed to care. 

Well, I'll bet we gave him a bit of a scare!

Kotor from our anchorage.  The Castle is up where?

Our final stop was Kotor, a mere few miles away, and a pleasant anchorage with a cooling breeze in a stunning location.  This became our base for a couple of nights to visit the charming old town of Kotor.  Whilst the crazy (oh, I do mean brave) amongst us decided to climb to the Illyrian Castle of St. John, balanced on a cliff-face some 1200m uphill on 1350 steps, GS made for the Cat Museum (of course!) and then the Lapidary Museum in the delightful St Michael’s Church (13^th c) now home to a small but plentiful collection of artefacts dating from the Copper Age to the 18^th c.  Other than that, she chatted her way around various shops and galleries, really just to enjoy the ambience of the labyrinthine streets and friendly locals.  I suppose by now you’ve guessed that you’re all getting 2016 Cat Calendars for Christmas!

Evidence of The Climb - Kotor & WJ3 at anchor (both climb photos thanks to JD)

Looking further up Zaliv Kotorska