Passage to Montenegro

We left Monopoly in Italy bound for Montenegro, a small county wedged between Croatia, Algeria, Serbia and Bosnia Hertzegovina.

The passage was 120NM and took us 23 hours. The wind was mainly light and just forward of the beam allowing us to sail straight for Montenegro at about 4 knots. Around midday the wind got really light and we threw a line off the back of Vega and took turns getting dragged behind her in the clear, blue water. Heather was having a heap of fun being towed along until her knickers got sucked off, at which point she gave up, got changed and retired to the back deck for a spot of Yoga!

Later in the afternoon a huge pod of dolphins visited Calyxa who was off our Starboard bow it was great to watch them as they put on a show, leaping and twisting high out of the water.

As the sun dropped we sailed through a school of Tuna and both our lures got hits. For some reason one had been rigged without a steel trace and the tuna bit straight through it. But the second one was rigged properly and we had our fish, Milly and I pulled her in as quick as we could to reveal a lovely 4-5Kg Tuna. A real beauty, and un-like the juvenile swordfish that we caught and returned last year this one was a keeper.

As we landed the tuna on the back deck and got hold of it she was fighting hard. At one point she broke free but both Heather and I leaped on it pinning it to the deck and I quickly took the head off before we lost her again! The battle had left quite mess on the boat with blood splattered all over the aft deck, side decks, transom and the life raft. While Heather set to work cleaning and filleting the fish the Kids and I swilled down with decks with salt water. Ben was a bit shocked by the whole process, but Milly turned all hunter gatherer and insisted on a photo with the head on skewered on a knife! She is always full of surprises!

Overnight the wind picked up nicely and between 11pm and 2am we were averaging 6.5 knots, the only noise was the wind and the water surging past the hull. There was no moon and the stars looked amazing. Just before dawn we were visited by a pod of  maybe 50 dolphins, by this time the wind was light and the sea calm, and you could hear the dolphins taking breaths as they surfaced, quite amazing.

We entered Montenegro and the famous Kotor basin just after dawn and made our way to the small anchorage just off the old town of Kotor for brekky and a sleep.

What a great passage!