We woke up early morning to a gentle swell in the beautiful Bay of Tijat Island. When we arrived last night we could not see the full beauty of the bay since the sun was setting just behind the hills. At seven am everybody was already in the water and on kayak.
Morning at 07.00 h in the Bay of Otok Tijat - about half an hour north of Sibenik
In order to reach Zadar, we had to cover 50 miles today - it would be an easy journey given there was almost no wind. But everybody regretted that we could not hoist the sails again.
Coastal marker - the coast line north of Sibenik is full of treacherous underwater rocks
Our first stop was in Biograd (White City) - 1’000 years ago the first capital of Croatia. It later became Venetian and was twice taken by the Ottoman Turks who destroyed the town entirely. Not much of its former glory is left today - the old town centre feels like a small village - the once urban character is completely gone.
The Campanile of Biograd was rebuilt
In the harbour 3 trawlers were loaded with frozen sardines delivered by giant trucks. The sardines are for the Tuna fish which are raised in the fish farms outside Biograd.
The loading is quite spectacular. Once unwrapped, palettes of sardines are lifted on the trawlers where they are defrosted with fresh seawater. It must be a yummy meal for the Tuna
Given that Tuna have limited table manners they probably do not mind that their food is served on palettes and half frozen. Am sure the boat crew only removes the plastic wraps before they dump the sardines over board.
Watching the operation I wondered why farmed tuna are fed with sardines fished in the sea. Would it not make sense to raise the sardines as well in farmers rather then depleting the sea? Dolphins feed on sardines as well - as actually humans do.
Biograd is also a refuelling centre for the yachts which sail up and down the Adriatic. Luckily, we refuelled in Sibenik and thus did not have to queue. This business must have taken off after the end of the civil war in 1996 - doubt that yachts were allowed into Titoist Yugoslavia.
Last full day of these flags - tomorrow the composition will change again
We made such quick progress after lunch that we could have arrived in Zadar at around 2 pm. But Captain Mustafa found a little bay for swimming and dozing just opposite the town. The Captain even repositioned the Dragonfly - Swimming Baby - one last time
Most of us swam back to the boat - the water was so warm!
Sailing past Zara - the harbour entrance is to the West of the peninsula
Two weeks after we set sail in Sarande on the Albanian-Greek border, we arrived at Venice’s crown jewel in the Adriatic - the town of Zara as Zadar was called at the time. The town was so important to Venice that it "detoured" the 4th crusade to take the town in 1202 for the Serene Republic. The Ottomans understood the strategic importance of Zadar as well and conquered its strategic hinterland. It was always within range of the Ottoman artillery. Venice took the threat serious and fortified the town. Zara was Dalmatia's most modern fortress. In 1815 the town became Austrian and stayed Austrian for 103 years. It was Italian in the inter-war period and was one of Mussolini's popular propaganda claims.
Mooring at 5 pm in the yacht harbour of Zadar. The big houses are old storage facilities
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