Raffaellesco - Bill and Suzette's Sailing Adventure

 9/20/2024 Vieste, Italy Up early for an 0630 departure, we had a 70-mile run to Croatia and we wanted to arrive in time to check in. Croatia seems to be one of the few EU countries requiring yachts to check in prior to anchoring or mooring. The closest place to check in appeared to be Vela Luka on the island of Korcula. The skies were still partly cloudy, but the clouds were not so ominous. The wind was light as we motored across in a choppy sea. We crossed the shipping lanes dodging several ships and boats. The wind remained light for the entire trip. As we approached Croatia the mountains loomed large, and the islands were covered in Pine forests. Leaving Vieste Crossing the shipping lanes Raising the Croatia courtesy flag and the Q flag Korcula Otok (Island) We arrived at the customs dock at about 1430. We gathered our documents and set out to find the border police and customs. A first pass through town, it is a very small town, yielded nothing. We stopped into the informati...

 9/13/2024 Bari, Italy Up with the sun and wind. The wind and dry night quickly dried out the lines and code zero from yesterday’s squall. We stowed the code zero to get it out of the sun. While working on deck our Canadian neighbors stopped by and introduced themselves, Doug and Sandy from Vancouver. They are working their way to Greece where they will keep the boat for the winter and go home to Vancouver. They shared some great local knowledge, what to see, how to get there and where to shop. Mid-morning we went to the office to check in. They were well organized and already had our documents electronically, a quick check of passports and payment for a few nights and we were all set. Alberto was very helpful and full of good local info. It turns out he runs the sailing school and race program here at the marina. He is an accomplished racer and proudly shared his trophies that were on display and showed us pictures of some of his races. Having taken care of our business we w...