While were still making our way through Turkey, to explore Greece, we had to turn our heads towards the issue of where we needed or wanted to be for the next winter. Supposedly we chose Montenegro as it would bring us closer to Croatia and Italy for the 2025 season.
But in reality, Montenegro had called to me since I watched a Youtube sailing channel years ago extoll it's virtues as a winter hidey-hole. The idea of sailing into a country with soaring mountain peaks bursting out of the sea was very persistent. I'm not sure that the practicalities or costs were properly considered, despite my pretence these were my reasons. Luckily, Lazure Marina was reasonably priced, well set up and provided a secure place for Kirrikie.
After we had checked in at Bar, and battled a nasty but short-lived storm, we bypassed Budva and Bigova - tried to entice us in, but we chose the longer journey for a more secure anchorage inside the Bay of Kotor. We thought we would be able to return to these places at the beginning of 2025, before heading to Croatia - spoiler alert, we didn't get back there.
As revealed in our last blog, we traveled through the entrance to the bay, past Zelinika, turned left motoring past old submarine tunnels on the right, past the Monastery of Miholjska (St. Michael) one the left, just one of the churches built on islands in the bay, to release our anchor into the mud of Solila, high-fived and gushed that we already love Montenegro, eat, rest and wake to start a new set of travel experiences.
I have never sailed in Sydney, so take this with a pinch of salt, but to me the Bay of Kotor is like Sydney Harbour, shaped liked a squashed, jellified figure '8' . However, it also felt as if we were in Norweigan Fjord with islets and steep green sides (never been there either). There are 3 main towns, being Tivat, Kotor and Herceg-Novi, where our marina is situated. We had a couple of days before we would check into the marina, and I fly home to celebrate Kanoa's 1st Birthday. I'd already bought the T-shirt, just had to catch the flight. So, eager to make the most of the fine weather and time, we motored around to Tivat so we could once again report to authorites to complete and pay for another tourist document for the time we would be in the area.
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| Map of the Bay of Kotor, stars showing our anchorages and marina |
We were looking for a place to leave our car/dinghy amongst the huge expensive boats, to find that luckily for us Vandy and Eric on SV Awildian (named after a NZ wine) had reached their winter berth in Porto Montenegro marina, so we were able to dinghy over to their catamaran, ducking down under their hull and pulling ourselves along the bottom of their boat to tie up to the dock, right next to the authorities. I gotta say, this marina is in a very posh area, with boats as big as buildings, emulating Monaco with Dolce and Gabbanana and shops that Pretty Woman would have been thrown out of. I held my breath and tried not to think of the price of a cup of coffee, glad we hadn't put our name on the waiting list. Very smart apartment blocks and shops were springing up all around Porto Montenegro, evidence of new wealth, but Vandy and Eric quickly led us to a clubroom a short walking distance away where we enjoyed a set lunch menu for less than $15. Boaties rule - always try to eat and shop a few streets back from the harbour, and boaties in this marina were just as relaxed and non-posh as anywhere else.
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| The cheaper section of Porto Montenegro |
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| Perast, Bay of Kotor |
We explored the area, sooo pretty with the pale grey and/ or multicoloured stone architecture we were to find characteristic of Montenegro. We, also checked out the startling Black Pearl - a 105 meter super yacht worth US$200million, once the property of a Russian billionaire, now the subject of a legal dispute aka family feud, and available for hire by the rich and famous. The Black Pearl is one of the most environmentally and technologically advanced yachts in world, able to generate and store it's own power under sail, able to run all systems and cross oceans without using fuel. Plus it's home to Napleon's piano. It took us 2 years to include a portable bluetooth speaker on Kirrikie.
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| The Black Pearl, with rotating masts with lifts for the crew |
Soon it was time to say farewell, as sailors always seem to do, and make our way further into the bay, via the narrow channel linking the two loops of the figure '8' to join our Aussie friends from Finike, Ian and Malia on SV Longo Mai, anchored near the old town of Kotor. This was a very overdue reunion. In April 2023 we stood on the harbour wall, at Finike, waving hankies and pip-pipping them out as they sailed away, expecting to see them in a few weeks. Nup. We missed each other again in North Cyprus, Turkey, and Greece. Despite similiar journeys this was the first time in 2 seasons we were in the one place with our boats. Malia/Betty and I were like Forrest Gump, waving at Capt'n Dan from the shrimp boat.
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| Looking down on Kotor, Longo Mai and Kirrkie tucked into the bay on the left. Up to 2 massive cruise ships can dock along the quay next to the Old Town |
That night we all explored the fairyland that is the Old Town of Kotor. Kotor is a Venetian medieval city surrounded by fortified walls, and is a UNESCO heritage site. You enter the city through one of 3 sets of gates - The River Gates, the Gurdic Gate, or the Sea Gate, which is the largest and closest to the marina, and the one we used on our visits. Soft modern lighting made the ancient cobblestone laneways shine, laughter and music carried around corners, opening up onto piazzas, where old palaces or churches looked down on us. Then onto find some dinner, and we scored a table in the square where local and international capella choirs performed in front of The Tryphon Cathedral, with the golden lights of the steps leading up to the The Church of our Lady of the Remedy and Kotor Fortress, completing the stunning evening for us. Magic.
Over 2 days we crammed in as much as we could, starting with the most important event in a trip to Kotor, lunch at Tanjga, the local barbecue and steakhouse. Ian is a smokin' meat man (in every aspect), and we had our precise instructions. Be there at 11.40am. After the smoker has been prepped and burning since dawn, when piles of ribs and steaks and chicken and pork have been barbecued or grilled or turned and perfected, before the queue starts to build, but not too early otherwise the owner will literally yell and say you are too early and to come back later. Only then will you will be one of the lucky ones and share in an orgy of scrumptious 'protein' and salad, while you watch the salivating crowd line up and wait...
Suffice to say, that when we returned to Montenegro and had prepped Kirrikie in 2025, we made a beeline back for seconds, before departing for other lands. And made our mark on the wall like so many before us.
Ian and Malia had hired a car so we hitched a ride and went touring for a day. Montenegro is a very hilly and mountainous country, with spectacular scenery. Of course this means winding roads, and the "road" behind Kotor is the Kotor-Lovcen Serpertine, with 25 hairpin bends cut into the steep slopes. It truely is breathtaking, as you hold your breath for most of the the trip, wondering how our small vehicle will be able to make the tight turns - and then a tourist bus comes around the corner! It was definitely an experience, particuarly if you're driving on the right/wrong side of the road. There's a reason why most cars in Europe are small.
Having reached the top, we headed for the inland town of Cetinje. Heard it was pretty, so we stopped for a relaxed lunch in what we thought was close to the main tree-lined centre. It was a Sunday so pretty quiet, and we ventured off to have a quick wander around the corner before continuing our trip..... and Hooly-Dooley, did we ever underestimate this place. Turns out that Cetinje, founded in the 15th century, was once the royal capital and cultural centre of Montenegro. It was only between the two world wars that the country's capital was moved to Titograd, now Podgorica, and Cetinje ceased to flourish. A few streets and piazzas away from our lunch spot we discovered Baroque, Neo-Romanesque and Art Nouvuea architecture (yes, I looked it up...). Slightly stunned, we spent a couple of hours exploring, and discovered the Cetinje Monastery (Monastery of Saint Peter), Museum of King Nikola (very popular guy), The Ethnographic Musuem, The Castle Church (Royal Church), The National Museum of Montenegro, The Blue Palace which is the current resident of the President of Montenegro, and the former embassies of France, England and Russia. Plus sculptures, parks and statues. We were so lucky to have stopped here, particularly since we hadn't really done our research beforehand.
Somewhere in our limited time in the Bay of Kotor, we also visited a chandlery, and then walked all around the Old Town in Kotor, to appreciate it's beauty in the daytime. Ian and Mike decided to tackle an early morning climb up the 1350 steps to the top of San Giovanni Hill (St John's Hill) and the Kotor Fortress, while Malia and I blamed creaking hips and knees and stayed behind.
Then sadly it was time to part ways, having hopefully made some plans to sail together in 2025. Kirrike left Longo Mai behind and headed for our winter berth in Lazure Marina. Two days later I headed back to Perth, Mike to Cornwall to see family, flying back to the marina for a couple of weeks to have work completed on the boat (replaced faulty navigation equipment), winterising the boat and then joined me in Perth for the southern summer.
And so it's now 2025. After 2 weeks in Cornwall we returned to Kirrikie at the end of March, hoping to get an earlier start on the season than in 2023 AND 2024. The weather had shown signs of improving, sunny and crisp... but nup, we arrived in blistering cold and torrential rain. "It's been lovely up til now" chorused other marina mates. We booked a spot in the Navar boatyard on the other side of the bay near Tivat - a very loose arrangement dependent on the weather- and filled our days with keeping warm, boat maintenance, watching the rain, enjoying sunny spells and walking the picturesque path around the bay and uphill to the Old Town of Herceg-Novi.
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| Snow on the mountains... |
It was clear that unless we wanted to freeze and dodge wild weather we weren't going anywhere by boat for a while. So.... car trip time. We spent 5 days travelling along the coast through Dubrovnik, Split and Zadar, before turning inland and visited the wonderful Plitvice National Park (waterfalls), crossing over into Bosnia - a really beautiful country - spending 2 nights in Sarajevo before travelling back to Herceg-Novi.
Finally it was our turn to lift Kirrikie out of the water for hull cleaning and antifoul. Once she was above our heads we glanced over to see a catamaran next to us being lifted as well - good lord, it's SV Awildian. What are the chances that our friend's boat was lifted at the same time?!
Mike was very happy in his work, getting other people to fix things.. inspecting and replacing 5 of our 11 thruhulls (kinda taps that plug up holes in the boat that allow water and other liquids in or out of the boat), new antifouling applied, sides polished, new macerator for the loo (it's always about toilets), and other miscellaneous jobs to keep Kirrikie afloat and operative. Meanwhile I concentrated on lunching with the boaties version of ladies do lunch, attending a Sailing Croatia information session, meeting more sailors at the local Indian restaurant where we learnt even more about sailing in this region, and finally getting all our washing done before we departed.
Then at last we 'launched' for 2025 venturing our to test out the repairs, commonly called a shakedown sail. Well, this is probably an slight exaggeration - we motored and sailed around the gap, immediately encountered some issues we thought we'd fixed, and headed for the delightful anchorage of Morinjski.
It was lovely! Normally after a couple days in an anchorage I get restless, but I could have stayed here for quite a while. It was now Easter and we enjoyed the sound of ringing church bells, and watched children on a yacht near us having fun searching for easter eggs on their floating home.
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| Mike talking to his Mum, Happy Easter |
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| First time we had easter eggs for 3 years... |
We explored the small stream leading into the small bay, and tied up the dinghy at a dock near a small restaurant with beautiful manicured and wild gardens, swans and ducks providing quite a bit of entertainment for children playing in the spirng sunshine. We had made the decision to limit our eating out, given the bad exchange rate for the Aussie dollar and the high cost of EVERYTHING in Croatia, so we ordered a single cup of coffee each. And then capitulated, booked a table for that evening and returned for dinner, as it was just too pretty to be petty.
We motored around the bay, spent 2 more nights near Kotor Old Town, and returned to Tivat for yet another shop at a chandlery, and then it was back to our marina berth. We had a few more days before our 30 day tourist visa expired, so it we fixed minor issues, swapped ideas with our berth neighbours Julie and Tim on SV Morello who were also heading to Croatia, ate scrumptious meals prepared by Aussie friends Ray and Alison from SV Chill, and we all caught up with Malia and Ian who had a very delayed return to Montenegro. Sadly we were not to sail away with them to Venice as 'planned' as they had decided to sell Longo Mai to be with family at home, and headed the other way to Malta via Greece.
Then finally, on our last permitted day in Montenegro, we shook off our lines, waved goodbye to the crews of Longo Mai, Chill and Morello, checked out of Montenegro, which we had enjoyed immensely, and raised the sails heading for Croatia.
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