When we are not on the water in Croatia, we like to escape Split by heading into the hills behind the city. Our favorite trail is up from the village of Sitno Gornje to the peak of Mosor. On the way is Planinarski dom Umberto Girometta at 868m above sea level. (A planinarski dom is [...]
Dropping Roklan off at day-care the other day I noticed the kids running around the playground with familiar brown seed pods – though I have never seen them in Perth before. The pods come from a carob tree – a rarity here, but numerous in Dalmatia – where they are called rogač. Today carob is [...]
Last week we received the invitation from Plamenko Bavcevic to participate in the 2nd Rota Palagruzona – a traditional boat event starting on Hvar Island, crossing to Komiza, on Vis Island and then crossing to remote Palagruza Island. Professor Josko Bozanic started the regatta to honor the old fisherman who used to make the marathon [...]
The best reflection of the Dalmatian locals’ rediscovery of their maritime heritage is the yearly increase in the number of participants in the Latinsko Idro (Latin Sail) Regatta. We have mentioned Latinsko Idro previously. A Latin-rigged boat has a single triangular sail – only such boats can enter the regatta. The fleet of gajetas and [...]
Today the local newspaper, Slobodna Dalmacija (Free Dalmatia), published a story about our plight to get our boat, the Labud, out of Arista Nautica‘s shed. It was a good article, describing how we want to use the boat to promote ‘real’ Dalmatian tourism. Unfortunately it doesn’t mention the work I did for Arista Nautica and [...]
David Hicks, of Arista Nautica and Arista Yachts, was questioned today by Croatian police in Split, regarding threats he made to us (Julie Morgan and Shane Braddock) on May 8th to harm us himself or use Ivica Viljac as a weapon. David said on the day, “I want to scare you to protect my friends, [...]
The last two weeks have been a little disappointing – and between trying to fix the problems and run tours we haven’t had time to post regularly on the blog. Its written somewhere that bad news comes in threes – so hopefully we have good times ahead. #1 – Time Out Croatia We provided numerous [...]
The Italian influence on Croatia over thousands of years has been great. The Romans, Venetians and Italian Empires have for at different times taken parts of the country. Even today, in Istria all the street signs are bilingual and in Dalmatia there are many Italian surnames. But it hasn’t been all one way traffic. The [...]
The finishing touches are being completed on the leut, including her name been painted on the stern. As mentioned previously her name, Labud – which means ‘swan’ in Croatian – is a reference to the river which runs through Perth. From my parents’ house on the river the Swan Yacht Club can be seen. Its [...]
Split’s adventurous couple, Tonka Alujević and Alen Krstulović, last night presented the documentary for their last adventure – rowing and sailing their renovated 1936 2.9m guc (shown above) 550 nautical miles through France’s Canal du Midi, from the Mediterranean Sea to Atlantic Ocean, and finishing in Brest for the International Maritime Festival last year. The [...]
