Sailing with the Treleavens

Summer 2004 in the Med is over.

Six months, 3900 nautical miles travelled, 544 engine hours and 6 countries visited, our Eastern Med 2004 season is over. We still love each other and occasionally don't talk but all in all, it's a great experience to share together. A lot of our friends also joined us, which has been fantastic.

This last week we visited the islands of Pag and Rab north of Zadar. Even though the weather has improved, the tourists have gone and it is a very deserted place. Returning to Zadar, we discovered a very impressive town, full of history and the best shops we have seen in Croatia. The Romans built the town on a peninsular but many invasions later Zadar still has a lot of its original architecture. A must visit is the religious museum beside the Cathedral run by the nuns. How such art work can survive the wars, especially the heavy allied bombing at the end of the 2nd world war, is a tribute to the nuns who hide this priceless collection every time invaded.

Milan and his family live in Zadar and were very hospitable showing us the highlights of the area and then spent the next day on the yacht with us. It has been fascinating hearing the story of the recent conflict first hand. In Australia we were oblivious to what really happened.

Next year we will definitely travel north to Venice before sailing back to the western Med, Sardinia, Corsica, Italian Riviera, French Riviera, Balearics and out through Gibraltar to the Canary Islands. Destination, the Caribbean meaning 11 months on the yacht. The Atlantic crossing of 2800nms will take lots of courage on my part.

We wake on our last morning on board to a very thick fog, something we have not experienced since the Straits of Gibraltar last year.

Cadiz is now out of the water, high and dry in Marina Dalmacija, Sukosan, 5 miles south of Zadar. The largest marina in Croatia, it has 1200 marina berths and a further 1200 dry berths on the land. It is very professionally run and we are very happy wintering Cadiz over here after considering so many other options.

Austria

High in the Austrian Alps, a stark contrast to our last six months, we have now slept in a bed, showered with continuous water and pressed a button to flush the loo. We are spending a few days with old friend Penny and Gerhard who have recently purchased a Guest House Restaurant Bar in Dienten in the Hochkoenig Valley near Saltzburg. What a fantastic area, where there is a T- Bar in the back yard just waiting for the season snow.