Cruising The Med - Sandy and Rob's Excellent Adventure: Otok Markinovac - Hvar Harbour Sailing (Yes, Sailing in 20 knots of Wind) to Scedro

Wed July 17, we left our quiet anchorage for the bustling Harbour of Hvar on the Island also by the same name, Hvar.

It is a very popular destination, particular in the summer as we certainly can confirm. It has a lovely piazza and the streets near the harbour are all walking only with no vehicles permitted which adds to its charm.

It has many colourful cafes, pizzerias, shops and restaurants with great views of the harbour and the neighbouring Pakleni Islands.

We stopped at the Restaurant Gariful which was recommended by our friends at Porto Montenegro. Once again, they did not disappoint and we enjoyed a delicious lunch of mussels, calamari and fresh bread. I had a chance to update this blog and we face timed home to talk to grandma, grandpa, and Rolland who is 3 years old today. (Happy Birthday Rolland!)

Our table on the patio at Restaurant Gariful gave us a lovely view of The Lodge anchored in the harbour with the Pakleni Islands ( Pakleni Otoci ) in the background.

Hvar is also very popular for its club and party scene. Carpe Diem night club gets top honours although we did not stay long enough to shake our groove things.

We zipped out on the dinghy to the Lodge and headed south down the west coast of Hvar toward Scedro where we had stopped on the way north.

Much to our surprise we met with 20 knot winds from the north sending us on a fabulous down wind sail. The scenery along the coast was staggering and we kept close to shore so that we could enjoy the mountains, wineries, and vertical terraced farms as we made our way south.

We topped out at 9 knots which was thrilling and Mackenzie took her turn at the helm managing the surf which was quite significant pushing and rolling us from behind. We were so pleased to be sailing!

As I have mentioned earlier, the mediterranean does not offer a lot of wind this time of year so one should not look forward to many days like this!

We pulled into a different anchorage at Scedro, Luka Lovisce which is the bay right next to Uvala Manastir where we had stopped on the way north.

Lovisce has several smaller bays and we decided to anchor stern to in a quiet spot with a line from the stern of the boat tied to a tree on shore, med style.

Mackenzie and I hopped in the dinghy and nipped into shore just a few metres away just as the anchor was set and I scurried up to a pine tree to get the line around and into a bowline as soon as possible before the boat drifted into a compromised position.

Just as we finished, our friend from the neighboring bay came by with some more local white wine. He also offered to take bakery orders so we order two baguettes and a chocolate croissant for Mackenzie which he would deliver to our boat at 7:30 am the following morning. We really looked forward to this as we had not had fresh bread on the boat so this would be a real treat for all of us.

Mackenzie and I took the dinghy and headed into one of the 3 cafes in the harbour. While this sounds very developed, they are all very quaint and this place has a great deal of character. Menus are very brief and you pretty much eat what is fresh and available daily.

I enjoyed a Bavaria Beer and salad and Mackenzie scarfed back some home made sausage and some frites which were delicious. We had hoped for grilled calamari but the owner said that there were no fresh calamari today as the wind was a 'bora' (which is from the NW and typically strong).

The following morning, we sailed out of the harbour headed south as we made our way step by step back to Porto Montenegro in time for Mackenzie to catch her flights home to Canada and her beloved, Justin Bieber.

View from our anchorage at Hvar Harbour