Pit-Pat

You know what’s lovely?  The sound of soft rain drops on Gerty’s deck.  Not a torrential lightning storm like the one we had to deal with that terrifying night, but a ballet slipper pit-pat, pit-pat, pit-pat.  The rhythm makes me want to write, so I’m doing just that, from Cavtat, Croatia.  Can I just say that again?  I’m writing from CROATIA!

So yeah, we’re feeling kinda hot shotty tonight.  The Balkans are awesome, and we’re totally psyched (throw back 80’s terminology seemed appropriate) to be here.  Why did we like Montenegro so much?  It’s simple.  The temperature dropped about 30 degrees, the haze cleared from the sky, and the earth woke up to say, “hello!”  There’s trees, and mountains there.  There’s cows and horses there.  There’s deep fried meat there.

Okay, so we didn’t love the food in Montenegro, but we really enjoyed the people, and their love of the outdoor environment.  We couldn’t read a single road sign, or pronounce one word of the slavic languages spoken there (Montenegrin, Serbian), but we made it to the top of Bobotov Kuk, the tallest peak in the country.  

And that wasn’t even the hard part.  The hard part was getting back to Gerty in Kotor Bay when police barricaded the road due to a protest.  The problem, tension between the Serbian and Montenegrin orthodox churches, shed a little light on the former Yugoslavia’s current struggles, but we had so much to learn.  And we had so far to drive!  On swurvy, curvy, switchbacking roads, down into Tara Canyon, up over Skadar Lake, all the way home to our girl.  There she was, waiting for us, nestled between the mountains, in that good-night’s-sleep-water.

It’s hard to believe, we started off our Montenegrin journey in a sailor’s nightmare, because every night since then has been a peaceful one.  We were ready for the boras (strong katabatic winds known to frequent Montenegrin Harbors), but that was no bora.  That was a storm.  A rudder crunching against the rocks as we dragged anchor storm.  Thankfully, Michael was out the hatch door and at the helm with the motor on before I even had time to think.  No thanks that it was lightning continuously, blowing 30 to 40 knots, and we were wearing our pajamas.  I hate to think about it.  The rain, the hail, the cracking thunder, our escape into the night.  It was awful, yet, we were sad to leave Montenegro this morning.  “It’s my favorite since the Azores,” I said to Michael as we rounded out of Kotor Bay into the Adriatic, and he agreed. 

Last remarks:

• Thanks to Poppy and Mick (and their guest Paul) on SV Trim for bangers on the barby and great conversation.  We never knew about the Australian-Austrian mix up thing- so funny.  We’ll see you in Licata!
• Thanks to Lee and Lindsay on SV Britt for your company in Kotor Bay!
• And last, but not least thanks to our boat twins, Renata and Kuna on SV Blue Moon.  We LOVE your boat, and it was so much fun to chat the night away.
• I lied. One more.  Thanks to Sue for sending the quote that best explains Montenegro to me (before we got there.)  “Every dreamer knows it is possible to be homesick for a place you’ve never been to,” Judith Therman.