Like Your Favorite Sweater

Old friends are the best friends. They are comforting, and reliable. They’re like your favorite sweater; the one that when you put it on, feels like a warm hug. 

But what happens when your old friends reinvent themselves; they let go of the familiar, and they embark on a new adventure and way of life?  If you’re adventurous, you join them! 

So, when Jill and Michael invited us on Gerty, Domingo and I jumped at the chance! No matter that we knew nothing about sailing, one of us can’t swim, and the other gets seasick.  We weren’t going to pass up the chance to sail around the Mediterranean with our friends as skippers.  So we packed Scopoderm patches, swimsuits, and quick-dry clothing, and hopped on a plane to Croatia. 

It was a short 2-hour flight from our home in London to Split, followed by a ferry to the Island of Korcula. We arrived in the dark, but we recognized the bright smiles of Jill and Michael, our friends for almost 30 years, as soon as we docked.

After a short dinner on shore, we took the dinghy (named “Love Bug”) to Gerty.  Her bright mast light was shining like the North Star.  We had heard so much about her, and now, here she was, materializing for real in the moonlit night.  She looked beautiful!

Anyone who knows Jill and Michael, knows that Gerty would be perfectly organized: there is a place for everything and everything has its place.  Gerty is set up to create the most comfortable and functional space for two people to live aboard full-time, and graciously host guests. Our cabin was compact, but it had a queen bed, a closet with drawers and a shelf with outlets, and USB ports!  Hidden behind the shelves in our closet were extra beers, under our mattress was a treasure trove of canned goods, and in the floor was the seawater desalination system.  We quickly learned that there is no wasted space on Gerty!

We slept soundly the first night, grateful for a calm sea. In the morning, the sun greeted us in a cloudless sky, and the Mediterranean called. Jill and I went for a morning paddle.  The boys followed on the dinghy, and we wound up in town for a funny and loud catch-up over coffee.  Island life in Croatia is as one imagines: peaceful.  We could get used to this life!

But first, we needed to learn a little about sailing so that we could be helpful on the passage. Our plan from the beginning was to sail with Jill and Michael across the Adriatic Sea, from Croatia to Bari, Italy.  It’s a 16-hour sea journey.  At the very least, we needed to learn how to tie a couple of knots.  We practiced sailing to the Island Monastery of Badijar in favorable winds. We watched Michael and Jill, a well choreographed team, and we did what we were told to do; pulling a line here, cranking a winch there.  With all the technology on board, I was surprised by the amount of manual work that’s still required. No wonder Jill and Michael are so fit!  We stood at the helm, holding the wheel, to feel how strong the wind and currents push the boat. We had to hold tight to stay on course!

Then we learned about Gerty’s autopilot feature.  The boat can steer itself, without ever getting tired or losing focus. Amazing! 

The next four days were filled with lots of hiking, swimming, eating, and laughing. 

How is this possible if Domingo never learned to swim?  Michael let Domingo borrow his impact vest (not a bulky life jacket), and the extra buoyancy did the trick. He was swimming! For the first time ever in his 60 young years!

One of the things we were surprised about is how much time Jill and Michael spend off the boat.  Every day we were out and about.  We hiked 5 miles from Korita Bay, and climbed almost 1,000 feet of rocky terrain to the town of Lastovo, where every home has a unique chimney, called Fumari. 

We got a funny group picture from the peak!

At Uvala Kremena, we explored submarine bunkers leftover from the Cold War. We learned that many islands in Croatia were used as military bases for the Yugoslavian Army. This complex past was difficult to comprehend as we walked by romantic seaside villages.

Our last day in Croatia was filled with preparations for the sea passage. This involved a meandering 10 mile round trip walk to the Port in Ubli to make sure we had all of our paperwork in order to exit Croatia.  Domingo and I were registered as official crew members of SV Gerty.  The long excursion was punctuated with stops at a cafe for ice cream (and a virtual COVID test for me and Domingo), as well as one last stop at the grocery store for provisions. Upon our return, we cooked meals for the passage and prepared Gerty, making sure everything was shut, latched, closed, and secured. Nothing can be loose or else, you risk it becoming airborne on the rolling seas.  I started to wonder, What had we signed up for?

But there was little time to think, because in the morning, we checked out of Ubli and we were off to Italy!

We left port at 16:00, expecting to reach Bari at 07:00.  We spent the first part of the voyage marveling at the sunset and the majesty of the sea. Later, there was an incredible view of the stars at night. All the while, the wind really moved the boat around!  Neither of us had ever experienced all the rocking and movement of a sailboat. In our cabin, we were like two socks in a dryer, tossed around in our bed, as the boat sailed on, across the Adriatic.  The favorable winds brought us to Italy faster than expected, and we arrived just after 05:00.  What a wild ride it was!  Bari’s Old Town was the perfect place to share gelato and a warm Italian dinner before we said goodbye to our wonderful hosts. 

Thank you Jill and Michael for making our first sailing adventure so memorable!  We will be back if you will have us. And now you have us thinking about buying our own sailboat. Are you available for hire?