Surprise!

Preface: We are 100% totally fine. Yesterday just did not go according to plan…

The day started out quite nice. Our plan was to leave the neat town of Korčula (more on that later) and continue on our journey towards Split. The next stop would be the tiny island of Otok Šcedro where there were a handful of nice, remote anchorages (and no services). We were actually looking forward to the peaceful quiet after the crazy busyness of the marina in Korčala. 

It happened to be my birthday, so given we were leaving “civilization,” Conor took me out to a beautiful breakfast at the nice hotel in town. On the way back to the boat we surprisingly happened upon a gluten-free bakery that had an amazing selection of treats. I chose a couple to enjoy later that night after dinner on the boat. Huge treat!

In order to leave the marina, we had to wait a bit in order for the sardine can of boats to unpack. We were underway by 12:30pm and had an easy, pretty 3-3.5 hour trek to Otok Šcedro. 

A highlight of the day was a scheduled Zoom call with my parents while we were underway. As I logged on, I was greeted by my parents along with a full set of decor in the background organized by my amazing mom, complete with streamers, signs, balloons, card, and a gluten free brownie cake with candles and everything! (She even lit the candles and made me “blow” them out.) Unfortunately, we soon entered a cove of the island and lost internet connection, and I had to say good-bye via text message. Love you, Mom and Dad!!

It was around 3:30pm and we start to investigate this cove to figure out our anchoring strategy. There are only a few other boats there, but the space is small. We spend at least an hour or more, unfortunately, trying to drop an anchor that just would not catch. The bridle was also having trouble as it kept coming undone from the anchor chain. We couldn’t figure out why in either case. Conor had to dive in to have a look and refit the bridle. We finally decide to go try the other coves nearby. We were turned around from one instantly as someone motored out to tell us they were full. The mooring balls were packed full of boats already. The other cove was full as well. So, we returned to our first cove.

There were only a couple of boats left, so we had better options for anchoring. We finally get a drop to catch, we feel, then Conor takes the dinghy to shore to secure a stern line. I was left to helm the boat and make sure we didn’t get too close to shore on any side. Conor made it back with the dinghy then was going to have another swim down to confirm the anchor was really holding. It was at that time the wind totally shifted and started gusting like crazy. Clouds were taking over the sky. I couldn’t hold the boat nor see Conor to know if he was in the way of a rudder. I may or may not have started freaking out a bit. Conor figured he had to get back on board and take over the helm. He tied the dinghy off to the side of the boat as he didn’t have time to secure it aboard. 

We saw the other boats in our cove take off and the wind pickup up so quickly (all the way up to 35 knots, which is a lot!). Conor figured we’d cut our losses and untied our stern line, leaving it to the tree, as we tried to book it out of there as well looking for better shelter. Still exiting the cove, we saw one of our brand new foredeck cushions (which was snapped in place) completely fly away. 😦 I hobbled up to the foredeck and played the game of Twister trying to keep the various other cushions (some of which were already free) from flying away. We reach the channel and the seascape is incredibly choppy. Once we turned downwind, though, Conor said we just flew and followed one of the other boats from our cove into the first full cove. It was much more protected than ours, so Conor figured there had to be some way to find better shelter. Before we got there, though, our dinghy flipped over and the removable metal seat that allows you to row it, removed itself and dropped away to the depths of the sea.

Imagine a small cove with a few fingers lined with boats of all shapes and sizes moored along the perimeter. (Maybe 40 boats in total.) Those of us seeking shelter were allowed to anchor in the middle to ride out the storm. Conor had checked the forecast multiple times this day, and there was no indication of any storm. Yet here we were. One of the really unsettling things is that in some anchorages like this, we lose all internet connectivity, so we were literally swimming in the dark. Again, we had trouble dropping anchor with such limited space and I had trouble with the bridle chain, but Conor couldn’t leave the helm to help me due to the crazy wind and sea swell. Someone who managed this cove came aboard to help us out. He took the helm and moved us to a different spot that was in shallower water but closer to other boats. Conor dealt with the anchor, and they just let her drop like crazy – at least 60 meters of chain. Thankfully, the anchor held. Our helper showed us the current forecast on the Croatian met service which called for an imminent thunderstorm storm (at this point it was plain to see gathering over the mountain) followed by a shift in the wind which would come barreling down through the cove right at us. He said we had to be prepared to avoid being blown up onto the rocky shore and might have to leave if it came to that. Awesome. I think it was at this point in time Conor pulled out the life jackets.

Conor stayed calm the entire night, and I love him for that. He felt fine and in control of the boat, but we just had to wait and see what we were up against. The biggest problem we had was our proximity to the boats on either side of us. Our helper dude said not to worry as we would all swing around with shifts in the wind, but we were different kinds of boats with (it turns out) very different scope (amount of anchor chain out) and swing behavior. Of most concern was the boat off our starboard side – we were maybe a half boat length away. Conor kept the engines on and kept us motoring around our anchor and away from the other boat as needed through the storm. 

Thankfully, the storm passed over us quickly and we just got to watch the impressive fork lightning continue on from a distance. We hit a lull and reached a peaceful calm. Conor could shut off the engines, I could heat up some leftovers that we could eat outside in the dark, and someone from a nearby boat picked up their accordion and regaled the cove with fabulous music for quite some time. Everyone nearby would applaud with each song. It was a bit of warming camaraderie as we all waited out this storm. 

Conor and I even started a game of Scrabble. It was going well for some time until we could hear the wind picking up again. Conor’s words got shorter and shorter until he abandoned the game and returned to the helm. Engines were back on and he spent the next 1 1/2 hours again motoring around our anchor to avoid the nextdoor boat. There wasn’t anything I could do, so Conor told me to try and get some sleep. I think this was around 11pm. I moved up to the long seat in the salon so should we have to make a sudden departure, Conor could call me out. Sleep was elusive. Around 4:15am, Conor came in to say all was calm and that our neighbor had just taken off. That relieved all pressure on us. We could finally go to bed. We got a couple of hours of sleep. It was around 8am when we got the heck out of there too.

Now it was time for a salvage run. We went back to our initial cove as we knew our rope should still be affixed to the tree. Today, no problem anchoring. Retrieved rope. We also saw our fly away cushion floating up near the tiny cove beach. Conor rescued it too. It’s scratched up, but we’re still waiting to see how the cover and foam survive a good rinsing. Hopefully it will be ok.

Needless to say, I don’t have much love for Otok Šcedro. Was I scared? Yes, at times. But, we learned a lot, and Sabática performed beautifully. I was thanking her profusely. It is a new, calm day. Out and onward!

Prior to this, we had some wonderful experiences in a couple of other locations I still need to tell you about. I just had to get this off my chest first! Also, sorry I don’t have more photos, but I was a little preoccupied.