Sailing-Tiki.at

Korcula

The next day we roam around in Korcula, there is no need to hurry, our window is not open until the next day. We take the opportunity to buy some things. Lambskin inserts for the sailing boots, impregnation spray for my oilskins, general supplies, a non-slip floor covering that also insulates the cold floorboards a bit. Satisfied with our prey we return and make final preparations on board. The timing must fit tomorrow.

After an extensive breakfast we grab the ship’s papers and our passports and go to the harbour office on the other side of the road in a good mood. After we have presented our request, we are rejected in a friendly but unequivocal manner! We have to go to Ubli on the island of Lastovo. It’s only seasonal here. Kindly they make a short call to Lastovo. Customs clearance goes until 15:00. We ask briefly whether there is a possibility to fill up with diesel in Ubli and after a check the time suddenly everything becomes stressful. In Korcula we have the pumps in front of our noses, but they are occupied. We can’t wait, we have to hurry to be in Ubli before 15:00. All right, stop preparations, let’s go.

 

Ubli on Lastovo

at 2 pm we reach Ubli. We moor Tiki and I rush to the petrol station because it seems to be closed. Unfortunately I am right. In 3 hours at the earliest we can fill up here. So let’s move on to customs. A rusty container on a fenced, but not locked area turns out to be a point of interest. But also here – dead silence!
I discover a note in one of the small windows with a phone number. A quick call, someone’s coming in 10 minutes. Well, yeah.

In fact, a police car is arriving at the container in the specified time. A policewoman gets out, greets me briefly and disappears in the container. After starting the computer and unpacking some things, she opens the sliding window and collects my paperwork. I would like to know if we can fill up our tanks later on. I think I’ve read that you have 24 hours to leave the country after the customs formalities. This information also turns out to be false.

To be on the safe side, she calls colleagues, but they confirm that we have to leave immediately and in the shortest possible time. However, they kindly offer to come back in the evening, when we have filled up our tank and process with our papers.

 

In the meantime,

we are completing preparations for the trip to Italy. Eric still cooks some corn soup and fills it into our thermos jug, I try to store the remaining, not fixed things neatly. We eat in peace, fix our oilskins and the other warm things. In between we are called from the jetty, we have to leave with Tiki, a 50 meter ship needs the pier.
I jump out, loosen the lines and start pulling. Along the pier to the gas station, where we moor again. Again it`s amazing how easy it is to pull 9 tons on a leash. Of course, only when the 9 tons float. Nevertheless, Eric starts the engine because I can’t pull the required radius for the curve in front of us from the shore. There’s lanterns and petrol pumps in the way.

 

Filling The Tank

The time goes by quickly. A few minutes before 5:00 pm the lights at the gas station are turned on and I go ashore to the attendant. He is standing in front of Tiki’s bow and fishing, a friend of his is standing behind Tiki, fishing as well. Completely relaxed, he tells me that he is not finished yet and throws his bait for another 10 minutes.
Afterwards we fill up diesel for our last Croatian kuna and set off to the customs pier. A short call, after 10 minutes there are 2 officials, this time we are allowed to go into the container, fortunately, it is already quite chilly outside.

 

Customs Clearance

As boat owner we are travelling without a crew list. Unfortunately the official needs a list of the crew on board for clearance, he quickly and unbureaucratically provides us with one. A stamp here, a note there, a quick copy, thats it. Another little bit of small talk, we are the first boat since a few weeks and that amuses the two somehow. They still point out to us that we have to leave the Croatian waters directly, this is controlled by radar. If we come back, we must clear up immediately before we do anything else, otherwise we will face severe punishments. We’re not planning to do it that soon. Oh, it didn’t cost anything to clear out.

We say goodbye to the two very nice and helpful officials, after all they have handled us far outside of the opening hours, and they still wish us a good and quiet crossing and nice holidays.

 

It’s time, to cross over to Italy, but more about that – in the next post 😉