Perast and Risan

 

Our Lady of the Rocks

When we first sailed over to the other side of Kotor Bay we were stunned to see two small islands with churches on them right out in the bay.  Our Lady of the Rocks Church sits on a man made island created by rocks and sunken ships that were filled with rocks.  In 1452, local seamen found an icon of the Madonna and Child on a rock in the sea.  Apparently over time they had created an small island.  Once they had an island then, of course, they built a church on their island.  Even today they continue the practice of adding rocks to the island.  Every year at sunset, on July 22nd, the men of Perast row boats out to the island and add to the rock collection.  

Boats ferrying folks from Perast

And now, in Perast, there are all sorts of folks with boats that make it their business to ferry folks out to Our Lady of the Rocks for a look around.  St. Georges island, which is a natural island, is very near Our Lady of the Rocks but this island is officially not open to the public.  On this island sits a small monastery and an ancient cemetery.  The island is also known as the "Island of the Dead" due to all the ship captains from Perast and others who were buried there.  Sadly, not much remains of the cemetery.  We saw folks over on St. Georges but it is actually forbidden to step foot on the island so we did not. 

Our Lady of the Rocks

Our Lady of the Rocks has a small museum as well as the Church which is definitely worth a visit.  Inside the museum are all sorts of things that have come from old ships. We found it interesting for the nautical collection.  A short bus ride from Perast is the small town of Risan (pronounced: reason).  Risan is the oldest settlement in the Bay of Kotor and was once the seat of the Illyrian Queen Teuta.  But, of course, the Romans conquered the Illyrians and then Risan became a Roman town.  Uncovered by archeologists, in the town, are the foundations of an ancient Villa of some nobleman.  Unique to these mosaics is the one of the god Hypnos.  This mosaic is the only one in the world that depicts this god.  

Roman Mosaics - Hypnos

Mind you these mosaics are two thousand years old and still they are in pretty good shape.  After visiting the mosaics we decided to have lunch in the small park nearby before heading back.  Over lunch is when things became unreasonable in Risan.  I saw this fellow walking towards the picnic tables where we and other customers at the restaurant were eating. And then he seemed to be walking towards Michael coming up from behind him.  I did not think much about it and actually wondered if Michael had met him somewhere (we meet a lot of people).  I was still thinking that Michael must know him when he grabbed Michaels neck from behind.  But then he started yelling "who are you?  who are you?".  Michael tried to defuse the situation and told him his name and then the guy smacked Michael in the face.  Thats when we both jumped up and told the guy to leave.  The surprising thing is not one single person in the restaurant batted an eye.  They just went on with their lunch as though nothing was happening.  Michael grabbed the guys arm hard and told him to leave right now.  Finally, he started asking Michael to let go of his arm and said he was sorry.  He said he was confused but would leave if Michael would just let go.  So... Michael let go and he did indeed leave.  Of course, he was not right in his head.  So the really surprising thing for us was the lack of reaction from the other customers.  We decided it was definitely time to leave Risan and just grabbed a taxi instead of waiting for the bus.  Too much excitement for one day!  

 

Easier to see depiction of Hypnos

We are now waiting for the third thing to happen so our bad luck will be over.  The lightning strike and now the assault.  One more thing and our string of bad luck will be over (we hope)😊

Old church in Risan

 

 

Tomorrow is another day - we are hoping to get the engine running and the estimates completed so they can get started on the actual repairs. 
 

Waiting...

It was early Friday morning on July 8th when we had our near miss with lightning.  As it turns out lightning does not have to hit you directly to inflict serious damage.  Lightning carries very high voltage, as high a one MILLION volts, with a correspondingly large magnetic field.  When lightning strikes near you an electromagnetic pulse can pass over your boat.  That EMP induces very high current in wires and electrical components causing extensive damage.  Sometimes, the extent of the damage from induction is not readily apparent so it takes a bit of time to assess what all was impacted.

Varnishing the dorade boxes

Michael and I were afraid that we may have incurred some significant damage from the induction of high current into our electrical system.  Most of our electronics are interconnected as they all tie into the NMEA 2000 system, a plug and play standard for marine electronics.  So... we thought it best to not hesitate on communicating with our insurance company.  

Perast, Montenegro

 And then we set about checking all our electronics.  We had lights that would dim then suddenly get bright and lights that would not shut off.  Just odd things.  But we quickly discovered that there was more than the odd electrical quirk. We knew the battery monitor and propane monitor were out.  Now we discovered that our electronics were not working either - we had no readings for GPS, depth or wind.  Our radar didn't pick up any ships nearby and neither did our AIS (automated information system).  The AIS transceiver transmits our position to nearby vessels and also show us where vessels are in relation to us.  We can see what direction they are going, their speed, what type of boat they are, their size and the name of the vessel.  All really useful information. The SSB (single side band radio) turned on but we only received static.  Our SSB is like a HAM radio but for marine use. We use it when out on the ocean to speak with other people and it is how we get current and forecasted weather information.  It would also be the way we would get help if we had an emergency on the boat. Our inverter was no longer working and one of our air conditioning units would not turn on.  The list was getting longer and longer.

17th century church in Perast

We spent the weekend compiling a list of the items we found to be damaged and then emailed the list to Bozo at Navar boatyard in Tivat, Montenegro.  Now we just had to wait for the electricians to come over to Talaria and check things out.  In the meantime we decided we may as well take this opportunity to do some needed boat maintenance.  We started on varnishing (a never ending task) and polishing stainless.  

 

Perast, Montenegro

Our plan was to work through the week and go sightseeing on the weekends.  You know what they say about all work and no play!  We decided to take a bus to visit some of the places we were planning to visit by boat.  Not the way we preferred to see them but the only option available at the moment.  Our winter contract in Sicily starts in October and we would like to be out of Montenegro by early September as we have to travel down the less friendly coast of Italy.  There are just not many safe harbours on the east coast of Italy so we would like to have plenty of time to reach Sicily while the weather is good.  Right now, however, its just a waiting game...

 

When lightning strikes...

Porto Montenegro - Tivat, Montenegro

 As I mentioned in the last post we were looking for a place to shelter as the forecast was for several days of strong bura winds. Our initial plan was to stay for a couple of days at the "airport" marina.  We arrived  at the "airport" marina by early afternoon and after at least 10 minutes (likely longer) of maneuvering finally got Talaria situated.  It was windy and typically marinas will put you in a slip facing into the wind not with the wind coming behind you but that is not what happened.  The person manning the marina (I might add its a new marina) was a young fellow who did not appear to have much experience.  Finally, we got settled and went to the marina office to get checked in.  In Croatia and Montenegro the practice is for the marina office to keep your documents until you are ready to leave.  I suppose that is their method of preventing folks from leaving before settling their accounts.  No problem - we brought everything with us to the marina office.  From there is was just one thing after another and with every question the young fellow had to call someone for an answer.  That occurred at least 6 times in just the span of about 15 minutes!!  Geez!  It all went downhill when we asked for a receipt and were told he couldn't issue a receipt.  Apparently, the person who can issue receipts was not there.  Huh?  Then he took a tape measure out to physically measure the boat and told us his measurement was different from our documentation papers say so we need to pay more.  Again - Huh?  Finally, we said you know what we have changed our minds and will not stay after all - this just doesn't seem to be working out well.  

Porto Montenegro

 At that he replied that we would have to pay for the night anyway.  We said NO.  So then he said we had to pay for half a day (we had only been there about an hour) since we used water and electricity - we had used neither.  We said okay we will put it on a credit card so we will have a receipt and he said NO you must pay cash but I can't give you a receipt.  What??  Finally, we made him sign a paper showing that we paid 30 euros and we left.  My goodness, what a fiasco.  So we moved on to our first back up plan and went to a nearby anchorage.  Then I made reservations at Porto Montenegro (the high priced marina) for the next night to ride out the high winds that were forecast.  At least we thought Porto Montenegro was honest and professional relative to the airport marina.  

Million euro plus condos at Porto Montenegro

 We knew we would still be in port before the high winds and thunderstorms.  Sure enough it was a perfectly still and quiet night at anchor.  But at 0730 we heard thunder.  Both of us jumped up because we had all the hatches open and upon hearing thunder we assumed rain would soon follow.  We got everything closed up and put some water on the stove to make coffee.  Our thought was that apparently the rain will come earlier than forecast so we will have some coffee and then just head into the marina.  All of a sudden there was a very, very loud crack right beside the boat which we immediately identified as lightning.  It was not a direct hit but very, very close.  I had enough sense to immediately remove my hand from the metal tea kettle.  Our propane monitor started to alarm and we saw that it shut off.  We tried to turn it back on but it was no longer working.  Then we noticed that our battery monitor was flashing an error code.  We looked up the code and found it simply indicated that we had lost power.  Supposedly, you can touch any key and the code will clear.  We touched a key on the keypad, the code cleared and then the monitor shut off and would not come back on.  Initially, we assumed we blew a fuse so we changed it but nope - monitor not working.  Uh oh...  Now we were thinking that we may have sustained some real damage.  We went to check the windlass - which pulls up the anchor and thank goodness it worked.  Then we went to start the engine but it would not start.  Our engine has an electronic start, there is no key.  Well now we were in trouble.  Without an engine we would have no ability to leave the anchorage if it became unsafe or even to move to reset the anchor if it started dragging. 
 

The Black Pearl - Russian Oligarch yacht

Thank goodness it was a Friday so were able to reach a nearby boatyard where there is a Yanmar mechanic.  The mechanic came out by boat to our boat to check things out.  After a few minutes he said - "do you have insurance?".  Uh oh...  That did not sound promising.  He then told us that the lightning had destroyed the ECU (electronic control unit) on the engine.  Milos said he would have to order parts and it would take a 7 to 10 days for parts to arrive.  Next, he asked us what our plan was as the wind was coming and it would not be safe to stay there without an engine.  He offered to call Porto Montenegro for us and arrange a tow.  I had already called Porto Montenegro to alert them of our situation before he arrived so they were aware.  When we reached Porto Montenegro again they said they would be out to get us as soon as they finished towing a Catamaran that had also been hit by lightning - same time, same place.  By the time Porto Montenegro came out to get us the wind was kicking up a bit and it was raining.  Fortunately, the small island where we were anchored is very close to Porto Montenegro so it was a short tow.  Now we wait for the electricians to come out for a full inspection. 
 

Kotor

Kotor Bay is more like two bays connected by a strait.  On the other side of the strait is the old town of Kotor.  The medieval town of Kotor is a Unesco World Heritage site, as is all of the Kotor Bay region.  At first glance you can't help but think why did they build the town all the way in this corner of the bay when the first section of the bay appears more habitable?  But then you remember the need for safety and realize how on this side they control the Strait.

But just in case invaders did get through the strait the city was heavily fortified.  You have to look closely but you can see the ancient walls going all the way up the mountain.  There are about three miles of preserved city walls still standing.  Once you let your eye wander away from the medieval city itself you begin to see the walls hidden in the surrounding landscape.  Really impressive!  If you look closely behind the palm tree in the picture you will see an old church on the hill and then if you look closer you will see the walls going up the mountain.  At the very top you will see an ancient fortress.  The walls blend in to the landscape so well they are easy to miss.

 

Sadly, the cruise ships have found this lovely piece of ancient history.  We have seen up to two cruise ships anchored in the bay at once.  Somehow they get all those people off the cruise ship and over to Kotor, which then becomes a teeming mass of humans.  

The Marina we were staying at was just across from Kotor, a ten minute taxi ride away.  Marina Kordic is primarily for locals but they do have a couple of spots for transients.  The only problem was you were on the outside wall with no protection.  We stayed a couple of days and got our chores done.  Unfortunately, when we were ready to go the weather forecast was for bura winds (strong NE winds).  The whole portion of the bay is ringed by very high mountains.  As the wind funnels down the mountain it picks up speed and there can be very significant wind gusts.  We had a discussion amongst ourselves first and then with the gal who owns the marina, said she thought we would be safe there.  So... we thought we would stay until the bura winds calmed down.

 

That night however we experienced about 20 knot winds (it was forecast to be greater than 30 knots the next day) and got a little preview of what it would be like at Marina Kordic.  It was unbelievable!  We were getting three to four foot waves in the bay and being jerked around like a slingshot.  By morning the decision was made we would seek shelter elsewhere.  Maja is such a nice person we hated to tell her we could not stay but we would be insane if we did.  There is a new marina near the airport on the other side of the bay (the less mountainous side) that supposedly is fairly secure in all winds.  So we made reservations there and took off.

The bura winds were still another day off so we had time to find a nice secure place to ride it out.  We had a plan and a couple of backup plans as well!  Hopefully, this will be our last experience with the bura winds and we can settle in to some nice sailing and nice anchorages.  Fingers crossed!