Sunday 24 September 2017 – ACI Marina Simuni, Pag Island

The forecast this morning seemed OK.  There was suggestion that there might be a light shower, but nothing too bad.  So we decided to set out as soon as possible.  We left our nice mooring at 8:15 and set out to go to what looks like a delightful anchorage which is really a passage between two islands.  It is only 25 miles away and we should get there by lunchtime, so I haven’t made anything to eat under way,

The day starts out nice enough.  The wind is very light, but from behind.  So we put up the sails in the hope that it will help us get a bit more speed on.  All seems to be going well until about noon, when the sky turns a very funny shade of Wedgewood blue and we can see rain coming out of the clouds in the direction we are going.  Perhaps the original view that Sunday was going to be wet and windy was right after all.

Seeing this Richard suggests that we change course.  He has identified a marina on an island 15 miles away.  We will arrive a bit later than planned, but as the weather seems to be turning nasty, it will be a safe haven.  We phone the marina and they say there is no problem about us getting a berth, so we turn towards the mainland and make for Pag Island.  The funny coloured sky continues to follow us.  I make lunch under way, but the change of direction has meant that we have a sideways swell and a bit of a corkscrew motion making being below unpleasant.  We do manage our lunch in the cockpit, but shortly thereafter we decide the rain is going to catch up with us.

In the end we did quite well.  We did catch a short shower, but got to the marina and moored before the heavy rain came.  And come it did.  Huge flashes of lightning and big bangs of thunder.  We just sheltered in the boat for a while.  Eventually we made our way to reception to pay the mooring fees and have showers.  This marina is just one long pontoon going along the shore or an inlet.  We are at the far end, a good 5-10 minute walk from the facilities. Luckily we managed to get back to the boat before the skies opened again.

We still don’t understand the weather forecast.  It looks like it will remain terrible tomorrow and not clear up until Tuesday.  But we shall just have to wait and see.  There isn’t much to do here, but there is a bridge to the mainland, so if desperate we could try to hire a car.