Crew: Jane, Hardie and Jerry Tankersley
August 22 Zadar, Croatia, 1600 hours Tankersleys are picked up on the pier in Zadar, sans Hardie's luggage which is with American Airlines in either Chicago, or London, we think. The other option where the luggage could be seemed to be with Air India in one of those two cities. The cell phones came out and a series of well over 100 phone calls began in an attempt to contact someone who knew something. 19:00 Sheila and Mike served cocktails aboard in passing showers. 18:30 Delightful dinner ashore at Lungo Mare. All to bed after another series of "find the luggage" calls.
August 23 08:00 Delightful breakfast aboard. American Air in London (after numerous calls to both the US and London looking for answers). They knew nothing. 11:00 departed Zadar under power heading northeast to round one of the big islands. Because we were never far from shore we were able to continue the incessant dialing of airlines. 13:00 Delightful lunch aboard still under power heading southeast and still dialing. Jane and Sheila play Scrabble and gin. 17:00 Enter the bay at Opat. Moor at the dock. 19:00 the north wind picks up to above 20 knots and all of the boats at anchor in the bay begin to drag their anchors. Most leave, however one seems to have only a couple in a sleeping bag on the foredeck. The runaway boat is fast approaching millions of dollars worth of floating hardware, out of control. Horns begin to blow, shouting begins and 2 young guys off the dock take off in chase in a small power boat. In the meantime, the owner/captain of the loose cannon begins a mad dash, paddling his dinghy toward his craft. The boat's dislodged anchor catches on the anchor line of another boat, which saves it from crashing into the docked boats. The two in the sleeping bag were young girls about 10 and 12 years old. When they realize what is happening, they jump up and start screaming. The scramble saves the day and captain of the loose canon decides to moor at the dock. The only spot left at the dock is windward of the last boat moored. The loose cannon comes charging down on the moored boat - no warnings, no fenders. The captain of the moored boat comes alive. He gets some fenders out, the boats bang together. The loose cannon folks must have ordered take-out as no one saw them again that evening. 19:30 The catamaran with 8 young Italian ladies, their captain and mate begin their boisterous karaoke act, enlivening the bay. 20:30 We depart for a lovely dinner at Opat, just up the hill. The dialing to London continues with the result that American thinks the bag is on its way to London via Air India. 23:30 Lights out.
August 24 08:30 Lovely breakfast aboard. We watch the loose cannon depart now sporting 9 fenders on his starboard side. Later we depart and turn southeast toward Skradin. 13:00 Another delightful lunch aboard. We now lost bag is with Air India and will be forwarded to Zagreb, Croatia on Air Croatia. 14:00 We get a little wind and are able to set the jib to supplement the power. We enter the river at Sibenik heading up to Skradin and the Krka National Park. Jane and Sheila play Scrabble and gin. 15:00 Jane, Hardie and Jerry take the ferry up to the falls. Migration remains at anchor. Mike goes to the Internet cafe and Sheila goes ashore for supplies. 18:15 The falls visitors return and meet Mike and Sheila in town. We have now confirmed through non-stop dialing that the missing bag will be at the Split airport tomorrow. 20:30 Depart for dinner ashore. 23:30 Return to the boat where Jerry conks his head on the back of the boat as he tries to get out of the dinghy. Sheila and Hardie save him from falling into the sea. We put a sock of ice on his bump and hope there is no hole in the boat.
August 25 01:00 Jane and Sheila discover that our boat has been boarded by pirates while we were ashore. Sheila's wallet is missing. 01:30 The calls to the credit card issuers begin. 02:30 The night's sleep begins. 08:00 Jane and Sheila go ashore to make a police report. The little town has no police, so we depart down river to make our report at Sibenik. 12:00 Jane and Sheila take the dinghy to the police boat. 12:05 Jane and Sheila return as the Police want us to tie up at the quay. 12:10 Alongside the quay the policeman comes ... Sheila goes to the Marine Police boat with her boat papers and all of our passports. 12:30 Sheila comes back saying that our policeman had to go to the main police station to make the report, but would return in 45 minutes. 14:30 Policeman returns with the paper work requiring 6 signatures from Sheila. Around the same time, we get a call that the missing baggage will be in Split tonight. 15:00 Depart for Split. A good sail. Jane and Sheila play Scrabble and gin. 20:30 Arrive in Split and anchor after losing a race to a large ferry. 21:30 Departure to dinner sans who says night-night.
August 26 09:30 After another lovely breakfast aboard depart for Sucarac. 11:00 Anchor. Jane, Sheila, Hardie and Jerry go ashore and catch a bus to tour Trogir. 13:15 The baggage saga ends. A bus ride to the Split airport yields the now famous baggage checked in at the McAllen, Texas airport on August 19. We know for a fact that the bag has now been handled by American, Air India, Croatian Air and no telling who else. Hardie now has some of his own stuff. 12:06 Depart bound for Starigrad. Another great lunch on board. A sail keeps Mike very busy. Big winds big waves. 6-8 ft and 20 kt gusts on the stern quarter. Jane and Sheila play Scrabble. 18:00 Arrive in Starigrad and hook up to a fixed mooring. 20:15 depart by dinghy to another lovely ancient city for dinner at a great outdoor cafe. 23:00 return to Migration for a great night's sleep. The harbor was as still as a small lake.
August 27 09:30 Weigh anchor for the short trip to the island of St. Klement. 12:30 We arrive in the small harbor and Hardie and Jerry manage to get a stern line around a big rock without hurting themselves or breaking anything. 15:00 After another gourmet lunch in St. Klement depart for Hvar Town. Jane and Sheila play Scrabble. 16:30 Arrive in the very crowded Hvar Town harbor. We moor and watch the fast-moving boat traffic for a while before going into town. Mike and Hardie go the Internet cafe while Sheila, Jane and Jerry do walking tour. 21:00 Return to Migration for our on-board gourmet pasta delight. 23:00 Migration points her bow into the slight wind. The problem with that is Migration is beam-on to some fairly nasty rollers. The forward hatches take on water and the beds get wet. Then the salon hatches take a hit, dousing the clean laundry Jane and Sheila had just finished. Jane and Sheila do wash all afternoon, trying to get the salt water out of the sheets, towels and formerly clean laundry. Sheila cooks another meal in those high rollers. Everyone hangs on and has a good meal. Then a big roller got the red wine and Jerry, along with Migration's cockpit, took a big red wine bath. 24:00 The local disco, Carpe Diem, cranks up. Rolling continues until 04:30 when the wind magically swings 90 degrees and all quiets down.
August 28 09:00 All rise late for a leisurely breakfast on board. Mike again makes for the Internet cafe. Sheila, Jane, Hardie and Jerry do more walking and end up at the central marketplace to replenish supplies. It is a lot of fun and we buy foods not often seen in the USA. Hardie makes for the Internet cafe to join Mike. Sheila and Jane made for the shops and Jerry found an outdoor cafe where he could view the Foredeck Dollies; a requirement in Hvar. 14:30 All depart Hvar for Migration. 15:06 Depart Hvar for Split. We dine on our purchases from the market: wild boar salami, special cheeses, olives, bread, prosciutto, and eggplant tapanade. Jane and Sheila play Scrabble. Mike takes a nap and leaves Hardie and Jerry to watch the autopilot - good news, they don't run into anything. 18:30 Arrive in Split Harbor and anchor. Much less crowded and much nicer than Saturday night. Cooler too. Jerry learns how to get out of the dinghy. Tomorrow we leave.