March in Montenegro

Currently we are anchored in the river in Butrint National Park near Sarande, Albania while we wait out the winds before heading a bit north to check out of Albania. In less than a week, Julia will be joining Neil, Ben, Finnegan and I on the boat in Corfu for three weeks. The plan is to sail in Greece in the Ionian sea before heading across to Sicily. 

I still have quite a bit of catching up to do with my blog writing and hope to get a couple of entries finished in the next couple of days. Here is an entry about our time in Montenegro in March.

With May fast approaching, it was becoming more and more important to get on with the boat maintenance projects that we (more like Neil) needed to complete before the May 1st deadline. This was the date that our contract with Porto Montenegro Marina was over and we would have to leave or pay a daily docking fee to stay. Our plan was to leave and anchor in the area for a few days before exiting Montenegro.  Checking out of Montenegro would start our Schengen clock, giving us 90 days in the EU within the next 180. These days are precious and we manage them very carefully to ensure we can be in the EU when we want to be there. The goal was to spend May and June in Croatia before heading back to Montenegro and then Albania, pausing our Schengen clock for a couple of weeks.

Stormy skies in March

Yet, there were signs of spring!

Although spring was more rainy than normal in Tivat, there were signs of spring in the area. We had a few very glorious sunny days which Neil had to take full advantage of to complete the exterior boat work projects. We had already met with a metal fabricator, Vadim, in December to coordinate with Neil on the design and fabrication of a dinghy arch that would allow us to hoist the dinghy at the stern of the boat instead of using a halyard to lift it on to the foredeck. This would make life a lot easier in the future. Part of this project included designing and building a solar panel frame so that we could increase our solar power generation capabilities. It was fascinating watching Neil and Vadim work together, bouncing design ideas and technical strategies back and forth to come up with a finished product that looked amazing, yet offered the strength needed to support the dinghy while functioning effortlessly.

Vadim and Neil

Another project was finishing the sanding and sealing of the teak decks that Neil had started last April in France. This is a huge, back- and arm-breaking job. Also on the list was: sanding and repainting the wheels, sanding and repainting the exterior window frames, repairing the front window hatch, installing and repairing stereo speakers, among other little things.

Project supervisor

In between working on projects, we also took advantage of a beautiful day to travel to an area not too far away called Herceg Novi and to Porto Novi. We visited other sailors we had met at our weekly curry night who were wintering in the marina there. Since Geoff had a rental car, we got under way on a Sunday and headed out on the ferry across the bay to see some of the historic sights in the area and to visit friends.

Ferry to Herceg Novi

Church of Michael the Archangel

Touring Herceg Novi

Looking out over the Bay of Tivat

Neil, Geoff and I also took advantage of having a rental car to stock up on supplies at "Costco Voli", a bulk grocery store, and to fill up our camp gas canisters for cooking.

While Neil was busy working outside, I used the time to clean out and reorganize storage areas after living on the boat for a year. I also learned to make baklava and it was delicious!

Yum!

We also learned to make sushi and hosted Geoff for dinner while Elise was back in Toronto for a visit with family. 

Master chef at work!

Supervising is hard work!

Finished product