Shaken but “not deterred” after cyclonic wind

We had spent the day clearing up the mess caused by an intense rain storm which struck The Bay of Kotor just as we were leaving a BBQ party on M/V Entre Nous. The downpour was so intense that we couldn’t get back to Sunday to close the salon windows. When we did eventually get back to our boat there was quite a flood to deal with.

The very next night, another massive storm came through – this time with high winds, thunder and lightning, as well as heavy rain.

This time Sunday and her crew were prepared and although we had a noisy and boisterous night, and experienced wind gusts of over 40 nautical miles an hour, the storm didn’t cause us any dramas.

I have to admit to both of us sleeping through much of the storm but while we were busy dreaming, poor Sue and John on Catabella and Peter and Deb and crew on Entre Nous, were having a hectic and frightening time.

Both boats dragged their anchors and ended up only a boat length apart despite originally being anchored a long way from each other.

The wind was so ferocious that Sue and John couldn’t go forward to bring the anchor up or rescue their paddle board which looked as though it was about to break away (fortunately it just hung on). At one point Catabella was spinning round and round as the wind whipped up like a mini cyclone.

The following day somewhat shaken – but not deterred – Catabella and Sunday headed for Igalo Bay to anchor off Herceg Novi as Sue and John’s niece and partner were due to fly into Dubrovnik and were catching a taxi from the airport to take them to Herceg Novi close to our anchorage. Fortunately the storm clouds had blown away leaving clear skies and crisp light.

The short trip to Herceg Novi gave us the opportunity to observe some of the local places of interest. First we saw – in the distance – Tivat airport with its planes lined up on the tarmac and the control tower in plain view.

Then we sailed past the Island of St. Archangel Michael, also known as the Island of Flowers, close to Tivat. The island is now home to roughly a hundred people but in the early 13th century a monastery was built there. In the 20th Century during the Socialist Yugoslavia era , it became a tourist resort exclusively for military personnel.

Sveti Marko Island was next. The island currently has a population of 12 but in the late 15th Century when the Venetians built a fortress here, it was much more populated. In the 1960s a tourist village was built but the 500 Tahitian style bungalows are now completely covered in greenery.

Then we saw the tiniest of the three islands called Our Lady of Mercy. Just 160 metres long and sixty metres wide, the island contains two buildings – a church and a monastery, both founded in the second half of the 15th century.

Arriving in Herceg Novi which is located at the Western entrance of the Bay of Kotor, we were quite impressed with what we saw. The red roofed town is built on a steep hillside with plenty of historic buildings in evidence and very few of the towering apartment blocks we encountered in Albania.

We were able to park our dinghy in the very ancient harbour that sits below the grand castle Forte Mare built by the Bosnian king Tvrtko 1 in 1382.

The foreshore is lovely – the wide walkway allows you to stroll for ages right on the water’s edge. On our first trip ashore we did exactly that and while walking along deduced (due to a very solid tunnel that we went through) that this promenade used to be a railway line.

Apparently the narrow gauge railway was built in 1901 by the Austrians but sadly was closed in 1968. The old station building and railway bridge near our marina (Lazure) can still be seen today.

We decided to anchor away from the town the following day after a late night listening to loud music while trying to go to sleep. Our new anchorage further in – close to the village of Igalo – was much quieter but we had a longer dinghy ride to the little harbour.

We spent an interesting morning exploring Forte Mare with Sue and John and their guest and found out that the Ottomans and the Venetians rebuilt sections and added bits to the fort. It’s present appearance owes much to the Austria- Hungarians who occupied Montenegro in 1916.

There are many, many, stairs in Herceg Novi and we climbed several flights to reach Mića Pavlovića square where we saw Osnovna Muzicka Skola and the Catholic Church of Saint Jerome which was built on the site of a mosque from the Turkish occupation.

Further on, up more stairs, we came across a gallery which had an exhibition of original comic book illustrations. It seemed there was a major “strip” festival happening in town that week.

More stairs and we were in Nikola Djurkovic square with its Sahat Clock Tower which was built in 1850.

We walked under the clock tower and down some stairs into the main Belavista square and had some lunch at one of the many cafes there.

In the middle of the square was the pretty little white stone Michael the Archangel church.

Further along there was a throng of people ahead and as we drew nearer we discovered that as part of the comic strip festival, artists were signing their work and talking to enthusiasts who were queued up patiently to chat with their favourites.

Elsewhere there were stalls selling comic books of every description in multiple languages and things like t-shirts and other memorabilia.

Another storm was brewing and it looked as though the bad weather was going to last for a few days. The Catabella crew decided to spend a few days in the marina so their guests could do some more sightseeing and have a meal or two out.

We decided to go back to the anchorage in Solila Bay where we sat out the previous big storm.

The severe weather warning certainly lived up to its threatening prediction – the winds were quite wild and once again were gusting regularly at 40 plus knots. This went on for several days so we had some enforced but welcome rest.

Despite the uncomfortable conditions, we were perfectly safe and didn’t drag anchor or have any dramas which we were very happy about.