Korcula and Mlyet, Wednesday, June 17, 2026
As we ate breakfast the crew prepared to get underway…and prepared, and prepared…
It turned out that our anchor was stuck on the bottom and nothing Ivo could do seemed to free it. We did send an expert swimmer into the water to have a closer look at the problem.
Everyone waited breathlessly for news.
It turned out that the anchor was wedged tight between two large concrete blocks on the harbor floor.
Meanwhile I was scuttling about trying to figure out why my phone wouldn’t charge: I swapped out every cable, changed chargers, nothing! It turned out that, in addition to the problem with the anchor, there was a small fuel leak in one of the boat’s generators and the power was off until it was fixed.
Power was restored by mid-morning, but we had to wait until noon for a diver to come and free the anchor. Korcula was still there while we waited, though.
Here comes the diver!
The diver used a surprising method to free the anchor. He took a large balloon down with him, attached it to the anchor, then inflated the balloon using a tube attached to a large tank in the little red boat.
And then we were underway. We had a long crossing on open water to our next destination, the island of Mlyet, so Mario served us lunch while we were still in the lee of Korcula. Lamb, veal, and potatoes cooked under a dome (like a tagine); wonderful!
The first half hour on the open water was alright, but we had a very strong tailwind, and rollers and even breakers began to develop. Gulets have a reputation as rollers when the seas get heavy, and the Malena more than lived up to her reputation. We were all sitting at the table on the covered aft deck, and, when the first big roller hit us, the table and all our chairs shifted two feet to the left. This was funny at first, but the waves were soon reaching 5-6 feet and we were hanging onto the table for dear life.
Then came an especially big, especially violent wave, and everyone shifted far left. Unfortunately, I was sitting in the leftmost chair and, when things shifed, the legs of my chair hit the large stern dock line that was coiled on the deck. Over went the chair, over went Mike, hitting my left shoulder on a cleat on the deck and my noggin on the metal stanchion that held up the canopy. I’ll admit I had a moment of terror because I thought I might go overboard! Here’s the scene of the crime.
I had my bell rung and got up with a slight headache. The onboard medical staff, aka Cindy, saw to me right away, with ice for the head and lots of concussion checks—all of which I passed with flying colors. When my head cleared I realized that I had hit my arm harder than my head; the arm is still sore the next day, as I write, while the head is A-OK.
That took care of the excitement for the day. Before long we were cruising calmly along the eastern shore of Mlyet. We then entered an unusual bay: very long and narrow, rather like a Croatian fjord. Mlyet is very wild, with little habitation; at its heart is a national park. As we made our slow way up the fjord, we saw wild goats.
At the end of the fjord is the village of Polace, named after the large Roman palace that stands at water’s edge.
We sent a party, six strong, ashore to brave the three mile round trip to the national park. My head was fine but I was feeling a bit shaken up, so I stayed aboard, as did Gary, in order to deal with a different problem arising from the crossing. He had left the portholes in his cabin open and they had been underwater during the crossing: Gary and Cindy’s cabin, including bedding and clothing, was drenched. Luckily there was a fifth cabin on the boat, and Gary spent almost two hours moving and drying belongings…while Matteo and Philip cleaned up.
The walk out of the village proved a little steep for Vladimir, and he opted for a shoreline seat and a beer. The others made it to a lovely saltwater lake in the middle of the island; there is a small island with a monastery in the lake (an island in a lake in an island).
They returned to the village as the sun was setting. This is the village at twilight.
We nibbled at fruit and salty snacks in lieu of a dinner and enjoyed the peace on the still water. Here is a photographer being photographed.
Pretty much the whole boat gathered in the salon to watch Croatia play England. It was a rousing watch party in the first half, as Croatia came from behind to tie the game not once but twice. The second half was another matter, as Tuchel made some defensive adjustments, and it was all England.
We slept at anchor in the little harbor at Palace.