Croatia Passage – Part II

The 2^nd half of our passage was slightly more boring than the 1^st half, mostly because we motored more and sailed less – especially during the last 3 days.  But, we weren’t without some interesting moments to break up the monotony.

The Straits of Messina were really beautiful – lush hillsides covered with white houses and red stucco rooftops just like you see in pictures of the Mediterranean.  The sad part was, there were no people on the beautiful beaches.  In fact, there was little activity on the beaches or in the restaurants (from our view through the binoculars).  Italy is still pretty closed to tourists.  Americans can get in, but they must self-isolate for 10 days after arrival – which essentially eliminates most of a 2 week vacation.

“It was a murky night like no other seen in years.  Well, not really, but you get the picture.  Moxie and her crew, crept north along the south east coast of Italy. It was 2am, and the captain was keeping a watchful by sleepy eye while the first mate was getting some much needed sleep.  The winds were light, and the lights on shore 5 miles away were illuminating the sky in a dull glow.  On a routine scan of the radar, the captain spotted an unidentified radar blip directly aft, about 5 miles out.  What could that be, he thought?  He couldn’t see any lights.  A false echo from another target?  Nope.   Hmm, have to keep an eye on that one.  Oh, the blip is gone now.  Oh wait, now it’s back, closer.  Still no lights.  Try to track the target with radar – too faint.  Gone again, back again, closer still.  Look for lights, nothing.  Try with the binocs, nada.  Track target again, this time acquired.  Speed of target?  32 knots and on a collision course.  Shit, that can’t be true.  Nope, it’s definitely true.  Must be a ferry.  But there are still no lights.  Three miles and closing.  Scan for lights again.  Nothing.  Target getting closer.  Two miles and not slowing down, no question it’s headed straight for us.  Time to alert the first mate – “unidentified speed boat intercepting us” he announced.  WTF!!! she thought out loud.  Captain thinks horrible thoughts. Er, drug runner?  Could be still be Mafia territory. NVM, that’s Sicily.  Some one asleep at the wheel with a super-yacht on auto-pilot?  Now at 1 mile, no lights.  Fumble for that fancy diving torch from Amazon, where was it again?  It’s supposed to be here.  Damn.  Oh yeah, got it.  Now how the F do you turn the thing on. Half a mile away now.  Finally figure it out – it’s a twist thingy.  And boy does it have a strong beam.  Turn it off.  First mate shows up on the Lido deck in PJs.  What’s going on, again?  Whaaat! Really?  Hear the throaty roar of twin inboard diesels approaching over the sound of our own engine.  Still can’t see Sh*t!  Swerve to port in case it’s a boat on auto.  Engine sounds slow, double bright spotlights illuminate Moxie.  Shine the dive torch back, blind them too.  The long white nose of a cigarette boat appears in the dark.  Spotlights off, dive torch off.  Spotlights on, dive torch on.  Like two unfamiliar dogs having a tense standoff and good sniff.  Then the boat gets closer still – what’s that lettering on the side.   G A U R D A   F I N something or other.  Ohhh, whew!  The good guys.  See the reflective tape on 4 life jackets.  One more lights on/off exchange.  Then, vroom and gone.  OMG!”    

In hindsight, it may have been the Italian Coast Guard looking for human smugglers (or drug runners) and they needed the element of surprise.  We were slightly concerned about the south coast of Italy for this very reason and other cruisers have echoed our concern.  In fact, the next day as we were headed towards the “heel” of Italy, we heard a brief exchange on the VHF radio, between passengers on a vessel and someone with the Italian Coast guard.  The officer asked how many people on board and how many in the water.  The person on the ship said, “73 on board and 2 in the water”.  Then the officer asked what time (aka “when”) did the Captain leave the ship and passengers and the person responded “yesterday”.  The officer asked for GPS coordinates and made plans to come to their rescue.  Although this doesn’t confirm anything, it does make you wonder if that was a boat full of people trying to leave their home country (most likely Africa).   

After another night motoring, we made our way into Dubrovnik on Saturday morning about 10:00 am.