When messaging with Captain Ivan on what time we should be collected to go fishing, not being a morning person especially on a Sunday, I suggested 10 or 11am.  Apparently, fishing is best during the first hours of sunrise, so we agreed on a 7am start. 

Steve and I set the alarms on our mobiles for 6am but they weren’t needed as I was so excited to spend the day on Captain Ivan’s boat I woke up at 4:30.  Not being a morning person I had packed my stuff, or what I thought I needed the night before.  Washed and dressed I picked up my bag.  Not being a night before person Steve scrambled for what he thought he needed, walked Stella and by 6:45 we set off.  The temperature was predicted to reach 26°. As it was cold when we left, dressed in t shirt, jeans and a fleece, I took sun top, shorts, sun tan lotion and a bikini in my bag. Steve took a rain jacket and forgot shorts and sandals. We didn’t need to take any fishing gear or bait as it was all being provided by Captain Ivan.

As we walked through the Taramontana Restaurant towards the pontoon I could see Captain Ivan already waiting in the bay coming towards us and the pontoon. The tide was low, the pontoon much lower than the Restaurant landing and the only way I could get down was not to jump (not with these knees) but to sit on the edge, risking wet jeans, and be encouragingly pushed on the back by Steve down to the pontoon. I’m pleased to report that not only did it work but was also a dry landing.

It was too much of a jump for Stella, so Steve walked round the restaurant to reach the beach (right hand side of image below), rolled up his jeans walked into the water with Stella and got her to jump on to the pontoon.  Steve got onto the pontoon and as he did Stella decided jump off the pontoon back into the water.  Third time lucky of this double act, I called Stella towards me and by the time the two of them were in the boat, they were both quite wet and I had a stitch from laughing.

Captain Ivan has lived in Montenegro all his life and knows the Bay and fishing inside out.  We talked about over development in the bay and he pointed out a new village constructed by and Russian owned. He told us that most of the trees surrounding the village are chestnut. He does that. He describes everything we see through his eyes.

As we toured the bay and exploring fishing spots, he pointed out the mussel and fish farms which breed sea bass and sea bream. You can see the farm’s floats in the distance.

Glistening silver just below the surface we saw huge shoals of sardines swimming by us as the boat was anchored.  Apparently the combination of fresh water (this area has the highest rain fall and many natural springs) and sea water is the perfect mix for sardines; main fishing season being the end of the summer. Captain Ivan said that as the fish farms cleaned their fish on site, there was a chance for us to catch bigger fish and conger eels. My excitement grew.

I saw another shoal of sardines. I can’t tell you how exciting it is to lean over the side of the boat and see them as the water was clear for a couple of metres deep. Captain Ivan asked several times if we wanted to swim in the Bay but as we heard the water temperature can reach 30 in July we told him we’d rather wait a month or two for it to warm up. Even scuba diving to a sunken wreck did not temp Steve.

Seeing a turret at a narrow part of the bay I asked what it was.  Captain Ivan told us It was left over from various wars, the area is called Verige, which means chains in Montenegrin, and the area it got it’s name supposedly from chains blocking the crossing during the conflicts between the Ottomans and Hungarians to prevent ships entering. Nowadays the only thing that crosses between the two sides are drunken Russians who stupidly swim from restaurants one side to the other.  Captain Ivan said he lets them get on with it and doesn’t interfere as you can’t argue with drunken Russians.  I wonder how he knows that!

He pointed to the sky and told us pelicans were flying above us.  Steve didn’t know how to grab his camera and fish at the same time.  He decided to rest his line and focus on the flying pelicans some of which were grey, and some black.  That was so exciting as I’d never before seen pelicans flying. Unfortunately, we were so captured we didn’t manage to capture any images of them.

When Captain Ivan said “did you see that” and I replied “what”, he said “jumping tuna”.  Damn, I was facing the wrong way and missed it.  Never mind it was exciting to know.  I usually try not to repeat my words, but exciting is the best and only adjective to use today. These are some of the fishing views, the final one with the two islands in the background.

We saw Kotor from the bay, it was difficult to spot the old town, but we could see the steps high up in the background.  Captain Ivan told us in the height of the season (non-Covid) there can be as many as 7 or 8 Cruise Ships plus super yachts visiting this UNESCO site; the bay is popular as being part of the Adriatic it is always clean and warm and of course it is quite spectacular.  The entire population of Kotor is 14,000 approximately, which can be the same number of tourists visiting per day in the height of the season.  Crazy isn’t it?  Like many tourist ports, not a cruise ship or super yacht in sight.

Pointing to plumes of smoke in Perast, Captain Ivan told us that it is the Montenegrin way when cleaning a house to burn the rubbish left over.  Once I knew that, I saw other signs of bon fires either side of the bay. He told us how there never used to be any beaches when he was a child (he’s only 39), the ones we see are all man made, but worse than that, the materials used for pebbles and sand are not marine friendly as they don’t attract the necessary algae for many of the bay creatures to spawn

Our attention was drawn to a part of the bay where it looked like it was raining, but it was a shoal of fish being chased.  Inspecting Steve’s fishing line, Captain Ivan told us which fish had taken the bait and escaped. Apparently it has sharp teeth but answering my question, was not a piranha.  I’ve watched too many films.

Passing by the Monastery on Sveti Djordje I asked if the area full of trees was a garden.  Captain Ivan told us it was a graveyard for the nobles and fallen soldiers of Perast. Because of that, locally the island is known as the island of the dead. He took us round the island a few times to see if we could spot Pelicans in the trees.  We couldn’t.  Apparently in a normal season boats are several vessels deep off the island of Our Lady of the Rocks and there can be a waiting time of up to half an hour to visit it.  Looking at the island today without another boat in sight, again we appreciated how privileged and lucky we are.

Having had the bay almost to ourselves for several hours fishing by drifting and anchor at several places around the bay, by 10:30 speed boats and tourist boats were beginning to race across the bay, not only disturbing our fishing, but also a danger to turtles, others using the bay and erosion of the coast line.  I suppose the skippers were pleased to have tourists and income, and the passengers were thrill seekers.

To finish off our day, Captain Ivan circled the entire bay telling us a bit about each feature and places we could visit, including some Roman mosaics.  I doubt there is anything about the Bay or its history that he doesn’t know.  The day flew by with our non-stop chatting, fishing, photography, me decorating the front of the boat sunbathing and seeing flying pelicans and other wildlife.

Almost finishing our tour Captain Ivan pointed out a turtle.  We were extremely surprised that we could get as close to it as we did, but upon closer inspection, we saw why.  It looked as though it was anchored to a thick rope. The four of us, without hesitation, decided to do all we could to free it.  Steve took over the wheel, steering as instructed, whilst Captain Ivan at the back got out a long pole with a hook on the end, I tried to take photos and Stella who had been amazing all day kept out of the way.  By now we could all see the turtle was caught up in a fishing net and we were determined to free it.  Once we were close enough, Captain Ivan was able to disentangle the turtle from what turned out to be an illegal fishing net.  It’s shell, covered in barnacles, must have been at least 80cm in diameter, she was obviously tired after her ordeal and now being free of her shackles was able to dive down unencumbered to safety.  Captain Ivan told us the bay was full of turtles and she was probably around 100 – 150 years old. Can’t tell you how much we were pleased to be in the right place at the right time – once again.

We said our goodbyes, having been dropped off at a more sensible pontoon, and walked home dry with our goodie bag of freshly caught fish.  Steve having met our neighbours the night before had told them if we had a successful trip we might have a fish BBQ that night.  We couldn’t wait to knock on their door grinning like Cheshire cats (albeit very tired ones) to let them know we had caught enough for the four of us, the BBQ was from 7 and to bring their own crockery and cutlery.  By now It was 5pm, so we had two hours to rest and prepare.  They asked if they could bring anything, and we replied as per normal saying just their company and conversation.

I prepared a fresh mixed salad with the remains of the lettuce and spring onions we had been given by Captain Ivan from his mountain garden, cooked diced sautéed potatoes on our induction hob adjacent to the dining table and Steve BBQ’d the fish, dressed in oil, crushed garlic and chopped rosemary.  After dinner, Steve brought out his silent electric never plugged in guitar, which encouraged Thurma to run for her guitar and, needing no encouragement whatsoever, I fetched my tambourine from the caravan and we giggled through the rest of the evening falling happily tired into our beds.