surrounded by dense forest, the bay seemed to be a little bit of
paradise on earth. It was a clear and sunny day and we wanted
to take advantage of it to swim and get some rest. We plannedon spending the night there as well, since the bay was well
protected from the Bora, which had been forecast for that night.
We had a long journey ahead of us, which stretched between
Unije and Susak against variable winds. But right now, we desperately
needed a long-awaited afternoon rest in the peaceful bay.
As he always did when he was searching for a suitable anchoring
place, Captain Pavle stood on the stern and attentively observed
the water before him. Since the water was crystal clear, he could
easily see the bottom and so he had no difficulty finding a suitable
spot for the anchor. In the meantime, I navigated in the cockpit
and attentively monitored what was going on. The humming of
the engine and seven-metre distance between us forced us to
communicate with each other using our hands. As soon as Pavle
dropped the anchor, I turned off the engine and we were then
embraced by a peaceful silence, which was only interrupted by
singing birds.
Some moments later, the silence was broken by an unusual
bristling and humming noise. Suddenly, tiny little creatures began
appearing from all directions and we found ourselves in the middle
of a swarm of wasps. In the form of a dark, horrific cloud, they
poured over us.
We stood in the cockpit waving our arms to and fro to drive
them away, as the early afternoon sun shone above us like a giant
yellow ball.
‘Let’s jump in the water. Maybe they’ll go away,’ I suggested,
silently hoping this would work.
‘You’re probably right,’ agreed Pavle. ‘The drought is too much
for them to handle and they’re probably thirsty. They’re attracted
to us because we’re so sweaty. Maybe it will be better after we
soak in there a while. We won’t attract them if we’re salty,’ my
captain concluded intelligently.
And so this is what we did. But the wasps didn’t have the
same plans as we did. They did not even leave us alone when
we were in the water. Scenes from the Alfred Hitchcock film The
Birds began passing before my eyes. Except that it was wasps we
were defenceless against wasps, rather than different types of birds.
We remained in the water for quite some time. We continuously
observed the boat and the happenings on it. We did not only
see our guests, but could also hear them as, like a crowd of
curious researchers, they circled around the boat and then sat
themselves down on it.
Soon after, the cold forced us back onto the boat and we
realised that going into the water had not really changed anything.
For this reason, we sealed ourselves shut in the cabin and had a
short meeting to prepare a battle strategy. Pavle foresaw an escape,
a retreat from the battlefield. We had to act quickly if we wanted
to avoid serious problems because of the hellish heat in the cabin.
We decided to dress protectively, so the wasps could do no harm
to us. We left our eyes and hands exposed; all our other body
parts were covered.
It was much too hot in these clothes, but we hoped to solve
this waspish annoyance by moving to the neighbouring bay.
But obviously this entire island was their home. The only
solution probably was to retreat from the island altogether. But
where would we go? The closest island was ˇSkarda, but at that
moment, it seemed so far away. We had had enough sailing for
that day.
To top it off, the Bora began blowing stronger and stronger.
It had been forecast to do so, but it was only supposed to start
later on at night. So, in spite of the battling wasps, we decided
it was best to stay.
We ran to the cabin and stayed there the remainder of the
afternoon and a greater part of the evening. We completely forgot
about the fresh sea air, the warm sun, the clear blue sky, swimming,
sunbathing or relaxing in the shade. We had great difficulty
preparing lunch. In order to prepare it, we desperately needed to
get some air, which brought unpleasant consequences with it. I
got stung twice and Pavle did four times.
Of course, being inside was not pleasant. The heat on top of
the gas stove in this closed room was unbearable.
We were sweating a great deal, and the entire time we hoped
that the wasps would finally grow tired of us. It turns out that
we were not completely safe from them there either. The wasps
had discovered a hidden entrance which we had not covered up
successfully, and they continued to visit us. I am not sure whether
or not it is the custom in any part of the world to kill uninvited
guests, but that is just what we did. Pavle even discovered a very
noble method of doing so. We each sat at our own side of the
table and, using only a cigarette box (full or empty); we put each
and every uninvited guest out of their misery by squishing them
against the window that they had immediately flown to when
they came in. They would crash into the window, stick to it and
gaze through it. The view had obviously intoxicated them to such
an extent that they could not leave.
Gradually a pile of several hundred dead wasps began to
accumulate on the windowsill, as well as beneath it. I disregarded
any moral qualms that might have prevented me from carrying
out our barbaric act, since this was obviously a fight for survival.
Two wasp stings had immediately caused me a great deal of
pain and led to a large, red and itchy inflammation. When I was
stung by a wasp on the mainland a few months later, I had a
bad reaction and had to seek medical assistance. I am obviously
allergic to wasp stings, though I don’t know how long I have had
this allergy.
It was only towards evening that the wasps finally settled down
and we were finally able to bathe in the warm sea. After that,
we were able to sit in the cockpit for a good hour without any
worries.
The night was completely calm and peaceful. Our opponents
had fallen into a deep sleep. We listened to the pleasant cicada
voices and happily anticipated the morning song of birds, while
hoping for a truce with the wasps.
At six in the morning, we were awoken by a sudden, powerful
thrust of wind. The wind that had come out in all its force was
not the Bora, but the Libeccio. We were completely unprotected
from it in the bay, which we had chosen for shelter against the
Bora. The first peek we took through the window completely
woke us up. We were already approaching the shore at a dangerous
rate. Only a few more metres and we would crash into the rocks.
Our wasps were still asleep and so we were able to focus on our
other enemy: the wind.
Together with the waves, it was persistently pushing us towards
the rocks on the shore. Pavle lifted the anchor with great difficulty;
I had just as much difficulty starting up the engine and, with its
help, moving away from the shore to the middle of the bay.
Besides the Danforth anchor, we also threw the Admiral in, just
in case. We also took an additional safety precaution: we tied the
boat to the shore using a rope. We slowly rowed back to the
sailboat in our lifeboat with great difficulty, using the rope to
help us get back. We got our first cold morning shower in that
lifeboat; we didn’t want one, but we had to accept it, whether
we liked it or not. We were still wearing our nightshirts. We
changed our clothes and returned to bed, as we were extremely
tired.
We had completely forgotten about the wasps, but they had
not forgotten about us. They began breaking into the ship while
we were still sleeping and by noon, when we finally left the
battlefield, about thirty of them had gathered on the windowsill.
As we fled southward, we were happy to discover that there
were fewer and fewer of them. However, they did not disappear
quickly, as some of these stubborn insects followed us for days.
It was only when we arrived at the island of Zverinac, opposite
Boˇzava, that, after performing a thorough inspection, we discovered
our enemy had completely deserted us.
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