We paddled from Grocka na Dunavu to Smederevo in Serbia on the 2nd of May, 2024. This was our 59th day of kayaking the Danube. For a change, we swapped places in Zucchini the kayak.
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Grocka to Smederevo: Just 17 kilometers
A bit of a filler day, as we intended it all along. We’re going to paddle just 17 kilometers from Grocka to Smederevo. Smederevo is a city with lots of shops and such things. An excellent place to hunker down for Orthodox Easter, which is scheduled for this weekend—a full five weeks later than Catholic and Protestant Easter. Next year, they fall on the same date. The math on Easter only exists on the astral plane.
But Easter isn’t the only thing that’s going down around this time. We’ve truly hit the trifecta of public holidays/off-days in Serbia in 2024: 1st of May (International Worker’s Day), 3–6 Orthodox Easter, and… the weekend. Let’s see if we’ll be able to feed ourselves when shops and restaurants are closed.
Anyway, back to kayaking. Our hosts in Grocka dropped us off at the place we landed at last time. Thankfully, there was no discussion of a better place to launch from. We had a little chat about where we were going on the Danube, like beyond Smederevo. I was able to say this in Serbian: Crno More. A wow-worthy aim. I toned it down and said we would only be there around October (foreshadowing: we would not arrive at the Black Sea in October).
We pumped up Zucchini on the lower embankment near the stairs. Jonas made a little video again since our hosts in Grocka liked that so much and they’ll probably follow us along today. Putting Zucchini in the water with all the luggage was a little difficult from this spot, but we made it work. We started paddling at 8:16 and headed past the marina on the right side of Gročanska Ada. The headwind was strong, but we had a lot of energy for today. The pressure is off.
We headed for the port of Grocka, which to my surprise had a lot of activity. There were several dry docks with barges lifted above the water. Laid out like they were on a massage table, ready to receive some TLC. And behind the pier was a moving cargo ship that we thought was docking. When we were parallel to the wheelhouse of that boat called Požarevac, we realized they might be trying to leave. Had we crossed over to the island side, they could have left anytime. So when we saw a guy stepping out on deck and wished him a good morning, all we got in return was a grumpy face. Because they had to wait two minutes longer.
Gročanska Ada to our leftWith the headwind and the waves, the bow of Zucchini got quite wet so early in the day.
1127 Kilometers to the Black Sea + MarineTraffic
We paddled in the channel between Gročanska Ada and the right bank. There’s this hotel called Mala Oasa where we would have stayed for one night if we hadn’t chosen Apostolovic House. I’m glad we didn’t stay here, purely because it would have been more kilometers to paddle that terrible day.
A campsite near Grocka
Hotel Marina OasaPast the island, we spotted the other islands on the left bank of the Danube: Batkova Ada and Brestovačka Ada. It’s weird, but we haven’t set foot on the left bank of the Danube since Novi Sad. And I miss it. But for the foreseeable future, we also won’t stay or land on the left bank with our kayak. That’s just not where the big towns or sightseeing things are.
At 9:10, we found a stick in the water and moored there for 17 minutes. Like we’d done on the previous kayaking day with the terrible headwind. But we kept our spirits up.
When we continued, we saw some small and big boat activity. I also looked back at Grocka in the hopes of seeing Avala Tower again.
Smederevo's industrial area in the distanceOriginally, this filler day would have been spent with switched positions. A short distance like 17 kilometers is perfect for experimentation. I’d hoped for a tailwind. In that case, I could paddle in the back of the boat while Jonas could take the front seat and perhaps even operate the kayak sail. He’s never done that as far as I’m aware.
After some more kilometers, we came past the 1127-kilometer sign and landed at its pretty decent beach. We ate a protein bar on land outside of the wind.
Because of our Serbian SIM cards, we had good reception the entire day. I tried uploading our position to MarineTraffic with this OnCourse app and managed to go live a couple of times. But it wasn’t visible to Jonas on the website. I’d love Zucchini to be featured on this app in the company of famous ships like the Ever Given. When trying to get it to work in Belgrade, it kept complaining about our boat ‘being on land’ and that being impossible, followed by being kicked out of the app. Very narrow-minded, if you ask me.
During our break, we decided to switch positions. It’s about 10 kilometers to go to Smederevo. Our reason for this change of heart was my remembering our training in Mauritius. During the catamaran sailing course, Jordan taught us about the trim of the boat. With a headwind, maybe it’s best if the heavier person sits in the front to pull the nose down. We could give this a try. If it doesn’t work, we can always find a landing spot and switch places again.
Iris the Captain
At 10:26 we continued. I could see the faint outline of a city in the distance. Jonas struggled a bit with the little leg space there was in the front of the boat. And I struggled with too much leg space and no shadowy spot for my phone. We paddled out and gained speed while fighting the wind. I think this is going pretty well!
In the back of Zucchini, I’m in charge of maintaining a good course. But I can’t see over Jonas or past him, so I still rely a lot on his feedback about sticks in the water. Torso to torso, there’s about 1.5 meters between us.
One of the first things I noticed is how the physics of the back of the boat feel exactly like the physics of sitting in the back of a bus. The bounciness in the back of a bus is way worse. Jonas experienced that it’s scarier to sit in the front, especially when hitting a wave. He didn’t get super wet like I did on the way to Grocka.
As I’d kept our tracking in the OnCourse app by Marine Traffic running, I asked Jonas to check in the app if we were live. And for a few minutes (until I switched to another app), we were! Look! Zucchini is LIVE!
We kept paddling until we ran out of steam again. Jonas moored us at a stick in the water while I navigated us to the stick. It wasn’t the most wonderful rest because there was a tree to my right that we kept pushing against. Jonas made a little vlog from here.
When we continued paddling, we entered the suburbs and satellite towns of Smederevo. I had my sights set on taking a break at a riverside restaurant called Pogled. I hoped to have a coffee here or some kind of relaxation. And a proper toilet. Jonas was very worried about leaving the boat at the river. I said how we would leave Zucchini would depend on the available infrastructure. Perhaps we put her on land. Anyway, later worries.
When we paddled to Pogled, we realized it was all the way up on the cliff overlooking the water. And it had no jetty. So we paddled past it. I looked for another potential landing spot with a restaurant, but when we saw one that wasn’t mapped in the real world, tucked between riverfront villas, we made the call too late. Perhaps there’s another one.
Looking behind us, I could finally see the faint pointiness of Avala Tower.
Arriving in Smederevo
In the distance, we could see the height and turns of a giant waterslide. That’s the Jugovo Aqua Park. It’s going to be absolute hell here in a few months when it’s the summer holidays. Before we arrived there, we landed at a sports park for a few minutes so Jonas could check out if there was a restaurant.
There was a lot of activity on the water here. Men in fishing boats zooming up and down the Danube. Your standard Serbian number of fishermen. They were people with good energy who said hello to us from shore or the river. I could feel the optimism of Smederevo. Across the river was Smederevska Ada
Past the aqua park, we saw a café on the shore. I asked two guys chilling on a neighboring terrace if it was a kafana and if it was open. I couldn’t really understand the answer. Regardless, I landed Zucchini there and Jonas hopped out to walk around. It wasn’t open, unfortunately. So we continued paddling. Whatever it is, our arrival time at the apartment in Smederevo will not be 14:00, but a little later.
The closed riverside café
At 12:21, we made a stop on land one more time. When faced with the question of whether we should switch places before our arrival, I decided I’d like to stay in the back just this once. We hopped in the boat quickly when I spotted a cruise ship about to overtake a cargo ship traveling downstream. On this tiny bit of land, the waves will probably not be a lot of fun. We continued paddling.
The cruise ship is overtaking the cargo shipWatching the different speeds of the professional ship and the pleasure cruise was a lot of fun. I didn’t catch the name of the cruise ship, but they won’t make a stop in Smederevo since they zipped past it at an impossible speed.
From here, we could see Smederevo Fortress in a good definition. We were now parallel to the wide passage around Smederevska Ada. Ahead was the Smederevo-Kovin Bridge—the last Serbian bridge across the Danube. But first, we needed to paddle past the port and its weird currents. I took a nice photo of Jonas paddling beneath this crusty-looking crane. The next rare occurrence was paddling past a boat service station. How often do big cargo ships need to refuel? I want answers.
Boat service stationWe entered the floating weekend houses zone we’d spotted on satellite the night before. Jonas wanted to make a last-minute change of plan and land at the rowing club in Smederevo instead of our other spot some 500 meters later. I agreed, and we paddled around the marina to a beautiful jetty that’s perfect for rowboats and kayaks alike. Too bad that the fence on it is locked. So, like sneaky unwanted people, we paddled around the jetty to the rocks behind it and landed either way. Arrival time: 13:07.
Little swan family and Smederevo FortressThe rowing club is also where the TID lands for the one night they spend here. There’s a restaurant above the rowing club, which I checked out from below. But it wasn’t good to have a drink up there while our boat dries below, even if we could keep an eye on her. Instead, Jonas staked out this place called the ‘friendship club‘ 100 meters away. We ended up moving there and having a beer and a Turkish coffee in the shadow of a tree. Zucchini was in the sunshine right next to us in the park named after despot Đurađ Branković. Smederevo was the capital of Serbia in the years 1430–1459.
When Zucchini was dry, we packed her up and paid for our drinks. This time, we attached the kayak paddles to the CabinMAX, making it one complete package ready for paddling. We walked via the Danube park to our apartment. We made one stop at a bench from where I checked out our originally discussed landing spot. It was terrible. The stairs didn’t go all the way into the water and there were several cargo ships moored at this bit of shore. I guess when we continue to Ram, we’ll go back to the rowing club again.
Smederevo is also a cruise port
"Watch out for the train!"
Our original landing spot. Difficulty mode: don't even bother
The Easter Weekend in Smederevo
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