Ash78
New Member
Hi all, just back on land from a week’s motor boat charter in Croatia and thought I’d provide a quick summary from our experience as relative newbies in the hope it may be of some use to others in future…
My wife and I got our Day Skipper licenses in June 2022 and have done 3 bareboat charters in Mallorca since qualifying. We wanted to try somewhere different this year and Croatia around the Kornati National Park seemed to offer good conditions for pootling about for a couple of relative novices…
The boat chartered was a Bavaria SR36 Sport (2025) based at the Biograd Na Moru marina about 30mins from Zadar airport.
Sat 14 June: Checked into Boat, gave full once-over and found out generator didn’t fire up. Genny not fixed and was advised as it’s a new boat (we were told we were the second people to charter the boat) and still under warranty that the charter company were limited in what they could replace without voiding the warranty. Went off to get provisions from the bigger Kaufland supermarket which was about a 10 min walk from Marina - taxi back for 15 Euros.
Sun 15 June: Left Marina after waiting for engineers to fix generator, still not working we headed for a few hours at anchor in quiet turquoise waters of Otocic Zutska Aba then an overnight at ACI Marina Zut on mooring buoys. Very calm and quiet evening.
Mon 16 June: Drove back to Marina for 9.00am in Biograd for engineers who were supposed to be there first thing, didn’t arrive until 1.30pm. Generator still not fixed and multiple weather warnings of strong winds (gale force)so decided to sit it out in the marina on Monday night…just as well as significant lightning and winds which we found out the next day had caused a lot of damage to other boats around the area.
Tuesday 17th June: still no fixed generator, promise of engineers in 2 hours but no sign all day, further escalated and told part would be arriving in marina Weds morning and it will be fixed first thing. Another night at base marina as further weather warnings issued.
Weds 18th June: Generator fixed!!! Off to Telascica - Uvela Krusevica - lovely quiet little anchorage with mooring buoys for the restaurant which we ate at - great local but pricey fish which was descaled and cleaned on the jetty prior to being slapped on the wood fired grill!
Thurs 19th June: Headed down into the Kornati National Park. Stopped at Levernaka Anchorage for lunch and then down to our reserved mooring buoy at Otocic Lavsa, another quiet anchorage and dinner at the restaurant.
Friday 20th June: Headed back to Biograd and joined the queue of 15+ boats waiting to fill up at the fuel dock then berthed the boat back in the marina as more strong winds were forecast.
Sat 21st June: Checked out and few nights on land at a local hotel before heading back on Tues 24th.
All in all, we loved the region and will come back. The time we had on the boat, albeit very limited, was great both from a practicing and relaxing perspective. The anchorages were great when the weather was calm but def worth keeping an eye on the apps and wind directions. The region also wasn’t too busy at this time of year so was easy to find space in anchorages.
Our learnings:
My wife and I got our Day Skipper licenses in June 2022 and have done 3 bareboat charters in Mallorca since qualifying. We wanted to try somewhere different this year and Croatia around the Kornati National Park seemed to offer good conditions for pootling about for a couple of relative novices…
The boat chartered was a Bavaria SR36 Sport (2025) based at the Biograd Na Moru marina about 30mins from Zadar airport.
Sat 14 June: Checked into Boat, gave full once-over and found out generator didn’t fire up. Genny not fixed and was advised as it’s a new boat (we were told we were the second people to charter the boat) and still under warranty that the charter company were limited in what they could replace without voiding the warranty. Went off to get provisions from the bigger Kaufland supermarket which was about a 10 min walk from Marina - taxi back for 15 Euros.
Sun 15 June: Left Marina after waiting for engineers to fix generator, still not working we headed for a few hours at anchor in quiet turquoise waters of Otocic Zutska Aba then an overnight at ACI Marina Zut on mooring buoys. Very calm and quiet evening.
Mon 16 June: Drove back to Marina for 9.00am in Biograd for engineers who were supposed to be there first thing, didn’t arrive until 1.30pm. Generator still not fixed and multiple weather warnings of strong winds (gale force)so decided to sit it out in the marina on Monday night…just as well as significant lightning and winds which we found out the next day had caused a lot of damage to other boats around the area.
Tuesday 17th June: still no fixed generator, promise of engineers in 2 hours but no sign all day, further escalated and told part would be arriving in marina Weds morning and it will be fixed first thing. Another night at base marina as further weather warnings issued.
Weds 18th June: Generator fixed!!! Off to Telascica - Uvela Krusevica - lovely quiet little anchorage with mooring buoys for the restaurant which we ate at - great local but pricey fish which was descaled and cleaned on the jetty prior to being slapped on the wood fired grill!
Thurs 19th June: Headed down into the Kornati National Park. Stopped at Levernaka Anchorage for lunch and then down to our reserved mooring buoy at Otocic Lavsa, another quiet anchorage and dinner at the restaurant.
Friday 20th June: Headed back to Biograd and joined the queue of 15+ boats waiting to fill up at the fuel dock then berthed the boat back in the marina as more strong winds were forecast.
Sat 21st June: Checked out and few nights on land at a local hotel before heading back on Tues 24th.
All in all, we loved the region and will come back. The time we had on the boat, albeit very limited, was great both from a practicing and relaxing perspective. The anchorages were great when the weather was calm but def worth keeping an eye on the apps and wind directions. The region also wasn’t too busy at this time of year so was easy to find space in anchorages.
Our learnings:
- Don’t charter a brand spanking new boat unless you have reassurances that everything is working prior to arrival and it has had a few guests to tease out the snag lists.
- Flexibility with itinerary - the generator and weather meant we needed to amend our intended itinerary - safety comes first and we were very glad we were in the marina during the storm.
- Refuelling prior to return to port was a fairly stressful couple of hours dodging car ferries and boats heading in/out of the marina. We could have spent that time on the beach so suggest either get there (very) early to refuel and find an anchorage nearby for the day or pay ~50 odd euros plus fuel cost to the charter guys to refuel for you.
- Keep an eye on the weather apps (especially radar views) and the warnings issued.
