Croatian Charter?

[JeffBoath]

Hi, I'm considering having a charter holiday for my 50th next year (2014), Croatia looks like a good option however I would be keen to know any opinions on this as a destination, or.....any other options that may fit our bill.
I'm a reasonably experienced sailor although my wife is not, we have a limited budget and it'll only be the 2 of us. My wife dislikes extreme heat so we are looking at heading away late September and have never chartered before. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Jeff.

 

[tudorsailor]

You might be better posting on scuttlebug rather than PBO forum

Croatia is great. We spent 3 months cruising there in 2013 and plan to cruise again in the Adriatic in 2014

I would get a charter that starts in Split rather than Dubrovnik as you will then be in the middle of the cruising ground.

Great destination and September is lovely. Less busy and less hot.

If you want to see some of the places that we visited have a look at http://zebahdy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/sudurad-on-otok-sipan-then-montenegro.html and beyond

All use the Cruisers Wiki for destination info. I updated every place that we went

TS

 

[dunedin]

Great choice - and don't tell too many people but September can be a perfect time, as less busy than manic July /aug, and water at its warmest
Lots of islands means plenty of shelter from waves

Should be great. One recommendation - don't go for too big a boat if just two of you and wife not keen sailor. A 32 foot boat is ideal,as easy to moor/sail with low effort, single handed if necessary. Seen lots of couples on too big boats having needless problems and arguments in cross wind mooring that a smaller boat would have been simple

 

[JeffBoath]

Thanks for the advice so far, any thoughts on bareboat or flotilla?

 

[RupertW]

We've kept our boat there for the last 3 years and love it.

For my taste late September is too cold in the evenings (apart from the water), with a good chance of very strong wet northerly winds for a day or two. Croatia is also very seasonal and after mid-September a lot of the bars and restaurants will be empty or shut.

But as a sailing destination it is fabulous - you just need to go with the rythmns of the windless nights and mornings in the Summer, then strongish winds from lunchtime to after dusk. Hundreds of anchorages and we haven't yet been asked to pay, plus moorings, old town quays and marinas when you are feeling flush. Nothing in all the years sailing in the UK (or chartering in the Caribbean) has come close to to the Croatian experience for us.

I'd always choose bareboat but it depends on your social, rather than sailing needs. If you want a lively communal experience then you will get that on flotilla.

My sailing area preference would be mid-Croatian island hopping (Split to Hvar or Korcula and back), rather than Istria or Dubrovnik, or the dull eco-disaster of the Kornati, but on second, third and fourth visits almost all areas are worth exploring.

But watch late September - unless you enjoy cool/cold evenings and a quiet end of season feel.

 

[RichardS]

We have usually found September and even early October to be pretty good weather wise and still a good selection of restaurants open. You can also easily get into Korcula, Hvar, Bol, Split, Trogir etc and they have plenty of restaurants.

I'm on the boat at the moment but have never been in December / January before. Weather is good - sunny and 16 degrees - but cannot not find a single restaurant open in Primosten or Rogoznica! Presmably the locals do not eat out at all at this time of the year?

Richard

 

[corinthmistral]

my wife and I chartered from dubrovnik / sunsail a couple of years ago as a last minute decision. me experienced / wife less experienced. thoroughly enjoyed it and when the kids alittle older (youngest is 1) she has said she would like to charter there again. we enjoyed everywhere we went, people were friendly and the area generally is undeveloped (ie not sold out for holiday homes), theres negligible tide and plenty to see. bits that maybe a little challenging, depending on experience: theres not so many marinas; often you need to anchor and dinghy ashore and a lot of the islands are quite remote usually with one or two tavernas and few jnhabitants. we found this to be a positive thing but depends what ypu are after. go for it! im sure you wont be dissapointed. we also really enjoyed dubrovnik, a very classily understated place to wind down and it had agreat buzz about it.

 

[corinthmistral]

nb also agree dont get a bigger boat than you need if just two of you. we had a 36 footer skmply because that was what was available but in all honestly we would have been quite happy with a 30-32 foot boat.

 

[RupertW]

We have usually found September and even early October to be pretty good weather wise and still a good selection of restaurants open. You can also easily get into Korcula, Hvar, Bol, Split, Trogir etc and they have plenty of restaurants.

I'm on the boat at the moment but have never been in December / January before. Weather is good - sunny and 16 degrees - but cannot not find a single restaurant open in Primosten or Rogoznica! Presmably the locals do not eat out at all at this time of the year?

Richard

I'm really surprised the restaurant in Rogoznica just over the bridge on the left isn't open - that's usually fine even now. Primosten is shut I agree, although the Pizza place on the square has been our saviour in January before now. Glad you've had better late September's than we've had but I still don't think a first time holiday in Croatia in late September is the best way to discover Croatia, but perhaps I love the lazy hot evenings too much.

 

[Firefly211]

We've kept our boat there for the last 3 years and love it.

My sailing area preference would be mid-Croatian island hopping (Split to Hvar or Korcula and back), rather than Istria or Dubrovnik, or the dull eco-disaster of the Kornati, but on second, third and fourth visits almost all areas are worth exploring.

+1 for Split/Hvar/Togir. Stari Grad (I so wanted this to be full of ex russian dictators), and the islands are fantastic. WOnderful bays with little restaurants and villages. Split is wonderful for the palace and to be honest its nicer than Dubrovnic. Huge charter bases in Togir.

 

[Shaddickp]

Couple of really useful guides are :-
The Imray Adriatic Pilot by T & D Thompson - This has really good background information and covers in detail the whole of the Adriatic. As there are literally 1000's of bays, coves, and small anchorages don;t expect them all to be covered here but this is pretty comprehensive and gives some good advice. Best used in conjunction with:-
777 Harbours and Anchorages of Croatia and Eastern Adriatic Coast by Karl & Anna Bestrandig, there are many editions of this paper back guide, the 2014/15 guide will be out in March, get it then.
Also really good web site :-
http://www.anchoragesincroatia.net/
Which lists where you can find places with mooring buoys, you can download a kml file and upload it to your GPS and job done.

I've chartered around 6 times around Croatia and I would second those that recommend Split as a starting point, in fact I would say Trogir is best as it is only a couple of miles from the Airport, so you can be at your boat before lunch, beat the rush and get away early. We've always managed to push off in the afternoon after wife does a humungous shop and I do boat hand over with charter company.

As for places to stop there are 100's of beautiful quite (except July / August) places, and in my experience if you don't mind anchoring with lines ashore then plenty of free places to stop. Early in season mooring buoys are cheap and most main ports on even small island will have a shower available for people using the mouring buoys, I in fact prefer them to marinas (which are really expensive and apart from 1 or 2 not very nice).

 

[tudorsailor]

I would agree with Trogir. It is a lovely place to start and finish. Close to the airport too. The ACI marina has food shops near by for stocking up. Yacht club Seget has a shop that only sells alcohol. Food requires a short taxi ride into Trogir town. I cannot comment on the other marinas near Trogir. SPlit marina also does not have food nearby. So find a company that is based in ACI Trogir and you will be fine.

TS

 

[PaulMcC]

Agree that Croatia is great. If you have 2 weeks you can easily do Split - Dubrovnik - Split with enough variety not to revisit places on the way back unless you want to.
My notes to self if/when I charter in Croatia again will be:
When the wind starts to increase it can increase fast and to high numbers so make sure crew are very happy with reefing down.
And take lots of precautions against the local charter company trying to rip off on deposits and so on. Next time I will video the boat as well as taking stills before heading off to have a really comprehensive record of the state of everything. (Hopefully just a one off but I had a bad experience with a company who charter from Trogir and Kremik.)

 

[sunsail-david]

And take lots of precautions against the local charter company trying to rip off on deposits and so on. Next time I will video the boat as well as taking stills before heading off to have a really comprehensive record of the state of everything. (Hopefully just a one off but I had a bad experience with a company who charter from Trogir and Kremik.)

Hi all

New to the forum and to the world of yacht chartering in general. I've just joined the forum to help answer any queries from people regarding Sunsail.

Just wanted to say to the original poster and that as one of the companies who has a large presence in Croatia, we can help with your chartering requirements without having to worry about the issue above!

Apologies for the blatant plug, but if there's anything we can do to help please feel free to let me know by PM.
Hopefully meet some of you at the London boat show this weekend.

Thanks
David

 

[JeffBoath]

Thanks for the very helpful replies, it's really been great to hear the views of those that have cruised around Croatia and will definitely help me come September.