Cruising Croatia

Greece v Croatia

jimbaerselman said:
Wise words Metabarca.

Same story applies in Turkey, but the change has been a little slower, and the service, though less personal, remains very welcoming.

Greece too, where change is very slow indeed compared with Turkey . . . except the price levels.

JimB
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Went to Croatia twice and found it VERY expensive both times. Kept my boat in Greece for six years and found the scenery/people/prices much better. I am now waiting for Albania to open up but fearful that the 'Italian Factor' will mean that it is as expensive as Croatia became (a large number of the Ioanian flots came back to Greece due to the extortionate charges...). Hoping for the best though as the sailing should be good.
 
I've heard that the food is much better in Albania than in Croatia and the people friendly. The downside is that there are few safe harbours. Not been myself, however: this is the opinion of someone just back from there.
PS the 'Italian factor' may drive up prices, but it should also maintain high quality in terms of food. Ergo, what's happened in Croatia is the 'North European factor': high prices AND poor food!
 
Croatia is an amazing cruising area.

I especially like Milna on Brac.

The people are fantastic. It is in their culture to appear rather sullen. Smiling is seen as a sign of stupidity!
 
Just back from Italy and found this thread, which I must have missed with the slow 3g connection I had on board. These fora load so slowly with that system that it was too tedious to surf for long.

I wonder why I cannot find all those “fantastic” people that earlier posters enthuse about when I have been cruising the eastern Adriatic seaboard since 1979 – less the years of civil war there, of course. Yes, I've very often met friendly and helpful individuals but they stand out by being atypical, especially the Pag fisherman that I still have contact with, who in 1984 transported me the length of his island in his rickety van to the hospital for an antidote for a swollen and excruciatingly painful hand from a severe weever fish sting.

In those days I used to think all those unfriendly people and overbearing officials were the inevitable product of the brutal communist regime, but since the breakup of the Yugoslav federation I see little or no change in demeanour, could it be the Balkan psyche?

There are now more smiles, agreed, but they are in general the false smile of a huckster intent on parting the tourist from his cash. A generation ago there were no hucksters, there was nothing to be a huckster for – no non-state entrepreneurship allowed.

Metabarca put his finger on it, I think. We old-timers saw an undeveloped land, free of the current charter hordes, while the current love affair with Croatia is by those who have not our nostalgic memories to compare with today's over-full harbours, noise, crowds, buoyed anchorages and rip-off prices. For those new to the region it is easy to be seduced by the warm clear waters, beautiful islands and coastline, seeing everything bathed in that light.

This year, after only three weeks in Croatian waters I abruptly terminated my cruise earlier than planned and headed back to Italy. True to form, my impression (prejudice?) of the bureaucracy and people was substantiated by the final personal contact before casting off from Umag's customs pier. It was the reaction of the policeman who wanted to stamp my crew list when I was clearing - I was the only one in the office and searching vainly for it, not realising that the previously visited harbour office had stapled it behind all their documents and receipts. "Don't you even know what a crew list is?" he shouted at me – I had not said a word, just taken too long to find what he had demanded. Goodbye and good riddance.
 
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I was looking to charter there early summer next year but now I will go back to Greece again. I don't mind paying fair prices but I don't like being taken for a mug!!!

Thanks all
 
Croatia - pure greed!

Hi

This is my first post here…. So please be gentle if I don’t do things right!!

Myself and 3 friends chartered a Bavaria 44 out of Tregor in Croatia.
I have to say – a great boat or what we wanted to do. The charter company was great!
The Islands were just so picturesque. However, this was all ruined by the amount over charging (bordering on extortion) we were subjected to on a Dailey basis!
The restaurants charged us for everything, And I do mean everything! One night we even had a cost for 4 paper napkins!! (which was just kitchen towel). The wine was just awful and the cheapest on the menu was around £25 < 30 GBP.

I personally described sailing Croatia as sailing the Greek Islands but at west end prices!!
I would never return because of this pure greed!!

Sorry to be negative, but this was just our experience! (and others who we also spoke to in the marina’s also felt the same).

Ian
 
Ianqv said:
The restaurants charged us for everything, And I do mean everything! One night we even had a cost for 4 paper napkins!! (which was just kitchen towel). The wine was just awful and the cheapest on the menu was around £25 < 30 GBP.
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All par for the course, especially in the southern and central Croatian coast and islands.

But northern Croatia, while less prevalent, has plenty of rip-off merchants, especially restaurants. Last year, arriving in Umag too late for clearing to Italy, I went ashore for a last meal to use up my kuna. I drifted across the small square by the bell tower and to the southern arm of the peninsular there, where a row of restaurants cater mainly to tourists, with their attractive sea vista. I wandered the length and settled on a table of the last one, the Amphora.

I ordered a simple meal, roasted squid with boiled potatoes and salad, together with a large beer. Nothing to complain about, it was what I had expected and the bill, when it arrived, matched the menu list pricing - 109 kuna (£12.26). Calculating mentally what I would leave as a tip, I tendered two 100 kuna notes, which were borne away in the little saucer, together with the bill.

Imagine my surprise to find bill accompanied by 45 kuna change coming back on the saucer. Picking up the bill I saw it was not the original - it was identical but this one showed a price of 155 kuna (£17.44). Trying to catch the waiter's eye was almost impossible but I eventually succeeded to ask him how this bill could escalate so and replace the original. "Tax" was his cryptic answer and thenceforward kept well clear of my table. Needless to say, no tip.
 
Windlass100 said:
But is it this any different from most other Med countries?
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I think it is. I had no such blatant robbery in Greece - perhaps it does go on but I didn't experience it - and I very thankfully return every year to my base in Italy.

In Italy I am also a visitor, as in Croatia, but despite its reputation as Mafia-land I get honest and genuinely cheerful service throughout Friuli. And I am there every year and for a lot of the summer (a lot more now that I shall not cross the Adriatic for a long while, if at all) so I have plenty of chances to be cheated - but am not.
 
Barnac1e said:
I think it is. I had no such blatant robbery in Greece - perhaps it does go on but I didn't experience it - and I very thankfully return every year to my base in Italy.

In Italy I am also a visitor, as in Croatia, but despite its reputation as Mafia-land I get honest and genuinely cheerful service throughout Friuli. And I am there every year and for a lot of the summer (a lot more now that I shall not cross the Adriatic for a long while, if at all) so I have plenty of chances to be cheated - but am not.
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I've lived in Trieste for close on 15 years and have never had ANYTHING but honesty and courtesy. Friuli Venezia Giulia is very different to other parts of Italy but honesty to the public is still the norm here.
I would really like someone from the Croatian tourist board to comment at this point...
 
I have just come back from a weeks cruising around the islands off Split.

I have to say I dont recognise anything in common with this thread.

We chartered a 52 foot Beneteau from Agana.

We only paid fees in one "harbour" on Vis - about £10. That included power, water, hot showers (if needed) and quay side mooring. Every where else was free.

The people could not have been more friendly - without exception.

Food and eating out was comparable with the UK - so dont expect any bargains but very good quality.

The weather was wall to wall sunshine and a very good time was had by all.

If I had read this thread it would have out me off going, which would have been a huge mistake.
 
Croatia as you find it

Interesting differences of opinion in this thread! My own suggestion is 'take as you find'; I would urge anyone who hasn't tried Croatia to give it a go.

Based on my experience this summer there is much that is very rewarding; my crew and I encountered a great deal of friendliness and much cheerful help. We had a super week in a well-maintained charter boat (Sunsail, out of Kremik, sailing to the islands offshore from Split) and we saw some very picturesque places and sailed, ate and swam really enjoyably. Not all at the same time, of course.

The past 20 years have been reasonably ghastly for many local people there; each place has its burned-out homes and gutted buildings. The stories of hatred and prejudice are just below the surface. A Bosnian friend of mine was among our crew and she was able to provide the thought-provoking background.

So even if people don't enjoy the sailing for some reason then at least their revenue is making a difference to shattered lives and helping the local economy back on its feet.

I for one am definitely going again next year.

And, no, I don't work for Sunsail or the Croatian tourist board. I just thought the place a vivid, relatively affordable and happy contrast to everywhere else I've sailed on the planet.
 
We've been to Croatia a couple of times a year for the last 3 years and will be taking our second holiday there this year in a couple of weeks.

We have always found the Croatians to be friendly and helpful without exception - and we must have met with hundreds.

Restaurants on the sea-front in popular areas are obviiously not going to be the cheapest but are no more expensive than the UK. Bargains are to be found away from the front. The most expensive place to eat has been the Kornati National Park but that's not unexpected when there is 1 (or no) restaurant in each bay and it's only open for 3 months of the year.

The bays are busy in high season and some are noisy with discos and the like but there are so many places to anchor you can always find something to suit your mood. The local/Italian habit is to set off early, arrive at a bay late morning, stay for lunch, swim and siesta, and leave early evening. We have often arrived in a nice bay at 4pm, just about managed to drop the hook with enough swinging room, and then found the place almost deserted by 7pm! I used to panic and check the forecast in case everyone knew something I didn't but now I just relax.

A few anchorages charge a modest (£10) fee for the onshore facilities but most years we only stumble across one or two of these. This year we paid for our three nights in the Kornati NP (as expected) but did not pay in the seven other bays we anchored in.

Richard
 
Yes things in Croatia are not that cheap. But has anybody from Enlgand thought about the exchagne rate. 8 years agao the exchange rate was 13 Kuna to the Pound. Now it is 8 Kuna to the Pound so things have almost doubled in price. As for it being to close to Germany well the Euro has always been at about 7.2 Kuna to the Euro for the last couple of years. I have been living in Croatia and things have not gone up that much. When I arrived here in 2001 diesal was 6 Kuna a litre now it is 8 Kuna a litre. One would feel the pinch as then it was 40p a litre now it is a Pound. So the exchange rate has made Croatia more expsensive.
 
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South of Cres

This is my forth year in Croatia and probaby my last. The costs have gone up 50% in that time and beyound European prices now. I am luky that the people in my marina are still down to earth and friendly. I can not say that about the places I visit. For example last week in a small town in the south of Cres, after I tied up to the small town wall bows to. The harbour master told me to turn the yacht around stern to. When I asked why the reply was astonishing. I quot "There is no reason. It is because I want it that way". Then I was expected to pay for this rudness.
 
tawhiri said:
This is my forth year in Croatia and probaby my last. The costs have gone up 50% in that time and beyound European prices now. I am luky that the people in my marina are still down to earth and friendly. I can not say that about the places I visit. For example last week in a small town in the south of Cres, after I tied up to the small town wall bows to. The harbour master told me to turn the yacht around stern to. When I asked why the reply was astonishing. I quot "There is no reason. It is because I want it that way". Then I was expected to pay for this rudness.
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No excuse for rudeness of course but during the busy times it is not unusual for boats to be squeezed in so tightly that they have to remove fenders to get in at all. I've seen boats being wedged into a tiny gap between two others and being instructed by the harbourmaster to apply full power in reverse in order to force the boats either side apart! In such a situation I suspect that boats moored bows to would cause some problems.

Having said that, some boats with deep or transom hung rudders have to go bows to in the harbours with a below water shelf.

We usually anchor off (we're bobbing up and down just outside Milna, Brac as I write!) but the first time I moored stern to in Croatia the harbourmaster tried to bring me in so close that I complained that I would be wedged against the next boat - I was told politely that that was the whole idea. The noise of squashed fenders squeaking up and down all night would not be conducive to a good nights sleep except that the crew chatting either side sound like they are in your cockpit anyway.

Richard
 
Ive only been to Croatia a few times (4) boating from North to south and back

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249666

Most Croatians we encountered are friendly , some are less friendly but Ive also seen that Germans and Italians are treated with even less friendliness than us Dutch

What I do however recommend is that you stay as far away as you can from any ACI marina , 50 euro's for an 8 meter boat is indeed extortionate (IMO) when most town quay's charge 80 to 100 kuna

But if town quays raise their prices to ACI marina levels I think we need to rethink our vacation..
 
ReneJK said:
What I do however recommend is that you stay as far away as you can from any ACI marina , 50 euro's for an 8 meter boat is indeed extortionate (IMO) when most town quay's charge 80 to 100 kuna

But if town quays raise their prices to ACI marina levels I think we need to rethink our vacation..
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There is quite a difference in up-front costs from chartering and arriving on your own keel in Croatia, although the former will still have to pay but it will be more transparently quoted in the charter prices.

I have been spending most of my summers cruising Croatia in my own boat but from this year the cost has escalated dramatically due to the so-called 'Sejourn Tax', a daily, per person, visitors' tax that replaces the original 'Kurtaxe'. By making all visiting yachts pay this when declaring into the country at a port of entry, together with the exorbitant sailing permit, it is no longer possible to avoid it by anchoring in uninhabited bays and not using marinas and buoys where it had been previously added to the charges. Although I cruise single-handed the charge is calculated on a daily notional number of potential occupants of my boat based on its length. Because of this new charge I will no longer spend three months cruising Croatia, in fact, I shall stay in Italy until Croatia joins the EU and has to dismantle these rip-off impositions for EU-flagged yachts.

I covered this new payment in the liveaboard forum here.
 
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Had a great experience in Hvar town yesterday afternoon. Rather than anchoring we decided to grab a mooring buoy on the north-west corner of the harbour. As there are only two of us onboard I stayed on the helm and asked SWMBO to pull up the buoy with the boathook and and thread a line through the top metal loop and secure it. I would then come forward and sort out the line through the lower loop.

I noticed that the row of perhaps 10 buoys are no more than 20 feet apart so thought it was a bit odd that we would put at least two buoys out of use. I should definitely have given this more thought!

So I'm stopped with the bow of the cat right over the buoy and SWMBO is pulling like crazy and saying that the buoy doesn't move! I'm saying pull harder and she is losing her cool! I go forward and try to pull - it's like the buoy is welded to the seabed! I manage to lean right over the cross-beam with SWMBO holding my legs and just manage to get a line through the top loop and secure it. She'e right - the buoy is secured by a vertical bar-tight line and is not moving anywhere. I now notice that some of the buoys are actually underwater - I assume because of spring tides and low pressure.

By now other boats are coming in and failing to get a line through the buoy. Boathooks and crew members are falling into the sea at regular intervals and I'm out in the dinghy helping those with a high freeboard who have no chance of getting a line through unless they reverse up to the buoy and who has ever done that?.

Finally the harbourmaster appears in his rib and explains that we all have to use very long shorelines otherwise half the buoys are useless. Now it all becomes clear! There's another excellent couple of hours spectacle whilst everyone starts knotting lines together to try and make up something long enough.

All in all, a great afternoon and why I love sailing - every day you learn something new!

Richard
 
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