Does anyone keep aboat in Croatia, and what is it like?

[Baggywrinkle]

We've chartered several times in the Split region.

Croatians are lovely helpful people, and there's some really pretty destinations and islands but it's become really busy and charter costs and prices for marina berths have gone up through the roof over the last few years and so have booze and restaurant bills. Getting back to base and onto the fuel berth at the end of the charter is a nightmare free for all log jam of yachts and so is finding a berth in the more popular marinas later in the day. Many of the quiet bays you used to be able to drop the hook for free in now have mooring buoys which you'll be charged for.

There's been several days of flat calm on most of our charters too.

Montenegro has built 100+ berth marinas in the bay of Kotor which were all either being finished or ready but empty when we were there. Maybe they're hoping that's going to be the new sailing destination on the Adriatic.

I can definitely confirm this to be the case .... it gets progressively more busy as you move south, but up north, Pula to Zadar, it's still possible to find secluded bays where you can anchor in peace and quiet - major ports, like Mali Losinj, are a scramble for berths from 4pm onwards at the height of the season though.

The scourge of private mooring buoys ruining previously beautiful anchorages continues apace too .... latest victims are Kosirina on Murter and Stiniva on Vis.

Basically, the Croatians are milking the charter business for all the cash they can extract, making it more and more crowded and expensive.

Best overview of Croatia IMO can be found here ... SKIPPERTIPPS Adria - Kroatien - Slowenien - Montenegro, Häfen Inseln, Marinas und mehr ... it's all in German but google translate does a reasonable job.

 

[Skellum]

I don’t know if it’s still case, but it used to be possible to restart your 90 days by hopping across to Ancona and back on a ferry from Split. This was back in 2007 before they joined the EU (and we left) so may not be the case any more.
Re your post 31 on Split v Dubrovnik, I would go Split for its more central location. You can go down towards Dubrovnik (about a week sailing) or head the other way to the Kornati Islands. Split is also good for flights from the Uk and there are a number of marinas just a short taxi from the airport (Trogir, Kastela).

 

[Baggywrinkle]

I don’t know if it’s still case, but it used to be possible to restart your 90 days by hopping across to Ancona and back on a ferry from Split. This was back in 2007 before they joined the EU (and we left) so may not be the case any more.
Re your post 31 on Split v Dubrovnik, I would go Split for its more central location. You can go down towards Dubrovnik (about a week sailing) or head the other way to the Kornati Islands. Split is also good for flights from the Uk and there are a number of marinas just a short taxi from the airport (Trogir, Kastela).

Good point, don't see why it wouldn't work - it's just a flat 90 days in Croatia, not a 90/180 rule like Schengen.

Perhaps the OP should post a question on Noonsite, see what the Americans, Australians etc. in Croatia do when their 90 days are up.

 

[dune16]

Judge for yourself :

Ep43 | Sailing to the waterfalls - YouTube

Great video!