going north along the Croatian coast, to Venice, advice needed

[BartW]

That’s our cruising plan for this summer,
Departure is from Tivat Porto Montenegro,

As we have never been north of Sibenik with a boat, we have a few questions:
- Interesting spots and places to visit along the Croatian coast north of Sibenik ?
- Best route to Venice, going straight from Rovinj across the gulf, or visit more places on the Istrian coastline
- Where to stay near Venice for visiting by tender ?
- Convenient Marina closest to Treviso Airport, for changing guests and provisioning ?
- Is it possible to go in the Canale grande with a 70ft boat ? my marine neighbor advised me its possible at 6am

Question regarding paperwork;
when we leave Croatia we need to “check out" the country (non Schengen)
Do we need to do something when entering in to Italy / a Schengen country ?

thanks for advice !

 

[sailaboutvic]

That’s our cruising plan for this summer,
Departure is from Tivat Porto Montenegro,

As we have never been north of Sibenik with a boat, we have a few questions:
- Interesting spots and places to visit along the Croatian coast north of Sibenik ?
- Best route to Venice, going straight from Rovinj across the gulf, or visit more places on the Istrian coastline
- Where to stay near Venice for visiting by tender ?
- Convenient Marina closest to Treviso Airport, for changing guests and provisioning ?
- Is it possible to go in the Canale grande with a 70ft boat ? my marine neighbor advised me its possible at 6am

Question regarding paperwork;
when we leave Croatia we need to “check out" the country (non Schengen)
Do we need to do something when entering in to Italy / a Schengen country ?

thanks for advice !

Hi BartW
You not said if you are an EU boat or not , taken that you are , please be advise to check out of Croatia before going to Italy , and we check in if returning .
If you like to take a look at my Croatia weds site link below you will find some useful info plus link to other useful site , ie Croatia gov mooring site as well as Wolfgang site which is normaly kept up to day ,
We did our crossing to Venice from Pula some 70 NM and the return trip to Novigrad around 50 nm .
We not Marina people so I can't advise on marinas in Venice , but we anchored in the lagoon oppsit the island of Burino , you need to watch the depth but with a 2 mts Rudder and we no less then .5 at LWS .
Hope this helps

 

[Hardmy]

Hi Bart!

Interesting spots and places to visit along the Croatian coast north of Sibenik ?

Tribunj Marina. Pretty town (and good yard if you need some emergency repairs)

Veli Rasip / Kornati
43.77825, 15.30567
Climb on the S-Side of the island to enjoy the view from the cliffs. I used the small pier but I am only 48'.

Mana Is. / Kornati
43.8019, 15.26292
Nice view on the cliffs and surrounding islands. Interesting rests of a film stage. Anchor in the NW bay.

Tarca / Kornati
43.82819, 15.26296
Small quay with chapel and ruin. Fantastic sunset from up there.

Cuska Duboka / Telascica
43.89984, 15.19063
Very narrow pier used in the past by the Croatian Navy. Good and quiet place to have a walk on the surrounding hills.

Telascica in general.
Spectacular scenery, like a lake. On the W-side, interesting walks overviewing the huge cliffs.

Zadar the town
Great place nice to stroll through the narrow streets of the old town.

Zrmanja
44.20128, 15.58839
Spectacular navigation on the river up to Obrovac. Uninteresting town, but one of our most exceptional navigation experience.

Novigrad
44.18058, 15.5482
Quiet und untouristic town with a view from the castle. Good stopover if you do Zrmanja.

Anchorage near Nin
44.27395, 15.19955
Lots of mossies. But very handy to start from there a visit of Nin which is worth a detour. Nin has an extremely shallow entrance (also for the dinghy), but its an interesting trip!

Sv. Nikola / Olib
44.35489, 14.77307
Cute setting, with buoys.

Silba East
Pretty town. Cars free island.

Ilovik
44.46188, 14.55388
Nice place with lots of trees. On buoys.

Losinj, the town
44.53333, 14.46666
Lively place, as always in Croatia. Pretty old town.

Mali Losinj Passage
44.54573, 14.46053
Opens every hour our so. To test your handling skills

Veli Losinj
Very small but pretty. You can park your boat right in the front of the many tavernas alongside.

Do we need to do something when entering in to Italy / a Schengen country ?
My experience is that the Guardia Costeria is not interested to know where you came from. Once I have only been asked once to show my papers at the Capitaneria and that's it. But please note, that this was in 2014. Things may have changed since then.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[RupertW]

We loved our visit to Venice in 2013 - one of the biggest highlights of decades of sailing.

Not so much the route to- we sailed down to Korcula town from Kremik (near Primosten) then across to some friends who live near Pescara. Checked out in Korcula. No real formalities in Italy - a couple of uniforms came down but told us nothing was needed and we have never done any paperwork in Italy since then going or leaving. The boring sail/motor was up to Venice as after the first day the coastline is low and flat and sea covered in oil rigs.

A much better sail was from Venice to Pula (with my favourite marina ever as it virtually sits under an almost intact amphitheatre) and down to Sibenik via Sveti Peter (wonderful) and an deep southfacing bay on Molat which was fine. But the islands and the views (and alas two waterspouts) were all dramatic and interesting. Vital to check in in Pula - we were silly enough to leave it until we had arrived at Sibenik and they were not pleased at all. No fines though.

In Venice we arrived during some big regatta so could only get a berth a little way out at Marina di Lio Grando which would not be suitable above 12-15 metres maximum. But was easy to get to San Marco from.

We've flown into Zadar airport and stayed there a few times before driving down the boat and I like Zadar very much.

None of the northern parts seem quite as good to me as the islands between Trogir and Mjet but that's judging them by a very very high standard, and we didn't take the time to find all our favourite spots the way we have with mid-Croatia over the years.

 

[BartW]

thank you all for interesting advice,

I forgot to mention that we are on a Belgium flagged boat, and that we have 15 years experience in south Croatian waters (visited almost every spot between Split and Budva Montenegro.
atm we have a permanent berth in Tivat Porto Montenegro,
we spend 8 weeks in summer and many weekends in winter on the boat, but are no live aboards, (run a co in Belgium)

@ sailaboutvic,
i've seen your blog before, interesting!
I apreciate that you post about places that you have visited yourselve, but in the south region there are missing quite a few very interesting spots, ao:
-Polace on Mljet, probably the nicest anchorage in the south Adriactic imho
-Sipanska Luka and east side of island Jakljan
-Kobas on Peljesac, near Ston

@Hardmy, thanks V, you know I've copied your blog to take with me for the planning

@RupertW how close have you been able to approach Venice Island ?

 

[RupertW]

-Polace on Mljet, probably the nicest anchorage in the south Adriactic imho
-Sipanska Luka and east side of island Jakljan
-Kobas on Peljesac, near Ston


@RupertW how close have you been able to approach Venice Island ?

For me the top two anchorages are Pokrovenic on Hvar and Krknsasje on Drvenik Veli, one mostly empty at night and one very crowded except in our favourite spot shallow and close in.

On our last evening in Venice before our night sail to Pula we took the boat up past Cipriani towards the new Hilton and slightly into the Grand Canal before I remembered we had a mast (well a few water taxis reminded me with voice and gesture), then back past San Marco and out to sea. Took a lot of pictures of each other and the background.

 

[Hardmy]

You have a great plan Bart! What time frame do you have to carry it out?

I am looking forward for the pictures of mighty BA navigating up river Zrmanja ;-)

 

[BartW]

For me the top two anchorages are Pokrovenic on Hvar and Krknsasje on Drvenik Veli, one mostly empty at night and one very crowded except in our favourite spot shallow and close in.

On our last evening in Venice before our night sail to Pula we took the boat up past Cipriani towards the new Hilton and slightly into the Grand Canal before I remembered we had a mast (well a few water taxis reminded me with voice and gesture), then back past San Marco and out to sea. Took a lot of pictures of each other and the background.

my favourite spots on Hvar are;
the deep cove north of Stari Grad,
and the deep cove, about 1,5nm north west from Hvar, we have seen deers during the night here on two occasions

so you have been almost in the canale grande ?
are there any restrictions ?
how deep is the main area /connection to the sea ? no problem with shallow water ?

 

[BartW]

You have a great plan Bart! What time frame do you have to carry it out?

I am looking forward for the pictures of mighty BA navigating up river Zrmanja ;-)

going from Tivat to Venice in 1.5 week, stay there 3-4 day's,
and than slowly back in 4 weeks
(beginning july untill half august)

I'm not sure if we will go all the way up the zrmanja river, is it deep enough everywhere ?
in that period I have guests who want to visit quite a few other places, but will try to convince them with your pics ;-) !

 

[RupertW]

No restrictions apart from channel marker - apart from the spectacular scenery it was very like a Bank Holiday in the Southampton water or Portsmoutj harbour with huge numbers of small boats and liners milling about - so all strangely familiar and not difficult.

 

[emmalina]

I would do Istria as it has some nice places also Slovenian peninsular Pirano is lovely and when you get to Venice you can probably stay in the marina San Giorgio in front of Piazza San Marco expensive but worth it if you want to be in the thick of it !
There is also Diporto velico veneziano not to far away and they normally have space !
As for papers.. Lived there for 20 years and only ever got asked to produce anything in Croatia.
There is a shuttle bus from Marco polo (venice airport) to Treviso but not sure of the times.
Enjoy.

 

[RichardS]

On your way north you might call in at Rab. It was recommended to me by someone on here last year and it is a lovely spot with a excellent large and sheltered anchorage next to the town ... or a marina in the middle of the town if you prefer.

Rab is an ancient walled town like Trogir / Split / Dubrovnik .... and you can walk round some of the walls ..... not as extensive walls as Dubrovnik which must be in a league if its own but better than Split or Trogir.

Richard

 

[Metabarca]

Regarding Treviso, Ryanair run buses to Mestre railway station to coincide with their flights, and from there you can catch a bus to Piazzale Roma in Venice. From here, the number 2 (if I remember right), is the vaporetto that will take you right down and round the 'bottom' of Venice to the marinas.
Check out of Croatia (harbourmasters in Porec, Roving, Pula (not so convenient), Losinj. No need to check into Italy. Keep an eye out for ships on the crossing as there's now a fair bit of traffic heading up to Trieste and other ports.

 

[Jamesuk]

Part of the EU so just "enjoy the trip"

Get your new EU VAT Regulations paperwork together tho ;-) We are doing it this year for the first time. apparently a few countries are now hot on it.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Part of the EU so just "enjoy the trip"

Get your new EU VAT Regulations paperwork together tho ;-) We are doing it this year for the first time. apparently a few countries are now hot on it.

James the only country hot on it is Croatia and so far they have only been interested in yacht that's been moored in Croatia but they could easily ask other yacht to prove VAT, so yes your advise about keep doc in order is a good one .
We know of six boat that have entered Croatia so far in the last few months and none have been asked for VAT prove .

 

[BrianH]

James the only country hot on it is Croatia and so far they have only been interested in yacht that's been moored in Croatia but they could easily ask other yacht to prove VAT, so yes your advise about keep doc in order is a good one .
We know of six boat that have entered Croatia so far in the last few months and none have been asked for VAT prove .

This is in common with my own experience and that of many contacts in my Italian marina who regularly cruise to Croatia. When declaring in it is necessary only to report to police with passports and a crew list (form filled out there and then) and then the harbour office for all fee-paying, with ship's registration, certificate of insurance, skipper's certificate of competence (ICC covers) and a relevant VHF SRC. No VAT-paid proof is requested - that is a customs responsibility who are not involved when entering.

However, at any time in Croatian waters, customs may board and request of EU-registered craft, proof of VAT-paid status. This is very rare and has not occurred to me or anyone else I know who has sailed to Croatia since their accession to the EU. At that time all Italian ports were circularised with a document from the Croatian maritime ministry that all visiting EU-flagged vessels must carry a T2L document and for the first year in Italy there was a worried flurry of paying for such a paper from local shipping agencies who were happy to issue, without check or restriction, to all who asked ... for a price. I have never heard of any yacht visiting Croatia being asked for a T2L document.

Noonsite puts it in a nut-shell:

Unusual for EU countries, Croatian Customs require EU boat owners to produce evidence of a boat's VAT paid status. Despite the fact that a VAT invoice is also evidence of the boat’s status for Customs purposes, the Croatian authorities are insisting that boat owners have a T2L in addition to any VAT paperwork. A T2L document is not normally issued to boats sold new within the EU, just to those imported. Marinas and shipping agents inspecting paperwork have been demanding a T2L for pleasure craft that will never have been issued with a T2L because they are of EU origin. A notice issued by Croatian Customs acknowledges that documents other than a T2L are acceptable to prove community status (e.g. a VAT invoice), but Croatian Customs is not ensuring that people inspecting paperwork (presumably on its behalf) understand this.​

​

 

[homer]

I posted a report on Noonsite last year. Covered quite a lot of places and the practicalities including prices - and free spots!

 

[BartW]

summer holiday is approaching,
here is our brief planning:

8 july departure from Cavtat and going north.
so far night stops have been planned in Mljet and Hvar
more will be decided on route (might be influenced by comments on here)

around 15 july arrival in Venice area

return trip starts on 20/7
guest change in Zadar on 25/7
another guests change in Split on 1/8
arrival in Cavtat on 8/8

if we are crossing someone from the forum don't hesitate to send a message
(would be more appropriate on the raggy's forum I guess)

someone told me its doable, and very exiting, to go by boat in the canale grande at sun rise,.
so I would like to stay on ancher very close
Does someone know a nearby Anchorage that is suiteable for that ?
also for visiting Venice by tender ?

 

[Metabarca]

I'll be in Zadar on 25 July, probably in the town marina for a crew change. See you there?!
I can't think of anywhere you could anchor near Venice, frankly. The nearest moorings are at San Giorgio at the start of the Grand Canal if one of the members has left his place free.

 

[RichardS]

I'll be in Zadar on 25 July, probably in the town marina for a crew change. See you there?!
I can't think of anywhere you could anchor near Venice, frankly. The nearest moorings are at San Giorgio at the start of the Grand Canal if one of the members has left his place free.

Vic has mentioned in previous threads that he anchored just off Burano a couple of years ago. I think it was Burano rather than Murano but perhaps Vic will be along to clarify.

Richard