In Croatia - where are the Brits?

[homer]

We have been cruising in Croatia for the past month. Excellent cruising grounds - at least 10 times as big as the Ionian. Lots of other yachts, mostly charters but plenty of privateers (especially in the free anchorages which we haunt). However, they are mostly German and Austrian with a few French, Dutch etc. So far, we have seen, in passing, just one other Brit registered yacht. Is there something we don't know?

 

[sailaboutvic]

Nothing you don't know , there just isn't many m we found last year . I think in all we see no more then 8 in the three months we was there . All being frighting by the rumours about croatia . Maybe a good thing in some way , we given two talks on croatia and there at less nine boats we know heading that way this year ,
If you use our site and find anything
ing had change if you PM me I can then up date it , but please only what you see with your own eyes no hear says .
Thanks

 

[RichardS]

Nothing you don't know , there just isn't many m we found last year . I think in all we see no more then 8 in the three months we was there . All being frighting by the rumours about croatia . Maybe a good thing in some way , we given two talks on croatia and there at less nine boats we know heading that way this year ,
If you use our site and find anything
ing had change if you PM me I can then up date it , but please only what you see with your own eyes no hear says .
Thanks

Good points Vic.

People often read on here that Croatians are surly or unfriendly, which is rubbish. Of course, there are one or two but usually officials. However, a true story from April this year. SWMBO and I toddled along to the nearest Harbourmasters office to pay out annual Cruising Tax (Vignette). The HM asked for our passports which we know are required but we had left them on the boat. I said we would come back later but he said "Don't worry. I'll just tick that I've seen them".

He then started to calculate the new annual Vignette from the current date, even though I had given him the old one which expired on the 31st December 2014 and he could see it on his PC screen anyway. I said that I thought we were supposed to renew from 1st January 2015 but couldn't because this was our first visit in 2015. Once again, he said "Never mind. You can have a year from today". In effect, we had an unlicenced boat in the water for over 3 months but no problem and we've got 3 months for free now.

He then told me the price which was about £50. He laughed when he saw my expression and said "Yes, it was four times that last time".

What's not to like?

Richard

 

[silver-fox]

Plus us= 11

 

[ariette]

We've cruised the entire coat over the last twelve months and endorse the warm and friendly comments above. There are definitely more Brits around the Dubrovnik area than further north we have found. I think Germans and Austrians dominate in the north as they can drive down to Pula or Zadar in less than a day. I'm sure that Croatia is more expensive than Greece but it's a superb cruising ground.
www.lyrasailing.com

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

We spent 4 seasons cruising Croatia in our motorboat from 2010 to 2013 and loved nearly every minute of it and we are planning to take our new (to us) boat back there next season. Yes, you are right, there are few Brits cruising Croatia and when you are there it is difficult to understand why. IMHO the main reason is flights or rather lack of them. Both Easyjet and Ryanair fly to cities like Split, Zadar and Pula from London airports in the summer but there are no flights between Oct and April. BA flies to Dubrovnik throughout the year but it can be an expensive route and in any case with just one marina in Dubrovnik currently, its not an ideal place to leave a boat. So if you're a Brit and you want to leave your boat near Split, as we did, either you don't visit the boat during winter or you move it to a more accessible place during winter, such as Italy, which we did regularly. The other problem is getting annual maintenance done. We found that Croatian yards can handle the simple stuff like antifouling but they're usually flummoxed by anything complex like fixing an engine. That may be a little unfair because people did used to tell me that there were good yards in Croatia, only we didn't find them ourselves. The other issue which might put off visitors is that the winters are definitely colder and probably wetter than the W Med so the boating season is shorter than places like Majorca or Costa del Sol.

Croatian locals used to ask us why so few Brits visited their country and why no tourists came in general during the winter. I used to tell them to ask the airlines that question, in particular their own national airline, Croatian Airlines, which operate very few if any direct flights to coastal airports from the UK at any time during the year, let alone winter

Purely from a selfish point of view, one thing we really enjoyed about Croatian cruising was the lack of boating crowds save for the charter hotspots and I'm not sure that I would want to make it easier for more Brits to visit Croatia anyway

 

[Max K]

Our Brit motorboat neighbour is abandoning Corfu to cruise Croatia for the whole season, so there is 50ft and up to 50gph or so of custom!

Max.

.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Our Brit motorboat neighbour is abandoning Corfu to cruise Croatia for the whole season, so there is 50ft and up to 50gph or so of custom!
.

I expect he'll fill every last orifice with diesel when he calls into Montenegro

 

[ariette]

I've now written a bit more about cruising in Croatia on our blog at
http://www.lyrasailing.com/review
to cover the good and not so good we have discovered in the last twelve months

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I've now written a bit more about cruising in Croatia on our blog at
http://www.lyrasailing.com/review
to cover the good and not so good we have discovered in the last twelve months

Good write up. I wouldn't disagree with any of that

 

[sailaboutvic]

I've now written a bit more about cruising in Croatia on our blog at
http://www.lyrasailing.com/review
to cover the good and not so good we have discovered in the last twelve months

It always interesting to read report on Croatia , reading you blog entry I found it was a good personal report No hear say but comments from someone who been there and experience it , it mostly what we found , a lovely country with friendly people and a great cruising ground and with some luck we hope to visit again next year at the same time update our site .
The only comment I would add was we didn't thing it was any more expense then Greece for day to day living , fuel was about the same , gas cheaper when we could buy it and not much price different for food if you buy them from the super market or street markets but a lot better quality , so I am guessing you talking about mooring fees and your so right has I often say to people if you want to use marinas or town wall maybe Croatia isn't for you because the fees are eye watering , but with hundred of places to anchor for free there no need to use them or mooring Buoys by the way which you can use mostly free from morning to early afternoon has most collection are done till late afternoon .
And if you want to avoid mooring buoy Wolfgang has a very good site which is he keeps updating at http://www.anchoragesincroatia.net
We have listed around 50 free anchorage on our site link below , for those who haven't been go and try it it make a very nice change from Greece

 

[RichardS]

I'm also in agreement with Ariette, Mike and Vic.

Just two small things:

The 777 guide was updated in mid-2014. We have this latest version and it's very good.

Trogir - I would put Trogir on the must-see list even in July and August. You can anchor at the end of the canal so are only a 5 minute dinghy trip from the town centre. You can't do that at Split or Dubrovnik. The marina is also very convenient for the town centre although can be very busy and it's expensive, even by Croatian standards. If you anchor you sometimes have to pay E20 but sometimes not. However, there is a Lidl in Trogir so you can save more than the anchor fee by shopping there!

Richard

 

[ariette]

I'm also in agreement with Ariette, Mike and Vic.

Just two small things:

The 777 guide was updated in mid-2014. We have this latest version and it's very good.

Trogir - I would put Trogir on the must-see list even in July and August. You can anchor at the end of the canal so are only a 5 minute dinghy trip from the town centre. You can't do that at Split or Dubrovnik. The marina is also very convenient for the town centre although can be very busy and it's expensive, even by Croatian standards. If you anchor you sometimes have to pay E20 but sometimes not. However, there is a Lidl in Trogir so you can save more than the anchor fee by shopping there!

Richard

Richard
We obviously missed the magic of Trogir. Sure it has some fine buildings but compared to Split or Korcula nothing spectacular. The medieval back streets are great but dominated by tourist shops and again no better than Split, Starigrad etc. What ruined Trogir for us were the thousands of tourists disgorged from two cruise ships. We never came across the Lidl but the vegetable market is good.
Mark
www.lyrasailing.com

 

[RichardS]

Richard
We obviously missed the magic of Trogir. Sure it has some fine buildings but compared to Split or Korcula nothing spectacular. The medieval back streets are great but dominated by tourist shops and again no better than Split, Starigrad etc. What ruined Trogir for us were the thousands of tourists disgorged from two cruise ships. We never came across the Lidl but the vegetable market is good.
Mark
www.lyrasailing.com

You're spot on there Mark. Korcula is absolutely stunning and you can anchor close by and walk in. For us that is the perfect combination.

Richard

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

We obviously missed the magic of Trogir. Sure it has some fine buildings but compared to Split or Korcula nothing spectacular. The medieval back streets are great but dominated by tourist shops and again no better than Split, Starigrad etc. What ruined Trogir for us were the thousands of tourists disgorged from two cruise ships. We never came across the Lidl but the vegetable market is good.

Agree with that. Trogir is very touristy and is the kind of place you do once and tick off your list. Apart from anything else, it is right underneath the final approach to Split airport and so the aircraft noise can be irritating as well. We visited out of season once during October and we were allowed to berth for the night on the town quay and that was quite a pleasant experience

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

You're spot on there Mark. Korcula is absolutely stunning and you can anchor close by and walk in. For us that is the perfect combination. :

Agree. Korcula is a very interesting place. It also has one of the most fantastically located bars in Croatia. The Massimo bar is located right at the top of a turret in the old wall on the north side of the town and you have to climb a steep wooden ladder to get there. Once you do get there, the views are amazing. Great place for a pre dinner drink and watch the sun go down

Note to any dirty old men. It can make your day to follow a pretty girl up that ladder

 

[sailaboutvic]

We anchored in two spot , East of the town just out of the channel , not much depth but we need 2.5 to aloud for our 2 mts rudder and we found that ok , it just a dingy ride away for the town and market . We liked the place , agree there are a lot of tourist , the other placed we anchored was by the split Marina ,I can't remember there was a problem with the flight path , it something I would had bug me .
All in all trogir is a likeable place off course it be better with out the tourest but then so will every where else ,

 

[homer]

You can anchor at Split - near the beach just outside the bathing area. Exposed for overnight but fine on a settled day.
Actually, we would rate Rab (where we are as I type) above Trogir - and there is a good anchorage nearby.

 

[RichardS]

You can anchor at Split - near the beach just outside the bathing area. Exposed for overnight but fine on a settled day.
Actually, we would rate Rab (where we are as I type) above Trogir - and there is a good anchorage nearby.

We'll be passing northwards in a few weeks so will make a note and will try and visit Rab.

Richard

 

[ariette]

another vote for Rab

Mark