New to Motor Boating in Croatia

Mike, if you hadn't felt you were driven away from Spanish waters by the matriculation tax, where would you rather be based?
Interestingly had some friends on board this week in Dartmouth who have a house in Spain that they use for the winter months. He was saying that he expects to leave there before too long cos crime is increasing in his village and he bitterly resents the way that many Brits have had their properties repossessed/ flattened cos the Spanish have retrospectively changed the goal post with regards to planning consents. Seems they're in the process of shooting themselves not just in both feet and are now aiming for their head!
 
pred02 said:
The southern wind - Bura - is the real unpredictable.
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I agree that Bura is the most unpredictable, but that's actually a NE wind. In my previous post I spoke of SE winds just because that channel doesn't have a lot of fetch with NE winds.
I note what Deleted User says re. unforecast F6 SE wind, but in my experience that's rather rare.
Mike, were those 10kts forecast for SE wind, or any other direction? Because I've never met totally unpredicted SE winds in Croatia, whilst underestimating just the strength can happen, of course.
It's when the forecast talks of NW breeze and out of the blue you get a F8 NE (in a matter of just 15 or 20 minutes), that things can get tough.
In fact, IIRC you once asked about the best choice for anchoring with stern lines aground, and I suggested to always choose a spot where the stern is sheltered from NE winds, regardless of forecasts.
 
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longjohnsilver said:
Mike, if you hadn't felt you were driven away from Spanish waters by the matriculation tax, where would you rather be based?
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I would probably still be in Majorca. The cruising around the Balearic islands is beautiful and the weather mostly benign throughout the year. Its easy to get to and the boating infrastructure is excellent.
I am in Croatia now by accident in that I happened to sell my last boat after I moved it from Majorca to Sardinia and bought another boat which by chance was in Croatia. I already knew that the Croatian coastline was a superb cruising area because I'd already explored it on previous motorbike holidays in the area so I've decided to base the boat there for a few seasons. So far, we've found the cruising to be really fantastic and maybe better than the Balearics in some ways although there are some issues which make boating life there more difficult. When I get round to it, I'm going to put a post on the forum about our experiences there.
As to where I would rather be if I had a completely free choice, thats tricky. Just like the UK, the most attractive cruising areas in the Med are also the most expensive and most crowded so IMHO no one area has proved perfect for us in every way. I suppose on balance and all things considered, I'd rather be back in the Balearics but for the foreseeable future, we're going to be very happy exploring the Adriatic
 
Does anyone know if this book is any good when it comes to cruising around Croatia? I bought Cruising Croatia off Amazon.co.uk because it was easily accessible, just wondering how the two books compare? Or am I better off with just getting the dictionary of maps and then using information to tie the coves / maps together.

Also - as far as maps of the coast go should I be looking at some from the Croatian hydrographic institute?

Thanks,
George
 
pred02 said:
Does anyone know if this book is any good when it comes to cruising around Croatia? I bought Cruising Croatia off Amazon.co.uk because it was easily accessible, just wondering how the two books compare? Or am I better off with just getting the dictionary of maps and then using information to tie the coves / maps together.

Also - as far as maps of the coast go should I be looking at some from the Croatian hydrographic institute?

Thanks,
George
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I must admit I've never seen either of those books before. As for charts, I've bought large scale local Croatian charts from a local chandlery available in a plastic folder but they're still not detailed enough for most anchorages so you definitely need a good pilot book. Be careful about relying too much on chart plotter cartography. I've found Navionics electronic charts to be inaccurate in places
 
pred02 said:
I know BartW did the Adriatic crossing with his single engine Karnic.
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Correction , its a twin diesel engined Karnic,:)
yes I know, quire rare in a trailable boat,

pred02 said:
It's a 60-70nm stretch between Lastovo and Italy, I was wondering what is the radio coverage like in the channel. I presume there would be no mobile coverage and not sure of VHF. Just checking in terms of contingency, thinking a catastrophic engine failure in the middle of the channel can yield trouble.
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thanks to forum mate MapisM he advised us to take the Lastovo - Palagruza - Vieste (I) route
so then you have half way on the long 60nm stretch, a big rock / island.
Many other boats are taking this route, so most of the time of your passage, another boat is in sight (at least in summer time)
also around Palagruza are visiting dayboats, and fishing boats.

on our return trip we went along the Tremiti archipelo and the small island Pianosa.

moreover I had installed a Eprib, before that trip, just for my own pease of mind.

around tremiti is GSM coverage, I don't remeber around Palagruza, it is inhabited, but it has a manned lighthouse and controll tower
 
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Bart, I'm pretty sure that in Palagruza (at least till 2006 - dunno today, though I'd be surprised if anything changed) there was neither a GSM nor a VHF repeater.
So, to answer the OP question, nope, neither GSM nor VHF would help, when half way between HR and IT. I'd say that there's at least a 15/20 nm "blind" area. Unless you have an SSB radio or a SAT mobile, of course.
 
BartW said:
thanks to forum mate MapisM he advised us to take the Lastovo - Palagruza - Vieste (I) route
so then you have half way on the long 60nm stretch, a big rock / island.
Many other boats are taking this route, so most of the time of your passage, another boat is in sight (at least in summer time)
also around Palagruza are visiting dayboats, and fishing boats.

on our return trip we went along the Tremiti archipelo and the small island Pianosa.
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Bart is that an interesting trip? Is it worth doing for me? I had the impression that the Croatian side of the Adriatic was more interesting than the Italian side or have I got that wrong?
 
Deleted User said:
Bart is that an interesting trip? Is it worth doing for me? I had the impression that the Croatian side of the Adriatic was more interesting than the Italian side or have I got that wrong?
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you're right that the Croatian side is much more nice,
and for you, still so much to discover, I believe.

we did this trip just for the challenge to cross the adriatic in a 28ft boat. :)

That side of the Italian coast it not really interesting,
the Harbour of Vieste is uggly,
but for us it was interesting for a change,
and then we discovered old town Vieste to be nice,
and then the Tremiti islands are special,
but on the Croatian side you have so many more islands and bays, different from Tremiti, but also very nice. (all IMHO)
 
MapisM said:
Bart, I'm pretty sure that in Palagruza (at least till 2006 - dunno today, though I'd be surprised if anything changed) there was neither a GSM nor a VHF repeater.
So, to answer the OP question, nope, neither GSM nor VHF would help, when half way between HR and IT. I'd say that there's at least a 15/20 nm "blind" area. Unless you have an SSB radio or a SAT mobile, of course.
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yes you might be right

a Thuraya satphone is affordable today, might buy one myself just for safety.
 
BartW said:
a Thuraya satphone is affordable today, might buy one myself just for safety.
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Why? If it's just for safety, the SSB radio which as I recall you have onboard is more than enough: unlimited coverage at ZERO cost!
 
MapisM said:
Why? If it's just for safety, the SSB radio which as I recall you have onboard is more than enough: unlimited coverage at ZERO cost!
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pls tell ?
as you noticed, I know nothing about SSB,
( I feel young again now :D)
if the unit would work, who can I talk with ?

there must be a reason that everything is disconnected,
I noticed some big grounding plates on the bottom of the boat,
these are for the SSB the surveyer said,
but no wires anymore on the inside
wouldn't it be a big hassle to make it work ?
 
Well, if the equipment was dismissed, it would be interesting to know the reason.
If the radio or the coupler gave up, since they are the most expensive items, maybe it's not worth re-fitting them.
Which might have been also the train of thought of the previous owner, also because SSB used to be mandatory in Italy also for pleasure boats, above a certain size (which I don't remember, but surely BA was above it), but not anymore now.
Anyway, checking and possibly repairing an SSB equipment is not trivial. Forget the VHF, here we're talking of more than 5000 volts!
I'd definitely recommend to have the thing checked by a specialist, before even turning it on.

Re. the SSB possibilities, the top of this webpage says it all in a nutshell, to give you an idea.

PS: incidentally, I just posted a thread on the SSB antenna cable: that's the one which carries high voltage, and you could get burnt just by staying near it while transmitting...!
 
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Thanks for the Croatia info. We are off for a week charter in two weeks from Split heading South and will be taking in a number of the Islands mentioned. Pictures will be posted when we get back

Will
 
MapisM said:
Well, if the equipment was dismissed, it would be interesting to know the reason.
If the radio or the coupler gave up, since they are the most expensive items, maybe it's not worth re-fitting them.
Which might have been also the train of thought of the previous owner, also because SSB used to be mandatory in Italy also for pleasure boats, above a certain size (which I don't remember, but surely BA was above it), but not anymore now.
Anyway, checking and possibly repairing an SSB equipment is not trivial. Forget the VHF, here we're talking of more than 5000 volts!
I'd definitely recommend to have the thing checked by a specialist, before even turning it on.

Re. the SSB possibilities, the top of this webpage says it all in a nutshell, to give you an idea.

PS: incidentally, I just posted a thread on the SSB antenna cable: that's the one which carries high voltage, and you could get burnt just by staying near it while transmitting...!
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Alfonzo doesn't know why the unit is disconnected, its done in a period that he was not on BA.
But I know a friend of a friend who is capable to have a look at it, and who would be glad to stay a weekend on BA

as far as I understand, apart from the usage for safety,
You and I will have our private long distance communication channel so you can guide me to the best spots in Sardegna
at least if you can protect your antenna cable for UV damage :D

so for the time being won't trow the unit it in the bin,
thanks for useful advice, as I am used to now :)
 
BartW said:
Alfonzo doesn't know why the unit is disconnected, its done in a period that he was not on BA.
But I know a friend of a friend who is capable to have a look at it, and who would be glad to stay a weekend on BA

as far as I understand, apart from the usage for safety,
You and I will have our private long distance communication channel so you can guide me to the best spots in Sardegna
at least if you can protect your antenna cable for UV damage :D

so for the time being won't trow the unit it in the bin,
thanks for useful advice, as I am used to now :)
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ROTFL, yeah, of course we could stay in touch from wherever you are, in the Med and beyond! :D

Unfortunately I can't offer you my support to look at your SSB (in spite of the fact that I would also love a BA weekend! :)), because I actually wouldn't touch also mine.
As I said, it's indeed a "handle with care" equipment. Changing a piece of cable is one thing, but inspecting a non-working equipment is entirely another kettle of fish.
I'm not saying that your friend is not qualified of course - I know nothing about him - but be aware that being just a good electrician is not enough, unless coupled also with a specific RF equipment experience/knowledge.

Out of curiosity, what brand/model is the radio?

PS: with apologies to the OP for the thread drift...
 
BartW said:
you're right that the Croatian side is much more nice,
and for you, still so much to discover, I believe.

we did this trip just for the challenge to cross the adriatic in a 28ft boat. :)

(all IMHO)
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OK thanks for that. Looks like we'll be sticking to the Croatian side for a while although I'm seriously thinking about wintering the boat in Italy because we can't fly to Split in the winter
 
Deleted User said:
OK thanks for that. Looks like we'll be sticking to the Croatian side for a while although I'm seriously thinking about wintering the boat in Italy because we can't fly to Split in the winter
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have you considered / checked flights to Dubrovnic / porte Montenegro ?
in winter time ?
 
MapisM said:
As I said, it's indeed a "handle with care" equipment. Changing a piece of cable is one thing, but inspecting a non-working equipment is entirely another kettle of fish.

Out of curiosity, what brand/model is the radio?
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agree,
won't have the guy touch the equipment if I or he isn't sure he knows what he's doing,
he is a radio specialist, but not sure about SSB expertise.

make is " Skanti ", don't know the type numer, have to check,

also my apoll. to OP for thread drift
 
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