Pics from our Croatia / Montenegro / S-Italy summer cruise 2014

[MedMilo]

Really great post, thanks for sharing. Was in Dubrovnik a couple of weeks ago and drove down to spend a day in Porto Montenegro - really well organised marina and quite well priced (certainly in comparison with Mallorca!). Had heard reports of Croatian food being suspect and the people somewhat surly - have to say I found no such thing; everywhere we went the people were charming and the food was fantastic. Hoping to head that way next season..., via Sardinia/Corsica/Elba/Sicily etc!

 

[BartW]

Our boat is a "sans domicile fixe". We'll move her all the time. She is now wintered in a yard for fishing boats with a funny entrance:

They were only 3-4 other leisure boats (some guys from N-Italy who want to enjoy the amazing wintering prices). It's in Monopoli, I will come back on this later:

we don't have the full story yet, but you travelled quite some distance this summer, any idea how many Nm or hours ?
reading the dates, you've also spend the best part of this summer in that area
well done !

why did you choose monopoli ? anything interesting ? airport nearby ?
in spring this season, I came along Brindisi, also in that region, I noticed a yard and a marina that I could potentially use (120nm from PM)
but the city and the area is not really interesting nor attractive

 

[AndieMac]

for now, they are still used everywhere in Croatia,
there is almost the same boat (forgot the name) doing daily ferry between Dubrovnic and Elafiti islands (Kolocep, Lopud, Sipan)
and I remember that it still is the same boat when I visited the area as a kid ;-)

slightly bigger model is used for the traject between Dubrovnic, Split Rijeka Bari
the "Liburnia", the "Marco Polo", and the "Dubrovnic"
we have been on them with our trailable boat many years ago,
but they are still doing this traject.

if you think about the number of islands, most of them are served with a regular ferry, most are daily, or even several trajects on one day (between Korcula and Peljesac fe)
these ferry's must be a large business over there, with many workers...

We took "Marco Polo" from Split to Ancona.....that was an experience! She is one of this company's newer vessels, which hasn't had a refurbishment since the very early 1970's from appearances.

Well at least we got there

 

[Hardmy]

we don't have the full story yet, but you travelled quite some distance this summer, any idea how many Nm or hours ?
reading the dates, you've also spend the best part of this summer in that area
well done !

Yes, I will post. I haven't done the numbers yet

We spent end of June till end of July (with some interruptions) and nearly whole september on the boat. I understand that we were lucky not having been there in August?

why did you choose monopoli ? anything interesting ? airport nearby ?
in spring this season, I came along Brindisi, also in that region, I noticed a yard and a marina that I could potentially use (120nm from PM)
but the city and the area is not really interesting nor attractive

I did my own little reconnaissance operation 1 1/2 year ago and visited most of the yards between Bari and Brindisi. This area is eminently strategic:
- you are close to Croatia
- you are close to Montenegro
- you are quickly in Greece
- there is all year around good flight connections to Bari/Brindisi with low-costs from GVA/HHN
- there is enough of choice (about 8 yards) and they have very very competitive pricing. Most of those yards were family run, and I really like this.

Now, whether they do a good job has to be proven yet. I am flying down at least in December, not only to have a look what is the state of the affairs, but also because I want to work myself on the boat. And they allow me to use my preferred CAT mechanics (a very knowledgable and thrustful guy from Forli). From what I have seen till know, they were good at manipulating/propping the boat and I watched them building fish trawlers (both wood or steel) from scratch. Indeed they seem to be very skilled craftsmen there. Is this know-how transferable 1:1 on leisure boats? I will report.

Monopoli as such is a charming little city, with a real heart. The historic center is picturesque and italian food is just excellent. Apulia is not the most interesting boating ground, but the inland, its landscapes, villages etc. are worth a detour. Actually I really like this part of Italy!

Should you need additional infos or addresses, just shout!

 

[Hardmy]

... drove down to spend a day in Porto Montenegro - really well organised marina and quite well priced (certainly in comparison with Mallorca!). Had heard reports of Croatian food being suspect and the people somewhat surly - have to say I found no such thing; everywhere we went the people were charming and the food was fantastic. Hoping to head that way next season..., via Sardinia/Corsica/Elba/Sicily etc!

Yes, do so and come with your boat!! Let us know!

I agree with Porto Montenegro. In my eyes this is the best marina I came across in the Adriatic. But to my knowledge, there is a lack of servicing facilities / crane-out possibilities. BartW may be besser informed?

And as regards food, I think like in all well frequented places. The meal gets better, as soon as you walk a couple of streets away from the shore. So on an average I am actually quite happy with Croatian cuisine, but of course you cannot compare to Italy...

The only place where I wouldn't eat out, are the Kornatis or the more frequented islands. Anyway, I am not going in such areas to meet the crowds again...

 

[Hardmy]

then you had a very good deal, did you get that from Kosmas; the official PM fuel station, or did you get it from one of the alternative (truck) suppliers ?
we alway's paied >0.75 iirc and that was for around 4000 liters

I ordered through Kosmas as well and refuelled at the usual dock. I must find the receipe in order to double check. This price difference cannot be, I refuelled "only" around 2000l.

 

[Greg2]

Great post and some superb pics, many thanks for sharing

 

[MapisM]

Great post and some superb pics, many thanks for sharing

Absolutely +1.

Also because they bring back nice memories...
...In fact, I've seen most of those spots during a decade of Croatian cruising!

Apropos, here's my 2c on the topic of Croatian ferries - spotted in Drvenik Veli in 2003...

 

[Nick_H]

Great pics Hardmy, thanks, it's an area we'll definitely cruise one day.

We were in Bari last week, and were planning to sail down to Monopoli in a friend's sailboat at the end of the week, but unfortunately there were strong winds and big seas so we had to call it off.

Bart, my friend keeps his boat on a pontoon owned by a small shipyard in Bari, and he's very happy with the service he gets. I think they could take a boat your size. Bari has a lovely old town area, good flight connections and the port is only 10 mins from the airport. If you want contact details for the shipyard let me know.

 

[scubaman]

Hi MapisM,

Did you do the round-up post of Croatian cruise reports? If so, this would be a great addition to it.

-K

 

[Hardmy]

Croatia cont'd - The river Zrmanja

Let’s start the Zrmanja trip with two charts. Zadar for orientation purposes is to be found on the bottom, center left. Karinsko sea is far right, the Novigradsko next to it with the mouth of the Zrmanja river.

Here a zoom, without bing overlay of the area, the Zrmanja being the umbilical cord on the right.

I worked with up to date Navionics and C-Map electronic charts as well as paper charts from the Italian hydrography institute. My recommendation is to buy for a couple of €€€ the "888 Häfen und Buchten" pilot of Mr. Beständig. An actualized edition comes out in April every year, and its accuracy is of unrivalled precision. The infos are in German, but the chartlets speak for themselves.

The entrance and the whole parcours is very well buoyed. However, the entrance buoys are not shown correctly on the electronic charts (Navionics & C-Map):

In fact, I turned the plotter off and only followed the buoys. There was always a depth of 4m. minimum. The current is noticeable, but not strong, say around 2 kts. max.

The mineral scenery is truly amazing. This spectacle is complemented with scenes you would expect on the shores of the river Nile like swimming cows, marsh, reeds, etc.

Unfortunately, Obrovac itself is rather depressing. Hefty fighting took place during the civil war, and many inhabitants deserted the town and never came back. I wasn’t curious enough to check whether there are some cultural assets to visit.

At least, Elan boats are produced there (the building far right, pic was done when leaving town and heading downstream).

For provisioning, you will find a minimini market,

as well a small supermarket and a hardware store but no restaurant. However, the local rafting agency owns an estate with a good restaurant not far away. It is a 5min. lift with their car.

Lack of infrastructure is all compensated by the very friendly and helpful people, e.g. a retired container ship captain. I needed some spare parts, they were kind enough to pick them up in Zadar for me and bring them to Obrovac. Or the lady from the local rafting agency who arranged airport transfers to/from Zadar, laundry, etc. My brother in law and his girlfriend tried the rafting with them and had big fun.

In all, a nice human experience to meet those people!

According to the locals, one could pass under the bridge of Obrovac with the dinghy (around 2m. bridge clearance) and continue for quite a distance until a cascade where it is definitively Schluss. Unfortunately I didn’t try it, but the swimming in the very cold fresh water was delicious. BTW - I hoped that the freshwater would kill some algae and other nasties colonizing our hull, but I guess we should have needed to stay there longer before seeing any effect?

Last point: The level of the river fluctuates because of an electrical plan situated upstream, hence the need to position the fenders accordingly.

Now another batch of pics of the descent, sorry if I exaggerate with the # of them, but a similar place must be found in the Adriatic!

Besides many trailer boats zooming about with full speed (OK, those made an exception. So no wake story to report), we did do not see many leisure boats.

BTW – A movie, “Winnetou the Warrior” also called “Apache Gold” has been shot there in 1963. I confess, I didn’t watch it, but most Germans now it.

So this was it with the Zrmanja part. BartW, you need to go there with BA. I think, the locals were surprised to see our boat which is not that big, but with BA it would be a sensation! There is way enough depth and you have about 50m. space to turn your boat downstream at the bridge of Obrovac…



Next comes Telascica, Kornati & co...

 

[MapisM]

Hi MapisM,

Did you do the round-up post of Croatian cruise reports? If so, this would be a great addition to it.

-K

Hi K, sorry but nope, I didn't.
Btw, at that time I was still taking diapositives with an old school camera, so I've got just a few digital pics...

 

[BartW]

Bart, my friend keeps his boat on a pontoon owned by a small shipyard in Bari, and he's very happy with the service he gets. I think they could take a boat your size. Bari has a lovely old town area, good flight connections and the port is only 10 mins from the airport. If you want contact details for the shipyard let me know.

Thanks for the info Nick, but for now no need,
first tasc is to repair engine, and then I have been pointed to a few local potential yards for the yearly liftout in spring time, have to visit / investigate,
Brindisi was a backup plan, and now one more in Bari.
Nevertheless good info about Bari, still fancy a trip in that area one day.

 

[BartW]

BartW, you need to go there with BA. I think, the locals were surprised to see our boat which is not that big, but with BA it would be a sensation! There is way enough depth and you have about 50m. space to turn your boat downstream at the bridge of Obrovac…

Next comes Telascica, Kornati & co...

yes, hopefully we will visit that area one day, much more plans then time at the moment

looking at the Croation map, you have not yet covered half of the trip you did this summer
desperately waiting for the next part of your report
anyway,
many thanks for this interesting post !

 

[Hardmy]

Croatia cont'd - Kornati

A last glimpse of the Zrmanja:

Returning back to the open sea is quite a long way, but it never gets boring.

Stopping in Stari Grad (Paklenica) for topping up water tanks (Obrovac has no water):

Swimming and overnighting in Vlasici Bay (on Pag). Good holding with some protection:

As soon as we reached Molat (Tovarnjak islet to be precise), the standard water colour restored its normal service:

Since strong winds were expected during the night and next day, we moved to Molat itself:

As mentioned before, the summer 2014 wasn't the best in terms of weather. I will spare you cloudy / bad weather pics, although there was one shot to be made. Here in Luka on Dugi Otok, a service was being held in the chapel. While being on anchor we could hear very well the audience singing. They were very good and à capella s’il vous plaît!

So we jump directly to the Telascica cliffs

Telascica is a natural park. Entry tickets can be bought at the tourist office in Sali, which is cheaper than those sold by the rangers who come along in their RIB. The bay offers protection from all winds and usage of laid mooring buoys is included in the entry fee.

Tito’s patrol boats used to moor directly alongside a cliff in Duboka Bay. The place is still usable today, it’s not easily discerned from a distance but we liked it. I will post a pic as soon as I get hands on our other camera.


The Kornati is a according to Wikipedia with its 140 islands “the densest archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea”. Being a national park, there is a fee which is collected by the rangers directly at the boat. Alternatively there are sales points mentioned on their website which offer some discount.

This is Mana, an island with remains of a movie set dating back to the sixties:

I wouldn’t try to use the small quay where the promenade boat is moored, because of boulders extending sidewise on the track of the docking path. The promenade boat doesn’t bother; he has a single screw fully protected by its keel…

A motoring sailboat (this is not a rarity), but those Czechs made the best out of it. Kind of wakeboarding?

 

[Hardmy]

Croatia cont'd - Kornati II

On Rasip Veli we found a rickety pier, after snorkeling it, we declared it safe enough to dock while being cautious with our rope / fenders arrangement.

Again, the view is worth a walk:

But soon came this,

replaced by this

But that didn’t last long. We left the Kornatis in thick fog and rain and experienced a little shaky crossing to Zirje.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I agree with Porto Montenegro. In my eyes this is the best marina I came across in the Adriatic. But to my knowledge, there is a lack of servicing facilities / crane-out possibilities. BartW may be besser informed?

The people at Marina Frapa might disagree!

And as regards food, I think like in all well frequented places. The meal gets better, as soon as you walk a couple of streets away from the shore. So on an average I am actually quite happy with Croatian cuisine, but of course you cannot compare to Italy...

We found Croatian cuisine to be average except for some restaurants which have been recommended by forumites and friends. You can eat well in Croatia but you have to choose your restaurant carefully. However to set against that, many restaurants are in delightful locations with their own quays where you can moor overnight free of charge providing of course you eat in the restaurant so often the ambience of the location makes up for any shortfall with the cuisine

 

[BartW]

We took "Marco Polo" from Split to Ancona.....that was an experience! She is one of this company's newer vessels, which hasn't had a refurbishment since the very early 1970's from appearances.

that's a good observation C
iirc Marco Polo was the best looking / newest vessel of all 3

 

[Hardmy]

Croatian cuisine

The people at Marina Frapa might disagree!

OK, I didn't try this one. Marinas I would consider as well should I locate my boat permanently in Croatia is Marina Tribunj and Olive Island Marina (on Ugljan, which is a small negative point).

We found Croatian cuisine to be average except for some restaurants which have been recommended by forumites and friends. You can eat well in Croatia but you have to choose your restaurant carefully. However to set against that, many restaurants are in delightful locations with their own quays where you can moor overnight free of charge providing of course you eat in the restaurant so often the ambience of the location makes up for any shortfall with the cuisine

What restaurants would you recommend if I may ask? Following places I liked come to my mind:
- Bugenvila Restaurant in Cavtat
- Konoba Toni in Primosten
- Restaurant Vanjaka in Trogir
- Eremitaz in Stari Grad on Hvar
- Konoba in the Manastir bay on Scedro (quite rudimentary but nice setting)
- Konoba Duga on Ciovo

The problem with konoba recommendation in Croatia is, that one year they can be excellent and the next year turn very bad.

BTW - cooking is for me part of our vacation including buying the fresh produce on the market. So we are not eating out every day.

I tried to condensate a couple of eateries and other places to see in the following map. The infos are based on own experiences, word of mouth, forums, blogs or cruiserswiki (it was rather planned for personal use so I am not able to quote all sources):
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zrQ7CFn8wSu0.k8rPPjpMmCnw

 

[BartW]

I agree with Porto Montenegro. In my eyes this is the best marina I came across in the Adriatic. But to my knowledge, there is a lack of servicing facilities / crane-out possibilities. BartW may be besser informed?

there are 2 yards with a travel lift at a few miles distance from PM, I still have to check them out, visit and asc nieghbours.
at least one of them can lift out our boat, the other is on the size or weight limt for a 70ft boat.

on the engine service I can hopefully report back in a few weeks / months
I have seen at least three different local service co's in the marina, and most of them service all major engine brands.

And as regards food, I think like in all well frequented places. The meal gets better, as soon as you walk a couple of streets away from the shore. So on an average I am actually quite happy with Croatian cuisine, but of course you cannot compare to Italy...

agree that the quality of food in the region has improved over the last 10 years, and many new Konobas showed up,
also more "gastromic" food compared to the traditional grilled fish or meat with vegetables.
but as in most touristic places, you have to be selective and have a little luck,
On one occasion at a well known and reputated restaurant I didn't have a good meal.