Summer charter from Pula, Croatia. Any tips?

[Whitelighter]

Charter booked at boot ( with a Herman firm for much less than any uk mob), starting from pula.

We dont get the boat until around 4.00pm on the Saturday so is there anywhere worth aiming for that evening - I.e no more than a 2 hour sail away. Also, what is pula like for provisioning.

Secondly, does anyone have any must visits or general tips doable in a weeks float about.

Boat is a Bavaria 40

 

[FWB]

Did it from Pula a couple of years ago with some friends. We are yachtsmen, I have a gaffer, but we took a mobo. We only had a week and the mobo was a good idea.
It's a fair sail to get across to the islands in a sailing boat but once there it's very nice.
Suggest you get a copy of 777 Harbours and Anchorages before you go.
You will be warned about the Bura when you charter, we ignored the warnings and set an anticlockwise course around the nearest islands. The mobo helped but the weather was kind.
I enjoyed it very much. If I went sailing there I would want a month minimum.

 

[BrianH]

.
We dont get the boat until around 4.00pm on the Saturday so is there anywhere worth aiming for that evening - I.e no more than a 2 hour sail away. Also, what is pula like for provisioning.
Secondly, does anyone have any must visits or general tips doable in a weeks float about..

Best destination, just around the corner from Pula, is the southern Veruda bay for anchoring, Uvala Soline.

The next short hop would be Medulinsk, the large inlet at the very tip of Istria. It's possible to anchor in the nor-nor-eastern part. Or, if you prefer, a marina, Pomer, in the northern arm.

Have fun, but always keep a wary eye out for the bora, a sudden and vicous NNE wind, by always anchoring with protection from that quadrant.

From there, the Dalmation islands are your oyster, with the first destination being Mali Losinj.

 

[mjcoon]

... Also, what is pula like for provisioning.

Don't remember the details for our 1 week charters from there in 2004 and 2005. But have the detailed accounts which mention provisioning at "Supermercato" (spending ca. 1200 Kuna=£120). I think when we took a minibus from Trieste airport we got the driver to take us there on the way and filled up the remaining luggage space with goodies. But we are a practiced and well-organised team with allocated shopping sub-lists! We ate at "Bistro Volario" at Marina Veruda, but at "Vela Nera" on our return.

Very similar in 2005, spending ca. 1300 Kuna and very little in the shop at Marina Veruda. We ate in the Volaria pizzeria at the marina but I think it is so huge it was quite a walk from the yacht! I see we ate there again at the end of the charter, so it cannot have been too bad...

 

[Twister_Ken]

Take a half day to visit the Roman amphitheatre in Pula while you're there.

 

[Metabarca]

A bit more than a couple of hours, but if you want to 'get away from it all', then one of the three inlets on the east side of Unije, beyond the Kvarner, is lovely. Veruda is quite nice and wooded, but don't go swimming there... Lots of boats...!

 

[BrianH]

A bit more than a couple of hours, but if you want to 'get away from it all', then one of the three inlets on the east side of Unije, beyond the Kvarner, is lovely.

If you do stop there, anchor in one of the two northerly bays, as the track of my own visit shows from my 2008 narrative log. The southerly one is buoyed and close enough to the village for someone to come to collect fees.

Veruda is quite nice and wooded, but don't go swimming there... Lots of boats...!

If you have a dinghy of some kind, the campsite on the seaward side of Uv. Soline has a well-stocked shop - not as cheap as a town supermarket but cheaper than the marina shop in the northern arm of Veruda. Take the dinghy round the southwestern spit of the wooded campsite where there is a small pier - even a reasonable restaurant there with terrace and spectacular views of the small islands and open sea.

 

[Whitelighter]

Brilliant,

Thanks all for the tips.

We do have a dingy and outboard and are aiming to spend a fair bit of time away from marinas.

 

[Sailfree]

Take lots of money! The solent boys could learn from croatia marina prices. Otherwise lovely place.

 

[cgull]

I am going for a month, start Mid-August!

 

[BrianH]

I am going for a month, start Mid-August!

August is the worst time to be there. Hot as hell and everywhere overcrowded with the Italian armada that fills the anchorages, harbours and marinas. Your second half will be much better.

The end of July is when I leave the Adriatic and do not return until the first week of September for two more months of bliss, when everything has returned to normal.

 

[Metabarca]

The second half of August is much better than the first half. It's curious you complain of the Italian armada... the Italians complain about the armada of charterers...! Gone are the days when Dalmatia was the preserve of sailing boats sailed by their owners (Italian, German, Austrian + a few others). It was a lot cheaper then, too!

 

[BrianH]

The second half of August is much better than the first half. It's curious you complain of the Italian armada... the Italians complain about the armada of charterers...! Gone are the days when Dalmatia was the preserve of sailing boats sailed by their owners (Italian, German, Austrian + a few others). It was a lot cheaper then, too!

It has been so long since I was in Croatia during August so I am not up-to-date. I suppose I was comparing proportionally, from a time when there were much fewer charterers but what seemed so very many Italian-flagged boats that they outnumbered everyone else.

I was last in the Split area in 2005 and met so many charter boats (that was in July) that I vowed to never go further south than the Kornati ever again - at any time of the summer. And as you point out, with the sailing permit plus sojourn tax can't afford to any longer than two weeks, which cuts down my cruising range on the eastern side of the Adriatic. In comparison we reached the Ionian last year, sticking to the Italian side, for a very modest cost.