Two Photos from Croatia

Best thing we took to Croatia was some earplugs . Harbours full of Brits and French in party mode shouting and bawling until 4 a m. First time I have ever regretted not playing the bagpipes as I would have loved to blast em in the morning
 
Best thing we took to Croatia was some earplugs . Harbours full of Brits and French in party mode shouting and bawling until 4 a m. First time I have ever regretted not playing the bagpipes as I would have loved to blast em in the morning

It was a bit of a shock the first time we sailed there to realise that everybody is there for a party, not a quiet weekend in a floating country cottage like UK sailors. So we party until we pass out.
 
It was a bit of a shock the first time we sailed there to realise that everybody is there for a party, not a quiet weekend in a floating country cottage like UK sailors. So we party until we pass out.

Excellent news. I was a bit worried it might be too quiet. :):)
 
We arrived at Trogir yesterday evening, having left Venice on Sunday morning. There are some stunning natural bays:anchorages so it's quite easy to avoid the high cost marinas.

As to their bureaucratic side, the Police in Pula wanted to fine us for not taking a direct course to the harbour. We needed to explain that the boat had to be turned into wind to drop the mainsail. I kid you not. It's my second experience of Croatia and now both times the Auyhorities have done their best to make entry and unpleasant experience. Shame because "normal" people and the Islands are otherwise great.
 
We arrived at Trogir yesterday evening, having left Venice on Sunday morning. There are some stunning natural bays:anchorages so it's quite easy to avoid the high cost marinas.

As to their bureaucratic side, the Police in Pula wanted to fine us for not taking a direct course to the harbour. We needed to explain that the boat had to be turned into wind to drop the mainsail. I kid you not. It's my second experience of Croatia and now both times the Auyhorities have done their best to make entry and unpleasant experience. Shame because "normal" people and the Islands are otherwise great.

Were they tracking you on AIS or radar or were you close enough for visual? We had to drop the sails when sailing across from Venice last summer but we cleared-in at Rijeka and that went very smoothly.

I did think about silencing the AIS as we crossed the Adriatic just to remove one area of potential hassle but, in the end, I left it on.

Richard
 
Just popping back to say we had a fabulous time on our charter and a big thanks for the recommendations, we went to Mediteran in Primosten (ended up on a buoy after all but we had a fabulous huge tender and the bathing platform/davit made getting in out and out a doddle even for the older crew). Mediteran was truly excellent so thanks for the pointer!

We also tried Planka in Rogoznica - they don't have a chef right now so are just doing pizzas. We wondered what we had let ourselves in for when they told us that after we were seated but the pizzas were excellent and cheap!

We went to Liberty in Kaprije off the back of a bunch of internet reviews and it was abysmal. Slow service despite only being about 30-40% full , 40 mins before they even took our order (after asking us to share menus then trying to take them off us to give to another table before we had ordered!); impossible to get attention for more drinks and was nearing three hours before our mains came. Food was decent enough but nothing special and over-salted when it eventually arrived and we were not told that they have no "open" wine yet (ie house) as it is early in season so they gave us a bottle of (admittedly better but 750ml vs 1l) Bibich wine which they were supposed to charge per house wine and didn't so even after the ages we were there then had to rectify that too. Not somewhere I would recommend!

We had a lovely time, didn't have any of the grumpy harbour master experiences we'd feared, everyone was lovely (albeit we did witness one guy getting rightfully annoyed and vocal when a large cat came in at Zlarin without awaiting his direction and proceeded to foul the lazy lines on the prop...).

Then to top it off we got engaged at sunset in Skradin...so maybe we'll be back here looking for tips on a BVI charter for honeymoon before long
 
Brilliant .... and congratulations. That's an engagement you'll never forget, not that you would anyway. ;)

Did you walk up to the old fort at the top of the hill which overlooks Skradin and the marina? That's a great place to see the sunset. This was taken from the fort before sunset and might bring back some memories. :)

IMG_3154.JPG


I've never been to Kaprije although we've anchored in Kakan which is next door. Following your experience we'll be giving "Liberty" a miss.

Richard
 
We didn't make it to the fort this time - along day of visiting Krka then he had to manipulate getting me alone on the cat to pop the question :encouragement: but we had a lovely evening, some lethal local brandy to toast at Mate once reunited with our crew and some sore heads the next day. We did pick up some crazy cheap mussels on the way back out of the canal (and excellent fish plus prawns and shrimp at the little market Rogoznica).

Back on an Elan 45 Impression out of Trogir on 1 July...I think I'm spending more time in Croatia than at my job this summer haha. Fingers crossed the sea is a little more favourable to swimming by then - for our first dip we anchored perhaps a little further out than necessary to avoid a superyacht that was about to leave the bay - the water at that depth was take-your-breath-away cold!
 
I've often seen boats pulling over to the pontoon at those mussel farms upstream from Sibenik to buy the produce but we're not really keen on shellfish so have never been tempted.

The sea will be a lot warmer at the start of July but doesn't usually get hot enough for my Admiral until August. Even then, it's very variable with some years only getting to 24-ish but other years up to 28-ish. Those 4 degrees are the difference between that initial gasp when you jump in and a totally painless transition. ;)

Richard
 
I've often seen boats pulling over to the pontoon at those mussel farms upstream from Sibenik to buy the produce but we're not really keen on shellfish so have never been tempted.

The sea will be a lot warmer at the start of July but doesn't usually get hot enough for my Admiral until August. Even then, it's very variable with some years only getting to 24-ish but other years up to 28-ish. Those 4 degrees are the difference between that initial gasp when you jump in and a totally painless transition. ;)

Richard

Varied between 24 and 27 last weekend - up about 3 degrees in 3 weeks.
 
Top