We bought the boat in Croatia...

It is my plan to make an extensive trip to Croatia this summer. Let's see how it goes. Lots of questions in mind after all these comments.

Lots of reports and pics please
 
Will do it for sure! It will be 45 days trip. I just try to decide how much north should I go up. Up to Kornatis, Kvaerner Sea, Venice?

It depends whether this will be your only cruise into Croatia or whether you plan to do more in the future. We were based there for 5 seasons and I dont think we saw more than 25% of what we could have seen. Personally I wouldnt bother going to Venice. You can visit Venice anytime by air and during the summer it is far too crowded with tourists. I have been to Venice many times (because I visit NE Italy regularly on business) and I much prefer it during the winter. I think in your position I would not go further than Pula or Rovinj mainly because the coastline in the northern part of the Adriatic becomes quite boring. Pula has a fantastic Roman amphitheatre which is really worth seeing and Rovinj is a delightful old town. Be aware that the further north you go, the more likely it is than you encounter a Bora wind and the stronger it will be. Certainly you do not want to be crossing the Kvarner Channel in a Bora wind because sea conditions can be very rough. In fact if a Bora is forecast you really want to be tied up in a marina and that is why you do need to watch the weather forecasts. Actually, the forecasts are quite accurate in predicting a Bora so you should have at least 2-3 days notice

South of the Kvarner Channel, there are too many places to recommend but some of my favourite destinations would be Mali Losinj, Zut, Murter, Skradin, Maslinica, Hvar, Paklenis, Vis, Korcula, Mjlet, Ston and of course Dubrovnik. The Kornatis are worth visiting but there are many other places in Croatia worth visiting too. There are over 1000 islands in the Dalmatian chain and wherever you choose to go will be wonderful
 
I agree with Deleted User,
but
if you go up to Rovinj, from there you can aswell cross the Adriatic to Venice, thats what we did in 2016, and visiting Venice and sailing in to the grand canal (at 6am) with your own boat is a live time memory
there is a fairly new marina for visitors, at walking distance from St Marco place, Marina Santelena, (from there you can go shopping with the tender :) )

if you go that far north, don't forget to visit the Brijuni islands, natural park, used to be Tito's private island, with a museum, safari and dynosaur fossilies on the beach !
we did the trip from Tivat to Venice in one week, stayed there 4 or 5 day's, and back to Tivat spread over 3 weeks, so 45day's is perfect.

as you know the islands and coast south of Split we know very well, and is easy to spend there 45 interesting day's,
On Brac, Hvar, Korcula, Mljet, Peljesac, so many nice and interesting places to stay,
when we go back to HR, we will most probably stay longer around the islands in Sibenic region. including Kornati,
which we passed when coming back from Venice, and visited the hotspots but like to explore better,

when we did the trip to Venice, we used a Agent in HR, for booking our berths,
doing this we were sure to have a place, and usually the best place in town,
we were on the town quay in Rovinj, Losinj, Zadar, Hvar !!!, Korcula, .... (avoiding aci marina's)
at 40e agent cost per booking iirc
 
South of the Kvarner Channel, there are too many places to recommend but some of my favourite destinations would be Mali Losinj, Zut, Murter, Skradin, Maslinica, Hvar, Paklenis, Vis, Korcula, Mjlet, Ston and of course Dubrovnik. The Kornatis are worth visiting but there are many other places in Croatia worth visiting too. There are over 1000 islands in the Dalmatian chain and wherever you choose to go will be wonderful
Where is Ston, M?
That's the one and only spot among all those mentioned so far where I can't remember to have been... :confused:

Besides, in the Kvarner area, while I agree that Losinj is indeed nice, I actually liked even better the other islands a bit more off the beaten path: Cres, Krk and Rab. But each to their own - and as you say, they are all nice, and it's impossible to go wrong, anywhere along that coast. :encouragement:
 
visiting Venice and sailing in to the grand canal (at 6am) with your own boat is a live time memory
Agreed wholeheartedly.
Mr.DP, who is a through and through Venetian, says that entering Venice from Mestre (i.e. the land access) is akin to entering a house from its garage... :)
 
Where is Ston, M?
That's the one and only spot among all those mentioned so far where I can't remember to have been... :confused:

Besides, in the Kvarner area, while I agree that Losinj is indeed nice, I actually liked even better the other islands a bit more off the beaten path: Cres, Krk and Rab. But each to their own - and as you say, they are all nice, and it's impossible to go wrong, anywhere along that coast. :encouragement:
Ston is at the southern end of the Peljasic(?) peninsula north west of Dubrovnik. I have visited both by boat and on one of my motorbike tours; the main tourist reason for visiting Ston is to see and walk the ancient town walls. However my main reason for going to Ston is to park my boat and eat here https://www.ribarskakuca.com/ (as recommended by BartW)

Yes there are many islands to visit. Actually I forgot to mention Pag which is almost devoid of any vegetation and like one would imagine the surface of the moon to be

This thread is making me want to go back to Croatia!
 
Ston is at the southern end of the Peljasic(?) peninsula north west of Dubrovnik. I have visited both by boat and on one of my motorbike tours; the main tourist reason for visiting Ston is to see and walk the ancient town walls. However my main reason for going to Ston is to park my boat and eat here https://www.ribarskakuca.com/ (as recommended by BartW)

actually there is mali Ston and veliki Ston (small and big), the former is on the north east side of Peljesac, they have many restaurants serving mussels from the nearby mussel farms.
Veliki ston is 1 mile from Mali ston, and on the south east side of peljesac, that is where the ancient wall is,

you get to Veliki Ston by boat via "Kobas", that is the famous place with Niko's restaurant,
we usually left the boat in Kobas, and went to Ston by Tender,

Our kids say: Ston is Stom (=stupid) because they were bored with the many visits (daytrips coming from Cavtat) we did there when they were young,
 
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Aha, thanks folks.
I checked that on the map, and realized that I did went down to the end of the N side of Peljesac peninsula, but only once many years ago, with the Airon Marine which I had before the old lady.
For some reason, I had memories of a rather long way with not much to see, so I never went back there afterwards.
I never went to the bay on the S side instead - I must have missed BartW suggestion, because I see now on the map that this would have been a very reasonable deviation to make, for a decent restaurant! :cool:

PS: Apropos of my Airon Marine, I meant to say but I forgot:
B, by "grand canal" in Venice, did you mean the very large and relatively straight one which separate Venice from the Giudecca island (actually called "Giudecca Canal"), or the so called "Canal Grande", which is the one with a sort of inverted "S" shape going through the center of Venice?
I'm asking because anyone who might be attracted by the idea to cruise the latter should be aware that, ahem, pleasure boat are not allowed there, with the only exception of the resident ones - which must show a specific registration number on the hull.
The reason why my AM reminded me of that is that I actually went through the Canal Grande with her once, up to the Rialto Bridge.
That was in my very first year of N Adriatic boating, with zero experience and a "what can possibly go wrong" attitude!
Non-resident boats were already interdicted, but I got away with that in spite of the fact that the boat had a Genoa registration... :o
Beginner's luck, I reckon. But I'd be surprised if nobody told you anything with BA, which in that canal is akin to a ship!
 
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Wow! Great information! Thanks a lot. I will try my best to add up to your places of interest around the region.

Looks like this year it will be scsr and me who will be waving the forum's flag there. I know that Madpad also keeps his boat at my pontoon at Porto Montenegro, so he may be around as well.
 
Eren, what boat do you have?.... We'll look out for you!

The Kornatis are stunning, lots of small bays to anchor in or moor on a buoy - but remember to buy your ticket ahead of entering as it's double the cost if you buy when in there as we found to our cost! (https://np-kornati.hr/en/tourism/informacije-o-ulaznicama-en)


Thanks for the valuable info scar! I will be there between July 1st-August 15th, starting from Tivat/Montenegro and ending up at the same place. I am with my SunSkr Manhattan 70 "ELA" with dark blue hull. What is the name of your new lady? I love Azimuts. My previous boat was AZ 47 which I loved and even still missing so much. Lovely boats.

I think they have reduced to prices for Kornati. That is good.
 
PS: Apropos of my Airon Marine, I meant to say but I forgot:
B, by "grand canal" in Venice, did you mean the very large and relatively straight one which separate Venice from the Giudecca island (actually called "Giudecca Canal"), or the so called "Canal Grande", which is the one with a sort of inverted "S" shape going through the center of Venice?
I'm asking because anyone who might be attracted by the idea to cruise the latter should be aware that, ahem, pleasure boat are not allowed there, with the only exception of the resident ones - which must show a specific registration number on the hull.
The reason why my AM reminded me of that is that I actually went through the Canal Grande with her once, up to the Rialto Bridge.
That was in my very first year of N Adriatic boating, with zero experience and a "what can possibly go wrong" attitude!
Non-resident boats were already interdicted, but I got away with that in spite of the fact that the boat had a Genoa registration... :o
Beginner's luck, I reckon. But I'd be surprised if nobody told you anything with BA, which in that canal is akin to a ship!

we sailed in front of the st marco church, and made a U turn, right at the entrance of the canale grande,
all that was at 5.30...6am, to avoid the heavy traffic, and the local authoritys.
I must have some pics (poor quality) as it was just before sunrise
but need to find..
 
Thanks for the valuable info scar! I will be there between July 1st-August 15th, starting from Tivat/Montenegro and ending up at the same place. I am with my SunSkr Manhattan 70 "ELA" with dark blue hull. What is the name of your new lady? I love Azimuts. My previous boat was AZ 47 which I loved and even still missing so much. Lovely boats.

Eren, she is called "Tine II". We think it's pronounced Tin-yah but not sure - may translate to Second Wife but not sure! We've not yet booked for July and August but will be soon, so we'll look out for you when we're out and about and give you a wave!
 
we sailed in front of the st marco church, and made a U turn, right at the entrance of the canale grande
'Salright B, I believe that the Canal Grande restriction begins at Punta della Dogana, the beautiful narrow cape which encloses the entrance to Canal Grande (on your port side, when heading inside it).
The part in front of St Mark's Basilica is still in the much wider Canale della Giudecca, which has no restriction to "generic" boats, speed limit aside.

Btw, just in case scsr or anyone else might be interested, that area is the very best for anchoring on the night of the so called Redentore feast, by far the most unique and spectacular fireworks event I've ever witnessed - and I've seen some, including the Sydney New Year's eve, just to name one of the most famous.
In spite of the fact that Venice is nowadays a town almost completely tourism-driven, the Redentore still is a through and through Venetian event, where practically all local boaters gather together to enjoy the fireworks from the water, surrounded by the stunning background of Venice and its main islands.
As you might remember, the Giudecca Canal in front of St Mark's is very wide - about 300m, if not more.
But that night, you could almost walk above it, just jumping from one boat to another!

The only warning is that anchoring there on that night (which this year will be on July 20th, for the records) is not for the faint-hearted.
In fact, even assuming to go there very early and find a good spot where to drop the hook, eventually you will be surrounded by all sort of boats - including trawlers whose fenders are truck tires, which no pleasure boater would be happy to rub against their hulls!
Not to mention the total mess at the end of the event, when all boats must weigh their anchors (more than likely overlapped, to some extent) and go back to their home berths in darkness... :eek:
 
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