Story – Our Trip to Croatia

Our Trip to Croatia

by Brook Felsenthal 

We really only decided to go to Croatia about three weeks before we stepped aboard. Having sailed in most of the Mediterranean charter regions, it is interesting that the choices were so wide, and most I rate on an equal footing. We had set aside two weeks for a charter and the charter flights were the same cost from our base in London, with daily schedules to Dalaman, Rhodes, Kos, Levkas, Split, Dubrovnik and Olbia to name a few.

The Balearic Islands of Mallorca held some appeal as the only major charter area I have not sailed, but in the end we swung back to our current most popular cruising destination – Croatia. I had always previously sailed south of Split towards Dubrovnik, this time I wanted to explore areas to the north of Split including the Kornati Islands.

We arranged to board in Sibenik which is located at the entrance to the Krka Estuary. I wanted to revisit and show Lynn & the kids the old favourites such as Brac, Hvar and Korcula but also explore some new anchorages. The perfect pick up point was Sibenik with a modern marina about a 50 minute transfer north of Split airport.

We arrived on an early morning charter flight from London with clear skies and a great view of the Croatian coastline and picking up a hire car went straight to Trogir for breakfast on the stunning waterfront.

Trogir is a UNESCO protected village built on a small island. Being 10 minutes from the airport, we have usually recommended it to our clients as the best overnight stay prior to boarding.  We had breakfast at our favourite pension The Vila Sikaa who were pleased to see us having looked after our clients for almost 20 years – “Australians are delightful people – no trouble at all” said the long term owners The Runtic Family.

The narrow streets, churches and medieval houses were the oldest structures Jack and Holly have ever seen, and are truly amazing. Driving north via the stunning village of Primosten we arrived at the modern Mandalina Marina in Sibenik. About a kilometre away we found a large Woolworths-style supermarket with an extensive range. Jack and Holly found it hilarious that the products looked the same but not an English word to be found on any labels.
Not surprisingly there was a bit of guess work but we emerged with 2 large trolleys and a bill about half what I would expect to pay here. We stowed it all aboard, had a boat briefing and decided to stay in the marina overnight – the early flight catching up with us.

A beautiful day of 25 degrees (but little wind) saw us motoring on Day One down south to the island of Solta. A good client of ours had, after chartering for a few years, bought a holiday house in one of the bays and we decided to go and have a look.

At about nine miles by two Solta is one of the smallest inhabited islands but has a handful of very attractive anchorages. It is often overlooked as it is almost too close to Split and does not have the name of a Hvar or Brac. We stopped at the eastern end in the pretty village of Stomorska.

Later Lynn & I went for a stroll and ended up in an olive oil shop purchasing some local product as well as having an in-depth discussion on the difference between virgin and extra virgin olive oil. A hand full of restaurants lined the small quay, but in the end we got the kids to bring back some takeaway pizza which we enjoyed with the boat next door – Slovakians who like Australia out-performed in the most recent world cup, Bresciano, Kewell and Schwarzer in the conversation.

Day Two was another beautiful day but again light winds. We poked our nose into Milna before heading out west to the township of Vis on the island of Vis. Wanting a quiet night we chose to anchor in the western side of the bay and took the dinghy on a tour of this large and busy port.

Vis has been inhabited since the stone age and foreigners were only allowed to visit from 1990 so it is very authentic with fishing and viniculture still playing a big part in the lives of locals where wine has been produced for over 2000 years!

Lynn’s big 50th was the next day and we had planned to meet up with a group of charterers who were also celebrating two 50th’s by chance. We arranged to meet Greg Pratt and crew on the island of St Klement which is a short ferry ride to Hvar.  Hvar is a trendy port and feels like an iconic French Riviera town with sophisticated restaurants and many impressive motor yachts on the quay.

Because it is not a large port, most people berth at the nearby ACI marina (Palmizana) on St Klement and take the ferry 20 minutes to Hvar. We chose to anchor in the bay opposite to this (Vinogradisce) in front of the Zori Restaurant and had a fantastic night in a superb atmosphere (see shot).

Next morning we motored out of the bay early with a longer sail required to reach Lastovo. At about midday the breeze got up to 20-25 knots on the nose and Lynn was not enjoying it at all – nothing to do with the big night or being 50 now!

No point in upsetting the cook, so we detoured left into Vela Luka (on Korcula) where we ended up staying for two nights, hiring a car for one day to visit Korcula town and relaxing in this non-touristy town. We stayed the extra day only to watch Geelong and Collingwood (Jack & I are Cat’s fans) at 11.00am in the local restaurant.  Eurosports 2 had live coverage and the locals were amused (to say the least) to see this game of aerial ping pong.

At half time the game was over for us (unfortunately), so we slipped our lines to make another bid for Lastovo with the strong but warm easterly Sirocco still on the nose. The boat motored well into the seaway and we entered through the narrow pass to the picturesque bay of Zaklopatica. Lastovo was only opened to foreigners about 10 years ago and felt isolated in time. The main township is inland about a half hour walk and is built into the surrounding hillside. Two churches date back to 1474 & 1512 and the surrounding buildings look similar – narrow cobblestone alleys not large enough for cars link the village in which the population has reduced to about 100.

We ate at Triton Restaurant overlooking the picturesque and pristine bay; however the second restaurant August Insulais also reputed to be excellent. With the warm stunning Sirocco still blowing from the east, we decided to return to Vis about 40 miles down wind. In 25 knots we made great time and with the sea haze hardly saw a boat, which gave a great feeling of adventure to the crew. Italy on port and Croatia on starboard we surfed down some great waves.
Sailing on the south side of Vis we headed north around the south west point and expected to get some shelter from the prevailing wind. Instead the wind increased down the slopes (Katabatic) to 40 knots which caught us a bit by surprise. The tiny town of Komiza was our port of refuge and if we could not get into the harbour we would have to go another 30 miles which was not thrilling the crew.  Having no bow thruster and lazy jacks (with a large sail cover and associated windage) the breeze was still very strong on the side as I attempted to back the boat to the quay. For their self preservation a group of burly Germans had their fenders out and ready to catch us (which they did) for payment of a few beers later. Komiza is the access point to the Blue Caves on Bisevo just six miles away.

This town reminded me of a remote fishing village in Cornwell with a stone wall almost fully enclosing the marina. We ate ashore and had to dance a bit on the boarding plank as the boats were starting to surge off the quay the wind not abating. By morning the surge had increased with the lines creaking and groaning at full stretch as the boat worked its way back and forth.

We chose to leave early and sailed back to the western end of Solta where the weather moderated, the sun came out and the last overcast, blowy 24 hours were forgotten. The bay of Sesula has a wonderful Turkish like atmosphere with a restaurant perched on a hill and yachts in a protected bay below.

We had lunch with a Dutch family and walked into the pretty port of Maslinica to be picked up later by Jack and Holly in the rubber duck. As with nearly every anchorage, the restaurant had laid lazy lines which makes tying up so much easier, in fact we only anchored twince in two weeks.

Heading back north we spent the last few days in the Sibenik Archipelago which is the lower section of the Kornati Islands. Ports such as Prvic and Zlarin were highlights on our trip, unpretentious small villages with a choice of great restaurants.

In Prvic we ran into Con Ryan and crew – I saw a charter boat that I had arranged for Con and not ever having met picked them as the rowdy Australian group in the sardine restaurant (Maslina).  “Are you Con?” I asked from the boardwalk and he nearly fell off his chair (feeling so off the beaten track that no one should know his name), we had a great night and hopefully gave some good advice as we were on our last days and Con and crew their first of three weeks.

Opposite Prvic is the entrance to the Krka Estuary and sailing on with our home port of Sibenik on starboard, we travelled up this stunning waterway (bounded by steep sheer cliffs in parts) to Skradin. The township of Skradin has an excellent marina and we hired bikes to ride the 4 kilometres to the famed Krka Waterfalls. Part of the Krka National Park, Skradin is a must see and varied place to visit, untouchable in any bad weather.  Sibenik was once the capital of the whole area and with a secure harbour and non-stop freshwater it is not hard to see why. Day 14 was upon us and we headed back downstream to return to Sibenik.  Reluctantly we packed in the driving rain (the only rain for a magical 2 weeks afloat) for our flights north to France.

Croatia remains our most popular cruising destination and it is not hard to see why.  Friendly locals, cheap & delicious food and stunning architecture – it is hard to beat when experienced from the sea.