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by Bill Clark
In September of 2004, 24 members of the Port Ludlow Yacht Club, in an informal club activity inspired by one of our members, chartered some bareboat sailboats in central Croatia. It started with a couple of boats being chartered and grew quickly to six boats as the word spread within our membership. The boats were all in the 40 foot range, making them quite comfortable for two couples per boat. Croatia is situated on the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea, across from Italy's east coast and has a myriad of islands off of its coast making it a sailor's paradise. It gained its independence when Yugoslavia broke apart in the 1990's. The Croatian economy is still recovering from the Balkan War years, which has the benefit to tourists of making such a trip to this region quite affordable, particularly with respect to some other parts of Europe that are quite expensive in American dollars. Tourism has long been a significant part of their economy so the local people are usually fluent in English or German as secondary languages which makes communication quite easy for those of us that are not as multilingual as most Europeans. The restaurants normally have menus in Croatian, German and English and we found that most serve very good, fresh seafood and mixed grill as well as numerous other choices. There are ATM's readily available in all of the communities that issue local currency, the Croatian Kuna, at reasonable exchange rates. We all made our own transportation plans with the only proviso being to meet the day before the cruise at the Hotel Zora in Primošten, which is only three kilometers from the Marina Kremik where we chartered the boats. Each couple had their own interesting adventures getting there, which we all shared over cocktails the first evening. People arrived via a variety of means including: driving from other destinations; ferry from Italy and flying into Split. As one can imagine, most people added adventures to both ends of the week of chartering. Since we arrived one day early we took a side trip of about 25 miles to Krka Falls, a beautiful series of waterfalls with a trail alongside allowing viewing from various angles. Primošten is quite a quaint little community on an island that was linked to the mainland five centuries ago by a causeway so the inhabitants could go off to the fields more easily. There is a nice collection of stone houses lining cobblestone streets, most with views over the water. At the very crest of the hill, as in most Croatian communities, is a large, beautiful church. There are numerous small restaurants and shops that one can enjoy as you walk along the narrow streets. Incidentally, the Hotel Zora, is on another island linked with a similar causeway and is within easy walking distance to Primosten village. 
Sunsail at the Kremik marina was very efficient and provided us with clean, relatively new boats that were all well maintained. After a briefing and a checkout for each crew, they turned the boats over to our command. The next morning we all left under a very light wind and generally headed south to visit some of the myriad of islands for the next week. Similar to our travel plans, we all proceeded on our own to different marinas rather than overwhelm any one marina. Most of us had studied charts and done some research on the various islands prior to the trip, so it naturally developed that each boat had its own itinerary.
Cruising along the Croatian Adriatic coast is somewhat akin to cruising in the San Juan Islands as the distance between the islands is not great. There are, however, some noticeable differences as the water is warm enough to swim in comfortably; there are no deadheads whatsoever as there is very little timber in the region and the tidal influence is so slight that it can virtually be ignored. The boat traffic is relatively light and the weather forecasts are sketchy at best and though there is purported to be an English language forecast we were never able to tune it in. The marina managers however, are very good at providing weather information. To stay at a marina, one must use a "Mediterranean Tie" (more on that later) and the communities nearby are ancient and therefore wonderful to explore. As the winds were virtually nonexistent the first day, we motored our 42' Oceanis, Capybara, to an island and community named Drevnik, about an 18 mile trip from the home port. It is a charming village that was fascinating to walk about. Since we were early, the literature stated that it was legal to tie alongside the quay, which we gladly did as we were a bit uneasy about the Mediterranean tie. We were surprised to find out that there was no charge to use the quay as we found out from the locals that the marina had been out of business since the war. Many small fishing boats were tied along the quay making the view of the harbor quite picturesque. We discovered a restaurant/art gallery where we enjoyed the best meal of the cruise. The artist was a Finn who married a Croatian and her art gallery has gradually evolved into a restaurant and a gallery with superb food, albeit a somewhat limited menu. The next day we had a slight breeze so we slowly sailed southward to the island of Bra and stayed at a marina in the community of Milna. This was actually our first attempt at a Mediterranean tie and we were quite successful, albeit a bit awkward, as we forgot to follow the advice given earlier which is: "Ignore everything the dock-master says other than the location he wants you to tie up to, as he knows little about boat handling". To accomplish a "Mediterranean tie" one must back toward the quay to the spot directed by the dock-master. He will then pick up a lazy line (also known as a slime line for obvious reasons) which is a line attached to the quay and the other end is attached to a permanent anchor some distance out in the harbor. One crew member must then pick up the line with a boat hook then attach it to a bow cleat. As the helmsman continues to back down toward the quay lines are passed from the stern to the dock-master, who passes them through a ring and hands them back to you. Some adjustments are then made to tension the slime line so that the boat stern is near, but not touching the quay. Once moored, we explored the town and though not as picturesque as Drevnik, it was quite enjoyable. We left the following morning with a pleasant breeze and did a broad reach to the island of Hvar and went to the community of Stari Grad where we again tied up to the quay using the Mediterranean tie and were more proficient this time. Stari Grad is an ancient community that has been populated for over 2000 years. To walk the narrow streets with the stones worn smooth by centuries of foot traffic was a fantastic experience. We enjoyed this place so much that we spent two nights. There were several good restaurants to choose from, an open farmers market, numerous shops, churches, museums, art galleries, bakeries and even an internet café. An enjoyable activity was to sit in the cockpit and watch the activity on the promenade. Even though we stayed two nights here, we felt that the time was too short. We all agreed that this was our favorite stop. After dinner one evening in Stari Grad, one of our party talked to a local who invited us across the street to his home which was being extensively remodeled. During the excavation phase of the remodel they discovered a mosaic that they have since learned dated back to the first century B. C. They plan to revise their remodel so this can be viewed. It was really quite awesome. We also visited a museum that was centuries ago the home of a philosopher/poet that included a walled garden area and a salt water fishing pond within the estate. A Sirocco wind was forecasted so as we left the bay we hoisted only the genoa and traveled about 35 miles back to the community of Rogoznica on the mainland which was quite near to our home port of Kremik. The winds were quite brisk, but were on our stern quarter which made our sail quite comfortable. At one point we noted that our knotmeter did register 11.4 knots as we surfed down a wave. Once in Rogoznica Marina, a huge, modern facility, we took care to tie up securely as a Bora wind was forcasted. Quite securely, in fact, as the slime line handed us was intended for much larger boats as it was in excess of a one-inch in diameter. Boras are forecasted quite accurately and are quite fierce. They are caused by the cooling of the air above the karst valleys suddenly pouring down through the mountain saddles to the sea. They are also quite local and relatively short in duration. We experienced winds in excess of 50 knots for a few hours while some of our colleagues a few miles away were comfortable in only 8-10 knots of wind. It was an exciting experience and we were thankful that we were securely tied to the quay. The following day we motored a short distance, about 5 miles, back to Kremik marina where we were met by the Sunsail(r) staff. We stayed on the boat that night and departed the next morning after a brief and professional checkout. We only had to remove our personal gear as it was not necessary to wash down the boat or refuel the tanks since that was all part of the charter and was accomplished by the professional staff. The other members of the group sailed to a variety of destinations such as Vis, where Tito had an estate during his tenure. Others visited the city of Hvar and the marina at Palmizana. Most people visited Split to see Diocletian's Palace and quite a few visited Dubrovnik. These latter two destinations were visited by land either before or after the cruise as they were too far to reach by water in our time frame. All in all it was a wonderful experience and we would highly recommend it to anyone who is well qualified in handling boats of this size. Our only regret was that we had not made our charter arrangements for two weeks, rather than one. PAGE TWO :: PHOTOS ...back to 48° North title page.
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