Best Croation bareboat for a week

[aussieyachtie]

Can anyone help with their ideas for us to charter bareboat just for a week in Croatia. We are chasing a catamaran and the pretiest islands. Is Dubrovnik, Split or Zadar the best starting point. We are after some nice villages and towns, not necessarily the big towns. Something very pretty and sheltered as we have some first time sailors on board with us. We are planning on 13 Sep 08. Any thoughts and ideas would be much appreciated.

[onotoa]

hi,
well i think it doesnt make that much difference if you start in dubrovnik, split or zadar - maybe zadar would be the best if you are planning to visit the kornates islands.....your planned departure time is the best you can choose, not as busy as july+august which is the main central european holiday season, water in september is very warm and there will be good wind.
so just take care about the german and austrian sailors and enjoy the trip!
let me know if you need any special information, i try to help....
onotoa (soon on a cat too)


some useful links:
Hydrographic Institute of the Republic of Croatia
DHMZ
ACI Adriatic Croatia International
Marina Dalmacija

[swagman]

G'day,
If you've only got a week I'd suggest Split as you can go out, north or south and cover lots of places.

Split itself is a very impressive place - best to anchor in the harbour than pay for a berth in the marina.

One good first night spot off Split is on Brac Island - Uvala Bobvisce, but from that point if it were me I'd sail south to Dubrovnic and back in the week, stopping over in lots of nice places on both journeys.

If you go to our blog of this summers travels - we've included pictures and descriptions of the places we visited in that region. Hope it may prove useful.

Enjoy.
JOHN

[Morski Krastavac]

So, now here you have a third opinion:

I believe Dubrovnik is your best bet for the time available: You have Dubrovnik as one of the most impressive cities in the Med right in front of you (Charter will likely start in ACI Marina Komolac) Ecker Yachting is a reliable Charter company (no affiliation). The Dubrovnik Airport "Cilippi" is served more frequently than Zadar or Split (also cheaper, particularly if you use the European "cheap fliers" such as TUIfly). This time of year is a definite temp-difference in the latitude of Zadar, it can become much colder in Northern Dalmatia, stay South.

Sailing-grounds: the extremely close by islands of Sipan and Lopud are still a bit of an insider-tip and Mljet with Okuklje (a must see), Polace and Pomena offer more than enough anchorages.

Does somebody of your crew hold a (by Croatian Authorities) recognized sailing license (and if the boat is so equipped a recognized VHF radio certificate)?

For more detailed info on this area: Voyage of Nepomuk
Check parts 1, 2 and 3, then part 9

For any questions, feel free to contact me.

Mirno More (Croatian: Good Sea)

[Morski Krastavac]

Originally Posted by USABOY

I would definetly say that you should start from Dubrovnik, and you should definetly go to Mljet, Korcula, Lastovo, Sipan and Lopud islands. If you really enjoy long days sailing then you can hit the island Hvar in your route, depending on the weather of course.
Not only you will enjoy the beauty of these islands and how green they are but you can enjoy a reall domestic food as every of those islands have a great restaurants with home made food.
Mljet in Polace good one Oggigie, Pomena Niko, Island Lastovo in a bay Zaklopatica - Augusta Insula, Hvar Palmizana - Zori, Komiza - Bako, Vis - Rockies. Does are one of the best restaurants in that area.

While I certainly agree with a lot of USAboys post, there may be some misunderstandings he could have created:

In general terms: one should not eat meat on most islands unless you are there during high season. Most of the mentioned restaurants are the touristy places, I would not necessarily patronize them. On all islands: PLEASE be extremely frugal with your water consumption; let the owner of the MARAN in Okuklje explain to you how he literally wressels water from the ground. I am sorry to say that in particular American visitors do not treat this resource as the prescious commodity that it is. Take your garbage with you. It is a chore and a half to get it off the islands. The locals will thank you for this gesture.

Mljet is the island, Polace is an archipelago of (if memory serves) 5 very small islands and several coves/bays on the North-Eastern tip of Mljet. "Oggigie" is unbeknown to me and definitely not a Croatian word (never two of same consonants following each other in Croatian); if you mean "Okuklje", well I wrote about that and it is located in the Southern 1/3 of the Eastern shore on Mljet-island, the Italians call it "camera occlusa" (closed chamber), the Croatian word translates to same and tells you what it is: a safe harbor in all conditions... here is the restaurant MARAN with a perfectly English speaking owner.

Pomena is also an archipelago on Mljet island on the North-Western tip, not far from Polace-archipelago: both are heavily frequented by (forgive me) easy prey charter-crews, the restaurants (as they are in Okuklje) are overprized and cater to this clientel, locals do not go there (and neither would I). Buy your groceries on the markets, cook on the boat and avoid the restaurants on Mljet.

Island of HVAR:
Same (if not more so) goes for Palmizana (ACI Marina on the island St.Klement, just across the channel from Hvar-city on Hvar-island. ALL restaurants on St.Klement are a tourist-rip-off, particular care with purchase of fish by the kilo - they will show you a fish, grill it for you and later say it was xyz kilos, no way for you to know how much it truly was and they do not make mistakes to their disadvantage..) The Marina Palmizana WAS my favorite in all of Croatia but now it became a circus, there are too many boats, too high prices. But with a time frame of 1 week do not even think of getting to Hvar... same goes for (again some misunderstanding by USAboy) the

ISLAND of Vis with the TOWN Komiza (one of my favorite islands as it is a bit off the beaten track and much more authentic) you will not get there and back to Dubrovnik within your time frame. While the "Bako" in Komiza-city on Vis-island has a nice ambience it is also quite pricey.

The island of Lastovo may be within your reach, if you want some true Croatian history go to Ubli (deserted village with old Marine-bunker from the war), the bay of Zaklopatica is very nice but can be crowded. Stay away from "Marina Solitudo", this is part of a hotel and frequented by the tourist-crowd. My favorite on Lastovo would be Skrivena Luka on the Southern shore, restaurant Porto Rosso offers berthing, water and electricity.

[Morski Krastavac]

Originally Posted by USABOY

Morski Krastavac, are you from croatia? you seem to know a lot about islands?

You seem to be rather familiar with the area as well; my personal connection to the country is my father, born in Osijek, near the Hungarian border.

I grew up between Germany and (then) Yugoslavia, spent every summer in Dalmatia since 1964, many friends and family in (now) Hrvatska. Kept my boat near Rijeka and Zadar for a number of years, then in Bar, Montenegro for another year or so before leaving Croatia and the Adriatic for good being fed up with prices no longer in line with service, official tourist industry clearly betting on charters rather than owners.

Now happily sailing out of Tunisia, mostly to Sicily. Nicer, cheaper and less crowded.

[aussieyachtie]

I have sailed Greece in the Ionian's and a fair bit around UK, Isle of Wight, but not anywhere else.
I really appreciate the detail to which you have all responded with and this will help us to form our plan.
After nearly 20 years away from Europe I am really looking forward to coming back and enjoying "Local" foods and experiences as this is really the reason for going in the first place.
Once again, Thank you.
Fair winds!!

[pandj]

Originally Posted by aussieyachtie

. We are planning on 13 Sep 08. Any thoughts and ideas would be much appreciated.

HI Aussieyachtie

I see you have received some great info, but ... you might like to consider going a little earlier that 13 Sept. We have just got home (Melb. Australia) after 7 months in the Med on our Bavaria 410. We spent the last 3 months in Croatia (the boat is still there!) and I suggest if you can move your holiday to August, you will probably get better weather! September this year (we were near Pula -north Croatia) was not very warm and very windy!
Anyway I'm sure you will have a great time. We did!
Pandj

[mickmul]

I agree, we moved an annual Med cruise from early June to mid September this year and experienced the same very turbulent conditions, though not for the entire week. It puts you under pressure, especially with first timers, when you have to get the boat back to base - nothing dangerous, but sick first timers heightens tension on board and is unpleasant for everyone. Incidentally, we just booked a Salina 48 cat for next year from a UK company called Nautilus Yachting - they are only charter agents, but we got a better price that booking direct (you need to book pre December for 08 to get this) - the Salina is brand new and has 4 doubles with heads and two seperate singles (not cabins) which we think will be better than the Leopard 42 we used to book from the Moorings, as this featured two 2 "coffin" berths in the forward hulls, and therefore not much privacy for the forward cabins. We tend to favour the Balearics but Croatia, and especially Montenegro is definetly in the pipeline. Enjoy!!

[GordMay]

Salina 48 (Fontain Pajot)

[Morski Krastavac]

As mentioned before in regards to the "best time" for Croatia (HR):

There is a defined weather-line come September in the latitude of Zadar; North of this area can be colder. Generally there used to be a "transitional week" from the summer-climate to the fall-climate around the second week of September (rain) although this highly predictable interregnum has become unstable over the last few years... go figure. Pandj was with Pula just about as North as it gets: the Peninsula of Istra is a totally different micro-climate all together and can not be compared to even Northern Dalmatia, not even close to Middle or Southern Dalomatia.

True is: NORTH of Zadar you will have to be prepared for temps that can become uncomfortably cool. South of that area the nights can become cooler but during the day you should be fine and water-temps are suitable for swimming at least into October. Downside: short daylight.

Regarding the conditions: His location in Pula and the "Kvarner" Pandj talks about a particular tricky body of water: the Eastern shore of Istra (extremely hilly) and the long stretched island of Cres to the East create a channel where it can be rough even in the more benign "Yugo" conditions (wind from the South, usually not exceeding BF 6). Cape Kamenak can always be problematic due to the current, so this area is certainly not representative. You WILL find some of the nastier winds anytime of year: everybody tells stories about the Bora (Croatian: Bura), which can be strong in spring and fall and occurs less frequently in the summer-months. But then you have to deal with "Yugo"-conditions which can be lousy as well. I can not see the argument of moving to the hot and crowded August just to avoid the Bura; in general do not underestimate the Croatian particulars, read up on Bura, respect her but also know that shelter is never far away. The Croatian shore and islands, (perhaps more so than any other body of water, I've ever sailed) has a distinct micro-climate; one must think locally.

August in my opinion is just about the worst month to visit HR: this is THE Italian vacation month and they come in legions usually with big motorboats. The only group of people who should go in August are sun-worshippers who do not intend to sail much; the Marinas and anchorages will be filled come early afternoon; after 3:00 PM you will have trouble finding a berth.

If at all you consider changing your time of visit: go to May but with September you have the benefit of fresh local harvest, produce in abundance in the local markets.