Tips for Croatia

[pjosip]

I am openning this topic after being suggested that it might be usefull for people visiting croatian coast. Since I don't always have a lot of time I am also inviting all others to contribute this topic with their tips and experiences.


INTRODUCTION:


For a "quick and dirty" introduction to croatian coast I suggest this link: Croatian coast

The common division of coast in Croatia is:

Northern Adriatic
Central Adriatic
Southern Adriatic

This is the map of division:




Usefull links:

DHMZ (Hourly updated meteo info+forecast)

Prvi hrvatski on-line peljar Jadranskog mora :: peljar.cvs.hr (online nautical maps, can be printed)

Adriatic Croatia International Club | ACI Marinas (Marinas association)

Marinas in Croatia (some more marinas in Croatia)

Croatia | Croatian National Tourist Board. Travel, tourism and tourist information - en-GB (croatian tourist board, has info about tourist offices, the main place to file complaints, if any )



(to be continued)

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by pjosip

(to be continued)

I'm sure a lot of us here wait eagerly for continuation

[pjosip]

There has been some discussion about the fees in Croatia and this post I am going to use to put all the information related to that subject

REGULATIONS, FEES:

1.) Here you can check the visa regulations for your country. Choose your country from a list and see if you need an extra visa:

MVPEI

If you don't need visa you are entitled to stay in Croatia for 90 days in 6 months.


2.) When entering and/or leaving Croatia you have to visit ports with passport control.
For the list of authorized maritime borderline controls and other info, I suggest visiting this link: http://www.aci-club.hr/info.asp?m=73


3.) Starting from year 2010, the boats coming by road transport to Croatia or docked in Croatia have to purchase a nauticall vignette before starting to navigate. The vignette covers the security fee costs that previously were charged in each port separately. You are buying it at port authority. You have to provide:

- the list of passengers (certified at the port authority)
- proof that the boat is technically correct according of country of boat's flag (the registration of boat?)
- proof that the skipper is educated to drive the boat of that size according to the laws of country of boat's flag(if the country does not have that regulation - croatian law applies). This is the list of foreign authorities that Croatia accepts as valid licensee to command boats under croatian flag http://www.adriaticsailor.com/admin/...1255038012.pdf
- ensurance proof for boat
- proof of ownership or authorisation to command the boat


The list of passengers must always be present on boat and shown to authority on request. The vignette has to be glued on visible part of the boat and it looks like this:


Boats for sport events, exhibitions, and boats in length less that 3 meters do not have to have vignette or boats even smaller but have engine stronger than 5kW.
If the number of passengers change you need to report that in next port authority to correct the list of passengers.

The price varies depending on the length of the boat (segmented, for example one price for boats from 5 to 9 meters) and how long you report to stay in Cro. The last information in 2010 is that the boat of 12 meters payed 200 kuna (30 euros) for 8 days vignette. You can also purchase a full year vignette.


3.) Other fees.

Off course, you will be charged in marinas. The association of croatian marinas is called ACY. In addition to marinas it is possible that you are charged for city quays and on some anchorages. Normally, some service has to be provided (electricity or water plug, toilet, garbage collection).

This page contains the link to the latest list of authorized anchorages:

Click on the link NAUTIČKA SIDRIŠTA

http://www.mmpi.hr/default.aspx?ID=474



The first column is geographical name of anchorage (the word "otok" means island in croatian), the second column is the name of concession company, the third column is the representative person, the fourth is the teritory in concession (in m2), the fifth is the service on anchorage, the sixth is the number of buoys and the seventh is the maximum cost (some values are segmented by the length of boat).



(will be continued)

[pjosip]

The channel you normally initiate conversation (with port authority or someone else) is channel number 16.

This is the general purpose channel and all port authority personnel are supposed to have guard listening on that channel. In addition, the weather forecast is broadcasted on that channel in croatian and english.
It is a custom to leave that channel open - meaning, you start conversation and if you have private matter to discuss, then instruct other party to move to some other channel of your choice.

[Palarran]

pjosip, thank you for starting this informative thread. I will be visiting Croatia with Palarran for three weeks in September of 2012. I need to find a marina where I can leave her for the winter. Do you have any suggestions? It would be nice to have the boat hauled out and stored on land as I will not use it for about 8 months.

[pjosip]

Originally Posted by Palarran

pjosip, thank you for starting this informative thread. I will be visiting Croatia with Palarran for three weeks in September of 2012. I need to find a marina where I can leave her for the winter. Do you have any suggestions? It would be nice to have the boat hauled out and stored on land as I will not use it for about 8 months.

Hello,

there is a small thread about croatian marinas at this location: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...nas-51600.html

Personally, I would recommend that you ask in every port you visit about the prices and try to negotiate the cost. There are different companies doing hauling and storing and all of them are not providing same services. Some of them have 24 hours guards with video monitoring, some have halls, some of them have customs clear zone, while some not. Off course, this plays a role in determining the price but I would say that you should try further negotiate depending wheather they are full or not.

Maybe I could try to find an initial rough estimation for you to start with but I should know what is the exact length of the boat, width, height (from the bottom of keel to the very top of the main halyard, displacement... All of this play a part in determining the volume that your boat occupies.

[pjosip]

Here you can see the prices for Marina in Pula:

Yacht marina, Croatia - Pula

[pjosip]

The weather:

Normally, the best time for sailing is - summer. Usually, from mid June untill mid August, there is a little chance of experiencing stronger wind and heavy weather. Instead you should have a wind that has became a sort of "trade-mark" for Adriatic during summer - the Mistral. It is the north western wind that blows almost every day. It is "waking up" before noon, it rarely (maybe 2-3 days in month) blows over 15-20 knots. This force it achieves in the afternoon and it dissapears as the night approaches.

There remains a possibility of a sudden summer storms. Unlike the rest of the year when jugo (south wind) and bora (north-nort-east wind), during summers there exist a minor possibility (maybe once every second year) of storm with heavy wind from west.

There is also a possibility of something that has become a subject of people curiosity, a phenomenon, sort of a small scale "tornadoes" that we call "pijavica" (the leech). They are more frequent in Dubrovnik area but also possible elsewhere. You can see it here:

YouTube - ‪Tornado Waterspout Pijavica‬‏

The normal advices apply - stay away of it if you see one. I can hardly give you any other advice on how to behave if you happen to be caught on one. I am sailing for more than 10 years and never experienced one. Did saw one in distance while on boat.

The most challenging winds on Adriatic, and the ones that are most possible to experience are Jugo (the south or south east) and the Bora (north -east). Jugo usually builds up over 3 days time, and knowing that you should be able to recognize it. Can be very rough, the strongest recorded Jugo by meteo agency is 86 knots.

Bora is the name that is usually associated with Adriatic and it's unpredictability. Bora is strongest on the north Adriatic. Especially Velebit channel. I have marked red the area where it's known to be the strongest.



The Velebit channel is the red area that's stretching from the port of Rijeka to the SE. Basically, in Velebit channel there is either no wind or it blows too strong, there are too few sheltered places so maybe it is better not to go there unless you are experienced. This does not apply for the Istria area where there are many ports and shelters. This does not mean that Bora is not present elsewhere. It is - but when there is 35 knots in central Adriatic, there is probably 60 or more in Velebit channel. The strongest ever recorded bora was 135 knots. This is how it looks:

YouTube - ‪Hurricane force Bura in Velebit channel‬‏

Note that Bora does not make big waves. It sprays water and if you happen to be caught in one, cover your mouth.



(will be continued)

[swagman]

Cripes.
Glad we never saw a waterspout like that in our time in Croatia. Awesome seeing it - great video clip.
But just to let everyone know, such items are the exception.
In my experience, 95% of the summer weather you'll find in Croatia is just superb.
JOHN

[pjosip]

Originally Posted by swagman

Cripes.
Glad we never saw a waterspout like that in our time in Croatia. Awesome seeing it - great video clip.
But just to let everyone know, such items are the exception.
In my experience, 95% of the summer weather you'll find in Croatia is just superb.
JOHN

Thanks swagman,

you are right. No one has ever been recorded to die or dissapear because of "the leech". They look frightening but it seems like it's not end of the world.

Velebit channel is a special story. It has a long history of being challenging for sailing. Looking back into history a group of pirates called "Uskoci" used to roam in that area and basically, they were the only one who sailed succesfully there regardless of weather. They were giving headaches to Venice fleet for centuries. Venice imposed blockade to ports of Velebit channel on number of occassions but could not stop them. The only reason they could cope with Venice fleet of that time is that they took adventage of something that venetian merchant ships avoided - bora.
At that time Croatia was part of Habsburg Empire and Habsburgs did not really have a fleet. So they tolerated Uskoci just to give a signal to Venice that their empire existed in maritime affairs. Venice was forced to painfull concessions just to please Habsburgs to calm down the Uskoci.

If someone is interested into the end of story, Habsburgs finally decided to dismantle Uskoci movement and it is the known historical fact that they moved people of Senj area together with their families into the Zumberak area (close to Zagreb) to send them far from the sea.

[Palarran]

I'm going to post this in the "Cruising Greece" thread also, but how do you know when and where the fresh produce markets are in the small villages you visit? Is it luck that you stop in a port and the, what we call 'farmers market' is going on?

[pjosip]

Originally Posted by Palarran

I'm going to post this in the "Cruising Greece" thread also, but how do you know when and where the fresh produce markets are in the small villages you visit? Is it luck that you stop in a port and the, what we call 'farmers market' is going on?

In small villages, yes - it is the luck. If, you see old grannies standing on quays, they could be waiting for fishermans to dock.

I think you should ask locals when do the fish boats arrive.

[Beer O Clock]

I'm thinking of a last minute 1 week bareboat charter from Pula in a couple of weeks time. I was looking for any advice on anchorages or restaurants with moorings in the area. I don't want to end up in marinas paying fees if at all possible. The charter brochure gives the islands of Cres, Krk, Rab, Silba and Losinj as the advised cruising area, but suggests marinas for each.
I have the Croatia Cruising Companion guide, but it doesn't cover this area, so i don't know if there are options for cruising the area without marinas. I'd rather spend money eating and drinking ashore than in marinas if weather permits.
I have done previous charter from Dubrovnik and Kremik, and fancied exploring a new area.
Any local knowledge appreciated.

[pjosip]

Originally Posted by Beer O Clock

I'm thinking of a last minute 1 week bareboat charter from Pula in a couple of weeks time. I was looking for any advice on anchorages or restaurants with moorings in the area. I don't want to end up in marinas paying fees if at all possible. The charter brochure gives the islands of Cres, Krk, Rab, Silba and Losinj as the advised cruising area, but suggests marinas for each.
I have the Croatia Cruising Companion guide, but it doesn't cover this area, so i don't know if there are options for cruising the area without marinas. I'd rather spend money eating and drinking ashore than in marinas if weather permits.
I have done previous charter from Dubrovnik and Kremik, and fancied exploring a new area.
Any local knowledge appreciated.

Basically, if you see bouys in some bay, that means that the bay is under "concession", meaning they might charge you.
This is the link to the updated list of authorized "concessions": MMPI (choose NAUTIČKA SIDRIŠTA)



I am reading here:

Naplata veza (pravila i iskustva)

"The concessionar can charge for buoy and for anchoring INSIDE CONCESSION AREA!"

So, if you are anchoring outside concession area - they can not charge you. And the area of concession area is strictly defined with GPS coordinates in the file I gave you the link above!
Maybe you could print that table out and use it to anchor outside concession areas? Pay attention - 1.) you must be outside concesion area 2.) you mustn't close entrance or exit of concession with position of your anchored boat and 3.) you mustn't endanger overall security of sea traffic


Anyway, I am reading here:

http://www.nautica-portal.com/forum/...?topic=1028.20


-Island of Ilovik - buoys are 10 kuna per meter, anchoring is free

- Maracol Bay island of Unije protected NW-SE opened E, SE to S. 50 buoys that are taken out during winter.

- Martinscica village has 6 moorings. Protected E, NE, N, Nw i W


Maybe you could google for "besplatan vez" meaning "free mooring" and try using Google Translator a little?

[pjosip]

Money, novac, geld, argent, soldi, dinero, pengar, penge, peníze, お金, 钱:


In deed, I often wondered why do we have to plan carefully if we want treat ourselves in reastaurants with fresh fish when we are on sailing. I mean the sea is just there, there is a plenty of it around us and how come 1 kilo costs cca 50 euros?

2 years ago I needed to urgently leave a boat and needed someone to take me to the ferry in order to get on the bus and go back to Zagreb. I found a local guy in the place I left the boat and we arranged a price for him to take me to 25 kilometers distant ferryboat port. He was driving Renault 4 of an adult age so we had plenty of time to talk. He was a fisherman and lived out of it. I asked him about how well they are doing overall, is it hard to be a fisherman and similar stuff. Waiting for the right moment I finally opened a subject of fish prices.
He told me: "Why should I lower the price of fish if 1 kilo of sardines in Italy costs 20 euros?". I did not know what to say at first but then I started with "But Italy is Italy and this is Croatia, sir". He responded "you think that Italy is far and that italian money stinks?". I said "no, but what's that got to do with us?". And then he openly told me that they are selling the fish to the italian fishermen. He said that he could sell everything to them.

In deed, we've been blessed with influence of italian culture, their armies of tourists, but cursed with the neighborhood of italian market, the ability of this country to produce inflation and overall "gravity" consequnces of having such a wealthy country just across that small sea. The prices in Italy are skyhigh and the simple fact that international waters start just 12 miles away of the coast where (I am thinking) they are probably transferring fish is probably why we have prices of fish as they have it now.


The tourism in Croatia is increasing for a 15 years in a row. Nauticall tourism grows more rapidly than other tourism. Adriatic coast of Croatia is an hour of car drive from Italy, Austria, Slovenia. These are wealthy countries that consume much of the products that Adriatic is able to offer. If the prices were lower - everything would be consumed, thus visitors would probably ask for more for cheap prices and why there is so little of it. The prices as we have them right now are probably a compromise of availiable quantity, product lifetime and desire of producers to make money.

Unfortunately I, probably as some of you, feel like a victim of that compromise.