Bareboat in the Mediterranean

[Bullshooter]

Glocklt4,

We also went with the Angelina marina, in Trogir, although we chartered through Danielis yacht charter. I got the permit from the FCC as you did and played it safe. We had a great trip in June, and I can provide answers to questions, at least as far as I learned in our travel from Trogir to nearby islands Solta, Vis, Bisevo, Pakleni islands, Hvar, and Brac.

I was able to plan a lot using the chart viewer on the Navionics website. I was lucky enough to find out about the MySea app which allowed us to call for reservations for mooring balls, very handy.

Good luck and have a great time. We did!

[glocklt4]

Originally Posted by Bullshooter

Glocklt4,

We also went with the Angelina marina, in Trogir, although we chartered through Danielis yacht charter. I got the permit from the FCC as you did and played it safe. We had a great trip in June, and I can provide answers to questions, at least as far as I learned in our travel from Trogir to nearby islands Solta, Vis, Bisevo, Pakleni islands, Hvar, and Brac.

I was able to plan a lot using the chart viewer on the Navionics website. I was lucky enough to find out about the MySea app which allowed us to call for reservations for mooring balls, very handy.

Good luck and have a great time. We did!

Awesome, appreciate the offer! Those are all places we're considering for Sept 5-12, so I definitely have a few questions if you don't mind.

We are relatively novice bareboat charter sailors. This will be our 3rd week-long charter - first in the Med. Renting a Lagoon 42. We were initially going to just hire a captain to make this trip nice and easy, but since we're expecting fewer boats around due to covid, we are less worried about crowds and nightmares trying to med-moor for the first time. Plus we'd rather gain more experience doing everything ourselves anyway. The hired captain would not be that useful honestly except for local knowledge (hopefully our planning now makes up for that) and manning the boat when we don't want to (just have to suck it up and be the captain...).

Yes, I found the MySea app recommendation which is great. We will certainly try and make a reservation if we can. Did you find most everywhere to have moorings available? We aren't really sure what to expect in Sept and covid times.

How thorough was your walk-through of the boat with Danielis? From the short emails with Angelina, it feels a bit like the BVIs where they hand you the keys. I couldn't get a solid answer of when we should expect to be able to leave the dock paying extra for 1-2pm early boarding. I like to know everything possible about a boat before taking over.

Most everyone else going with us is on the "no-plan" plan, but that doesn't work for me if I'm captain. Our rough plan as of now:

Day 1 (Sat) - first mate and I arrive 11am-12pm to get paperwork done, others finish provisioning. Early access on boat 1-2pm. Walk-through of boat, leave dock around 4pm. 1-1.5hr sail to either Blue Lagoon or Maslinica (likely anchor or get mooring ball in Sesula Bay). My thought is ideally Maslinica/Sesula, but Blue Lagoon if we get away late since a bit closer and we can easily drop the hook pretty much anywhere around there for the night.

Day 2 (Sun) - Zlanti Rat, anchor on West side during most of the day. Med-moor overnight in Bol. Not sure yet where to go for bailout/backup if Bol marina is full (which seems very possible since small). Also, Zlanti Rat seems very touristy, but a night moored in Bol would be nice. If Zlanti Rat isn't that enjoyable, go to Bol earlier.

Day 3/4 (Mon/Tues) - Paklinski islands. Either anchor in Vinogradisce or moor at Palmizana Marina. Take water taxi over to Hvar for the afternoon/evening. Mooring in/near Hvar town itself seems both expensive and like a hassle with lots of boat traffic. Possibly stay here a second night if we like it but in alternate location.

Day 4/5 (Tues/Wed)- Vis/Bisevo. Anchor in a cove or grab mooring ball at Diamond Beach on SE end of Vis one night so we can visit Stiniva Bay early before day-trip boats one night. Easiest taking turns with the dinghy in two groups as opposed to attempting to anchor? Visit Green Cave after. Another night anchored in Porat bay Bisevo or mooring ball at Komiza, and visit the Blue Cave.

Day 6 (Thurs) - Back to Paklinski islands if we didn't stay there 2 nights yet, or Sveta Nedilja. Refuel if possible to avoid Fri afternoon refuel in Trogir.

Day 7 (Fri) - head back to Trogir. Stop at Blue Lagoon if we haven't already, otherwise Maslinica.

Other alternate locations: Jelsa, Korcula, Makarska

We are trying to spend a decent amount of time enjoying sailing around, and also don't want to hop around too much. Trying to be very flexible if weather/wind doesn't cooperate. We don't want to motor long distances. I'll be shooting a lot of drone footage, and we love mountains meeting water landscapes.

Thank you for any tips!

[Bullshooter]

Glocklt4,

I sent you a PM. As to where moorings are available, I used the Navionics chart viewer to get a rough idea of which bays had moorings. Many areas had rocky bottoms that were difficult to get good holding, including some with very steep bottom near shore so that is why we tried for mooring balls a lot. Diamond Beach had some decent anchoring if I remember right, but we got on a mooring ball there. I can' answer your question about Stiniva Bay.

At Angelina, we had a decent walk-through. We did as you plan to and sent the crew to get provisions, but had to wait a long time for the briefing, so they were on board and that made it hectic. Our Bali 4.0 was great but I was focused on the important things and did not understand what they said about how to operate the air conditioning, as the controls were confusing. Otherwise they were helpful. We paid extra to leave early but ended up leaving late as they did not fill the water tanks until late and it took an unusually long time. You should have plenty of time to make it to Maslinica - we made it to Uvala Tatinja on the south side of Solta.

Zlatni Rat was great. Plenty of good holding ground and a sweet spot.

We docked at Komiza and it was great. It was our first time with the med mooring, but we were 4 couples, so plenty of hands, and did not find it that difficult. Of course I did not have a bad cross wind to make it tricky, luckily. Also with 4 couples it did not seem that expensive split 4 ways. When it is crowded you want to get to Bisevo early if you want to see the Blue Grotto. You get on a ball and wait for the tourist boats to come and pick you up. They estimate when it is your turn. We thought it was worth it.

We moored at Uvala Vinogradisce. It was crowded so at first we got a ball near the open end of the bay, but it was bouncy, so when someone left a ball closer to shore we relocated.

On Hvar we docked at Stari Grad, and I highly recommend it. Beautiful place, and we had a great meal and other experiences.

Korcula is one island we did not make it to. It is within range on a week long trip, but we just could not/did not fit it in. Maybe next time! I hope this helps, and remember I have only been there once, so not an expert by any means.

Have a great trip.

[glocklt4]

Originally Posted by Bullshooter

Glocklt4,

I sent you a PM. As to where moorings are available, I used the Navionics chart viewer to get a rough idea of which bays had moorings. Many areas had rocky bottoms that were difficult to get good holding, including some with very steep bottom near shore so that is why we tried for mooring balls a lot. Diamond Beach had some decent anchoring if I remember right, but we got on a mooring ball there. I can' answer your question about Stiniva Bay.

At Angelina, we had a decent walk-through. We did as you plan to and sent the crew to get provisions, but had to wait a long time for the briefing, so they were on board and that made it hectic. Our Bali 4.0 was great but I was focused on the important things and did not understand what they said about how to operate the air conditioning, as the controls were confusing. Otherwise they were helpful. We paid extra to leave early but ended up leaving late as they did not fill the water tanks until late and it took an unusually long time. You should have plenty of time to make it to Maslinica - we made it to Uvala Tatinja on the south side of Solta.

Zlatni Rat was great. Plenty of good holding ground and a sweet spot.

We docked at Komiza and it was great. It was our first time with the med mooring, but we were 4 couples, so plenty of hands, and did not find it that difficult. Of course I did not have a bad cross wind to make it tricky, luckily. Also with 4 couples it did not seem that expensive split 4 ways. When it is crowded you want to get to Bisevo early if you want to see the Blue Grotto. You get on a ball and wait for the tourist boats to come and pick you up. They estimate when it is your turn. We thought it was worth it.

We moored at Uvala Vinogradisce. It was crowded so at first we got a ball near the open end of the bay, but it was bouncy, so when someone left a ball closer to shore we relocated.

On Hvar we docked at Stari Grad, and I highly recommend it. Beautiful place, and we had a great meal and other experiences.

Korcula is one island we did not make it to. It is within range on a week long trip, but we just could not/did not fit it in. Maybe next time! I hope this helps, and remember I have only been there once, so not an expert by any means.

Have a great trip.

Thanks again for all of the tips! Makes us feel more comfortable with our plans so far.

For the Blue Grotto/Cave, are you saying that you found a mooring ball near the cave entrance and then just hired someone to take you in? We thought we'd have to go to Komiza or Porat, then do a tour from there. We're all for mooring closer to the cave instead though.

[Bullshooter]

Originally Posted by glocklt4

Thanks again for all of the tips! Makes us feel more comfortable with our plans so far.

For the Blue Grotto/Cave, are you saying that you found a mooring ball near the cave entrance and then just hired someone to take you in? We thought we'd have to go to Komiza or Porat, then do a tour from there. We're all for mooring closer to the cave instead though.

That is the set up. There are a large number of mooring balls just around the point from the cave, there is a dock with a building in view of them. Every yacht grabs a ball, they are pretty close together, and waits their turn. The tour boats make the rounds and try to get people off their sailboats for a tour in roughly the order they showed up. No need to moor farther away at all.

[Bullshooter]

Go to Bisevo on that Navionics site. Look just north of a point labeled Hrid Totac. You will see several mooring buoy symbols. That is the place.

[glocklt4]

Originally Posted by Bullshooter

That is the set up. There are a large number of mooring balls just around the point from the cave, there is a dock with a building in view of them. Every yacht grabs a ball, they are pretty close together, and waits their turn. The tour boats make the rounds and try to get people off their sailboats for a tour in roughly the order they showed up. No need to moor farther away at all.

Great, glad they do it that way!