Continuing the second half of our month-long passage. After we made it up north to the Istria Peninsula we started making our way back down to southern Croatia and continued to stop at some incredible places along the way. The map below shows the first half of our sailing journey in red and the second half of our journey in black.
On day 17 we arrived at the island of Rab. Rab has the sandiest beaches in all of Croatia. This is a special thing to note as most all beaches in this part of the world are stone no sand. Rab is also known for its numerous Gothic and Renaissance palaces and churches but is known for its four large belltowers that dominate the old city. The famous belltowers attract tourists from all over the world. We found the old town very charming with its narrow streets and medieval alleyways. We enjoyed a nice evening and meal here. At this point in our trip, we have a strategy that seems to be working out very well when dining out. We seldom dine at a restaurant on the water but rather a little bit farther away from the tourists. The food always seems to be better at these spots because they don’t have the view to offer so they focus on the food. Also, when you don’t know the local wine in Europe always order the house wine because it’s always good in Europe (especially in Croatia) and the price is fantastic.
We finally started getting more wind and enjoyed a nice sail from Rab to Pag Island. At this point, we are getting more in tune with Sea Bee and are appreciating our new boat. She handles so well and is proving to be a very comfortable cruiser. We are in love!
Pag island is famous for its Pag cheese. Pag cheese is a hard, distinctively flavored sheep cheese. It is generally regarded as the most famous of all artisan cheeses made in the country and can be found in many markets outside Croatia. The cheese culture in Croatia is not as sophisticated as other European countries like Italy, Spain, and France but we did enjoy the cheese and paired it with delicious Croatian figs, nuts, and honey. It was also interesting to learn a little about what makes this cheese so special. The island of Pag's eastern landscape is dominated by the mountain range on the mainland. It is on these snowy peaks that hot and cold air masses, and gives birth to the Pag Bora - a strong wind that gathers strength as it tumbles down the southern slopes to the sea. The Bora wind then dries and turns into dry salt dust, which scatters all over Pag turning it into a white, salty island. Here the fragrant sage plant thrives and the Pag sheep graze freely eating the wild sage. This gives the local sheep unique qualities and taste in their milk which then permeates the taste of Pag cheese. The island is also famous for its tasty lamb.
There wasn't too much happening in Pag but we did enjoy a nice swim at a nearby beach, bought some of its cheese and the next morning enjoyed another great sailing day down to Zut.
The island of Zut is near the Kornati Islands which is described in the previous blog (Part 1) and is one of my favorite spots in Croatia. The look and feel of the area is similar to Kornati but slightly more green. It’s not in the national park so we don’t have to spend $100 per day to stay here. Zut is a rustic and barren island without a lot of development and the surrounding water is a brilliant beautiful blue. We tied Sea Bee up to a mooring ball in the large bay. These mooring balls are owned by a private restaurant. The custom is to have drinks or dinner at the restaurant and then you can stay for free on their mooring balls overnight. We immediately liked the laid-back vibe here. No one on a dingy rushed over from the restaurant to tell us to come ashore to their restaurant or collect money to stay at the mooring ball if we didn't want to eat at their restaurant. We ended up coming ashore and having a fabulous dinner at the family-run restaurant called Konoba BAIN. We loved the bay and area so much + needed a chill-out day so we stayed a second night on the mooring ball and did a BBQ onboard. No one from the restaurant came to collect money the second night. They were busy with plenty of other guests dining at their restaurant and were okay if we stayed another night onboard our boat. We can't recommend this spot enough. My pics don't do this spot justice so here is a link below from a YouTube video that does a great job captures this area.
After leaving Zut we headed to the Krka Waterfalls!
The Krka Waterfalls are one of the most popular sites in Croatia. Located only one hour drive from Split or Zadar – this stunning attraction can quickly become an over-crowded zoo. Our tip is to arrive first thing in the morning as soon as the park opens and before the tour buses show up. On a sailboat, we got to arrive via another route – the Krka river!
It was our first time sailing into a river and it was a beautiful and exciting experience. We left the sea near the city of Sibenik. We passed submarine tunnels here which were built during the German occupation in World War II. The former Yugoslavian army was based here for almost 50 years during the period of communism and used these tunnels to hide in.
Later as the river narrowed, we went under bridges and powerlines which looked so close to the top of our mast, we had to hold our breath as we went under. We knew we had 10 meters to spare but it looked too close! Mussel and oyster farms lined the shore all along the way and at one point we went through a deep but narrow river gorge – just stunning. We arrived at the charming city of Skradin - the city of swans! As soon as we docked our boat at the ACI Marina a family of swans came right over to check us out. As we looked around the marina and the bay there were swans everywhere. We don’t have many swans in California so I was very intrigued with how friendly and bold these birds are. But be cautious of swans, we saw two people get attacked by them. Respect the swans!
Sibenik was one of the highlights of Croatia. Traveling up the Krka River by sailboat, exploring the waterfalls, and enjoying "swan city" was very memorable. We decided to spend two nights here and moved the boat to a nearby mooring ball to have an extra day to chill and swim with the swans. We also rented bikes to take to the waterfalls which was a lot of fun. This area has the second-highest density of lavender in Europe, hence the high frequency of wasps and bees in the area. You will find ladies selling all kinds of lovely lavender products. But the most interesting thing we learned about this area is thanks to Nikola Tesla. The first European hydroelectric power plant was built right here in Croatia. It was put into operation two days after the world's first hydroelectric power plant at Niagara Falls was put operation.
After the Krka waterfalls, we sailed to the city of Trogir. Now one of the interesting things we have been seeing everywhere in Croatia are tons of men-only charters. Mostly Russian, German, and Croatian men seem to be doing this here. All the buddies getting together to have a wild week partying on a sailboat. In our experience when we chartered in such places as BVI, Turkey, and Greece (outside families) we mostly saw couples chartering a boat together. Well, the "men boats" have been VERY entertaining for us and a little scary at times because of the very heavy drinking involved while sailing. To give you an example one boat full of drunk Russians came into a marina so wasted that the captain just passed out immediately on the deck after docking the boat (and of course it was a bad docking). The crew wobbled past our boat and almost fell off the dock as they tried to help each other walk straight. About 10 minutes later a police boat arrived on the scene, docked next to the drunk boat, and proceeded on board. We walked by a few minutes later to find the captain playing cards with the police! Another great scene we witnessed was on this sail to Trogir. One of the “men boats” sailed by us in the open sea (German flagged) – one man was sitting on the bow dangling his feet towards the water, another naked and sunbathing right under the mast, the transom was down at the stern of the boat with a dude sitting on a camping chair, another guy daggling his feet in the water next to him and the captain dancing and drinking beers at the helm. I SO wish I had a good picture to capture this moment of excellent seamanship. These are just a couple of encounters we had with the many "men boats" sailing the Croatian waters.
Trogir was a cute town and we enjoyed an amazing truffle hamburger here but our main reason to stay here was just to overnight so we could get into Split early the next morning and have all day in Split to explore and take care of some boat needs. We wanted to buy some boat products and items at marine stores.
Sailing into Split on Sea Bee meant a great deal to Kivanc. Split was the home base for Kivanc when he took his first trip to Croatia to look for our boat back in January 2020. He was happy to return to this beautiful city and on his sailboat.
Split is most famous for Diocletian’s Palace. It’s an ancient palace built for the Roman emperor Diocletian in the fourth century AD. It forms about half the old town of Split. While it is referred to as a "palace" because of its intended use as the retirement residence of Diocletian. About half of it was dedicated for Diocletian's personal use, and the rest housed the military garrison so the structure resembles a large fortress.
Today Split is a haven for mega yachts and party-goers. We saw some incredible, over-the-top superyachts in our marina with supermodels on them. There is a big yachty scene here and also a good food scene. We had some excellent food that was innovative and refreshing compared to all the typical Croatia food we have been eating the last few months. I’m not a big city lover so besides the good food Split offered, this wasn’t my favorite stop along our route. One fun surprise was a friend of mine happened to be in Split when we were there so we were able to connect and show him our new boat/new home and have a fun dinner out.
The next day we sailed from Split over to Milna on the island of Brac. Milna is a very charming village situated in a deep bay. As you enter the bay there are three marinas right next to each other – one to the left and two to the right. After we radioed the ACI Milna marina we saw a dockhand waving and flagging us down – showing us where to dock our boat. After we docked our boat and were enjoying a beer in the cockpit, we looked around and things didn’t make sense. The dockhand wasn’t wearing the typical white ACI polo shirts, I couldn’t find the ACI marina WIFI network on my phone and we didn’t see an ACI marina sign anywhere. We quickly discovered we docked at the wrong marina! They tried to get us to stay but we explained we had a reservation at ACI and wanted to leave. Turns out after moving our boat to the ACI marina the receptionist there explained this trick happens all the time. The other marina next door hears the radio requests on channel 17 to ACI and comes out waving down unknowing boaters to try and lure them into their marina. Lesson learned when multiple marinas are next to each other.
Besides having a reservation at the ACI marina the other reason we wanted to leave was to get away from our new neighbors who docked right next to us. Everyone into sailing and boating knows we sailors all love to watch each other dock a boat and complement or critique the captain when he/she comes in. Kivanc is a natural at docking in all wind conditions and now has the stern in first & Med mooring down like a European pro. Marina procedures are not my forte and I’m always very nervous doing them, so I have sympathy when I see someone struggling. This couple next to us made over a dozen crazy attempts to dock their boat, in very light to no wind I might add. They came in hot every time, didn't know how to get the boat out of reverse to slow the boat down, they hit the wall a couple of times - ouch! They didn't know how to throw lines off a boat to the dockhand, they all landed in the water and I'm surprised a line didn't get into the prop. They also didn't know how to tie off morning lines to their bow. It was the scariest and painful thing I have ever seen + the wife was screaming and yelling at her husband and the poor dockhand the whole time. They were not having any fun on their charter vacation and I thought each day must be going like this for them. Yikes! We couldn’t move away from them fast enough.
As we left Brac, we sailed past the island of Hvar. We went to Hvar in May during one of our first passages and were one of the only sailboats here. We came again in early June at the beginning of this 30 - day Croatia tour and noticed more sailors on the sea but still quiet. We can tell you now that tourism and sailing are happening in full force here in July 2021. We no longer have Croatia to ourselves.
We decided to anchor and return to a lovely bay on the west end of Korcula Island for the evening. The last time we were here was the end of May and it was just us and one other boat. This evening was a different story – over 30 of us!!! Plus some boats came in the evening and couldn’t find a spot to drop their hook and left. Kivanc was not happy when the port authority approached us and asked for money to anchor. Most sailors think like us – we understand paying for a mooring ball that offers peace of mind and safety and there is work involved to maintain a mooring ball. But we think it's ridiculous to be charged for anchoring. Again, anything involving sailing or boats in Croatia is expensive. We had a very rollie night with high winds and with so many boats tightly anchored nearby who didn’t check their anchors after they dropped (just like with docking, we of course watch each boat when they come in near us). We were very worried someone might drag and hit us. Thankfully no one did and we picked up the hook in the morning and sailed back to Slano. We had strong winds and were on a downwind sail the whole 50 nautical miles back home, so in 12 hours we were able to make it back to our slip by sunset!
After we docked, a man who was on a charter boat and was overnighting in our marina for the evening saw the Sea Bee decals on the side of our boat and came over to ask if we are Danielle and Kivanc. He turned out to be a very nice man from Germany who found our channel on YouTube and is also in the market for a sailboat in the Med.
We had an extraordinary 30 days sailing and exploring Croatia but were exhausted being on the go constantly. We are now happy to be back in Slano and we received a very warm welcome from our new friends at this marina.
After cleaning and some boat maintenance, we will chill out, find some time to edit and create a couple more videos on our YouTube Channel and get ready for our brothers to visit us from California.
Here is a quick recap and some key takeaways from our recent 30-day sailing experience and almost 3 months in Croatia now. Bottom line, Croatia is one of the most beautiful places we have ever been + an absolute dream to sail. The landscape is so varied and different in each region - one of the benefits of being a long vertical country. The wine is fantastic and of excellent value! The food is very good and the seafood is so fresh but not a lot of variety in how they prepare their dishes. People are nice, pleasant, and helpful. You feel safe all the time!!! A feeling we didn't have in California. The negative for us is how expensive everything is connected to the sailing lifestyle. Croatia caters to the mega yacht market and huge charter fleets. After those two markets, you have folks who privately own their boats and keep them at marinas here throughout the year but just come down for the summer/season to sail them. There is only one other full-time liveaboard at our marina and we only met one other full-time cruiser in all our travels around Croatia. He has since left Croatia and is now sailing in Spain. Our original plan was to stay here for a year but we ran the numbers and it doesn’t make sense. Plus we would love to connect with more liveaboards and be part of a sailing community. Charter people are sailing with their friends/family and it’s their quick vacation of the year, so they tend to keep to themselves. Stay tuned, more to come on our plans and where the wind will take us and Sea Bee.
Here are some interesting data points on costs during our 30-day sailing passage. One important thing to note is we are club members with ACI Marina and they were running a special that we took advantage of. All club members could stay at their sister marinas in Croatia for free up until June 30. Therefore, all our marina stays were free but if we were to pay I listed the costs below.
Cost Summary from our 30-day passage throughout Croatia
18 nights – ACI Marinas - 13,679 HRK or $2,161.34 USD (If we were to pay)
Note: ACI Marinas vary in price according to location and quality. They ranged from $95 to $190 USD per night.
3 nights we paid for anchorages/mooring balls 700 HRK ($110 USD)
8 nights were free at anchorages/mooring balls (note we got away with a few extra free nights because the restaurants that manage the mooring balls were not open for the season yet)
Given the numbers above to sail around the country, our monthly marina fees at our home base marina, the fact that we would need to spend $5,000 - $6,000 USD (for both of us) to buy into the Croatian health care system if we were to stay for a year, and the fact that food and beverage costs are similar to California (the exception is with wine - great deal here) - Croatia is simply not a destination for the liveaboard sailor on a fixed budget. But it is a magical place to come and sail - for however long you and your wallet can afford it.
If you didn't catch Part 1 here is the link: