Day 1: Kremik Marina
Having departed PYC by coach at midday and following an uneventful flight to Split, 34 of us arrived at Kremik marina about 20.00 and were greeted by Brad (skipper), Sanna (hostie) and Hank/Skippy (engineer). We moved into our boats and then off to the Marina restaurant for a late meal, plenty of Croatian beer – and bed.
Day 2: Rogoznica Town Quay
Briefing at 09.00hrs then everyone was shown over their boat by a member of the lead crew. Bellatrix (us) was awarded the Joker flag for being last to turn up for the briefing – we just went to the wrong place! Then off on our first sail to Rogoznica, just a few miles down the coast. Wind SE F4, so a beat to this first port. We moored alongside the town quay next to fishing vessels at about 15.45. A popular destination so the flotilla needed to be in before 16.00 even this early in the season. Rogoznica sits in a large enclosed bay where this early 16th century fishing village was built on an island. The harbour is set in a wooded sheltered basin and has been connected to the mainland by a causeway. There are lovely views across the bay from the church, found at the top of a steep winding footpath bordered by fragrant mimosa trees. . Dinner was arranged at a local restaurant by the lead crew but a meander around the village and beyond the causeway revealed plenty of choice. Sumartin (Chris and Sue Fielding) were lured into one hopeful restaurant and plied with strong alcohol in anticipation of a booking!
Day 3: Trogir Town Quay
Destination Trogir- a wonderful ancient city. Briefing at 09.00 then left about 10.00 aiming to arrive by 14.00 to ensure we got a space on the town quay at this World Heritage Site. Light winds so we motored for most of the way. Berthed alongside just below the bridge that links Trogir to Ciovo. Due to a misunderstanding about where to berth (that’s my story) a fender was inadvertently dropped and disappeared under the bridge. Whilst Hank pursued this at full speed in the dinghy, a local fisherman got there first and it was never seen again – Bellatrix retained the Joker flag for the second day. The flotilla was left to forage out eateries within the walls of Trogir. Surprisingly difficult and distracting as there were lovely Italianate courtyards offering seafood delights, chic cafes and unmissable ice cream parlours. Too many decisions…plus great retail opportunities at the local market that sold everything from honeyed grappa to gigantic dried starfish.
Day 4: Valska Marina, Milna, Brac Island
Destination Milna on the island of Brac. Wind a gentle westerly F2, giving a nice broad reach. Anchored for lunch in small bay (Stipanski) with Skradin (Nigel and Sandy Wrigley) and than on to berth stern to in Valska marina in Milna at about 18.30hrs. First experience of (very muddy) lazy lines. Great meal in back street restaurant, festooned with fishing nets and nautical stuff. They were obviously taken unawares by our invasion but dished up freshly made delicious fish and pasta dishes with a smile. Milna is a soporific harbour, with a relaxed welcoming Mediterranean atmosphere and surrounded by wooded hills. It is the most sheltered harbour on Brac. Weary grand houses overlooking the fishing port are now being carefully restored to their former splendour when Milna was temporarily the capital of a Russian protectorate during the Napoleonic wars. Watch out for beguiling invitations into local wine cellars; whilst a craft gallery, next to the bank, sells the work of European artists that have relocated to this inspiring island.
Day 5: Starigrad Town Quay, Hvar
Destination Starigrad on Hvar island. Joker flag awarded to Taurus – can’t quite remember why? John accepted the flag with a song about John Herbert “sailing up his transom”? Shopping and coffee in Milna before we left, including a visit to a small winery where we bought Babic wine, “grappa” – the drink for the men and “prosec” (or was it dilute Prozac?)– a drink for the ladies! Finally left at about 13.00. Wind S F3. Berthed stern to the town quay in Starigrad. The town is a popular holiday destination with Tito style hotels along the water’s edge however the town itself is a warren of medieval alleyways paved with marble polished by centuries of wear. Good mix of interesting restaurants, small shops including a Turkish bakery and ice cream parlour. Pizza for dinner whilst others discovered restaurants along the quay or down the narrow medieval alleyways.
Day 6: Rogac, Solta Island
Destination Rogac on island of Solta. Leaving Starigrad, Gemini (Westons and Robinsons) achieved the first (and only) flotilla prop wrap with a lazy line or two. Hank dived in and saved the day. Light winds so a motor/sail arriving at 3.15pm. Small town quay, lovely clear water so lots of swimming, but water only about 18 deg C. Punch party on the quay laid on by the lead boat, then a group meal in “the” restaurant up the hill – very good – told repeatedly that ‘grilled bass was the house speciality’ and it worked, the bass was excellent and virtually everyone ordered it! Staggered, fortunately down hill, to the song of a night jar, or was it a nightingale?
Skippy was now working overtime to keep apace of the Gibsea maintenance (rebuild) program. For some boats he was not just a thirsty antipodean engineer but was now regarded as part of the family…
Day 7: Maslinica, Solta Island
Destination Maslinica. Gemini were awarded the Joker for their prop wrap and Liz & John awarded “engineer’s” award for keeping Skippy busy all week. They were only here for a week so left to return to Kremik and Sandy left on the ferry to catch a flight to Amsterdam for the weekend. We left about 11.30 – Gemini devised new “unberthing” procedure involving lots of extra lines – all just to avoid another prop wrap and Joker flag. Berthed about 14.00 in Maslinica, stern to outside lovely old castle and restaurant. Dinner in a great restaurant at end of the harbour, served by the beautiful Dolores. We discovered that the castle was hosting dinner for 200 delegates to a dermatologists conference – so went back and joined in by dancing on the quay! Cura (Mike and Pauline Watts) and Skradin anchored off and missed the fun but had a peaceful night.
Day 8: Town Quay, Primosten Island
The morning briefing on Maslinca Quay warned of the Yugo and true to predictions we enjoyed 25kn winds and a roller coaster goosewinged run to Primosten. Mooring stern to and with lazylines in 25kn SE was exciting but well co-ordinated by lead crew, harbour master and other flotilla members. Rovinj (Mark and Mindy Fisher) jumped ship and swapped their ailing Gibsea for a brand new Bavaria 33 (Cassiopeia) at Kremik Marina and arrived just in time to enjoy the fun. Primosten is a pretty town heaped onto a small steep island topped off with a white belfry that can be seen from a great distance. A causeway was built in 1564 to link it to the mainland that has a supermarket, banks and a good fruit and vegetable market. Dining at the harbourside pizzeria was accompanied by wide screen coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest, won this year by the Finns much to the surprise of all and delight of Sanna, our Finnish hostie! The local Babic wine at about £5.00 a litre made is almost bearable…
Joker flag repatriated to John Herbert and his crew for bringing the flotilla into disrepute by sailing with bimini, washing and fenders…though they were hastily stowed as the Yugo hit!
Day 9: Zlarin Island Harbour
The Yugo left choppy seas and was also blamed for the loss of Karbuni’s (David and Lynn Ellis) chart…they graciously accepted the Joker flag for the day’s 22M sail to Zlarin. Bellatrix along with Cassiopeia anchored in V. Minnie for lunch and another chilly swim in the deceptively azure bay.
Zlarin is a simple fishing village on an island inhabited since Neolithic times. It is also known as the Coral Island because of its coral diving history. The Coral Museum is worth visiting whilst the harbour has rocky swimming areas shaded by pine trees.
Day 10: Skradin Marina
Zlarin to Skradin - a 11M run through sheltered inland rivers and lakes with a SE F3. Helen and Richard Weston awoke to their boat decorated to the hilt in honour of their Coral wedding anniversary - photo call - on the Coral island of Zlarin! The departure of Malinska (Nick and Sandra) was much delayed due to the loss of their jib halyard on their departure from Primosten the previous day. Both Sanna and Brad enjoyed a 360 view of the pretty harbour from the bosun’s chair and temperatures in excess of 27C for almost an hour as they struggled to rethread the halyard – major beer fine and Joker flag!
Moored stern to on marina pontoon in Skradin. This is the gateway to the Krka National Park and it is the point that private craft have to moor up and the journey continues by pleasure boat from the town quay. The approach to this touristy town is spectacular taking you under two bridges, through gorges and across an inland lake. The celebratory mood continued with the return of Sandy from Amsterdam and the co-incidence of her birthday (any excuse!). Discovered Croatian ‘Champagne’ is extremely drinkable at £3 per bottle…Sandy and Nigel’s Gibsea hosted the whole flotilla and managed to submerge its’ transom in the process of this hospitality. Onto Restaurant Bonaca for yet another fine fish dinner with great views of the gorge.
Day 11: Skradinski Buk, Krka Falls (Day Trip)
The Krka river is 73km long passing through a unique geological terrain. The journey continues to Skradinski Buk, a 500 metre stretch of the river with 17 mini cascades falling over limestone sediment with shady pools, reed beds and semi submerged forests. The Park itself is unobtrusively developed around these natural features with wooded walkways providing beautiful vistas of flora and fauna whilst integrating the ancient mills and restored ‘working’ village with a café beside a waterfall and mill pool. Local peasants set stalls to sell dried figs, sugared nuts, honeys and rosemary grappa, all the product of the unusually warm, moist micro climate. From Skradinski Buk there is a further boat trip to the head of the falls at Roski Slap via Visovac Monastry set on an island in the river. Roski Slap has primitive facilities but the icy whirlpool foot spas and local beer are worth the journey!
The dinner at the end of this enjoyable day was arranged by Helen and Richard to celebrate their anniversary at ‘Toni’s’ where we savoured the traditional ‘Peka’, a pot roast of salted pork, potatoes and onions, cooked for two hours on a bed of white hot charcoals, all washed down with the ubiquitous house grappa.
Day 12: Prvic Luka
Sailed close hauled out of Krka gorge and tacked into the harbour entrance with an increasing NW wind. Enjoyable meal at adjacent Restaurant Mareta after imbibing yet more Croatian gin and very strange ginger flavoured tonic on board Sumartin, definitely an acquired taste (we were all working at it)!
The bay hugging simple fishing village of Prvic Luka is directly opposite Zlarin harbour, just half a mile away. There are lovely views of the surrounding islands and mainland from the island’s coastal path. Prvic’s 15th century church is famous because the Croatian genius Faust Vrancic is buried there. He was a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci and worked on many innovative designs whilst in Italy with him.
Day 13: (Free Sail) As above or Vodice Town
Received bad weather warning from lead crew predicting NE or NW 4 to 20 knots but decreasing in the afternoon. In reality the winds increased throughout the day to NW 25kn. All the flotilla boats ran for what shelter they could. Sumartin welcomed us back to Primosten, whilst others remained at Prvic Luka, Zlarin or the protection of Vodice marina.
Day 14: Kremick Marina
After the short sail back to Kremik, and general boat cleaning we all took the bus to Primosten for the farewell dinner and prize giving. Lead crew Brad, Sanna and Skippy were awarded an antique chart highlighted with the incidents of the week, no reflection on the age and decrepitude of Sailing Holidays’ own charts…. Helen, Katie, Jan and Richard had their prop-wrap captured as a cartoon by Sanna… John Herbert seemed to adopt the Joker as headwear in good spirits after discovering his “smalls” hoisted aloft. Bad Taste Shirts made a strong showing and became a class of their own. The award - a nautical papier mache work of art- that attracted the eye of Customs and Excise - went home with Barrie French, whilst Barrie and Angela also picked up the converted PYC Penknife for Intrepid Exploration for their daring sprint to the farthest flung islands of the Kornatis.
Both Mark and Nigel were awarded the Hon. Harbour Master status by both the Lead Crew and PYC members, for their earnest efforts to berth all the boats irrespective of space or Sun Sail flotillas! Many toasts were raised and a glorious holiday celebrated!
In summary we all enjoyed a great two weeks in Croatia. We were lucky with the weather with both the previous and following weeks experiencing rain and high winds. Croatia has much to recommend it – the islands are beautiful, the sailing is great and the people very hospitable. But it is developing rapidly – all mooring is charged, varying from about £10 on a town quay to marinas at UK prices. There are huge numbers of charter and flotilla boats and is apparently very overcrowded in high season when the Italians flock in as well. So go soon - preferable in early or late season – before it changes too much!
Dave Targett and Suzanne Gianella. Photos by Dave, Suzanne and Jan |
