Croatia Cruising 

RYA member Louise Franklin wrote to us describing her favourite cruising ground: the beautiful Dalmatian islands

The first taste of what’s to come tantalisingly unfolds below you as you fly into Spilt– island after island pebbledash the azure seas with an arrangement of yachts dotted between them lazily meandering from one to another.

My foreign cruising experience before discovering Croatia in 2009 had amounted to happy pottering around the French coast, but there was something so captivatingly simple yet stunning about Croatia’s Dalmatian coastline that my husband and I couldn’t wait to get back there again this year.

Unspoilt charm

If you’re after somewhere that still remains largely unscathed by the package tourism rat race, where life happens at the slowest of paces and the locals simply just live, the Croatian Adriatic is it.

It’s an ideal place to cruise with kids because the distances between the islands are short. So you can easily visit somewhere different every night, with stop overs on the way for swimming, rowing and a leisurely lunch in a beautiful secluded bay. The mountains running along the coastline create a gritty and dramatic backdrop.

Croatia does not have the cheapest place mooring prices but the islands numerous bays do offer wonderful overnight anchorages, conditions permitting, if that’s what you prefer.

The islands to me are somewhere where you get the sense that the wants of the overseas visitor are still not priority number one.

Spilt

We started from the city of Split from where we picked up our chartered Jeanneau 33i. Spilt is an amazing city in its own right that’s worth spending some time looking around.

When you fly in it looks a bit ugly but when you step off the water taxi from the marina onto the amazing palm tree-line esplanade, dazzling with intriguing architecture, its real identity emerges.

The long deserted palace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian forms the city’s inner core and when you walk around the city’s tiny streets you stumble across fascinating remains of the palace from lion statues to colonnades.

Islands of Brac and Svent Klement

From Split we headed for the island of Brac with the port town of Milna our destination. The harbour at Milna is the most sheltered on Brac and has good recently modernised facilities.

Milna is typical of so many Croatian harbours in terms of its architectural appeal, range of traditional quayside tavernas – konobas – and bars and local shops to stock up at. It also has the most amazing church, but beware; if you are moored up in front of it the bells are very loud!

The island of Svent Klement, meanwhile, proved an ideal stopover for the kids, with playgrounds, great walks, rock pools and total tranquillity.

You can walk from the Palmizana Marina to the other side of the island in 10 minutes where there is a lovely bay, beach and open air restaurants. Or alteratively you can sail round in 30 minutes and drop anchor.

Solta

Solta is one of the smallest inhabited islands in Croatia and in Maslinica they have a gem of a town, where we enjoyed steak to die for while the kids ran around in a quiet traffic-free square. Maslinica provides good all round shelter although in strong westerlies some swell finds its way into the harbour.

These are just three of the many islands that there are to explore With so many to chose from you can always go with the prevailing conditions and avoid taking the wind on nose!

  

  

Weather matters

It was early June both of the times that I went to Croatia. The weather was  hot in general but changeable with rain and the threat of an occasional local Bora to keep you on your toes.

The first year I went we didn’t take any wet weather gear – big mistake! We experienced the biggest thunderstorm I have ever been in and spent a night spinning around on our mooring as the wind stormed down the mountains and whirled around Hvar harbour on the island of Hvar!

The big benefit of visiting in June is it’s not too busy. So you get to take full advantage of the sea breezes in the afternoon and still get a good spot on the local quayside as late as 5.00pm.

Whilst temperatures are hot the sea was pretty fresh so I did don my wetsuit before taking the plunge!

All in all Croatia is somewhere you can venture as far or as little as you wish and you will always uncover some hidden gem tucked away on these incredible, beautiful, characterful islands.

Louise Franklin

RYA member