Crew: Geoff, Graciela, Paula and Eduard.
Graciela and I were travelling to the UK to meet Aurelia, our brand new granddaughter and I decided to try out something I have wanted to do for ages, go sailing in Croatia.
I researched the available charter companies, there’s plenty of them, and eventually decided on Sail-Croatia which incidentally was founded by a New Zealander, Grant Seuren. To do a self-skippered charter in Croatia you need to show relevant qualifications and they accepted my NZ Boatmaster, Cruising Skipper and VHF certificates without problems.
The boat I booked was Manilo, a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349 with furling main and genoa, twin rudders, bow thruster, dual steering wheels etc. It was certainly a step up from Halo! I decided to include the optional 4 hour skipper training course in the booking.
Saturday and Sunday ā Split
We arrived at the Split ACI Marina on Saturday afternoon to a cold, wet and windy day and we were welcomed on the boat by a friendly guy with a familiar Kiwi accent! Scott is from the Bay of Islands and has lived in Croatia for 6 years and sailed all his life š Together we went through the detailed boat equipment checklist. Scott would also be doing my skipper training and helping us with itinerary planning.
The plan was to do the training on Sunday morning and head off sailing but the forecast was for continued bad weather with the strong south easterly they call the Jugo. We reluctantly accepted to stay an extra night in Split. We took the opportunity to explore the beautiful city of Split including the Roman ruins in the historic centre.
Monday and Tuesday – Jelsa, Hvar Island
Early Monday morning Scott came down to the boat to do the skipper training with me and Eduard while Graciela and Paula went to the local supermarket. In the Mediterranean the marinas all use stern-to docking with all the boats crammed up against each other’s fenders. We took Manilo out of the dock and practised backing in to the berth and securing the lines. It took me a while to get used to the boat but with Scott’s great instruction I eventually got the hang of it.
Scott gave us some suggestions for places to visit. I had the Croatia charts on my laptop with OpenCPN to track each day’s sailing. Also I had Navionics installed on my phone for route planning. Scott recommended a handy app called Navily which shows all the marinas, moorings, and anchorages in the area and allows you to book and pay for some places directly on the app.
The SE was forecast to come back strongly on Tuesday and Scott suggested we sail down to Jelsa on Hvar Island to stay at a marina there for two nights while the second Jugo blows over. We’re not having much luck with this weather!
We’re off!
We arrived at Jelsa and found the marina. We tied up using my best stern-to docking technique. All went well. Phew. We were conveniently berthed right next to a restaurant called ‘Me and Mrs Brown’.
The next day, Wednesday, we explored the lovely little town of Jelsa and we went for a walk around the coastal track during a break in the the rain. Once we walked out of the bay we were hit by the winds. We were definitely happy to be safely tied up at the marina for the day.
Wednesday – Vlaka, Pakleni Islands
The wind had dropped in the morning so we slipped our lines and headed off to our next destination. A small bay called Vlaka on the island of Sveti Klement in the Pakleni group of islands.
It was still blowing pretty hard once we got out of the shelter of Jelsa bay. We enjoyed an exhilarating run down the Hvarski Kanal with the 20 kts true wind speed (TWS) easterly pushing us along at a great rate of knots.
Vlaka is an almost desolate bay on the island of Sveti Kleme in the Pakleni Otoci, a group of islands at the southernmost tip of the Big Island of Hvar. There is a restaurant called “The Fisherman’s House” which has half a dozen moorings in the bay. We had called ahead to make a booking for dinner in exchange for free use of a mooring. I found the mooring ball a bit different to the NZ style and we had to tie a mooring line around the buoy to secure the boat.
After aperitifs we launched the dinghy and rowed to shore to enjoy a wonderful fish dinner at the restaurant. The owner is a friendly Danish guy who grows much of the food on his farm and also serves at the tables.
Thursday – Milna, Brac Island
After a quiet night we woke to a beautiful warm day with no wind. Summer has arrived at last!
We reluctantly cast off from Vlaka and once we had cleared the Pakleni Kanal, we enjoyed beautiful champagne sailing north towards the gap between Brac and Solta islands.
We had booked the berth at the Marina Kanarija in Milna using the Navily app and on arrival at the marina we did the usual stern-to docking. I’m starting to get good at this now!
Friday – Bobovisce, Brac Island
In the morning before leaving Milna we visited the fuel dock to top up the diesel.
We then motor sailed the short trip round Brac Island to Bobovisce. We tied up to a mooring buoy with its stern line connected to the shore.
Bobovisce is a lovely sleepy little village with one convenience store and one restaurant.
Saturday – Split
We had a 5.30 am start leaving Bobovisce to sail across the strait for our 8am rendezvous with Scott at the ACI Marina in Split. A beautiful day’s sailing. I counted 50 boats of all shapes and sizes around in the Splitski Kanal.
Scott was waiting for us at the marina to help us with our lines. He did a check of the boat – all good.
Apart from the weather in the first half of the week the trip had been great. I had no complaints at all about the boat or the service from the team at Sail-Croatia. Highly recommended!
Halo Log Book 