Sailing Croatia

Krka National Park

We left Montenegro around 1:30pm with a rainstorm on our stern. We had great sailing up to Cavtat, the first port of entry into Croatia. We were a bit uneasy, as we heard there are guys who demand to handle your lines as you tie up and then payment for doing so. As we backed up to the quay, sure enough a guy was there waiting for us. Fortunately, there were quite a few other boats tying up, much larger than us. He then noticed Zach jumping off to catch our lines, and so he moved on to the other larger (and more profitable) yachts. Tying up was easy and soon Jared was off to go check us in to the country. About 30 minutes later, we were casting off the lines and pointed in the direction of a free anchorage around the corner. Croatia jacked up their prices, including the cruising tax this year. In addition, they laid claim to most of the anchorages, forcing sailors to pay no matter if they anchored or took a buoy.

Cavtat customs quay (left) and anchorage around the corner (right).

We were lucky enough to receive a map created by fellow sailors showing Google pins of all the free anchorages. There are hundreds of them! So far, they have all been fantastic and we haven't had to pay a cent.

Exploring the tidepools in Cavtat.

After dropping the hook, we had dinner and went to bed to the cheers of the nearby soccer fans watching the World Cup. The next day, we wandered around Cavtat. It reminded us of Pacific Grove, where the forest meets the sea. The kids explored tide pools and discovered an octopus changing colors as it navigated the pools and rocks.

After a nice walk, we ate a late lunch at a nice cafe, stocked up at the local produce market, and bought sim cards (unlimited data for a week for about 11us, so we wouldn't use up our project fi data--needed to backup 400 gb on our one drive, and this would cost way too much on our current plan).

A pirate ship ghosts past before the storm.

We hauled anchor and sailed over to Sunset beach, an anchorage off Dubrovnik. We spent the next day just lounging around, swimming, and took the kids to the floating water park nearby. Later on, we walked into the old town. It was similar to Kotor, with the medieval architecture and old world atmosphere. We walked along the famous fortress walls and were treated to stunning views of the city and sea. It was a pretty warm day and Sunny was pampered by quite a few cafe owners, who wanted to pet her and offer her cold water to drink. We always bring water for her, but Sunny lapped up the extra attention! We found a cool bookstore and the kids found some new treasures to add to their library.

Aquaparks are at most anchorages. RA in the background.

The next anchorage was in Zaton, which was quite a windy place. The Bora tends to funnel through here at high speeds. We liked the area, as it was peaceful and had great hiking trails nearby, but we sure did dry our laundry at record speeds while there!

Zaton town anchorage.

From Zaton, we visited Korcula / Mljet. Due to weather, we stayed there two nights and then booked it north.

Two ways to provision near Hvar: local produce market (left) and grocery boat (right).

We were treated to a gorgeous sunset.

Happy boat kids!

Hvar was the next destination, as we heard we could fill our cooking gas bottle there. We anchored off the archipelago and stayed a few days, as it was so lovely. We met up with another boat family, s/v Wind, so of course the kids spent most of each day happily playing. We caught another soccer game in Hvar town with the Wind crew and the kids spent the evening playing soccer in the old courtyard. How cool is that, playing with kids from around the world! Futbol knows no language barriers.

Kids playing futbol in the courtyard.

After saying farewell to our new friends (we had to make tracks north and they were meeting friends south), we sailed over to Starigrad, still on Hvar, but around the corner. This is a very well-protected inlet with lots of little bays to anchor in. We found a secluded spot and really enjoyed it there. We found coral for the first time in a long while and lots of fish!

Anchorage near Starigrad.

A short dinghy ride brought us over to Starigrad town, where we walked about a mile or so to get the gas bottle refilled. At first the guy wasn't sure he had the correct fitting for our Greek tank, but then Jared showed him he had it backwards and it was set to go. So handy, this husband of mine is!

Carrying the gas bottle to the filling station (left) and entering the station (right).

Starigrad quay.

Primosten (view from the boat)

Central town garden, Primosten.

We left Hvar the following day for Primosten. It was reputed to have a nice anchorage and quaint little town. We loved it here and spent the next few days swimming between the beach and the boat. We were lucky to meet up with another boat family, s/v Spacegrazer! Again, the kids had a blast playing water games.

Water babies!

Weather was changing and so while we would have loved to remain in Primosten a little longer, we had to move. We sailed on up to Sibenik and into the Krka river to see the famous waterfalls. Wow, what a place!

Anchored in the river and we found more kids!

We anchored off the river in a peaceful little bay the first night and then motored our way through the narrow river channel to the lake. We found another little bay to spend the night, as the winds were gusting into the 30s and we needed to find shelter. So calm it was, in that little branch off the lake! We found a little market for groceries, a bakery, and enjoyed a hike around the forest.

Tunnels along the channel walls and many mussel and oyster farms! They bring the fresh seafood to your boat!

We transited underneath two bridges on our journey upriver.

Skradin anchorage and mooring field. Swans are EVERYWHERE! 

Early the following morning, we sailed up to Skradin town and picked up a marina buoy. The winds were still gusting and we didn't want to leave the boat at anchor while we toured the falls.

We hadn't even had a line secured to the buoy when a marina employee was at our bow to assist. 400 kuna later, we packed a lunch and drinks, bought our tickets, and were on the water taxi to the falls.

Krka waterfalls.

Krka Waterfalls is part of the National Park and is well worth a trip! A truly magical place with wandering streams and hundreds of waterfalls. We hiked over the bridge by the large falls and spent most of the day wandering around the paths observing all sorts of wildlife and historical artifacts. The mills are still functioning and the kids were astonished to see the corn grinding away under the power of the water. This field trip turned into quite the educational experience.

A few times, we would all sit down and dangle our feet above the cool water, watching dragonflies flit around, fish swishing their fins back and forth against the current (we compared how the fish in the stronger current had to swim a bit faster in order to accomodate), birds singing, and frogs croaking messages to their sweethearts.

After a snack, we all enjoyed a dip in the river and playing near the falls. The water was cool and refreshing. Jared and I laid out towels on the grass while the kids played.

A few hours later, we were back at the boat to change and go back ashore for dinner. We spent the remainder of the evening wandering around the town, playing on the playground (we found a zipline!), throwing the frisbee for Sunny, and eating ice cream in the shade.

Next morning, we sailed back over to a bay near Sibenik town. I took Zach ashore with me on a mission to score some appliances (ice maker, hand blender, and spiralizer). The ones we own are for a 110v connection, and since we are selling these, we wanted to replace with 220v. Now we can make smoothies and all sorts of stuff with these new gadgets. We treated the kids to the large waterpark the following day. We spent all day going on the water slides and lazy river with them. After they made some new friends, they left us to go play and so Jared and I spent the rest of the time on our own. It was sort of like being on a date!

Dalmatia waterpark.

Sailing by the famous sea organ!

A couple of nights later, we sailed up to Zadar. I've always wanted to see the sea organ and here we found ourselves sailing right by it! We anchored off Olive Island the first night there, caught the World Cup game with the locals, and then found a nice spot near the sea organ the following day. When the town goes to sleep at night, you can hear the organ softly playing. It put us all right to sleep!

Zadar at night (sea organ is to the far right, where as the Greeting to the Sun solar art is the blue light (color changing light display).

Sea organ artwork.

We are spending a few more days here as we await boat parts. Uber is functioning here and so I plan on using that to get us stocked up on provisions (having a car to tote groceries makes all the difference)! From here, we will sail on to Rijeka to finalize documents for receiving our cargo (it's been a year since we have seen those boxes, so it will be like Christmas when we get them).

As of this blog post:

Countries visited: 3: Greece, Montenegro, Croatia
Nautical Miles sailed: 28,000