… the prime bareboat charter on the Dalmatian Coast
Voyage Details: Map with Comments Photo Gallery
Croatia Insights: Before Departing Food and Drink Living Aboard Sailing Stuff
World heritage sites, rocky coastlines, lush green islands, and the best seafood restaurant in the Adriatic mark this bareboat charter out of Split. This is the prime cruising ground in all Dalmatia and makes for an ideal 2 week cruise with a midway turnaround in the world famous city of Dubrovnik. Along the way we stopped in the medieval city of Hvar and the fortified, walled city Korcula, the birthplace of Marco Polo, visited the isolated barren island of Lastovo, holed-up on the lush island of Mljet, and took a flyer to eat in Mali Ston on the Peljesac peninsula. We were even lucky enough to have dolphins swim on our bow wave as we approached the western tip of Brac.
For the August 2004 trip south to Dubrovnik, we are joined by Lisa’s American friends Amy and Ross with their kids and Marcello’s brother Ivan.
It’s a full boat, with plenty of activity with the kids aboard and some adventure: 40kn+ storm the first night, lost glasses, exploding oven door glass, and anchoring challenges. In Gruz, Dubrovnik’s port, our guest leave and it’s just Lisa, Marcello, and myself as we beeline it to Ston to eat at the Kapetanova Kuca Restaurant in Mali Ston, reputed to offer the best seafood in all Croatia. From Ston it is a slow return to Split going as far south as the more remote Lastovo Island. Though mishaps abound in this two week bareboat charter, they serve to make the beautiful places we visited that much more memorable.
Split (Dubrovnik) Insights – We chartered Marita through Manera Yatching a local Croatian broker who represent private owners. The boat was in fantastic condition. Split has large supermarkets for provisioning and resupplying during the cruise was easy in almost all anchorages with Vela Luka (Korcula) and Pomona (Mljet) being primary provisioning stops.
Unfortunately, we motored more than we would have liked during the first week of the trip, but, we were able to do some sailing during the second. Take care when navigating the channel to Ston, though marked, is easy to run aground (we did 50m from the quay). Navigating the channel with proper light is recommended. Most of our anchorages were very protected and didn’t require a line be brought to shore. L. Tiha (Hvar) and U. Mervasica (Ciovo) were the exception as they had significant bounce from sea lane traffic.
Web links:
Fontana’s Restaurant (Trogir)
Kapetanova Kuca Restaurant Review (Mali Ston)
Bareboating the World 