2021 SEASON 5 : Planning for a Croatian Cruise Begins

As we slowly get the boat back to cruising mode and start thinking about sunny days and warm water (like the above photo from Greece in season 4), we turn our thoughts to future cruising plans and Croatia. Currently Croatia is open for sailing with a negative PCR test within 72 hours of arrival, and restaurants and bars are open.

There have been many reports in the cruising forums over the last few years about how expensive and difficult it can be to cruise in Croatia. There are very specific formalities for arriving and departing, and steep fines if you don’t comply. Apparently some area’s charge for anchoring which has been free most everywhere, and we saw the national park fee’s reported at around 100 euro per day (eek!) for a 45 foot boat back in 2018, in Mljet, Lastovo. https://www.noonsite.com/place/croatia/formalities/

That said, there are 718 islands to explore (and 389 islets), and from what we’ve heard from the people who have cruised up there, it’s well worth it and shouldn’t be missed. We recently sat down with the Marina Manager “Roddy” from Porto Montenegro who used to live in Zadar Croatia. He kindly went over some charts with us and highlighted some interesting places that were off the usual cruising route.

In our initial planning, we thought we would get to the Northern part of the country in the Spring as quickly as possible, squeeze in a trip to Venice and meander back down through the islands. Further research indicated that the Bora (strong North wind), continues to blow hard in the North through early summer..hard like 80 knots! After talking with Roddy, we think our Spring cruise will be focused around the Southern groups of islands and mainland coast. You can’t see it all in one season, but we should get a good feel for the country and experience what may be some of the best cruising yet… Fingers are crossed for the Season 6 kick off with a Croatian Cruise!