BLOG 3, CROATIA, SPRING 2025
DUBROVNIK
TO SPLIT
23 May to 5 Jun 2025
Our
two previous Spring 2025 Blogs covered the preparation for our forthcoming
cruise of Croatia, our initial passage from ‘our’ boatyard in Aktio
(Greece) via CORFU to Dubrovnik (Croatia), and our recce of Dubrovnik’s
local anchorages, ports and the adjacent mainland.
This Blog covers our cruise north with our younger son Will and family from Dubrovnik to Split.
Route to date including that taken from Dubrovnik
to Split
DUBROVNIK
We moved into Frapa Marina in Dubrovnik’s well-protected ferry, commercial and cruise ship harbour of Gruž to provision, meet up with Will, Lesley and Emmy [WLE] and hopefully get our engine charging system, which was “playing up”, sorted out.
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| Island Drifter [ID] alongside in Marina Frapa, soon after our dawn arrival |
WLE arrived by Uber from Dubrovnik airport, having got up very early to catch their morning flight from Gatwick. They were therefore quite happy to “meet the parents”, unload, sort themselves out, eat takeaway pizzas for supper, and have an early night.
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| Emmy greeting Granny on arrival |
Next morning WLE visited Dubrovnik’s Old City and thoroughly enjoyed doing so. Dubrovnik is Croatia’s most popular tourist destination. It has one of the most perfectly preserved walled cities in Europe. Churches and public buildings blend seamlessly with green-shuttered private houses and its suburbs exude Mediterranean elegance.
Dubrovnik Old City and harbour viewed from hill above
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| Emmy in The Square, Dubrovnik Old City |
Unfortunately we couldn’t join them on their tour because we were sorting out the problem on the boat. Fortunately, however, we’d both visited Dubrovnik (in 1970!) before the Bosnian War and Mike had picked up a boat from there in 2007 for delivery back to the UK.
ŠIPAN ISLAND
Soon
after WLE’s return from touring Dubrovnik, we left Frapa Marina and
refuelled on the nearby minuscule fuel dock before heading north to our first
overnight anchorage. An hour later we were back in our original berth in Frapa
Marina, since the alternator clearly had stopped charging soon after we were
underway. The diesel engineer was recalled by the Marina and he “fiddled” with
the wires and connections. Based on his subsequent multi-meter readings we had
to agree with him that the alternator was now charging and that the batteries
were receiving a charge – only to find out soon after we left again that this
was not the case.
This time we decided to risk continuing to the well-protected harbour of Šipanska on the island of ŠIPAN, recognising that we could always sail back to Dubrovnik if necessary.
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Chart showing the well-protected (other than from NW) anchorage of Šipanska |
With the increasing level of wind (which had been forecast), it proved a lively motor-sail north in choppy seas!
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| Will on the foredeck as we approached Šipanska |
We
finally anchored in the centre of the small port of
Šipanska with
an “angel” on the anchor chain to limit our turning circle because the harbour
was full of buoys. These belong to the local restaurateurs, who clearly place
them to hinder yachts from anchoring and instead encouraged to moor on a quay
(60€) or take a buoy and eat at their restaurants (many €€!).
Early next morning, having identified the fact (and rectified it) that the nut on the positive lead from the alternator was loose, we decided that rather than return yet again to Frapa Marina we would continue north to Polače on the island of MLJET ISLAND since there was a strong favourable southerly wind. As a consequence we enjoyed an excellent sail on a broad reach for the 30 miles to the north end of Mljet Island.
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| Helen helming in strong winds on our passage to Polače on Mljet Island |
Polače is the centre of what is generally considered to be one of the best of the National Island Parks in Croatia.
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| ID at anchor in Polače |
Next morning WLE went ashore, paid the 15€ each (5€ for Emmy) park entrance fee and hired e-bikes to “cycle” around the very attractive salt-water lakes within the heavily wooded park.
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| Emmy and Will cycling along a park trail |
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| Emmy taking a break beside one of the salt-water lakes |
On their return to ID, Will gave Emmy her first “proper” lesson in handling the dinghy and outboard. She took to it like the proverbial duck!
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| WLE setting off for the shore in Polače |
That afternoon we swam off the boat, which was well protected by the surrounding wooded hills.
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| Will setting an example by diving in first |
Later we all went ashore for supper.
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| Supper at Konoba [tavern] Antika |
KORČULA ISLAND
We had planned to move on from Polače for a long day’s sail to the west end of the 40-mile-long island of KORČULA. Given our as yet fully unresolved charging problem, we decided however that discretion was the better part of valour and therefore made a shorter (15 -mile) passage to the ACI Korčula marina at the northeast end of the island, since they advertised “support services”. By this stage we were already hand steering and navigating simply with the boat’s compass and hand-held GPS, having turned off all the electrics, including the Autohelm, to minimise battery usage.
Unfortunately
this strategy also included turning off the fridge which meant, potentially, no
cold beer or wine! Hence an even greater reason to resolve the charging
problem! (Having said that, bags of ice in the fridge kept food and drink cool
enough.)
The historic town of Korčula with its narrow winding streets, old buildings, walls and towers is a fascinating place. Marco Polo is regarded as its most famous son.
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| Korčula marina |
Once berthed, we were introduced to Hrvoje, the marina’s new Technical Manager, who had himself spent 15 years working on large charter sailing boats. After an initial review of the situation, he returned over lunch (in his own time) with his personal tool kit to look at the problem in more detail.
He
eventually identified a loose connection on one of the alternator’s terminals, due
to the fact the terminal’s thread had been burred (in Frapa??) and that the nut
holding the positive lead could easily be shaken loose. He corrected this by
re-cutting the terminal’s thread and putting on a proper locking nut. This
seemed to work when tested with the batteries, although neither the rev counter
nor the alternator output meter (which are connected) registered any evidence
of improved charging, and the power and voltage being produced was
significantly lower than what we would normally have expected. Even so, it
looked as if we could have a workable solution – albeit a temporary one.
While we dealt with our alternator problem, WLE went off to explore the town. There they found an excellent swimming pool in a hotel which was closed for three days for refurbishment. There they enjoyed swimming and sunbathing. The hotel staff raised no objection to their presence – and indeed served them cold drinks!
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| Making good use of an unoccupied hotel's swimming pool! |
That evening we walked up into the Old Walled City where we “celebrated in anticipation” of our possibly changing fortunes at the tiny konoba [tavern] of Fundamenti.
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| Inside Korčula’s walled city |
HVAR
ISLAND
By now we had decided that we simply had
to change our original strategic plan of moving from one anchorage to another.
We could not risk breaking down and failing to get the family to Split
(the second largest city after Zagreb) for their return flight to the UK.
We therefore had to bite the bullet and hop between the extortionately overpriced
marinas where we could at least recharge the batteries, if necessary, overnight
using their shore power. (Having criticised costs in Croatia, we have since read
stories of cruisers of our size being required to pay 400€ per night for a
berth in a Turkish marina!)
We
therefore accepted the situation and booked ahead into the marinas we now
planned to stop at on our route to Split, including our next stop at the
ACI marina at Palmizana, on one of the Pakleni islets off the
40-mile-long, narrow island of HVAR.
The
island of Hvar is a popular holiday destination due to its particularly
mild and sunny climate. Hence it has several large coastal settlements, one of
which, Hvar town itself, is close to Palmizana, from where it is
easy to visit by ferry, as many people do.
On our
passage to ACI’s Palmizana Marina, with all instruments turned off, the
batteries appeared to be maintaining their charge, and we therefore concluded
that the alternator was now at least charging, although at a lower rate. By
chance, en route Mike accidentally leant on and over-revved the throttle and –
SURPRISE! SURPRISE! – the two meters related to the alternator sprang into
life, and the voltage and amps created by the alternator shot up to the
normally expected level!
From
then on, when starting the engine we simply over-revved the throttle, and
everything worked as it should! Why, we
do not yet know.
ACI’s Palmizana Marina is beautifully situated in a well-sheltered natural harbour fringed with pine and palm trees. WLE walked the short distance to the large anchorage on the other side of the island where there was a sandy beach and several bars and restaurants, at one of which, Toto’s, they had lunch.
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| ACI’s Palmizana marina |
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| WLE enjoying lunch in Toto’s Restaurant in Palmizana |
BRAČ ISLAND
The
last marina we booked into before our final passage to Split was ACI
Milna at the western end of Brač Island, some 20 miles away from our objective of Trogir,
a suburb of Split.
The island of BRAČ is the third largest island in the Adriatic and boasts the highest mountain (Vidova Gora, 778m) of the Adriatic Islands. It is said that on a clear day it’s possible to see the Italian coast, some 85 miles away.
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| The church tower at Milna, the bells of which struck on both the hour and half-hour throughout the day and night, with a particularly long peal at 1800hrs! |
The harbour of Milna is well sheltered at the head of a long inlet, a fact recognised by the Russians who based their Adriatic fleet there in the early 19th century. The town has many attractive buildings and is popular with visitors including charter yacht flotillas.
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| Overview of ACI’s Milna Marina |
We ate that evening at Silka 35, one of the many quayside restaurants, in this case a family-run one that WLE had concluded was less unreasonably priced than the others!
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| Mike enjoyed a large locally caught fish, served with traditional marinated mixed vegetables |
TROGIR
We had
originally booked well in advance (and indeed before the charging problem) to
stay on Saturday, the last night of WLE’s holiday, in Trogir Marina, since it
is significantly closer to Split airport than Split itself. We
subsequently had to book for the Friday night in Baotič Marina (on the mainland), since it was
Trogir Marina’s change-over night for its enormous charter fleets and there was
clearly no space for “transient” private yachts!
The “Trogir
area” is a major charter yachting centre, even more so than Split itself
on the other side of the Kastelanski Bay, from which coastal ribbon development
spreads the 20 miles to Trogir and beyond.
Baotič Marina appears to specialise in luxurious large motor yachts with the occasional super-superyacht included for good measure.
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| A few of the many very large motor yachts in Baotič marina |
Since on Saturday we could not enter Trogir Marina before 1700 hrs and had to leave Baotič Marina by 1400 hrs, we moved out to anchor in what used to be the old anchorage adjacent to Baotič Marina, where we all enjoyed a refreshing swim.
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| Emmy “bombing” off ID |
CIOVE
ISLAND
Subsequently we motored the half mile to Trogir Marina on COIVE ISLAND, where, when trying to enter the difficult berth they’d allocated to us, we had a minor ‘interaction’ with an expensive catamaran as a consequence of the strong cross-wind and contra-current combining with ID’s limited capability to reverse in a straight line! Two enthusiastic charter yacht skippers volunteered to come aboard to “show us how to do it” (and indeed Mike was happy to accept their offer, hoping to learn something from them) but they soon realised to their mortification that ID can be a pig to steer and has a mind of her own. They therefore ended up simply ferry-gliding onto the end of a pontoon (which should have been allocated to us in the first place).
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| Interaction with local marineros and charter skippers who’d watched with interest our and their own skippers’ problems berthing ID in a strong cross-wind! |
It
might be of interest to other cruisers in a similar situation to know how Mike
handled the ramifications of the “interaction” with the expensive charter
catamaran. In brief, the Base Manager of the charter fleet implied that the damage
we had caused to his catamaran could cost 800€ to repair. Mike completely
dismissed that valuation and said that as far as he was concerned our respective
insurance companies could sort it out between them. This was precisely what the
charter company did not want, and the manager eventually accepted a 150€ cash
payment “to settle the matter in full”.
As a consequence of the above “events”, one of the most memorable comments of the trip followed Lesley’s observation that “Grandad will need a gin after this!” to which Emmy responded with “And so will I, and I’m only ten!” She later noted in our Visitors Book that this year’s was the “most exciting” of the four cruises she’s now been on with us!
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| Trogir Old Town with the bridge connecting the island to the mainland just visible in the background |
On
Sunday morning WLE left by Uber for Split airport and apart from an hour’s
delay before taking off were back home in London by a reasonable time.
Meanwhile,
we decided to stay another day in the marina to use its excellent facilities,
including in particular its industrial-sized washing machines, and to deal with
various administrative issues while we had shore power and reliable Wi-Fi.
By a
happy coincidence, Eva and Håkan Dettmar, a Swedish couple whom we’d met in
Kefalonia in 2023, had recognised ID as they themselves came into the marina in
their yacht Liv. They came round wearing the headsets (as a joke!)
which we’d previously seen in action on them in Kefalonia, admired and
subsequently purchased a pair for ourselves!
The
next day we moved, as planned, to the unspoilt and scenic inlet of Razetinovač, a mere mile
away. It has good holding and is very well sheltered – everything a cruiser
looks for!
We intend to spend three days at anchor here sorting out ID and ourselves, passage planning and completing this Blog. We also intend to swim and generally “chill out”. Why not – cruising is not just about sailing and sightseeing!
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| The anchorage at Uvala Razetinovač, soon after we arrived |
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