SEASON 2018

Our home berth is in marina Frapa, Rogoznica, located between Split and Sibenik in central Dalmatia.

First Visit : May 19 to June 11 - This year we start our first trip early in the season and enjoy an extended period of stable summerly warm weather

Itinerary

Frapa - Murter/Marina Betina - Preko - Dugi Otok/Pantera Bay - Ist - Molat - Katina - Kakan - Zlarin - Zirje/Stupica Vela - Frapa - Hvar/Tiha Bay - Starigrad - Frapa

As if it was a compensation for last September's nasty rains and storms, Dalmatia greets us with balmy temperatures and beautiful sunshine in May. Apart from 3 or 4 days of inclement weather during the period, which include an abysmal thunderstorm night on June 8, we enjoy good conditions for motor boaters in low winds with lots of sun. Even the water is swimmable in May, quite a treat.

First couple of days are spent with snagging around the boat and enjoying the warm sun.
May 24, Thursday, after a day of rain, we leave for Betina to pay a visit to our engineering company and pick up some new covers. 
Next morning we visit the award winning museum of wooden boat building history, an ambitious local project.

The following day, Friday May 25th, we continue our NW course to Preko, where we are greeted by Stuart and his competent ladies' crew, fellow Cruising Association members and owners of a sistership of Tarilian.

After being invited for drinks on Three Stars, and duly marvelling at each other's boat, we have some good nautical natter; spend a nice evening having dinner at Roko's in the harbour.

May 26th, Saturday. Making use of the good weather forecast, we continue to the north end of Dugi Otok and take a buoy in Pantera bay to stay overnight. There is only a handful of yachts in the whole huge bay, all is really quiet and pleasant. Dinner at Gorgonia grill at the entrance of Cuna cove, opposite Veli Rat village, simple but good. They are surprised about the number of guests in early season.

May 28, Monday. In hazy sunshine and the calmest of seas we continue our cruise along Dugi Otok towards the Telascica, looking at small places like Rava, before going through Proversa Vela passage, round Katina, and berthing at the Mare restaurant. The weather is sunny, up to 27 C, and the food excellent as usual. We decide to stay a second day.

All is fine, until I try to launch the dinghy to have a spin round the island. With the heavy dinghy dangling high up in the air, the passarella suddenly stops and refuses to make any further movement. A heart stopping moment. Luckily I soon discover the culprit, a dodgy connection in the DC power supply of the hydraulic pump; I get it working again. Whew! ...the pleasures of boating.

May 30, Wednesday, another sunny day and light winds, temperature gradually increasing to 28 C.
Leaving Katina island 
From Katina we cruise down SE between Kornat and Zut, towards Kakan, anchoring "outside" the Borovnaci buoy field in SW of Borovnik V, on light sand (poor holding). After lunch and a swim we proceed to Zlarin harbour where we arrive first; all seems asleep at 15:30, but the harbour master on his electric scooter shows up soon.

All seems set for a quiet and relaxed evening, but a cruiser berths at the head of the pier near to us. It is a chunky gulet style cruiser, rubbish music pours from their disco in the evening, a female voice keeps yelling karaoke unbearably out of tune, German package holiday fun? The boat's name is San Snova, of "Inselhüpfen.de". Anyway, they quieten down after 11pm.

May 31, Thursday. A further day of a shallow high over the Adriatic, hot and sunny weather. We head for nearby Zirje and take a buoy at Stupica Vela, one of the classic coves. Konoba Stupica, the restaurant of the Old Ladies is in full operation, the bay gets quite busy over the afternoon.
 
With a forecast for the fine summer weather to continue, and a calm night, we stay on the buoy for another day. Ask for a cheaper price for the second night, and are offered a discount.

Unfortunately, not all boaters in the beautiful bay are decent and quiet. In the afternoon a Fairline motor yacht arrives, chartered by people whose pleasure it is to whizz around on noisy motorized surfboards (jetboards). 2 adults and then 2 young females keep going round buoys and close between moored yachts at speed. Their illegal nuisance goes on and on for more than 2 hours until the gang finally leaves the cove. Why could those 'sporting' people not have their fun in a lonely cove elsewhere, where they are on their own, instead of going on a buoy right in the middle of a buoy field next to other boats? It seems, these stupid posers wanted an audience to show off.

After dinner at the Konoba we hope for an undisturbed night, but a bunch of 4 sailing yachts, rafted up and tied to buoys at the far end of the field, start a party around 9:30 pm. One of them appears to have disco equipment on board; thumping music, shouting and screaming go on until the early hours. Although at a distance, it's painfully noticed across the whole cove in this calm night.
It seems that selfish and inconsiderate must-have-fun-at-all-cost rowdy behaviour on chartered boats is on the increase and unstoppable.

June 7, Thursday, we move to nearby Starigrad, one of our favourite old towns. Temperature has reached 29 C; we spend a fine evening in harbour.

June 8, with a grim forecast for the later part of the day, possible thunderstorms from afternoon, and a stormy night, we decide to leave for Frapa. The SE Jugo wind F4-5 has already started and raises easterly swell in the Hvar channel. Anchor for a short lunch break in Necujam cove (Solta) under leaden grey clouds, then proceed to Frapa; some unexpected southerly swell around cape Rt Ploca, often a troublesome spot for boats on a NE or SW passage.

Berth at Frapa in good time before the thunderstorms start in the night

Stable summer weather returns June 10.

June 12, we leave for Split airport in the morning.

Season 2019

PREAMBLE

The new season is casting its demands ahead. To reduce costs and the unpleasant experience of travelling, we are planning two visits to the boat, one in spring and one in late summer, each a little longer than the three visits in previous years. The seasonal service works on Tarilian have been scheduled for early March, and I arrange to go to Croatia and take the boat from marina Frapa to Murter myself - mainly to check it out for potential technical issues. There is always something to do on a boat, too!

Weather forecast for Sunday March 3 is perfect for taking the boat to Murter/Betina, but from Monday strong Jugo is expected. So it has to be Sunday.

Let's start with a review of the experiences during this trip, about 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' as of today.
Let's start with The Good

Yes, the places we used to enjoy still exist and are as nice as ever; even after many years of meandering in central Dalmatia, we find new ones. We also join a Cruising Association get-together for the first time, at Milna (Brac).

We re-visit Tiha cove near Starigrad with the brilliant little Veli Dolac grill; the Borovnjaci buoy field at Kakan with the Babalu grill; the evergreen Stupica Vela cove on Zirje; Katina and the trusted Mare restaurant; the pleasant harbours of Vrboska (Hvar) and Zlarin island, where we weather a couple of days of wind.
A new discovery to us is the lovely Konoba Bain in Zut bay; we also, for the first time, stay a night at Sali harbour (Dugi Otok).
More about all of it, and photos, below.

Secondly, The Bad
Ah well, 'hell is other people'. I am not even talking about the regular worry about noise from crews of ever-increasing flotillas who use their cockpit as a pad for late night drinking and socializing in harbours. But, being disturbed all night by reckless drunken young party folks on charter yachts at a (supposedly) quiet and high quality Kornati restaurant does come to us as a shock. More about Konoba Levrnaka and its unhelpful manager below.

The authorities appear to be getting more greedy year on year. National park Kornati and Telescica daily entry fee for a boat of 11-18m are now Kn600 (Euro 81) if purchased in advance, even much higher when purchased on site. A rip-off for small crews. Not sure how much trip operators pay for their hundreds of customers polluting the sea. Not sure either how the money gets used, the main activity I perceive from the park authorities is heavy marketing to attract even more visitors and tourists.

Another bad experience is with a contractor who is meant to attend to some technical issues. We have gone to Betina just to meet him. He turns out to be unreliable and lets us down, causing us a bad night and waste of time. Organizing technical services in Croatia in season appears to be nearly impossible, there aren't enough trained engineers available and services are hopelessly unprofessional.

Finally, The Ugly
The weather at the beginning and towards the end of our holiday is unpleasant. Arriving May 28, it's wet for three days, I have to use heaters to overcome the chill overnight (more like winter!). With sea temperature at only 17 deg or so, no one can even think of a swim.
By May 31st we are going out, but unstable weather continues until declining further by June 5th with stronger Jugo and low temperatures. Though already June, there are no crickets heard, summer seems far away.
It gets better by June 8th but there are still windy days. The temperature has picked up; however, by June 19th it changes to hot summer. From June 24th, with 30 deg and more - atypical for June -, it's getting uncomfortable. To make things worse, the air conditioning unit in our aft cabin isn't working.

June 14th, moving to Betina shipyard in expectation of getting an engineering job done.

June 19th, Levrnaka (Kornati national park)
In stark contrast to the previous evening, we are in for a shock at Konoba Levrnaka.

The pricey restaurant is run with the pretence of excellence, but the service is marred by some waiters who are embarrassingly incompetent. The kitchen is actually ok.
The worst of this holiday comes in the night, when two crews of charter yachts who had been celebrating noisily and drinking at the restaurant for more than 3 hours, after closing hour at midnight continue their boozing party in their cockpits near our boat. Party lights come out, music is played, bottle after bottle opened, shouting and screaming are heard. They continue till well after 3am without any consideration for the other boats around them.

When I complain to a member of staff on the following morning, he confirms that they had been disturbed by the noise even at the back of their house, a distance from the yachts.
The manager, who appears to be a younger member of the owner family, says sorry about the disruption, but he makes it unmistakably clear that he is not interested to protect his customers' right for quiet enjoyment of his place at night. I can hardly believe what I have just heard; the money from out-of-order boozing and partying charter crews is much more important to this greedy man than keeping the reputation of his business and custom with decent, but smaller, crews on private boats.
We are never going to return to his ill-managed place.

June 20th. Having had enough of the dubious 'delicacies' at wannaby upmarket Kornati restaurants and 'nature delights' of the touristy National Park with its rip-off entry fee, we are going back to the Sibenik archipelago.

On June 28th, a day of extreme heat, we are happy to return to London after one month in Croatia.
We haven't ventured very far on this trip, we have done about 270 nm.

We are giving the frenetic months of July and August a wide berth, and are going to return when the greatest of heat is over.

Croatia, Season 2020

PREAMBLE

Heavy Jugo (southeasterly) storms during last December had caused an incident in the marina, Tarilian's tender got dislodged from one of its chocks and its plastic hull was damaged. Skipper Sime discovered it early and took it to the service yard, the repair was an insurance case. The boat had to stay over winter on the outer pier 10, which is exposed to the Jugo wind.
At the start of this year, and following our experiences of 2019, we initially looked at options to move the boat out of Croatia and to a base either in Northern Italy or in the South Adriatic. However, we had not done our homework and did not want to make a rash decision, so renewed the contract with marina Frapa in Rogoznica.

PRE-SEASON WORKS

The seasonal maintenance works in Betina were proposed, earlier than in years before, for a start in mid-February; that made me a little concerned about the weather when driving Tarilian over to Murter. I went on a flight to Split on Feb 14th. The forecast was promising, calm weather on Sunday Feb 16th, ideal to get the boat ready for lifting at the beginning of the week.

It turns out rather pleasant: With a cloudless sky and visibility far reaching and crystal clear, the calm sea almost seems to belong to you. All you meet are some small local fishing boats, here and there, and maybe an island ferry in the far distance.

Yet, you aren't quite on your own; I had four sightings of groups of dolphins, some kept discreetly in distance, but one group swam around and under the boat and then enjoyed its wake.

The lifting of the boat does not get scheduled for the next day. Anyhow, on a boat, you can never get bored, there is always something for me to do.

Unfortunately, the car rental company I had booked, Hertz, had messed up my booking. No one was at the airport nor contactable when I arrived. I had to find a taxi to get to Rogoznica. Hertz doesn't even offer a working solution to the problem they caused, it's "out of season"; so I need to find a local rental car to get around, back to Rogoznica, and finally to the airport. I contact one of the companies at Sibenik, and a car gets delivered to Betina marina in the evening.

On Tuesday, Feb 18th, the service team is ready, and I take Tarilian over to the craning bay.

Our 2020 Summer stay, finally, July 9 to Aug 5

On the journey to Hvar I had detected knocking noises in the aft cabin, most likely caused by a mis-adjusted rope cutter - same problem we had the previous year.

After two nights on the buoy we move to Starigrad harbour.

The day temperature has gone up and we enjoy fine weather; with this comes the afternoon westerly breeze, the Mistral, which blows between 2 and about 7pm making mooring manoeuvres uncomfortable.

The following morning, July 24th, we have a diver, one of the marineros, take off the starboard fixed rope cutter blade, so the knocking noise stops.

The day has been forecast to be sunny and calm, fine for cruising, but bora is expected for the following night - we need to be in a safe harbour.

The trip back to Frapa, with a lunch stop at Necujam cove/Solta is indeed pleasant, unusually calm, and thankfully uneventful.

The following morning, July 29th, I call the Mare restaurant on Katina, only a short drive away, and confirm that they have a place for us.

By early afternoon we leave for Katina; the thermal wind has already started when we berth at their pier. Misfortune strikes; when Jane attempts to fix a mooring line to a bow cleat - they are heavy at this place - she injures her back. She is under pain and leaves the deck. Her disappearance means I am suddenly on my own in the manoeuvre.

Jane is concerned how serious her back issue might get and how she will be able to heal it and keep moving. Ice packs are, at least, available on board.
To lower stress, I suggest to stay put in Katina for two days and then move back to Frapa.

However, the Mare restaurant is very busy so unfortunately all their moorings have been reserved for the following night. We have no choice than to leave. I decide to move straight back to our home berth at Frapa. We are now single handed with regards to berthing manoeuvres, and, anyway, Jane can't risk getting into a dinghy to go ashore and other activities.

The weather has heated up considerably during the last couple of days and reached the level you would expect for end July, 30 to 34C during the day and 26C or so in the night.
The number of tourists in Rogoznica has increased, and on some evenings seems almost as lively as in previous years.

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The Covid-19 restrictions have practically stopped all tourist cruisers (gulets), even at Starigrad none were seen, but diving excursions and day trip boats are available. Regattas and most flotillas seem to be cancelled, but private charter yachts are hired in increasing numbers.
Air travel is at a low level, most tourists come by car from Slovakia, Poland, Czechia, Germany, Austria. High summer is time for family holidays; we were actually not disturbed by any of those noisy hooligan charter crews which we had encountered in previous years. Allegedly Russians tourists were not allowed to travel this year.

We spend the remaining days until our return flight on Aug 5th in our home marina.
I have good use for spare time as I need to organize an unexpected major repair project at a flat in London to tight deadlines, amidst a computer virus that has struck my laptop causing havoc to emails just at the wrong time.
On Aug 3rd unpleasant Jugo gets up and blows at force 5 all day, gradually easing on the following day.
Jane manages to recover gradually using her experience with Pilates; we walk to restaurants and are able to travel home without problems.

We intend to come back to Croatia in September for another stay.

From Zirje to Zlarin harbour, to stay for two days before returning to Rogoznica.

At Rogoznica, the village is still relatively busy during our first week, but then many land-based tourists leave; for many the season has ended early.
With fewer and fewer people around, you start asking yourself what you are doing here.
Anyhow, the weather is still hot, like high summer rather than September.

I did not feel there are any special attractions to this simple village but it is pleasant enough and laid back. There is a choice of 3 restaurants and a small market.
There are no cars but each resident seems to own at least one small boat judging by the sheer number of them.


We further note a number of richly fruit bearing pomegranate trees in front gardens.

The life line of local transport, as well as village supplies, seem to be the various arrivals of the two ferries from Sibenik; the first comes in as early as 6am. Do not worry too much, the intrusion to boats on the other side of the pier is brief and not terribly severe.

The cove is open to the north west and the Meastral wind is felt all afternoon, making it clear why there is a need for safe moorings.

The following day starts calm and sunny, light to moderate Jugo (south east wind) has been forecast.

We leave Sesula late morning. For a lunch stop I choose a nearby cove, on the west coast of Drvenik V, M Luka ('small harbour'), protected from south and east winds.

After lunch we notice black clouds forming above us, and soon the characteristic rumble tells us that an isolated thunderstorm is about to make its appearance. Up the hook, and we're off towards our home berth; the storm luckily decides to head in a different direction.



Back at Frapa, we go through the usual end-of-season procedures such as re-fuelling.
The next days give time to tidy up and prepare the boat for winter, before leaving for our return flights on Thursday, Sept 24th.

By the time we fly home to the UK, the official infection rate in the UK has climbed up and is twice as high as Croatia's. Being asked to self-quaratine for full 14 days, whilst being free of symptoms, coming from a country with lower infection rate than the UK, and having spent three weeks on our own yacht with no socializing or gatherings, feels very frustrating.
Measures like that, where there is no consideration for regional and personal circumstances, and not even an option to get out via voluntary testing, are bureaucracy by numbers and can undermine confidence in the competence of the authorities and their "proportionate" measures.

Review

As always in September, the water was still warm, and this time even the weather was more like high summer. But days are getting shorter and evenings earlier and cooler. When dining outside, as is usual, you want to start no later than 7pm, and by 8pm it's dark. I believe that around Sept 25 was about the right time to leave this year, at least for us and our expectation of a holiday.

We have been lucky with lots of sunshine and hot days, but it was strange to experience high summer weather with so few tourists around; boats were still going and some anchorages reasonably busy though.
Some restaurants closed after mid-September but most popular places were still open and had guests. We noted that some restaurants with business mainly from boaters ran out of one or another dish, it was probably difficult for them to predict how many guests would come.

I am happy to note that we did not encounter charter boat hooligans nor noisy flotillas; nights were quiet. We were reminded of nice holidays of much earlier years. It was good to feel similarly minded to the other boating folks around us; this is how it once was.

We feel lucky that we stayed on our boat twice in this extraordinary year 2020, but it has been unusual in many ways. The first trip was special because it followed the traumatic lock-down experience in UK. For the second trip, travel warnings for Croatia from foreign governments had scared many foreigners away and spread a gloomy mood which sometimes overshadowed our stay. Yet, life seemed much more normal than at home and we felt welcome and safe.


For the records. We travelled 187nm in July and 113nm in September. Tarilian did a total of 356nm in year 2020; engine hours were 49.

Our time on the boat was over for 2020, but the year of 'unprecedented events' had not ended yet.
More disaster was about to strike during the following months, and the worst of the devastating Covid-19 lockdowns was yet to get imposed.

We arrive at Zlarin harbour before 4pm, and this means that the harbour master is unavailble. There are other yachties and I decide we can moor up if someone hands us a mooring.
But a problem arises: The mooring rope stretches tightly under the boat and cannot be tied to the bow cleat. The first thought is, naturally, that the rope must have been cought under the ship. There is no second line available, and, there is side wind from the west which makes the situation akward.
We rig shore lines and I try to hold the boat in position with thrusters, while getting out on the quay: I find that there is no problem under the boat but the hauling line is far too short so it stretches tightly. I take it off the ring and am finally able fix the mooring.
What had happened? A previous sailor must have ripped the light hauling line, and - instead of solving the hazard they had created - just tied the remainder of the line to the ring. The harbour master does not appear to check his moorings regularly depite the majority of visitors being inexperienced charter captains.

We are not blessed with any longer period of stable fair weather in this month, there are many windy days and often rain and showers, also getting cool for the time of the year.