New country, new luck Croatia from Dubrovnik to Zadar
After our first major crossing, we reach a new country: Croatia! With lots of visitors on board the Cervino, we explore the island world of the Adriatic, between Dubrovnik and Zadar.
A sky full of stars, dolphins and the Adriatic Sea
That sums up our crossing from Otranto to Dubrovnik pretty well. After around 36 hours, we arrive at the marina. The feelings that arise in me are overwhelming: on the one hand, I am super happy that we made it, proud that I am the master of my fear, grateful that we can experience such moments and, above all, one thing: tired! 😂 We didn't sleep very well, but that's no wonder and will certainly improve with time.
After a day's rest, we welcome our next visitor from home: Welcome Christine and Peter ❤ (Thierry's parents). They will be with us for a fortnight and then disembark in Split. We enjoy the quiet anchorages here, a clear upgrade compared to the Italian coast 🙌 there are so few waves here, you'd think we were on land. The cuisine is also a hit and we particularly enjoy the restaurants where we can moor directly with the boat ⛵ Beautiful bays, where we lie alone, alternate with beautiful old towns such as Dubrovnik, Korcula or Trogir. The two of them disembark in Marina Kastela, near Split. So nice that you were there 💕 We now have a few days on our own, during which we travel to Zadar. The next crew change will take place there.
We really enjoy sailing here, the water is mostly flat as the offshore islands keep out the big waves of the open Adriatic. Light winds are perfect for the short distances we cover every day. The island world around Zadar has so much to offer, and everything is so close. We find spectacular anchorages in small bays on the islands of Molat, Ist and Dugi Otok. New to us, but incredibly important here: shore lines. We sail into a bay, usually backwards, drop anchor at the front and tie ourselves to the land with lines from the stern. Anything sturdy can be used for this 😉 usually trees or rocks. In this way, we manage to lie in very narrow bays and enjoy the idyllic natural surroundings without swinging to one side when the wind picks up.
Snorkelling adventure and shipwreck
There is also a shipwreck between Mljet and Dugi Otok, which lies at a depth of around 10 metres. This makes it ideal for snorkelling 🤿🐟 Of course, experiences are always better when you can share them. And we can definitely do that, because there is a lot of coming and going on board 😊 Even the maximum crew size of 8 people for a week with the Zumbach family goes by more or less smoothly. That may sound cramped to some, but I like it. There is literally no room for masquerades and acting on the boat, everyone is allowed to show their true selves here ❤
Our personal highlights in Croatia
Certainly the Lastovo National Park. As the island is quite far away from any charter bases, you have a good chance of being alone here if you sail anti-cyclically. In general, the national parks here really captivated us. A special restaurant visit on the Pakleni Islands also remains in our best memories: a small menu, everything home-made, from our own garden, and charmingly served.👌 I was also very touched by the town of Korcula, but perhaps that was also a rather emotional story, as we had a bit of stress that day when choosing the anchorage and manoeuvring. The walk through this beautiful town somehow made up for everything 🥰 And last but certainly not least: the Kornati Islands. A national park on the south-western side of Zadar that encompasses several islands. We experienced completely different vegetation here than on the other islands. Not much grows, the hills are barren and characterised by the strong prevailing winds. Characteristic cliffs adorn the western side, which are also great for cliff jumping 🥳 All in all, we really enjoyed Croatia. After a little over a month, we are now sailing south, because we want to go to Greece. We'll make one more stop in between, but more on that in the next post! 😉
