Zaton Bay is the first harbour to the north of Dubrovnik and we had targeted this as the pick- up point for Tina and Steve joining us so we try and check out the spot in advance. It’s a long inlet with a couple of anchoring possibilities but the nicest is off the town to port as you enter. Its deep in most areas but there is a rock with 4m over it in the centre and shallower areas around that. Just don’t wrap your chain around the rock!
We dropped just inside the rock in about 8m and backed off over the slightly shallower area until we sat in 13m with our anchor on the other side of the ‘hump’. It’s a pleasant small town with some tripper boats coming in and out but space in the harbour to leave your dinghy. There are a couple of flashy restaurants and a couple of more modest establishments. We chose the pizza from the place right by the main quay and it was good.
We then hung around in Sunj or Donje Celo dependant on the wind direction for a day or so until our guests were due.
On the Sunday morning we motored back to Zaton and dropped anchor in much the same place. Steve and Tina arrived by taxi whilst we were wandering around shopping so we settled in the bar on the quay for coffee and water – the daily temperature by now was in the 40’s and water regularly was critical as we were melting all the time.
Splice at anchor in Donje Celo
We then had to go to the authorities to add the new crew members to the ‘Crew List’. You can only do this at ‘Ports of Entry’ – its effectively like passing through customs from a plane. The nearest place here is Gruz, the commercial harbour for Dubrovnik. I had asked about the procedure when we checked in and was told to go to the police/customs. We found the quay and moored to fenders and bollards meant for large ships only to be told this was wrong and we had to move and go to the Harbour Master.
This meant squeezing onto a small quay in the corner of the harbour but, once secured, the admin was quick and easy and they didn’t charge anything extra – a first for Croatia!
The crew strolling around the bay at Donje Celo
Now legal and free to go, we headed off to Dunje Celo and Sunj for a couple of days R&R at anchor. Plenty of swimming and relaxing over beers and wine was achieved.
Main Photo: The view astern in Sunj bay