Farewell Croatia
18 September 2022 | Cavtat
Phil Heaton
We had a very nice hike in Slano along the west side of the bay, reaching the light at the point. A painted sign said “The End”. However, there was evidence of a path the other side of a fence which was easily negotiated. The path though came and went and we found ourselves walking on broken and rocky ground and walls. There were lots of bunker-like shelters that had clearly been used for protection by troops or villagers during the 1992-3 war. Eventually we did reach a path that was a route into the bunker complex. There were lovely views over the bay at Slano and by careful framing the dominating hotel was excluded from photos.
On 6th September we motored the 23nm from Slano to Cavtat, passing close by Dubrovnik old town and its fortified walls. Having visited in 2004 and knowing how busy it would be we declined the bus trip from Slano. We were not disappointed in our decision as we could see the continuous, single file procession of folk walking the walls. Notwithstanding this, it is a very scenic, interesting and historic place to visit.
There are supposedly two anchorages at Cavtat – in the harbour on the south side or in the bay on the north side. We checked out the former and there were too many small boat moorings for our comfort, and since there was only very light wind forecast, we anchored in the north bay, Uvala Tiha, in 7-8 metres having searched for a sandy spot to drop the anchor. All was well.
Cavtat is not only a Port of Entry (and exit) but also is quite pretty and has lots of bars and restaurants, and so is a favourite destination for visitors to Dubrovnik and its environs. It is a pleasant place. We were there to clear out and the Harbourmaster and the Police couldn’t have been more polite and friendly. The only hassle is that you have to take the boat to the Customs dock, drop anchor and go astern to tie up. We arrived just ahead of a very large motor superyacht and decided to let them go first as the person who is supposed to be there to take lines wasn’t, and we thought we could ask crew on the superyacht to take our lines. The only mistake we made was not asking how long was the superyacht as we could have estimated the ideal distance to drop the anchor. We dropped and went astern, with Norma coming back to the cockpit using the remote control to let out anchor chain … and more anchor chain … and even more anchor chain. A bit of a burst astern should have brought us to the dock but the anchor was well dug in … so more anchor chain released and eventually we got the stern lines ashore. Checking how much chain we had out, it was c.75 metres … we carry 80 metres …
The superyacht cleared out before us and we had plenty of room to recover the chain.
We motored on to Montenegro, passing an enormous lookout station with vast arrays of radar and antennae. The Croatians monitor marine traffic closely and anyone deciding to stop for lunch will be spotted and fined.
Our two months in Croatia had been absolutely marvellous. All the negativity on social media about officials being rude, unhelpful and even corrupt was far removed from our experience. We had avoided the very popular places where folk have said you can be ripped off by people claiming you have to pay to anchor and went for quieter and in many ways more picturesque places because they were not so busy. In 62 days, we anchored for 54 nights, had two nights in Preko marina, two nights on a restaurant pontoon (free if you ate at the restaurant), three nights on paid moorings, and one night on a mooring in Kornati which was included in the park entrance fee.
We really recommend Croatia and especially the northern chain of islands and the mainland places we visited.