Njord's Adventures - 2018 in Review

Having spoken to lots of sailing friends over the last winter we decided we would go and sail in the Adriatic and in particular in Croatia for our summer sailing season. There are lots of stories about how strict the Croats are about entering and exiting their waters, you need to do so by the shortest and most direct route to avoid being fined. We behaved and were not fined ! They have a cruising tax and "people" tax (like a hotel tax) and this year they upper their prices so much that many Italians did not cross from mainland Italy and went elsewhere. This meant that it was quieter in some of the anchorages and buoy fields but the charter boats were not put off and were out in force making July pretty busy. We had to carry on to another bay on a couple of occasions as they were completely full.

Our view of Croatia could be compared to a neat and tidy Greece, much more entrepreneurial in that virtually every place was set up for you to moor, anchor or take a buoy but at a cost. Unlike most of Europe, Croatia's coastline did not seem to have a piece of litter anywhere and all the harbour side houses newly painted. The islands were lovely but you had the feeling it was only for summer tourism and most of the locals would go back to the mainland or elsewhere in the winter to find other jobs.

What was very nice and convenient was that many of the small and secluded bays had a restaurant who would set up and maintain the buoys and then come and pick you up in their dinghy to eat at their restaurant. You did not have to do this but then you would pay a fee for the use of the buoy overnight. We found all the restaurant owners very helpful and friendly particularly in stormy weather, and we did have some of those nights.