Croatia revisited and Montenegro discovered

The romance of Venice seventy five miles behind us, entry formalities in Pula, Croatia were made difficult by the fact that the official who carried out our exit formalities at 0600 on the day of our departure to Venice had, in fact, entered rather than exited us! Complications were further compounded when immigration police discovered Miggy’s birthplace of Karachi and questioned her parentage. The Croats are not particularly keen on Muslims.

The Croats are not particularly keen on foreigners is general including the Italians who flock to the Dalmatian Islands in their thousands in craft of all types during July and August. We were told by many yachties and Croatian marina staff that they take every marina and town quay berth and crowd the anchorages without a thought for anybody else on the water. We were also told that the noise they make is deafening and antisocial and certainly not conducive to sleep.

In fact, despite the fact that we took steps to ensure that we secured our berth for the night, we did not experience serious overcrowding neither did we find the Italians any more antisocial than other nationals. Apart from the Austrians, it was the crews on yachts of a British flotilla that we found most disruptive and inconsiderate and it was the ‘lads’ from the Czech Republic that were the noisiest of all.

The strategy mentioned in the previous paragraph for ensuring a berth for the night was to arrive at our destination in the early afternoon. The dilemma here is that the sea breeze does not kick in until after midday and so the calm or very light breeze of the morning severely limited the possibility of good quality sailing.

During our month’s voyage back through the Dalmatian Islands we revisited many of our favourite towns and anchorages from before and we called in to a few places that were new to us.

Drevnik Veli on the Island of the same name is a delightful little harbour with a sheltered anchorage for no more than four or five yachts. During our stroll around this small town we noticed that there are many dilapidated or, indeed ruined houses amongst those still inhabited. The front facade of the church stands intact although the front section has been demolished and a new facade built further back. We are told that the ruins were Serbian occupied buildings before the war thirteen years ago. The peace treaty declared that Serbian homes in Croatia would remain in Serbian ownership untouched awaiting their possible return. Of course the Serbians would not be welcome in Croatia so they have not returned and the buildings have become dilapidated.

Vis, the main settlement on the island of Vis is a charming little place that has played its part in history. It was founded by the Greeks and later ruled by the Romans, the Byzantines and from 1420, the Venetians. It played a crucial part in World War 11 when Marshall Tito used the Island as a base for coordinating partisan military operations and met partisans, the Yugoslavian government and the allies in ‘Tito’s cave’.


Our Journal reads ‘We sailed into heaven today where one or two yachts were anchored in the secluded bay of Uvala Gradina at the western end of Otok Korcula. An Italian charter flotilla of six large yachts joined us together with many other charter yachts performing anchoring rituals never to be seen in the pages of Yachting Monthly. Later in the evening this beautiful bay with its oak, pine and cypress clad slopes plunging into the crystal clear turquoise water became a cacophonous hell. We discovered that one can turn hell back into heaven with a long dose of 5,000,000 candle power of halogen and a few carefully chosen words of Italian or English, it matters not’.

As we approached Luka Mali Lago on the Island of Lastovo a forest fire broke out at the top of the hill overlooking our anchorage. Flames shot heavenward accompanied by black smoke and nearby aerials were threatened. Fortunately there was no significant wind to fan the flames and spread the area of the fire too extensively. Three water carrying aircraft put on an exceptionally skilful and daring display for over an hour to quell the flames, which they did with great success.

We hired a ‘quad bike’ to have a look around Otok Lastovo. Our daredevil ride took us around the coast of Luka Veli Lago and its hotel and small marina packed with Italians hopefully waiting for good weather to go home and then on to Ubli, the ferry port and customs point. Ubli is a ghost town left by the military when they moved off the island a few years ago, prior to which it was closed to tourists. We then drove over the hills, some of which were nearly too much for our poor old bike, to Lastovo where we looked at the 12th century church of St Blaise, a small church from the fourteenth century and a sixteenth century loggia. Lack of tourism has helped preserve these and other monuments including Roman villas. A drive downhill found us in the nearly landlocked inlet of Zaklopatica which is now surrounded by restaurants and private houses and thus totally spoiled from the idyllic setting that must have existed not many years ago.

On the way along the north coast of Otok Mljet, perhaps our favourite of all the Dalmatian Islands, we anchored in the virtually landlocked Luka Prozura, a most charming bay with a village and a few holiday homes and no cars.

Whilst having a rare and extremely good value meal ashore at the Konoba Barba a lady joined us at the table because she thought we were American. She was Slovenian from Ljubljana and we became friendly with Barbara and Dusan Rogelj and their 12 year old son, Lovrenc. We were honoured to be invited to eat with them on the balcony of the apartment in which they were holidaying and they told us many stories of the problems of the former Yugoslavia and its later transformation into the many democratic republics that exist today.

Long standing friends from Lymington, Peter and Karen Mills, joined us at Dubrovnik and we spent a very pleasant few days with them cruising the Southern Dalmatian islands. On the way to Cavtat, where Peter and Karen were to leave us, we sailed right up to the harbour of the walled city of Dubrovnik and that was an exceptional experience.

To moor at the town quay at Cavtat costs just under £50 per night and there are no showers. The quay is dominated by super yachts. In high season the Italians bring their 70m mega yachts here and it would have been impossible for us to berth. The Harbourmaster reckons that this will be the ‘Portofino’ of Croatia in the not too far distant future and that the likes of us will not be able to afford to step onto the quay let alone berth there! Tom Cruise was here last week on a super yacht ketch moored just along from us. Peter and Karen kindly treated us to supper in the restaurant frequented by Abramavic and other rich and famous people. I doubt that they will hang photos of us outside their doors however!

Reports of high berthing prices and of a ‘police state’ had put us off visiting Montenegro but our minds were changed when a kind fellow yachtsman phoned us from Kotor and told us that the place was wonderful and that prices were reasonable.

Montenegro’s Adriatic ‘fjord’, the Boka Kotorska, consisting of three large gulfs linked with narrow channels, is rugged and spectacular being surrounded by mountains up to 1700m tall. After clearing customs and immigration very efficiently and cordially at the port of Zelenika (they even gave us a Montenegrin courtesy flag within the price of our week Vignette of 67€) we berthed on the quay at the historic town of Herceg Novi. The town was founded in 1382 by the King of Bosnia, Stjepan Tvrtko 1 and has had a bloody history since being attacked and besieged on numerous occasions until it was fortified in the 15th century by the Duke of Hum. Many rulers since then including the Turks, Venetians, Spaniards, Russians, French and Austrians have left evidence of their occupation in the form of well camouflaged fortifications and public buildings and the old town, despite having been severely damaged by an earthquake in 1979, lives on in splendour and beauty.

The town of Kotor appears at first sight nondescript if not ugly with a derelict hotel and sixties high rise concrete office block. Raising one’s eyes to the slopes of the Lovcen Mountain towering above the town, however, one will see the fort of St. Ivan 260 metres up with defensive walls zigzagging down to the old town at sea level. The town probably dates from the 3rd century BC and has been destroyed and rebuilt many times since. The fort and walls and the majority of the town’s building date from the Venetian occupation during the 15th to 18th centuries. The 15th century Clock Tower, the cathedral of St Tryphon and the tiny church of St Luke’s together with fine Venetian palaces line narrow streets and alleyways paved with pink and white stone polished by the soles of countless feet.

Also on the banks of the Boka Kotorska continued stands Perast, a former flourishing port and home to great sailors. Peter the Great sent his Russian Naval officers to study here. Despite being a UNESCO World Heritage Site the town, lacking the resources for restoration, is somewhat dilapidated.

A few hundred metres offshore from Perast are the tiny Islands of Sv. Djordje and Gospa od Skrpjela. On Sv. Djordje where stood an influential 16thcentury Benedictine Monastery now stands a small church and a walled garden. Gospa od Skrpjela is artificial having been formed, it is said, by the inhabitants of Perast filling captured pirate ships with stones and sinking them on the reef.

The twenty mile sail along the rocky Montenegrin coast took us to Budva. Despite being the centre of Montenegrin tourism and the myriad of holidaymakers that go with it, Budva’s minuscule walled old town dating from Illyrian times and developed by the Venetians, Austrians, Russians, French and latterly the Austro-Hungarian monarchy is utterly enchanting.

The Montenegrin people appear calmer and less demanding than their Croatian counterparts and their greeting of ‘welcome to Montenegro’ is far preferable to the Croat ‘Now you must pay’. The cost of living would appear to be about two thirds of that in Croatia.

It is mid September and time to leave the Adriatic and head south to our winter base of Lefkas in the Greek Ionian Islands. We are due there on the 1st of October and on the way will visit Corfu and various ports and anchorages in the Northern Ionian.

Our Greek telephone number is 0030 6955948709