Training for Retirement - Sailing a Catamaran in Croatia
I know it’s been said in 6,758,923 ways but 2020 was a year for the books. Not a typical Gulick book filled with travel or fun - like a history book worthy of its own college class one day. The world shut down, as it should have, and we did our part despite so many others…well, not doing their part. When travel opened back up to Americans (very, very few countries were doing so), one of the countries listed just so happened to be a trip we had booked in 2019 with a group of friends.
We could travel once again.
2 negative Covid tests in-hand within 48 hours of departure and about 20 pages of pre-arrival paperwork filled out, we boarded a 747 on the upper deck bound for Frankfurt and then onward to Croatia. I cried as we pushed back knowing I was getting to leave - a wave of privilege and excitement washing over me all at once.
To say 2020 has been hard would be a massive understatement. Our inability to travel is so comically not worthy of being discussed when so many people are losing their lives, loved ones, and jobs every single day. (at the time of this post, the US has over 250,000 deaths from Covid. #merica) The empath in me felt so guilty, the wanderer in me felt so revived, and the logical part of me said I did every possible thing I could to be as safe as possible to others on this trip. (isn’t my brain fun?!) I had quarantined, tested myself, masked up heavily, and was social distanced from everyone so heading off to a new country to board a boat with little to no contact with locals felt oddly more responsible than most of the scenes playing out back home. (I happen to live in a heavily anti-mask, let’s congregate in groups, don’t tread on my rights area)
I refused to let myself believe the trip would happen though, even as we landed in Croatia. I needed to clear customs before I would let down my guard.
Croatian customs did exactly as they should have - they verified our test results, took temperatures along the way in line, and asked a ton of questions. Coming from a hot spot, I would have stayed there for 8 hours to make sure they felt comfortable with me entering their country. It took a little over an hour but when the stamp was slammed on my passport, well…cue the tears again. I was now able to explore a new place on a new form of transport in a new world. BRING IT.
Our fellow travelers joined us at baggage claim and we hopped in an Uber (masked up of course) for night 1 in Split. Our AirBnB was adorable and we all went downstairs to the main promenade for our first of many beverages of the trip.
While this wouldn’t normally be a special occasion, this was the first time Curtis and I had dined at a restaurant since March. (This was September) MARCH. We were outdoors but the luxury of ordering something and then having it arrive was newly foreign ha.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon after that walking around, snacking at various places (pizza is an absolute must when you’re that close to Italy) and checking out the Superyachts (the big brother to the megayacht) parked alongside the seawall. I loved it here! Everyone comes out at sunset to eat, drink, and literally be merry.
The next morning, jet lag hit me harder than everyone else and I was up and ready to seize the day at…5:30am. So I wandered around the empty streets of the beautiful city with almost no one around me. Street vendors & influences were the only people I saw and it made for some epic people watching and picture taking. :) The day was filled with preparations for our sailing trip the next day and lots of catching up with our friends over wine, fish, and memories.
We headed to Trogir the following morning to pick up our floating home for the next week. The boat charter company was great but note, it’s easily 1km from where cars typically drop off people (we’re typical, it’s us) to where the boat is actually located. After a few hours of signing away everything and assuring the company that we did in fact know how to sail, we were released to get on the boat and start loading up our stuff!
Our boat was a 2017 Lagoon 42 named Ocean Star with a 4-cabin charter layout. We each had our own cabin and head (bathroom), which was spacious, clean, and comfy! We were bareboating and our charter company takes that a little further than most so in our provisioning trip to the supermarket, we picked up towels & sheets (and soap, and shampoo…) as the boat didn’t come outfitted with those. Not a huge deal but definitely worth noting for those looking to charter in this region. The girls spent time at the supermarket picking up more snacks than we knew what to do with and the guys walked through a full boat breakdown with the crew to ensure once again, everyone knew how to use this half million dollar vessel.
Upon returning, everything went way fast! We wanted to get out of the marina and off to our first anchorage/mooring before the sun set so once it was determined that we were “checked out” - lines were being untied and a crew member was driving us out. This was it! Curtis had to then back up to the end dock to let the guy off and then we were officially on our own. With a gigantic boat. Let’s do this!
We motor-sailed most of the way to our first stop, Maslinica, where we grabbed a mooring ball in a tiny little bay in front of a local restaurant. This was one of my favorite stops of our whole trip. The water was crystal clear and calm, the restaurant was quiet but oh so good, and there was just enough distance between boats to not be overly worrisome. The mooring ball was complimentary with dinner at Konoba Sesula (roughly $150 per couple) and we celebrated our first (half) day on the boat with copious amounts of local red wine. This is a life I could get used to.
The next morning, we left our little slice of paradise and sailed over to Zlanti Rat, voted one of the best beaches in Europe…a decision we didn’t quite understand. The beach itself was filled with large pebble-like rocks and while the jut out to the ocean was unique, it fell a little short of our expectations. We spent about 2 hours here before heading south to med moor in Stari Grad (due to winds.)
We were super nervous about med mooring around Croatia as it’s quite intimidating! Without a captain, we were relying on locals and just straight up luck to get us into a spot and we ended up snagging one of the last places for the evening. It wasn’t without event; our friend ended up steering/working the engines while Curtis worked the lazy lines and locals shouted conflicting instructions at us between 2 mega-yachts. Let’s just say we earned our wine that night!
Dinner was a split between a restaurant that also has lobster traps just below its deck and a local pizzeria. Both were excellent and we stumbled back to the boat to tuck in after a long day of sightseeing, sailing, and med mooring. (I want to say that it’s easier than it looks or anyone could do it but legit, it’s not easy, the locals are harsh with their expectations, and it’s super easy to get sideways quickly. Highly suggest not starting your first catamaran charter in a med mooring location, ha)
The following morning we spent exploring Stari Grad a bit more. It was such a cute little place and were waiting for more boats around us to leave so we could scoot out of there easily haha. It worked! We easily got ourselves untied and headed to the other side of Hvar Island to the Paklinski Islands. We grabbed a mooring ball at Vinogradiske surrounded by other cruisers! It was obvious this is the place to be. After relaxing a bit on board, we got dolled up and headed on shore to have the most amazing dinner of our trip at Bacchus Palmizana. Always, always, always order the Octopus when in Croatia. Please just trust me here - it’s one of the best things I’ve ever eaten!
The next morning, I was reading with my coffee in the cockpit and a cute little fruit stand/boat pulled up asking if we needed anything. Ya’ll - they had fresh pastries, fresh squeezed juices (ideal for the wine hangovers!), fresh fruits and veggies, AND they took credit card. The best idea ever and I hope to see this trend in other parts of the world as we build up our sailing resume!
It was time to untie the mooring and head south to Vis!
Vis used to be wholly owned by the military and didn’t open to tourists until 20 or so years ago. As a result, the towns are quaint and filled with mostly locals. We walked around as the sunset, provisioned a bit more on the boat, and enjoyed dinner by the water.
Fun fact about Vis - Mama Mia 2 was filmed in Vis, not Greece!
After a nice sleep in, we were excited to check out the Blue Cave on the nearby island of Bisevo. Yachts are welcome to grab one of the very few mooring balls available and then wait for a local boat to pick you up, pay at the little building on shore, and then continue you on with the tour. The boats are small but you understand why when you’re in the cave! The drive around the corner to reach the cave was gorgeous - sheer walls of stone. The entrance to cave requires you to duck down and by that, it means you have to basically sit on the floor of the boat, ha. Once inside, it’s instantly clear why it’s called the Blue Cave!
While most people seem to be drawn to the color, I couldn’t get over the visibility! You could see clear to the bottom and any and everything swimming below. I could have easily spent hours in there just observing life below the water but we did the best we could to capture pics before it was time to head out. You’re no longer allowed to swim inside the cave and the only people allowed in must be escorted on one of these boats. We were grateful to have time to tick this off the list though and I highly recommend it if you’re around the area.
After that, we sailed away towards Stiniva Bay - an area I was most excited to visit! This was voted one of the best beaches in Europe and while I don’t know if I agree with the beach part, the natural “gates” made for some really beautiful scenery. Because we were in a larger catamaran, and this being our first time chartering/driving one, we didn’t attempt to grab a mooring or anchor. The center of the “gates” had really deep water and it would have been a super tight squeeze on a ball. I did use this opportunity though to man the helm while Curtis flew the drone to get a better feeling of the boat. We split the group up and used the dinghy to enjoy the shore.
As the sun began to set, we motored around the corner to Rukavac to grab a mooring ball and have dinner at Diamond Beach Fish House. This was one of my favorite moorings - it was super calm, super quiet, and the boats around us definitely seemed like seasoned cruisers over charter guests. (yes, I know we were a charter guests)
The next morning, we motored less than a mile over to the Green Cave where we were able to take our own dinghy inside. We were the only people in the cave and it was epic! The green color is more prominent midday but we definitely still got the green feel and enjoyed having it to ourselves. It’s crazy to image how many people could be there in high season!
Winds were great so we tossed up the main and the jib and sailed all the way back to Hvar. We couldn’t leave Croatia without visiting this sought-after destination! We didn’t really have a plan before heading that way in terms of where we would moor or anchor for the night, so imagine our surprise when we ended up snagging one of the VERY few FREE mooring balls in the dead middle of Hvar Harbour! Surrounded by fishing boats and mega yachts, we were pretty damn proud of ourselves as we knew this would never happen again, ha.
Side note - we were in Hvar Harbor with the largest single-masted sailboat in the entire world, named M5. We immediately spotted the Texas flag on the back (we were flying one as well) so we were disappointed when we weren’t immediately asked to come aboard.
Dinner on shore was at a really great restaurant called Black Pepper and we all loved every dish we ordered. (and we ordered many) Wine was flowing and the evening was so nice! As much as we thought we wouldn’t enjoy Hvar because of it’s “party-hard” reputation, Covid had shut down all nightclubs so all that was left were great restaurants, kind and welcoming locals, and good friends. :)
The next morning we had quite a long way back to Trogir to return the boat. Because the charter had to be returned at 8:30am the next day, we had to return the marina the night before to avoid being charged a late fee.
So naturally we climbed to the top of Hvar before leaving port! I highly recommend walking up to the castle above town for gorgeous views. Overall, we spent about 2 hours climbing up and back down before unhooking the mooring ball.
We stopped at the famous Blue Lagoon on the way back to enjoy a sundowner and brief anchorage before returning to the marina by sunset.
We did a little exploring of Trogir that evening and had our last dinner as a group. The next day we all headed out at different times to return back to the land of quarantine and dreaming again. It was a beautiful and amazing trip!
The Details
Boat Charter - Angelina Yacht Charters
Overnight destinations - Maslinica, Stari Grad, Paklinski Islands (Vinogradiske), Komiza, Rukavac, Hvar Harbor, Trogir Marina
Flight Routing - Lufthansa (mostly) DFW - ORD - FRA - SPU on the way there, Swiss Air (mostly) SPU - ZAG - ZRH - ORD - DFW on the way home
Threats to the Area - Overfishing & Pollution