Cruising the Croatian coast

Five boats sat in the Dubrovnik port, tied up side-to-side. We were told our boat was the last one in the row, so laden with our packs we jumped from boat to boat until we reached our home for the next seven days. We were departing on a Busabout sailing trip that would take us cruising up the Dalmatian coast. The group of 17 was dominated by Aussies – representing the rest of the world were us, a couple from Wales and our Canadian guide.

It didn’t take long after leaving port for the deck chairs to come out. We’ve been travelling for a while, but we haven’t actually had much down-time, as we tend to pack a lot into our time. It took a couple of days to get the hang of relaxing and not doing much! As we didn’t have internet on board, we couldn’t do any chores or trip research so we were forced to just chill out. It was nice to get lots of reading and chatting time.

Our trip was the last week of the cruise season, so we knew we couldn’t expect perfect weather. On our second day sailing the wind came up and we had a very rocky ride! The swell suddenly got worse early in the morning, making for an entertaining time watching our breakfast sliding around the cabin. On the top deck, we had to hang on while people and belongings were thrown around as the boat rolled. A few towels were lost overboard to the wind and someone’s laptop had a close call from flying off the edge of the deck.

Aside from that day, the weather was pretty good. The water was warm (at least for us Kiwis) and the sun was out the whole week. Most days we would anchor up in a bay for a swim stop.

We were in the smallest boat in the Busabout fleet, with space for 16 passengers. Our small size meant we were more susceptible to the swell than the other boats, so some changes were made to the itinerary. This meant that we sadly missed out on Makarska (a small town on the mainland with a cave bar) and we weren’t able to moor at Hvar Town (staying around the other side of the island for two nights instead). We also ended up getting in late to some destinations, meaning we didn’t have as much time to explore as we would have liked.

It was fun trying out living in such a small space for a week. Our cabin was tiny – only one person could get changed at a time. As well as being short on elbow room, the ceilings were shorter than Craig in most places. We didn’t do too badly keeping the small space livable, but some of the others had some impressively messy cabins!

This was before unpacking…

Omiš, one of the destinations on the cruise, is an old pirate haven on the Dalmatian coast. The pirates here had ships that could attack merchant vessels and then retreat up the Cetina River, safe from reprisal. Most of the group walked up to a 15^th century fortress above the town for some great views.

Hvar is a popular tourist/resort island, and the 4^th most populous island in Croatia. Sensing a chance to stretch our legs and get some exercise, we asked the tourist information office to point us in the direction of a nice walk. 90 minutes later we were in the middle of nowhere, on a dusty gravel road with no views. Oh well, at least we got some exercise!

That night we were treated to a wine tasting at a local farm. To mark the end of the cruise season, they put on a huge feast for us as well. It was delicious! Everything on the table (including the meat, bread, salad and wine) was straight from their farm.

Our final destination was Split, the second largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb). We went out as a group and ended up in a Croatian nightclub. It was huge, occupying the whole upper level of a ferry terminal. Since you can smoke indoors in Croatia the club was choked full of smoke, to the point where it was pouring out the doors in big plumes. Yuk! It was funny to hear all the locals singing along enthusiastically to Croatian songs we had never heard. But the most interesting thing about the club was how the freaking tall the Croatian women there were. Apparently Croats are already naturally tall people – add four inch heels and high ponytails and many of them towered over Craig as they walked past.

Having had a relaxed week we’re now looking forward to exploring more of Croatia. We were thrilled to find we can fit in a short visit to Plitvice National Park on our way to Zagreb. Plitvice is home to a gorgeous series of cascading lakes - we can’t wait to visit.

Comments from WordPress

• Beth 2012-10-04T00:23:16Z

  Lovely photos and what a great cruise. Farm feast sounds great too. When we went to market looking for fresh produce in the early 1970s there was so little to buy: strings of peppers and no greens, but we did find friendly people and lots of Slivovitch(sp?).

  What a huge contrast your trip is to the Yugoslavia I encountered then: we drove through the centre on a highway that was uniformly flat,straight and distinguished only by the piles of excrement left on the road edge by the truckers who drove through from Western Europe to the East night and day in their thousands.

  Also very amused by the thought of wonen towering over you Craig!

  I’m off tomorrow to Oz to hopefully be a Granny: Dix in long lasting labour as we speak.

• Craig and Sal 2012-10-07T10:13:17Z

  Hey Beth,

  It would have been fascinating being in Croatia in the Yugoslavian days - you’d definitely see a lot more development if you visited again now. We’d be interested in coming back some time to see some more of Eastern Europe.

  Great to hear about Dixxie - hope you are having a great trip and are enjoying your first Grandma time :-)

• Alice 2012-10-05T09:09:29Z

  Hey! I’m having a hard time envisaging any women taller than Craig… how tall where the men?? Also, how did you get on with all those Ozzies? To be honest, I’ve heard a bit, and encountered many hordes of young Ozzies (on Busabout and otherwise) throughout Europe and maybe its a sign that I’m an old fart now but I find them completely insufferable. Hoping that your companions from across the ditch were OK.

  How much space was there in the cabin for you Craig? Foetal position?

• Craig and Sal 2012-10-07T10:23:00Z

  Hey Alice,

  We didn’t notice the men being particularly tall in that club - but in Zagreb everyone seemed tall.

  Our boat got on well, but we know what you mean - we also sometimes feel a bit old for the party crowd. We wouldn’t want to travel like this all the time, but it was fun for a change.

  Thankfully the cabin was actually long enough for Craig. There were some big guys on our boat though (~114kg worth) who found it harder.

  Thanks for all your blog comments Alice - it’s lovely to hear from you so often. Hope you’re enjoying being home xox

Written by Craig Drayton and Sally Robertson