Trogir / Dalmatia

After arriving at the airport, I set off in search of the bus. The flight times are convenient (if you're an early riser) and there's enough time to get to the marina without rushing.

The reference "To the buses" is nice, but these are some travel companies that have parked their vehicles there. Where is this normal public bus? Down there? The sat nav tells me it's the wrong direction... So back to the airport and the main road. If I can't find it, I can walk the few kilometres. But lo and behold... A bus stop, that looks good. The first bus on the timetable doesn't turn up, but then... It costs 2.50 euros to get to my destination.

Trogir welcomes me with a marvellous sight. The sun is shining and small boats are moored around the old town centre, which is built on an island. That looks good!

Getting to know the crew for the first time increases the anticipation, we will certainly spend a great week together.

I will be travelling on a catamaran for a fortnight on behalf of the travel company Sailwithus. I will describe the first tour, enriched with important spots from the second trip.

After a visit to a restaurant in the incredibly beautiful old town, we set off the next morning. And with us a whole armada of other charter ships.

The first port of call is the blue lagoon. Beautiful to look at, no doubt, but the Caribbean flair suffers from the excursion boats and charter yachts anchored here. It's just packed, so we look for a quieter bay to the north to go swimming for the first time. I still have a lot of respect for the difficult anchoring conditions in Istria, as we mainly find a rocky rather than sandy bottom. It will be really nice in our overnight bay.

We sail along the south coast of Solta and peek into one or two anchor bays. The wind is not so favourable for this project, even from the south, but it is not strong, so we test the capabilities of our catamaran on the wind.

The crew do their shopping in a supermarket in the town with the help of a private car, as the marina shop is relatively expensive. During this time, I familiarise myself with the Lagoon 40, a boat I hadn't been able to sail before. But it's not much different from the Bali.

Normally I like to use the anchorages or marinas where I had good experiences the previous week, but this time everything is different. The crew requirements are very different over the two weeks. From the normal cruise with lots of anchor bays and cooking on board, the men on the second cruise will place more emphasis on high-class restaurants. So this time I can only build on the experiences of the previous week to a limited extent.

With our destination in sight, a Bavaria comes along the coastline at high speed and actually... snatches the free anchorage away from us. But we stay in Uvala Senjska, trust the anchor and tie up with a stern line. It's a great advantage to have good divers on board. A glance at the anchor reassures us that we can avoid a night without sleep.

Alternatively, you can reserve a buoy in the Uvala Sesula followed by a visit to the konoba of the same name (that's what Croatian fish restaurants are called). The telephone contact worked wonderfully, the marinero at the buoys was a dream. We attached the front mooring line, I wanted to coordinate with him how to get the stern line - and he had already attached it. Great service!

Sailwithus has several skippers in and around Trogir at this time, so after a brief contact, it is decided to moor in the packet to make use of the limited space. Besides, 2 (or 3) anchors hold better than one. The distance to our destination Sveti Klement, a group of islands on the west side of Hvar, is manageable. Unfortunately, we have to use engine assistance when the wind dies down.

As we approach our anchorage around Sveti Klement near the small island of Marinkovac, it is again striking how crowded it is.

We pass Uvala Vinogradisce, a popular buoy field. Hard to understand given the prevailing prices.

The following week, we will book a buoy there for 114 euros. A visit to the Toto restaurant, a high-priced establishment, will be added on top.We were granted a discount of 30 eurosvia the platform my-sea.com, but the restaurant did not want to grant us this discount. Contacting my-sea went really well, Corinna from the my-sea team credited us the 30 euros promptly and, above all, was available immediately if we had a problem. Not many companies can do that anymore. Especially in the high season, bookings via this platform are convenient, the site looks tidy and clear, a clear recommendation.

As nice as anchoring is, it can sometimes be stressful for the boat's batteries. You don't always have an on-board voltage of 12.8 V in the morning, like on a Sun Odyssey 440 in Sicily, although we even left the fridge running all the time.

So we decide to call at a marina in the evening. This time we use the ACI-Marinas app. Unfortunately, there seems to be a security problem: my digital devices, which have advanced security mechanisms, refused to access the site. From 2024, it should be possible to book ACI marinas via the Navily app, including the discount that some charter companies receive.

On the way to the marina, I am informed by my crew, who are keen to go swimming, that we should make a short stop. I search Navily and find nothing suitable. The entire north side after the peninsula at the entrance to Stari Grad shows no anchorage information. But what we find there is a dream! An insider tip for me. The problem is that if I were to enter the coordinates here now, it would no longer be a secret.

In my experience, this part of the island of Hvar is full of secrets.

My dear friend Dietmar, who contacted me in the second week to ask where I was, was able to give me the tip of the year. We happened to be in the same area, he had been on a "short holiday" (almost all year round, when he's not skippering) with his motorhome.

Once again, I didn't know where to go, so we came across Jure's konoba. After some coordination about the reservation, it actually worked out. First I was informed that the restaurant space had been kept free for us, but there was no buoy available, and then in the afternoon we hit the jackpot - we were given a buoy that had become free. I still suspect that Dietmar told Jure to chase someone else away so that we could have a premium berth. And that's exactly what happened. An incredibly beautiful place, fantastic food, a dream. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to say anything more specific here either, I had asked Jure specifically whether I should do some advertising, but he declined. When I consider how many people he has turned away in this completely deserted place, which is barely accessible from land, due to a lack of reservations, it doesn't seem necessary. As the highlight of the evening, Dietmar actually came round personally for a beer.

We cycle along the picturesque coast towards Vrboska. Before that, we have to pass the nudist island of Zecevo, one of the most beautiful beaches on our journey. We don't see any naked people here, but when we enter the harbour, it's pretty much textile-free. There are hardly any swimming trunks to be seen on the anchored boats either. We ignore this, as we are already looking forward to our permanent berth and a visit to a restaurant.

As usual, after registering by radio, the marinero is on hand to allocate us a berth. There's not much going on in the marina, so it's all the more surprising that we are directed to a spot where the quay is bent at 45 degrees. You'd rather moor a catamaran straight up, so we're more than oddly slanted. A short time later we get some nice neighbours and are wedged in towards the bow. That will be a lot of fun when we cast off.

After a good meal of the same high standard as our galley in the anchor bays, there is a half-time party on board. This has no influence on the events of the following morning.

We untie our mooring line at the bow; we should be able to pass the two neighbours' mooring lines, which taper towards the front. Not so. The starboard propeller has caught a mooring. Stop the engine, put the SUP in the water and release the line... If only it were that easy. The motorboat next to us is boarded. Not the best way, but we can't get the mooring free without the strain relief.

We get some good advice from the friendly person opposite, a diver would free us for 80 euros. But our men manage to get it free, even if the screw does leave a few marks. After endless minutes, the cat is free again and we can continue. But just at that moment, the man opposite casts off and makes the harbour basin very narrow. Half an hour of gawking, giving advice, of course you have to set off now, when not everyone is on board. Great timing. And once again I think about why we've been allocated such a stupid berth.

There is also a municipal part in this harbour. Cheaper and also a few metres closer to the city. Perhaps you should favour that.

We leave the island of Hvar and set course for Brač. But halfway there is a KOB. Cap over board. And to make it a MOB (man over board), Radu jumps in after us. So it's a real MOB manoeuvre. As I'm about to initiate the Q-turn, I see that Radu is swimming after us at hellish speed.

I should have pointed out that it is better not to move in such a case, so that we can better target the person to be picked up.

In this almost non-existent wind, I can't get the catamaran to turn through the wind without any problems, so we change the rescue manoeuvre so that we simply park and wait until Radu has swum on board. It took a while and was probably more strenuous than we had expected. Another lesson learnt for the safety briefing talk.

Another nice swim in a secluded bay and off we go in search of a place to spend the night. I have my eye on Uvala Luka, even though we still need some time to get there. But it's worth it! There are several mooring options, the best are once again at buoys with a konoba obligation, but today the galley is used again for delicious wraps. As dusk falls, a light rain starts to fall. I'm not used to that any more.

But the very next day, the sun shines again from the sky. We work our way along the north coast of Brač. According to the travel guide, this is where the most beautiful bay is to be found. We drive past, because at least from the water we can't confirm that. Another swimming stop west of Supetar. The anchor is in place, the bathing ladder is in the water and I realise that our main is still set. Er... There are sailors who leave the main set to stabilise the movements of the Schwoi. Yes, that's exactly what I was going to do.

Finally, we choose a beautiful anchorage. Uvala Stipanska is well filled, a very large yacht has apparently been moored there for some time. The anchor pulls well and the shore lines are laid. The mooring lines of the large sailing vessel are worth paying attention to. As we descended into the bay, we noticed that he had apparently laid out several lines across the entire Uvala. Well, we managed to keep clear of them and are safe.

The next morning we set off on the last stage. But there's still something missing! Exactly, in Istria we had the company of dolphins at least once, I also gave this as a holiday guarantee, but no longer believed it. And then a larger group appeared. Julia with her good camera was even able to spot a baby dolphin. Can you find a better end to a sailing trip?