Sailing with Alice in Wonderland
A cruising adventure in Croatia on the good yacht Alice

Early in 2009 we, at Yachting Vacations, received a request from a sailboat charter company in Croatia to represent them in the U.S. and, with the slower summer sailing season in Florida looming, we decided to go and discover new sailing waters.

On September 10, First Mate and wife Mila and I left our base in Punta Gorda and flew to Croatia for a two-week charter among some of the 1,083 islands off the Dalmatian coast.

Sail Croatia, based in Marina Kastela, provided us with a Sun Odyssey 49, which we also kept for the second week when we would be sailing with some customers from the States.  The reception at Sail Croatia’s base was very friendly and the handling of the paperwork was smooth and efficient.  The marina is modern and built to accommodate charter business.  Apart from Sail Croatia there are quite a few other operators based at Kastela.  
Our yacht, “Alice”, was in great shape.  I really liked the bowtruster that would prove to be a great help when doing our Med docking in tight quarters and with contrary winds.

The first week was spent sailing and discovering the sailing waters with British and Belgian friends, who left us the following Saturday.

The second week was set aside for our Yachting Vacations customers.  John and Debbie from Dallas, who had chartered from us in Florida before, had rented a brand new Jeanneau 36i, “Meri”, and would sail in tandem with Alice.  Steve and Linda from Washington, D.C., and Bob and Alice from Chicago joined us as passengers on our yacht.  Steve was the only one who would be helping us with the handling of the boat.  The rest of the crew just wanted to enjoy a relaxing sail in this stunningly beautiful part of Europe.

After some provisioning and a yacht orientation on the Jeanneau 36i for John, , we dropped the docking lines and started sailing at around 3:00PM to our first destination, about twenty miles from Kastela, the fishing village of Milna on the island of Brac, where we arrived around 6:00PM, after a brisk sail.  The docking was organized by the local marina operator, ACI, and we were instructed to park Alice, stern first, against the dock in Mediterranean anchoring style.  The only difference was that we did not have to drop the hook before backing up.  The local dockhand gave us a line that was attached to an anchor block in the middle of the channel.  We attached that line to the bow cleat, secured the stern lines, put out our fenders and we were tucked in for the night.  

We were docked close to the steps of the beautiful church of Vis and we were congratulating ourselves on getting such a scenic docking location. We enjoyed a great dinner at the Dolphins restaurant where the mussels are out of this world.
At 6:30AM, the following morning, we were roused from our sleep by the church bells commanding the local flock to attend the early services.  The combination of good food and wine of the previous night’s dinner made for a difficult wake-up but, with the insisting bells echoing inside our skulls, there was no other option than to get up and start preparing our breakfast.

After having paid our slip fee, we departed for Hvar on the island bearing the same name.  This city is definitely one of the pearls of the Adriatic. During the months of July and August it is invaded by tourists and is the playground of the rich and famous.  The harbor is protected by a medieval fortress and the city has loads of charm.  We docked at the quay, surrendered our boat documents to the local harbormaster and went shopping for provisions and prepared for dinner.  Steve, Linda, Alice and Bob met with a friend who lives on the island while John, Debbie, Mila and I went for an al fresco dinner at Luna’s one of the local restaurant where we had a meal to remember with freshly caught fish and, of course, a few bottles of the local wine.  Some of the local wines can easily compete with their French, Chilean and Californian counterparts and we quickly became familiar with the names of the Plavac, Vugava and other varietals.

Day three saw our mini flotilla head towards Vis, a mountainous island that, until about twenty years ago, was off limits to outsiders.  The Tito regime used it as a military base and the island is like a Swiss cheese, crisscrossed with tunnels and caves in which the Yugoslav army could hide and from where they could launch guerrilla raids.  Tito had his own hideout there and there is even an abandoned submarine pen in a hidden cove where sailors go and anchor.  Many of the caves are now being used as wine cellars.

We sailed into the cove of Rogacic, where we dropped our anchor in front of the submarine pen and, soon after, John and Debbie rafted Meri up to our boat.  We dove in the refreshing waters and Steve and Alice swam to the submarine pen.  John and Debbie wanted to motor inside the pen with their dinghy but the outboard quit and they drifted away towards another boat chartered by Russians who were diving naked from their yacht.  A little later another Jeanneau dropped its hook near ours and we noticed that its crew had a problem getting the anchor to set. We recognized the American accent of the crew and invited them to raft up with us, which earned us a few glasses of their wine.  Our daily lunches consisted of delicious local cheese, figs, grapes, lettuce and tomatoes.  The local produce is unbelievably fresh and tasty and unlike anything we can find in our grocery stores.  After lunch and some more refreshing dips in the clear water of the cove, we weighed anchor and set course for Vis harbor, where we docked for the night.

Vis Island has several villages and small cities some of which date back to medieval times.  The dockhand at the quay handed us our mooring line and soon we were off discovering the city and making plans for dinner.  During our previous visit, we had found a restaurant in the mountains, about a twenty minute ride from the port.  It is owned by Dennis, one of the dockhands and it is basically a shed set in the middle of his vineyard and his olive groves.  His wife, Bise, is the cook and she prepared us a typical meal using the traditional pekka, a deep dish in which the food is stewed.  It is covered with a bell shaped lid and the whole contraption is buried under hot coals where it sits for about two hours.  To kill the time, we started with some local sheep cheese drizzled with honey mixed with balsamic vinegar, fresh anchovies in olive oil, shark nuggets rolled in beer batter and deep fried with a yogurt dressing and, finally, the main dish of lamb, potatoes and onions, stewed inside the pekka in the open fire, was served.  Delicious is an understatement.  Next time we go to Croatia, we will buy a pekka and bring it back to the States.  All this gorgeous food was washed down with Dennis’ and Bise’s local wines, followed by a variety of their own brandies.  Needless to say, we were in a happy mood when the minivan drove us back down the switchbacks to Vis.

When walking back to our boats, we were invited by some Austrian yachties to come on board of their yacht and join their party.  We shared their wine, drank their moonshine and sang along with them for a while before ambling back to our good yachts, Alice and Meri.

The following morning, we collected our ship documents from the harbor master, loaded up on some provisions and ice and set sail to the island of Bisevo, southwest of Vis Island.  Bisevo is a smaller island but its claim to fame is its blue cave.  We sailed along the east coast of Vis then turned west towards Bisevo where we dropped our anchor in the cove near the entrance of the blue cave.  We motored to the cave with the dinghy and were met there by a gatekeeper in his skiff who collected the entrance fee. Nice racket!  Once you entered the cave, you had to shut off the engine and paddle your way inside.  After about 10 yards and a turn to the right, we reached the main chamber where a blue light shone up from the bottom.  It was a gorgeous sight!  I wanted to jump in the water but it is strictly forbidden and we soon returned to our floating residences to have lunch.

After finishing our sandwiches, tomato salad and wine, we pulled up our anchors and set sail for the fishing port of Komiza on the south side of Vis Island.  Even though it was short sail, we arrived late enough that we ended up with the some of the last docking spaces, right next to some large fishing vessels.  The problem was that we were tied up downwind from them and the smell definitely killed any desire we could have had for sushi that night.  To make matters worse these fishing ships attracted thousands of flies.  Fortunately, at around 6:00PM, they left the port for their night fishing expeditions and took their smell and flies away with them.  Good riddance!  Some of the crew headed for one of the fancier restaurants but Mila and I just wanted to end the day with a pizza and a beer at a pizzeria in the shadow of the historic tower/fortress that protected the population from pirates hundreds of years ago.

Wednesday morning we left Komiza and headed towards the island of Korcula, according to legend the birthplace of Marco Polo. Ideally, we would have loved to go directly to the city of Korcula on the far end of the island but a later than planned departure and a lack of wind in the morning and during most of the day forced us to change our destination to the port of Vela Luka.  When we arrived there the wind had picked up and it made our docking a bit more difficult.  Fortunately, there were not too many yachts a the quay so we had some maneuvering space but it still reminded me that docking remains a spectator sport……  After we had safely secured the yachts, we took a taxi to go to the other side of the island to visit the city of Korcula, which looks like a smaller version of Dubrovnik. We wandered through the streets, did some T-shirt shopping, enjoyed a delicious ice cream or, as the locals call it, a sladoled.  Wherever we went during our layovers, we always found the best sladoled money can buy.
Korcula, like many places along the Adriatic, was ruled by the city state of Venice and you can see the influence in the architecture. The city is crisscrossed by narrow streets that have been built in a way to take advantage of the prevailing winds to either cool down or keep the island from getting to cold, depending on the seasons.
Soon it was time for the drive back to Vela Luka where we ended the day in our berths after a last pizza and a beer at a small restaurant on the quay.

Thursday brought us closer to the end of our Croatia adventure and we started to sail back in the general direction of Split.  We left the large bay of Vela Luka, rounded point Proizd and took a heading of 20 degrees towards Scedro Island, a smaller island located between Korcula and Hvar .  Scedro has many scenic inlets and coves that offer great anchoring.  We motored into the Rasohatica anchorage where we found several stunning Gullets at anchor.  These wooden yachts can house up to twenty five people and charter at more than 15,000.00 Euros per week (cocktails included, I hope).

We dropped anchor and dove in the clear water for a refreshing swim before enjoying our lunch, after which we brought up the anchor and took off for Marina Palmizana, on the south side of the Pakleni Channel, almost across from Hvar.  From the channel you cannot see the marina and you could easily miss the entrance if you did not know what you are looking for but, once inside the harbor, the scenery was absolutely beautiful.
After docking Alice and Meri, we set off on a discovery walk of the island.  A short stroll brought us to the south side of the island where we found a number of restaurants overlooking a protected anchorage with a south west orientation.  This gave us a spectacular sunset from Zori’s, the restaurant that we had selected for our last dinner together with the whole crew.  Again, we had nothing but praise for the quality of the local gastronomy.  The fish that was served was ugly like sin but oh so scrumptious.

Friday morning, September 25, we started making our way back to Marina Kastela but, as the charter policy required us to refuel before returning the yacht, we sailed into the harbor of Milna where we and about fifteen other yachts performed an aquatic ballet, turning in circles and avoiding collisions while waiting for the fuel dock to become available for the next one in line.  Service at the fuel dock was non-existent and the attendant was of no great help.  This was one of the few times that we had to complain of poor service during our trip.  As soon as we had refueled, we headed to Marina Kastela, where we arrived at around 5:00PM.  The Sail Croatia staff directed us down the dock and had us slide in between two other yachts that had arrived earlier.  With fenders ready, we finally backed in and secured Alice for the last time.

John and Debbie, on Meri, arrived right after us and soon thereafter, they too, were docked.  Steve and Linda and Bob and Alice disembarked right away and started driving towards the north for more tourism.  Mila and I and John and Debbie spent one more night on our boats and disembarked the following morning.
That evening, we walked over to a local restaurant called the Ballet School, where we celebrated Debbie’s birthday with a good meal and a few bottles of wine.

During the night one of the strong Bora winds that regular blow along the Dalmatian coast started howling in the rigging of the yachts and we did not get to sleep too much.  The following morning, bleary eyed, we were checked out from our yachts and, after an effusive farewell with John and Debbie, we headed for our hotel in Split and a long warm shower.

I cannot wait until September 2010 to go back and discover more of these exciting Croatian sailing waters.  We are accepting reservations for next September’s flotilla at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .