26th to 28th - Dubrovnik
Posted at 8:26 AM, Thursday, June 28, 2007
Approached Dubrovnik slightly ahead of time, and carefully tied up right behind a huge cruise liner in the main port area of Gruz to sort police, customs and harbouar authorities. All very smooth and friendly - a cruising permit for a yacht the size of Swagman was 254 euros.
Spent the final couple of hours of the leg up from Crofu bowling along at speeds close to 10 knots as the effects of the pending gale gave stronger breezes, and it seemed lots of other yachts were equally scurrying for shelter also. We came from the south - all the others were approaching from the north.
But after spending a couple of hoours clearing in, we slipped our lines from the main harbour and chugged the mile or so up the wide and navigable river to the ACI Dubronvik Marina.
Very flash. Expeced high costs, but similar to Crofu and nicer facilities also. Costs 57 euros for Swagman per night.
The setting, nestled under the high mountain ranges and surroundings, of old stone villas, churches and castles, would be hard to improve upon - a nice place to start a Croatian cruise from.
They allocated us a spot right by the marina entrance - and as a bonus we seemed to be slap bang in a cooling draft of breeze coming down the valley and heading seaward. After a week of 40C+ it was blissfull.
T'was 2230 by the time we'd got sorted the boat and settled for a Pizza in the marina bar. Found that eating out is relatively expensive here - but as they've something like 770 islands to park up around - suspect we'll do lots more eating on board.
For now, especially in this cooler climate, no ones complaining about anything.
Awoke after a good nights sleep and spent yesterday down in Dubrovnik old town. Absolutely stunning - and as first time viewers - we walked the ramparts like millions before.
This is the city that stood out against the Serbs in the last local war, and as a result was devastated. Apart from some exibitions showing scenes from those sad days (very very moving stuff) - you'd not know how much damage it took. The restoration is now virtually complete.
Here you can see the surrounding mountainside, so pretty today, but from which the guns and snipers covered the city and killed so many.
And here's Sue (no its not a Croatian mobile but a tourist speaker whatsit) overlooking the main city streeet.
Lots of narrow back alleys jammed with restaurants and shops.
And lots of interestingly looking people, most of which speak excellent English. This guys our lunch time chef.
Spent the whole day wandering around. It's a proper living city but so jammed in that you as tourists can't help but overlook regular small gardens and home scenarios. Here's the ancient harbour - reserved for local small fishing boats and day trippers.
So, plans are now to stoppover for an additional day and resvisit to sample city nightlife, then heading north and to some anchorages for a further three weeks. The charter yachts return to this Marina Friday night - so it should mean all the good local achorages are empty when we arrive. Fingers crossed.
Have to say the Imray Pilot book for this region (is in my opinion) not as good as others we've used for elsewhere.
So one tip if you plan to visit by yacht is to source another publication instead. '777 Harbours and Anchorages' in the Eastern Adriatic by Karl Bestandig - translated now into several languages. It is a quick reference set of charts a lot more current and useful than the pilot book - costs only 30 euros - and available in all bookstores.
So thats us.
Cool. Lovely.
See you later.
JOHN and SUE
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