In 2008 and 2009, I spent several weeks at a time anchored in the port (of Split). In 2010, they started hassling boaters sporadically, kicking them out of the port.

On July 9, 2011, anchored in 2m of water near the Riva, I was woken up by a port official, demanding my boat’s papers. He told me to come to the office to pay a 1000 kuna (150 euro) fine. I arrived with 300 kuna in hand, stating that I wouldn’t and couldn’t pay any higher (my boat does have a hippie appearance).

The officer then invited me for a coffee at an adjacent cafe. After patiently waiting through two rounds of drinks, there was still no compromise.

Returning later with 1000 kuna, he again invited me out for coffee. Seems like he just wanted to chat with somebody. 1000 kuna poorer, I had my boat papers back, and he even said I could stick around for a couple more hours, as I was waiting for crew to arrive at the airport. I certainly let him pay the tabs at the cafes.

My take on it is that boats sometimes anchored in a way that disturbed the path of the ferries. Where I was anchored was 2m deep with excellent holding. There is ample room for boats to anchor that is clear of the ferries. Their approach was to just forbid anchoring anywhere within the port. One does wonder whether the nearby government-run ACI marina has something to do with this.

To convey the new rule that forbids anchoring, they posted a very small sign in a far corner of the port. I did mention that if they really didn’t want to have to fine people, they could post a more prominent sign.

Are there other countries that issue fines the way Croatia does?

It will be interesting to see whether EU membership in 2013 changes any of this nonsense.

Andrew Vik

s/v Geja

1976 Islander 36

Editor’s Note: noonsite does state under the docking section for Split – “Anchoring: It is not advisable to anchor anywhere in this harbour as yachts have recently been substantially fined for doing so”.