Cruising; Greece vs. Croatia in 2013

Scarlett is an Australian Jeanneau 42i; we wintered 2012/13 in Marina di Ragusa in Sicily.

Greece

On April 7th we left Italy and headed towards the Ionian Sea. The 240-mile crossing was mild, on arrival in Greece we found ourselves to be one of the only yachts in the Ionian. From day one and our check in at Argostoli in southern Cephalonia with the port police and customs, everything was easy, hassle-free and inexpensive.

The weather in April in the Ionian was perfect, warm days, calm seas and light breezes. Every anchorage was empty, every town quay deserted. There wasn’t even one other yacht in the normally hectic port Fiscardo! We sailed through the inland sea and moved through the Lefkas Canal, to stay at Preveza and then through beautiful Paxos and on to Corfu.

Albania

We left Corfu at the end of May and sailed through Albania. The port of Sarande in southern Albania was a town and country trying to drag itself into the European 21st century, the people and the authorities, helpful and friendly. Yachts were uncommon and they wanted to show us a good time. The markets and the restaurants were inexpensive and good. Albania, it’s not every-day you see a man walking down the footpath with a large brown bear on dog’s lead. Lucky for the bear our little white Maltese was also on lead, he would have had him for sure!

Croatia

From here a 220-mile push through to Cavtat in Southern Croatia. Here we paid for a cruising permit and accommodation tax for three months, which amounted to almost 400 euros or the local currency of 2700 koona. We then went out and anchored in the next bay and some local official came up in a dinghy and tried to take another 10 euro for “Garbage Fee”. I told him to go away and he did, leaving with the quote, ‘We always have trouble with Australians!’

For the next eighty-four days and nights, we cruised up to Venice and back down again. Venice was great but that’s another story. Croatia, well it’s good but not as good as Greece and I’ll tell you why.

First, what’s good about Croatia

• The beer is cheap and good at a euro a litre. So too is the wine, with reasonable bottled wine at three euros per litre.
• The food is good and cheap, they must have the best stone fruits in the world. Their markets are great with super produce. The ubiquitous pizza restaurants are a great value and good everywhere, another restaurant fair is pretty mundane. Seafood is exorbitant, the resultant fish always the size of a sprat. We wouldn’t use them for bait where I am from!
• The people are friendly enough, but not as warm and smiling like the Greeks.
• The sailing is lovely, in blue skies and 30 degrees there was a 12 to 14-knot breeze at 1300 hours every day. The wind stopped to zero every afternoon at 1800 hours. The inland seas of islands made for fabulous sailing and cruising.
• There was never a ripple at night in coves and inlets, still, quiet and no horrible rolling.
• Because there are so many anchorages, they were never busy. Even in late July and early August, there were never more than a few other yachts.
• The charter boats we encountered were well crewed and behaved. There weren’t any crash and bangs by day or night.

Now, what we didn’t like about Croatia:

• The water is warmer and clearer in Greece; in fact, it’s a lot clearer, cleaner and warmer. In Croatia there are no sandy beaches at all, swimming is just much better in Greece.
• The Croatian islands are nice, with lots of fine, safe anchorages. However, on many of them, there aren’t even walking trials. The rocks and thorny brush make an evening walk almost impossible.
• If there is a town quay you will pay to tie up and the pay demanded is always a minimum of 40 euros. Power and water if you can get it will be extra.
• The best anchorages have buoys in them; these are also 40 euros a night (more in the national parks). If you anchor within 300 metres of a buoy you must also pay 40 euros. Many anchorages are free, but you never know when a dinghy might arrive and the person inside say, ‘You must pay!’ This normally happens about one hour before sundown, which gives little time to find a safe calm alternative.
• The marinas are really expensive, you just don’ want to go there. Expensive with limited facilities. An example, Zadar Marina, was happy to charge 100 euro per night, but could not supply a RIB to assist us when we had an engine failure and were trying to get into the marina. We had to sail around a horde of ferry boats of all sizes and up to the pen, there wasn’t even a Marinero to grab the lines.

Conclusion

There was the general feeling that Croatia was “milking” the cruising sailor (charter boaters included) for every cent they could get. The hand is always out and the face behind it rarely has much of a smile.

However, with careful avoidance of buoyed bays and standing our ground, we were able to anchor for free for all but two nights. This still did not allow one to relax, always wondering if the next boat was some local coming to ask for a wad of koonas.

We arrived back to Corfu in late August, the relief we felt at being back in Greece is hard to overemphasise.  We sailed on through the Corinth Canal and into the Cyclades and the Dodecanese, to finish our 4000nm cruising season in Finike, Turkey.

Back to Greece meant free town quays, sometimes free water and power, to anchor where you like and happy locals with big smiles. And best of all to a lunch at the ever-present harbour sidebar of a pitta yeros and a large Mythos for 4.5 euros.

We did like Croatia, but would we go back, no.

I know I have banged on a lot about price and money, but when you feel you are constantly the victim of being gouged, it grates the soul. The bottom line is that anything that is good in Croatia is better and cheaper in Greece (well the beer and wine aren’t better or cheaper).

Is it too good to be true? Probably, the Greek Government have just introduced a cruising tax to start April 1st 2014, which will cost a 42-foot boat 1300 euros per year.

Dave Elliott

SY Scarlett