We sailed along the coastline, in the Dalmatia region and visited Baška Voda and Makarska.
Along the way there were a lot of bays and we anchored there, sometimes to swim or lunch and often to stay overnight, because sailing in Croatia is popular and the harbors are expensive during summer.
Bays come in many shapes and sizes: long and small or very wide. Broad bays have place for 20 boats, but now we sailed into a very long and small bay, where there is only place for 1 or 2 boats. And there already was 1 boat!
Attach your boat to the rocks!
It was time (for the first time!) to attach a line from our boat to the rocks of the bay. This is a technique that you do, when you want to anchor in a small bay, but:
- It is deep, for instance 20 or 30 meters, you need to have a lot of chain and will hit the rocks when the wind turns and you might hit the rocks in this circle
- There are many boats in small place, when the wind turns, you don’t want to hit other boats
So I took our small boat (dinghy) and a line that was attached to the back of our ship, and attached it to the rocks. There was already an iron pin with a small rope fastened in the rocks, which indicated this was a normal routine here for boats to do 😉. And because we are a catamaran, we have 2 hulls and need 2 lines, so also another line on the other side of the back of our ship.
And it worked very well: the ship was now secured at 3 spots: anchor in the front and 2 lines in the back attached to the rocks. We had a quiet night and a good swim before that!
Baška Voda
It is a picturesque and relaxed coastal town on the Adriatic Sea. It is located about 10 kilometers northwest of the city of Makarska and is part of the Makarska Riviera. Baska Voda is located at the foot of the Biokovo Mountains, part of the Dinaric Alps, which provide an impressive landscape with both mountains and sea.
The town itself is very small, but well kept and the mountains are seen where ever you are!
The town is known for its beautiful beaches with crystal clear water.
We took our drone out and filmed these splendid surroundings.
We enjoyed our stay at the marina, it also helps when there is a friendly harbormaster who tells about good restaurants, nice places to walk to or to cycle. And his best tip was to cycle along the coastline to Makarska! It was 10 km south of Baška Voda, but a great trips.
Makarska
We came across even smaller villages, and also nice places to have a drink. The water and the surroundings look so fantastic!
Makarska is a favourite town of tourists, so lots of shops, ice cream parlors and supermarkets. We spend the afternoon there, walking the famous Makarska Riviera with the boulevard.
Because the south of Europe has a geographical position with lower latitude, the days are shorter in Croatia than in the Netherlands. Half of July the sunset is 20.15h in Croatia and 21.45h in the Netherlands.
So we experienced a nice sunset cycling back along the deserted beaches on the left and the and pine trees on the right.