All services emergency number 112.
Other numbers to call depending on what you need help with.
192 - Police
193 - Fire Brigade
194 - Ambulance
195 - Search and Rescue if at sea
1987 - Road Assistance
18166 - Weather Forecast
11802 - International Telephone Directory
9155 - National Maritime Search and Rescue Centre (also VHF Channel 16, 10 or 74)
For medical assistance at sea contact MRCC Rijecka (SAR) – “195”
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I had sailing around Croatia 2 times on 2018 and 2019. Already marina price getting high and even they charge for anchoring despite low prices of Croatia.
I hate Croatia officials. Money money fine fine.
Do not visit Croatia!
Anyway I want to know can I passing Croatia water without entering. I will heading to Bari from Montenegro therefore I have to sailing Croatia territory.
Our thanks to Nick Laing, long-term cruiser in Croatia, for his feedback on how he sees cruising in Croatia is changing in 2025:
“Generally it’s getting more expensive and people are starting to leave. Marina berths (if you can find one) in Montenegro are a third cheaper with very much better service – this is everything from general repairs to restaurants. Also there is an increase in buoyed bays forcing you to pay, with catamarans still being charged one and a half times, despite the fact that you can only get one boat on each buoy. Authorities are also getting strict on dinghies. Any over 2.5m or with an engine size bigger than 6Hp are taxed separately and require a vignette. They are only allowed to travel within 500m of the mother ship unless going ashore. Make sure it is insured!”
See https://www.noonsite.com/news/croatia-new-maritime-regulations-from-april-2025/ for more details.
Does anyone have information on Data SIM options in Croatia and where to purchase? Thank you!
Hi Helen – see https://www.noonsite.com/place/croatia/view/communications/
We entered Cabrat from Montenegro 29.Aug 2024. There is a Q Dock where they want you to put your boat so they see you on CCTV. So make sure crew doesn’t leave before you cleared them in. There a boatboy DON’T use them. They touch your line and tell you where the harbourmaster office is and charge you €15.- .
Anchoring in the bay is a hefty €60 and the berth roman catholic no power no water is €130.
Thank you Robert for this feedback, it seems not much has changed in Cavtat, except the mooring fees have got more expensive!
Vous le saviez certainement mais il y a toujours 2 taxes à payer pour naviguer en Croatie: la taxe touristique (par internet)et la vignette de navigation (chez le Harbormaster, à l’arrivée).
C’est le passage auprès de la police des frontières qui n’a plus lieu d’être pour les voyageurs issus de l’espace Schengen.
Mais l’attestation de paiement de la taxe touristique précise qu’il s’agit d’une vignette peu prêter à confusion!
Google Translate:
There are always 2 taxes to pay to sail in Croatia: the tourist tax (on the internet) and the navigation sticker (at the Harbormaster, on arrival). It is the passage through the border police that is no longer necessary for travelers from the Schengen area. But the certificate of payment of the tourist tax specifies that it is a sticker that can be confusing!
Feedback from Nick Laing who sails most summers in Croatia:
Buoys: Mooring fields are mainly private (and sometimes dubiously) owned by individuals and they will come out by boat as soon as you look as though you are going to pick up a mooring. They do help sometimes. Irritatingly they charge 1.5 times for a catamaran, which of course makes no sense, but there is little argument to be had. Occasionally you can get away with a free hour or so if you are just staying for lunch and a swim.
Anchorages: Free anchorages are increasingly hard to find, particularly north of Split. As you move south free bays are easier to find, but I suspect it is a trend that we will see them slowly monetarized.
Clearance: It is worth going online to purchase your tourist tax for boaters prior to arrival. (evisitor.hr)
Cavtat: Has one stern-to berth for customs clearance and you have to wait at anchor in the bay until the space is vacated by the previous boat. Personally I would avoid Cavtat and head for Gruz/Dubrovnik which has a very much easier and much more efficient system and location. The customs quay lies between the big cruise boats and the ferries (yellow building with big windows). Go alongside with fenders out, plenty of room for several boats. The only important point to remember is coming from the south you must keep well outside all the islands otherwise you are deemed to have entered Croatian waters and are required to report to Cavtat. They track you and it’s a €200 fine (I know!).
The larger bay on the other side of the peninsular is indeed free and does offer good holding if you avoid large areas of sea grass, but you cannot clear customs from there.
Gruz/Dubrovnik: Note comments above. Moor alongside with fenders, situated between cruise liners and ferries. There is an ATM over the road behind the customs building.
Marina Frapa is directly opposite the Customs House. New, but poorly designed. All berths are affected by the wash of passing boats. On the plus side, it is the only marina that I know of with the capability of pumping out black water from your berth. Several nice restaurants on the road behind the marina, a small unheated swimming pool, which is always cold, but the nearest food store is about a 10 minute walk. Very helpful staff but limited facilities for in-house repairs, although most are available locally which they will source for you. 20 minutes by taxi to the Old Town but quicker coming back (one way system).
The closest place for refilling bottled gas is near the ACI marina up river. By taxi this takes about 15/20 minutes. There are 2 fuel berths – one next door to Frapa and another up river towards the ACI. The latter gets very, very busy as the charter fleet returns on Friday.
Slano: Has a new ACI marina Veljko 193 berths. The town has little to recommend.
Mljet, Polace: Very popular, well sheltered inland bay offering good holding. Gets very crowded in July/August. Plenty of restaurants located along the western shore in the village, many with small private docks. National Park staff come round by boat to collect anchoring fees which are expensive. Surprisingly good little supermarket, bakery, ATM, plenty of bikes to rent (Electric and standard), although on the downside the water is not as clean as elsewhere. Rubbish bins at the far left hand end of the village.
Mixed feelings
We have been twice to Croatia and both times I have absolutely loved the people. The help the food And the great Anchorage’s . However every year we end up with a fine as they use this as a income . The authorities are over stepping the line and like their Own little Incentive scheme. Making fines a way of getting points or krona ??
The first year we came out of Montenegro and hitting the strong winds and bad swells we decided to stop trying to get to Cavtat . So went into the first bay available Luka . Within 20 min we were approached by 6 guys in a police rib and fined for not checking in . We explained that due to weather. We had headed for the safety of the island bay. They just smiled and wrote the fine out . The next day we arrived at Cavtat. Signed in and asked about the fine . The guy there smiled and said that if we paid now he would half the fine. The second adventure was coming from Bari to Zadar when a police launch pulled up next to us and told us we should have booked in at the first possible port of entry which we didn’t even know was possible at 2 am in the morning . Again smiling they issued the fine and after a conversation. They rewrote the fine and we paid there and then . We did question this at Zadar and again a big smile just said you were lucky . If you travel though any other territorial water in Europe you don’t need to book in so why there. Again I will only give praise to the people and the other facilities provided by Croatia. especially Betina where the Volvo dealer was fantastic as well as the mastervolt dealer in the marina . Thanks guys
Andrew, is your ship so big that you are required to transmit AIS at all times? Best to shut off AIS when entering/exiting Croatia, as they’re watching and are happy to fine you for the smallest infraction. And, yes, one might suspect that the money collected gets divided by the staff.
Anyway, AIS seems unnecessary for such coastal cruising.
Email is richard.felgate555@gmail.com !!
What are the formalities for changing crew?
eg a relative’s yacht may be left in Croatia for part of the summer which we would be able to use from time to time, subject to formalities. There would be no question about chartering.
Is the ‘sojourn tax’ only payable for those periods when the boat is actually occupied as implied in the regulations.
Authorities no longer check for crew lists changes while the boat is in Croatia. They just need to be accurate for customs clearance and exit. I had two crew leave the boat last year and tried twice to have the official list changed at different port offices and both said no need. Then clearing out I just supplied to original and a new list… All was fine… Best to just have your own list accurate at all times though.
I believe the tax is payable regardless of whether the boat is occupied or not. Not sure on rates for 2020, but it went down after 2018 as a lot of private yachts decided not to visit.
Replacement of rigging for insurance cover:
Hello I’m looking for a company to price replacement of standing rigging on 46ft 2006 Bavaria in Croatia. Many thanks
I suspect this comes a bit late and you already might have managed whatever you needed to do, but if not:
Aspar Rigging, based in Rijeka, aspar-rigging@ri.t-com.hr, Tel. +385 51 343 230
Sajla com d.o.o., based in Vodice, info@sajla-com.hr, +385 0 95 9030757
So after reading so many negative comments about cruising in Croatia I thought I’d add my experience after cruising here for 2 months. I was actually stressed about coming here but was kind of forced due to Schengen reasons.
We sailed from Italy straight to Cavtat for check in. On arrival we didn’t throw our lines to the guy on the dock. He only has a permit to provide a line handling service, you’re not paying 20€ for the use of the dock which some believe to be the case. If you don’t throw him your lines he can’t charge you. He hurled so much abuse at me and told me I was to be fined 600€ for not having Q flag up (we are an EU reg yacht in EU waters). He took photos of the boat and flags and sent them to the police. Police did nothing apart from tell me the dock guy causes them problems if yachts don’t pay… It’s amazing a tourist board allows such a rude, angry person to be the first point of contact in a country. I’m betting he’ll be gone soon enough especially if yachts stop paying him for nothing.
Leaving there after customs we expected to pay to drop anchor everywhere and be constantly harassed by fee collectors. On the contrary… In fact the most we paid for anchor was 10€ in Pula harbour (we were there for a week on anchor but the port authority only came once).
There are free anchorages everywhere. Just do your research… A good tender with speed and range is essential. We anchor in free spots and take the tender up to 2-3 miles in some cases to villages or areas where anchoring is restricted. If you want the convenience of stepping off your yacht into the village, you’ll pay. If you use the mooring buoys you’ll pay. The place is set up to get as much money out of the charter tourists who are usually a group on a yacht for a week splitting costs. I’m guessing the charter guides “recommend” using the buoys. We are a couple on a 42ft yacht, we avoided almost all anchoring fees for 10 weeks though and missed nothing, so it can be done. Sebenik, Hvar, Zadar, Trogir, Dubrovnik, Cavtat, Korcula, Rab, Krka, Split, Pag, Mali Losinj – All free. Kornati we bought the pass online, half price.
Croatia is great and people are nice. It shouldn’t be missed because of a few bad experiences listed here by people that simply didn’t do the research. Pleading ignorance won’t get you far, but if you get pestered by a fee collector and think you are right, call their bluff. Let them call the police. Truth is they won’t because they’ll be in more trouble than you if they are trying to extort money through fear when you’ve anchored just outside their morning zone. Even if they did, I doubt the police would come.
We plan to check out of Gruz next week to avoid that dock guy in Cavtat. The cruising tax isn’t too expensive in my opinion if you avoid the other unnecessary costs. Marinas are over priced given they are empty from Saturday – Friday when charter fleets are out. They could do better here lowing the cost would attract more vessels.
can anyone recommend a good mechanic/worker for repairs and anti fouling etc in or around ACI marina Dubrovnik?
Check in at Gruz was very easy, friendly and efficient. I tried to amend my crew list 3 days later as my delivery crew had departed. Was advised by both the Gruz harbourmaster and the border entry police that for the past couple of years the crew list is only required to be submitted on entry and exit from Croatia.
Arrived on Korcula Island, really secure anchorage just outside Vela Luka, from Italy at 7pm during a Bora. As the anchor went down, we were monitoring a Mayday just outside – cruise ship stopped to help, Police eventually arrived and saved the yacht. We went to bed, exhausted, and pleased we hadn’t had to go out again to try and help.
Took the tender into town 10am following morning (today) to do customs etc. We were slapped with a 2000 Kuna fine for failing to clear in “immediately”. Yet there’s no way we could have safely parked in the town last night. It was unsafe. Very cross! This is Europe! Horrendous experience. Narrowly avoided being arrested.
I think that you should have tied up to the customs dock in Vela Luka. I was fined 667+100 kuna when anchoring outside Kremik marina (Primošten) and taking the dinghy into the marina. The police came after having received surveillance info based on radar/AIS from our arrival from Italy. They said I should have gone to their dock directly with boat. No anchoring.
Mar 26, 2019 04:07 PM
Marina Kastela, 10 minutes from Split airport
Feb 07, 2019 05:05 PM
Can anyone recommend a safe marina in Croatia to leave a 45ft catamaran for approx. 3 weeks? We have to go back to California for our daughter’s wedding in August 2019 and don’t want to put the boat on the hard for such a short time.
Marina Frappa, Rogosnica, just north of Trogir. 45 mins from Split airport.
My experience of chartering in Croatia pretty much reflects the stories in this thread. While lucky enough to have not needed any clearing or customs, there is a feeling that you are being ambushed by various bodies, especially the Natural Parks.
Mooring fees, marina fees, and food are all escalating significantly making Croatia a fairly expensive destination.
We sailed into Paradur on the island of Lestovo. Mooring fees at the Hotel’s marina were 300 Kuna, not cheap but worth the trip. Were “ambushed” by a couple of Rangers dressed in conservation green uniforms demanding a payment of 150 Kuna for visiting the Nature Reserve. We explained that we would not be visiting the Park, only to be informed that we were in it and had to pay 150 Kuna per day for the privilege. This felt like an ambush because nowhere in the research we used, online and offline, to pick the destination was there any mention of a daily fee.
This creeping charging environment is unfortunate. It taints our experience and is putting many enthusiastic sailors off Croatia….and their spending goes elsewhere.
Croatia altogether became completely not reasonable regarding prices. Mainly in 2018. it is across the board. A pass in Kornati and a stop for swimming was 665 euro, (not cheap) is now 180 Euro. Sejours fee used to be 180 Euro per year, it now is 1’050 euro. A kilo of first cat fish in restaurants was 55 Euro, now about 70 Euro, marinas, mooring buoys, all is in the air. Seems like an Apres moi le deluge nationwide step. Yes, Croatia has what to offer in terms os sea and islands. but it is not reasonable. It probably went in the steps of Montenegro, which gave ann example, of how to milk Visitors.
Another bay with buoys where they charge/tried to charge 50% more for a catamaran.
At the bay (43°43’01.5″N 15°46’11.8″E) in the south of the Tijat island the money collector asked first for 30KN per meter for my catamaran. With negotiations I got it down to 20KN per meter; price for mono-hulls. The money collector was a nice and friendly person and claimed that he is only doing his job.
The restaurant at the end of the bay has a great design and looks good. However, food is very bad and very expensive. 600KN per kilogram class A fish is the most expensive, I have seen so far. 400KN per kilogram is already a on the expensive side.
National park fees significantly increased. You will need to pay about 100 euro for 45 ft boat (e.g. Mljet, Lastovo).
On a side note, we have never had a problem with any officials and find the people very friendly, this has been our experience allover from Spain to Greece.
We just need a small repair job and didn’t want to go into Split. There is a super friendly family in Korcula, based inside the ACI marina. Just walk down to the white crane and you will find a small mechanical shop and chandelry. They also arranged for someone to fix out vhf antenna atop the mast(www.oreb-sailing.com) for a very reasonable price. Very happy
Split harbor with southerly winds and waves is very insecure. We left again after 30 min. This at 8bft wind, rain and approaching night because we felt safer outside than along the “west coast” called part of the harbor.
The ACI Marina Split was fully occupied, thus we sailed to Trogir and stayed in the ACI Marina there. Nice and friendly staff.
Overcharging of catamarans
Island Mala Rava, bay at 44°02’20.2″N 015°03’17.4″E
and
island Kaprije, bay at 43°41’12.0″N 015°42’29.2″E
In both bays I was charged 50% higher fees for mooring on a buoy because I sail a catamran. As a boat, be it a mono-hull or a multi-hull occupies only one buoy, I regard a 50% surcharge as unfair an report it here for other multi-hull sailor.
Still there are many nice and friendly places in Croatia. The above ones are the exceptions.
Losing will always for me be a beautiful island with interesting bays and places to visit. However, I will never try and enter the city harbor of Mali Losinj again (located in the center of the town). (N44.533013, E14.467355)
Reason – In August 2017 I wanted to enter this harbor for the 3rd time in 2017, always with about 4-8 people on board. This time they refused me and many other sailboats a berth. The reason we got from the staff and their “boss” (I talked with him several times in 2017, thus knew who he was) were that we didn’t have a length of 25m or more. I and my crew did not believe what we heard.
My boat is a 43.5 ft catamaran and there were 3-4 places for a catamaran open and about 10 monohulls.
There was a pretty strong thunderstorm approaching and we were lucky to get the last berth in (private) “Marina Losinj on the E side of the bay just beside the refueling station. We were pretty lucky because many boats had to get out of the bay before the storm set in.
This “Marina Losinj” is a bit away from the town but has a nice restaurant on the second floor, good food at reasonable prices, and great views over the bay.
We have sailed the Adriatic for the last four years. This year, July 2017, we sailed into Umag from Italy to clear in. The police guy who checked our passprts was in a foul mood and yelled at me several times, threatened me with fines and was clearly trying to get me to go on the counter offensive. I spent 20 yrs in law enforcement and know the technique. As a Captain with a 100 ton license, I acted professionally and calmly. After 15 minutes of berating me and the US, he stamped our passports. This is not the guy you want representing Croatia and I filed several formal complaints.
Two meters away at another window I had to clear with the harbor master, a middle-aged woman who refused to issue us a sailing permit because I did not have my original USCG license (it hangs on a wall in my office). She said she was afraid of her boss and did not want to lose her job. I told her I understood and politely left for 8 days in Slovenia where we had no problems.
Good bye Croatia and especially Umag.
We checked in and out of Croatia through Cavtat. Officials were very cordial. The night we arrived, it was evening and although port police was open, the immigration office was closed. We had anchored in the bay just north of the bay where immigration has its quay because the quay was full with other boats. Port police asked us to return to their bay, but we explained that we were securely anchored in the adjacent bay, and that reanchoring in the unfamiliar harbor (where winds were picking up) after dark put us at risk. They said “in that case, be sure you are on the dock here before immigration opens in the morning” – 8am. We sailed over at first light, brought our boat to the quay, and were waiting at immigration when they opened and all was fine.
Note, weather and winds can whip up fast and furiously in these bays. We saw it go from no wind to 35+ knots – with boats dragging anchor – in a heartbeat!
If you are heading to old town Dubrovnik and want to spend the night out at anchor in the harbour just out of the old walls, you will be asked for a 4Euros per meter fee by the Port Authority dinghy coming to collect the fee in the morning.
Also be aware that the Island of Lokrum, right in front of the old town, is a UNESCO site and unfriendly rangers will not allow you on the island before 0915 am. Besides that also note that if you are using the Imray Pilot Book by Trevor and Dyna Thompson you will be misled: the book states that u can anchor with a line ashore in Uvala Portoc, but this is false as a ranger will come by and force you to release the line.
Actually anywhere on Lokrum lines ashore are not allowed.
We had read many negative comments about cruising in Croatia but we thought we would give it a try this season.We checked in a Cavtat, checked out at Rovinj for a week long visit to Venice and checked back into Croatia in Novigrad and we must say we didn’t have any issues with either the Port Police or Harbour masters. On the contrary we found them to be helpful and fairly efficient. So we have no complaints. We have found there are probably too many mooring fields where you need to pay if staying overnight and the charges in the national parks could be higher than other countries but on the other hand they are cheaper than Sardinia and the marinas are generally cheaper than the west coast of Italy and Sicily. The costs to enter Croatia are easily found on the web and it you consider the cruising permit costs too high then don’t come. We have found the cruising areas in Croatia to be very good with lots of free, calm anchorages with clear water.
We needed an unexpected crown repair to a molar and it has been an unexpected highlight of our sailing visit to Croatia! We were worried our dream holiday was going to get painful! We recommend http://www.dubrovnikdental.com/dubrovnikdental_lounge_jurisic.html
The staff are wonderful, the technology is amazing, and Dr Dubravko Jurisic has a great personal style and a brilliant pair of hands!
Yes, Croatian boarder authorities could be unfriendly as any other EU boarder authority when you show disrespect. I guess in your own countries you are prized for non-following/disobeying border control rules and regulations.
Further info. on Port Police fines:
One has sixteen days to pay any fines issued. It is unlikely the Port Police will tell you this, and they may even offer to take you to the bank in a police car to pay the fine.
My wife and I spent a couple of weeks cruising Croatia this summer, our experience wasn’t much different to the above. The Croatian police used our AIS information to show that we had arrived at 0650 and then didn’t check in for a couple of hours, consequently they fined us, you can find the whole story here……http://goo.gl/s3vRGw (not sure if I can post a link), needless to say, they were rude, unhelpful and mostly keen to make some cash from a fine. It’s a lovely country with some lovely quiet islands, but the attitude of the authorities was terrible! So in summary, the cruising permit is expensive, the Sojourn tax is expensive, the marinas are expensive, you get charged for anchoring if you are within 150 meters of a mooring field and the authorities are horrible. It’s a good job the islands are beautiful!!
I must add some words to my comment, as it might be misunderstood.
Croatia is beautiful & and it has very nice people. I guess somewhen after the Balkan war in the 1990’s Croatia realized, that tourism, nautic tourism, is the backbone of it’s economy. I think it was a well calculated decision to improve this. The decision was right. Charter boats bring a lot of money. If you have a Megayacht you are very welcome too, not only because you have money, but Megayachts are an important part of the pretty scenery for all other tourists, that spend 2 or 3 wonderful weeks in summer there. This is, in my opinion, fully all right.
But it is not what a crusing or a bluewater sailor expects. And these sailors does Croatia not expect, too. On a 42ft boat you usually sail with 2 to max 4 persons. A charter boat at that size captures up to 8, eight persons that eat and drink every day in restaurants, pay at anchoring and so on. I can understand this from the economic point of view.
This, of course, is no reason for the officials at harbours or clear in / out to behave like they often do.
Kind regards.
I sailed several years in Croatia and I have to admit, that the landscape & islands are really lovely. But I have to agree with what Manana and Sue report…
Prices for annual berthing went up 20-30% (!) each year and so did everything else in the coastal region. I encountered often the same with officials, I met nice ones too, but very rare. One has to understand, that if you do not give them the feeling to subdue the get very angry and a harmless situation gets out of control quickly.
I decided to leave, when I had to pay for being on anchor in Vis, but not in the main harbour are, but a little bay offside – in late October! They even did not take the garbage with them, and when I asked for document the 2 men became angry and yes, I was scared and my only goal was to avoid troubles.
Although I found also some friends there, of course, and I know some good service people there, I will not return. Once in Greece or Italy there is no need to return. Everywhere else it’s much more professional, helpful, the food is better, the olive oil, the wine and the summers are longer, and there are less overcrowded and loud charterboats anyway.
There’s a saying meanwhlie: “In Croatia they take the money before they take your line”. To sad. Because the area is so nice.
I had received a lot of adverse reports about cruising Croatia. I thought I would judge for myself. We intended to spend 3 months in Croatia. We bought a 3-month cruising permit at Cavtat. In hindsight the Cavtat clear in was pretty much a summary of our Croatian experience. The officials were unfriendly and unhelpful. Each office including the patrol boat has a big flat screen TV and officials/ border police are glued to the Croatian soaps.
We tied up at the Q dock paid our €15 and got pointed to the building with a flag. Paid another €300 there ( had to go to an ATM to get local currency as they don’t take €)After harbourmaster it was then to the immigration and police. Yes, same big flat screen TV and unhelpful.
Pretty much wherever you got the marine people will snip you. Whether town quays, mooring balls, marinas, National Parks they all have a lick. It is just uncomfortable at anchorage wondering if someone is going to ask for cash.
The parks definitely charge. The coronation was €70 to drop anchor. The very impressive RIB with a big outboard and guys in nice Embroidered Polo Shirts collect. Eco Warriors, WWF (World Wildlife Fund) have some sort of in sharing arrangement with the fees. There are no mooring balls for the fees so don’t know where the cash is spent.
I wouldn’t bother going again. There are much nicer places in Greece, Turkey, Malta etc. Friendly as well
In case we didn’t get the message that we were are not welcome when we cleared out I made the decision to wait for a storm to pass through. We left at about 7 am the next morning. The police fined us for not leaving directly after clearing out… We still had a month left on our cruising permit. I explained that as skipper I made the decision to wait for the storm to pass. They said I had broken the law and they had caught me. I transmit AIS continually for safety reasons so obviously, I was not hiding my actions. They considered the circumstances and halved the €300 fine. My advice is probably not going to Croatia. If you do then leave your AIS turned off and you will blend in with the zillion charter boats. If you make the safety decision to wait for a storm to blow over before departing then go west until in international waters before heading south. Predictably the police sit at the Montenegro border… Yes watching their flat screen TVs. The border police probably didn’t get the Memo. The War is Over. It is unlikely cruising sailors are going to invade coastal Croatia. Retired cruisers are unlikely to create any major security issue. Spend your €s in Greece. They need the cash, they appreciate the business and they are genuinely friendly and welcoming.
By the way, I am a person who NEVER writes complaints about ANYTHING… Until I visited Croatia.
Posted on behalf of a regular contributor to noonsite, who prefers to remains anonymous:
We have been cruising Croatia this summer, cleared in and paid all taxes at Cavtat, however, we slipped across to Venice for a forthnight without clearing out thinking nobody would notice, as we were coming back to Croatia and our cruising permit was valid for six months, in anyway, on our return to Croatia we arrived back to Veruda 01.30 and dropped anchor for the night.
We left the anchorage 10.00 on passage south to Mali Losenj, two hours out we were arrested at sea by police patrol boat and ordered back to Pula, fined €1070 for not clearing out (€530 per person on board) they had us tracked by AIS, showed us a photocopy of our track out and back, they check every vessel leaving and entering their territorial waters that comes up on AIS.
I met another skipper who came out of Boka Kator on passage to Italy with four charter clients, he went straight to Vis to clear customs, got fined €2650 for not going to Cavtat, which was his first port of entry, again, the AIS was used as evidence to screw him.
They also watch anchorages close to ports of entry to screw any vessels who may have gone on anchor late at night or stopped off for lunch etc, they are not nice people to deal with.