Croatia Yacht Week Summary

Finally, after eight intense blog posts, there is one remaining: the grand Yacht Getaways aka Croatian Yacht Week 2020 summary!!

Croatia Yacht Week 2020

• Planning
• Day One: Dubrovnik to Sudurad (Sipan)
• Day Two: Sudurad (Sipan) to Polace (Mljet)
• Day Three: Polace (Mljet) to Korcula
• Day Four: Korcula to Loviste (Peljesac)
• Day Five: Loviste (Peljesac) to Vrboska (Hvar)
• Day Six: Vrboska (Hvar) to Supetar (Brac)
• Day Seven: Supetar (Brac) to Trogir (Split)
• Day Eight: The Summary

Here is the full list via Google Maps of all the cities and restaurants that we visited during Croatia Yacht Week 2020.

Regarding planning, here are a few things I would do differently...

• Honestly, there is not much I would do differently. For chartered boats and itineraries such as Yacht Getaways, bookings typically sell out months in advance. In COVID times, it is much easier to book!
• If you can, I would book the cabins towards the back (or stern) of the boat. They are much bigger than our room and had a separate shower compared to our toilet shower combo.
• In the middle of summer, it might be worth upgrading to the “Premier” boat that includes air conditioning. However, Helen warned it could be up to 400 euros more!

During the trip, we found a few things we would slightly change...

• If we had to make one suggestion to Freddie earlier in the trip, it would be to go to swimming locations with sea life or coral reefs. Granted, if we brought it up, I am sure that he would have accommodated our request! We did not learn from our Greece trip to speak to the skipper early about your preferred trips.
• Bring. Tons. Of. Sunscreen. And Aloe. You will get tan so immediately go for SPF 50 or 30. Mary France recommends bringing non-oily as you won’t feel as gross! Obviously, look out for the environmentally friendly ones. 
• Although this trip included breakfast and lunch, we do wish we had 2-3 dinners onboard either prepared by the hostess or us. We still dream of the only night in Greece where we did it!
• While Freddie found the Loviste bay to not be rocky, I wish we went elsewhere for the evening as most of the boat wanted to get off the boat but we couldn’t because we were tied to a moored buoy. 

Regarding the Islands, I have a few recommendations on how to “pick” which islands to visit on the trip.

• For these islands, because there aren’t many between Split and Dubrovnik, there are only so many to choose from. I am very happy that we relied on Freddie’s advice!
• In the end, part of me wondered if we missed out because we docked in rural locations.

Regarding packing…

• Less is always more!! Pack in a duffel bag as there isn’t room to store hard suitcases.
• Don’t bother bringing tennis shoes or trainers. They are pointless on a boat! I would bring sperries or boat shoes, chacos or another sandal form, and then flip flops. That is it! Unless you’re going to a fancy restaurant or club, everyone usually wears boat shoes at a minimum.
• 3-4 nice shirts with only 2 shorts. Because I only wore them for 2-3 hours at night, I never felt that I had to keep wearing new outfits. 
• As a guy, I only brought 3 bathing suits. They dry pretty quickly on the boat!
• I brought about 5-6 bathing suit / lounging shirts and only used about 3 shirts. Again, if we were mainly on the boat, I rewore the shirt multiple times. If we were walking around town or to the beach, I wore something fresh!
• Although we searched high and low, buy all your floats in advance!
• My GoPro was essential for great underwear and water pictures!
• To repeat my above point, I would bring SPF 50 for both face and body and SPF 30 for when you adjust to the sun!
• Ahead of the trip, we bought snacks and wine. While we felt like we went light in the store, we actually bought too much! On a half board trip, we really did not need the food and could have bought the wine at any stop. 

Expenses

Although our budget was big, I have to remember we had a private 42 foot catamaran, with a skipper, for one weeks in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I’ve tried to make the expenses complete and accurate, but it is missing some of my personal cash spending.

Description	Cost (GBP)
Boat	2,535
Skipper and Hostess Tip	150 EACH
Port Fees and Gas	178
Snacks	133
Dinners	300
Entertainment	101
Miscellaneous	50
Total	3,597

• Boat - This is the total cost of the boat, including breakfast, lunch, skipper, and hostess! While it amounts to a lot, the cost does include more than we expected!
• Skipper - We debated the tip amount (again after our intense Greece debate!). There are two suggested percentages. First, if you hire a boat and skipper separately, it is suggested that it is 10% of the SKIPPER cost. In Greece, because the skipper cost around $2,000, we should tip $200. For an entire charter where you charter the boat and crew (and crew stays with that boat), it is suggested 10% of the CHARTER cost. I recommended to the group a tip of $150 per person. Because we felt that we were in the charter category, we went with 10% of the charter price, plus a little more for “COVID”.
• Port Fees and Gas - This is an upfront cost paid in cash before we sailed away from Dubrovnik. 
• Snacks and dinner - We tried to keep costs down here but ended up spending a decent amount because we really wanted to support the local restaurants!
• Entertainment: I split it out because we did “big ticket” items such as a wine tasting, bike rides, and a few different things!
• Miscellaneous - This includes any taxi or other items in case I forgot anything off the list!.

Winners and “Losers"!

Winner: Favorite Meal

This is exceptionally difficult because I enjoyed most of our meals either on the boat or on land... My favorite breakfast has to be the poached eggs with prosscuito. For lunch, my favorite is the Mexican food - what could be wrong there?? Finally, for dinner, it had to be the traditional peka in Hvar. So tasty!

Winner: Favorite Island

I wish I could say all! In the end, I think I have to say Hvar because the wine tasting and dinner was a fantastic local experience!

Winner: Favorite Day

Our day in Mljet has to be one of our favorites because we enjoyed exploring the national park and it was something different!

“Loser”: Least Favorite Island

Although we had a terrific sunset and meal in Loviste, the rocky seas make this stop our “least” favorite.

“Loser”: Least Favorite Meal

Pizza in Polace. We should have tried the grilled meats or seafood, but we succumbed to what looked good in the moment.

“Loser”: Least Favorite Day

None! Even on the cloudy day, the sun appeared in Korcula and saved the day!

For one incredible week, we sailed the Dalmatian islands in Croatia and loved every moment! There were high and lows, but each day was a new adventure with a new island! After two very successful yacht trips, we have decided we will do this every even year so keep an eye out for 2022!