Welcome to Croatia – Sorry, But We Can’t Let You In.

Istria, Croatia

We sailed Berkeley East to Croatia for two reasons: one, we had heard about the great cruising there; and two, it was time to reset out VAT clock (we are only allowed to have Berkeley East in the European Union for 18 consecutive months or we have to pay Value Added Tax -VAT, 21% of the value of the boat) and Croatia was the closest non-EU country. So we were excited and relieved when we tied BE to the customs dock in Umag, Croatia, but little did we know the nightmare that lie ahead. To make a long story short, we spent five hours moving BE from dock to dock, talking to uncooperative customs agents, unyielding harbor masters, unsympathetic policemen, showing document after document, only to be told that we could not enter the country because we did not have the “original” of our insurance policy. Since we receive most of our mail via scanning or email, we never have originals. We had two choices, find some place to have an original insurance policy sent via Fed Ex, or purchase a local Croatian insurance policy from what we assumed was the harbor master’s cousin. So we finally got it. Welcome to Croatia – now give us more money.

Celebrating our first night in Croatia with Mary’s 100 Point wine (blended by Mary herself) and Italian mystery meat

We had heard that Croatia was expensive with costly cruiser and tourist permits, high-priced marinas and mooring balls, even charges for anchoring, but charging for insurance when we already have full coverage was a bit over the top. It wasn’t the big hug welcome that we’d received in Italy, Malta, France, Spain or Portugal, but we wanted to see Croatia and we always follow the rules of the country we are in, so we bought the insurance policy and continued on our way. It wasn’t the best beginning, but we later thought that perhaps Croatia is being overly strict right now because they are scheduled to join the European Union next year, so they need to show their diligence to policies. After a few days of moving BE through Croatia, we got over it and began to see why so many cruisers come here, thousands of islands, quiet coves, pristine water. Little did we know that the best was yet to come.

Our first stop was in Rovinj on the Istrian peninsula. A nice Venetian old town.

After a night anchored in Soline (just South of Pola) we headed to the Island of Cres and anchored in a nice destered bay (Ustrine),