We have heard many different opinions on cruising Croatia. Get any four cruisers in a room and you will get five strong opinions. All agreed that it is physically beautiful though, so we decided that we would have to see for ourselves.

In Brindizi, Italy (on the back of the boot heel), we ran into some American cruisers who had just come back from Croatia. They asked if we had bought a "777" guide yet. We had heard from others that this is THE cruising guide for the area and were keeping our eyes out for one. In a wonderful gesture of trust, they offered to loan us theirs on the condition that we mail it back to them when we are done with it as they might return to the area at some point. Gotta love those cruisers.

We departed Brindizi in a fine breeze. It was only a 27-hour trip, and the first ten hours were beautiful sailing. Unfortunately, the wind died after that and never came back strong enough to sail, so we puttered the rest of the way to the island of Vis, the closest point of entry.

We tied up to the dock in the city of Komiza flying our yellow "Q" flag for the first time since entering the EU over a year ago. This was the classic medmoor situation - we dropped the hook in 30 feet of water on a sandy patch and backed Zia in between two other boats. Once we tied off the sterns, the breeze picked up and started gusting hard from starboard. We had to dinghy out a couple of extra anchors to keep our stern from twisting into the concrete quay. With 3 anchors out we were solid even in the strongest gusts.

Komiza, Croatia

Everyone has to stay onboard until you clear into the country through the appropriate authorities. In this case, we had to first visit the harbormaster - where we bought our cruising permit for Croatia - and then the police. Once all the paperwork was done and our passports stamped, we lowered the "Q" flag and raised the Croatian flag from our starboard shrouds.

The next morning we departed to meet friends who were renting a beach house on an island called Ciovo, near Split. We had a general idea of the location on shore and we planed on anchoring out front if the wind and waves cooperated. Sailing between the islands on our way to Ciovo, we saw more boats out cruising than we had seen at any one time in a long time. Thousands of islands litter the coast and attract boaters from all over Europe. It reminds us a little of the Virgin Islands. The weather has been a bit unsettled, with huge thunderstorms marching across the sky.

Our navigation was right on the money and we sailed up in front of the beach house in the middle of a passing storm. We managed to drop the hook and when the storm passed we got a good look at our new anchorage for the next 10 days. Beautiful.

Zia swinging on the hook.

We spent a great 10 days with our friends enjoying daysails around the area. It was paradise for both the kids (all 8 of them) and the adults.

Kid ship.