According to Croatian legend, the Greek hero Odysseus was shipwrecked and imprisoned on the Croatian island of Mljet. While visiting there in May, I and six other sailors embraced the myth when the engine of our 54-foot yacht gave up the ghost.
“Remember, Odysseus spent seven years on Mljet,” said Ivan Ljubovic, our captain. “We can spend two nights there.”
By and large, the clogged fuel filter that hampered our seven-day island-hopping cruise from Split to Dubrovnik on a yacht that passengers assisted in sailing wasn't a big deal. Although an engine, even on a sailboat, is essential for docking on calm days and staying on schedule, most of my shipmates agreed that being held up in a village with Roman ruins in a turquoise bay was an acceptable fate.
When I signed up for the trip last November, I had resigned myself to what I thought would be an even worse inconvenience. Then, tour operator G Adventures put several trips on sale over Black Friday weekend. The best deals were out of season, meaning the weather might be cool and restaurants and attractions closed. But setting off for seven nights of island hopping in late April for around $1,300 – after 30 percent off – was too tempting to pass up.
My cousin Kim agreed and we made plans to pack rain gear and meet in Split to figure out the budget situation.
“Everything in between is an adventure”
Before departure, little was released about the itinerary and none of it was binding.
“Split and Dubrovnik are set,” said the captain, who would be steering the ship alone and also our guide, on our first day. “Everything in between is an adventure.”
It started with the Sauturnes, a beautiful Kufner yacht with four comfortable guest cabins, four economical bathrooms where the pull-out faucet also served as a shower faucet, and a spacious galley. Our “crew”, a mix of Australians and Americans aged 18 to 75 – all of whom had also jumped at the special prices – spent most of their time on the boat, where foam mattresses invited us to sunbathe and a cockpit awning provided shade.
The weather, which was sunny and pleasantly cool, was not a major concern. The G Adventures website mentioned well-known islands, including the beach islands of Brac and Vis, which were featured as Greek idylls in the film Mamma Mia 2. However, as many places would be closed in the off-season, the captain said we would proceed according to the weather and conditions on land.
Meals were not included in the price, so finding open restaurants was important. For breakfast and lunch on board, each of us contributed 50 euros (about $54) for shared food purchased at local markets. In the evenings, we ate out; G Adventures recommended budgeting $250-325 for the week, which was true, although we often spent a lot of money on Croatian wine (a carafe of the house red wine cost an average of $15).
Small ports
After a hectic shopping spree and settling into the bunk-bed cabin Kim and I shared, we experienced the zen of sailing as the ship set course one sunny morning toward 43-mile-long Hvar, Croatia's longest and supposedly sunniest island.
The neighboring islands drifted past as the wind threw changing ripples and waves into the sea. A flock of shearwaters floated past at eye level.
Within hours, the ridges of steep Hvar appeared, revealing terraced fields of lavender and olive groves. We cruised down a long, narrow bay and reached Stari Grad, a village of stone houses and terracotta roof tiles, as travelers have done since 384 BC, when Greek sailors from the island of Paros settled here.
From our berth, we had a front-row view of the fishing boats and cafes that bustled along the waterfront. Stari Grad's attractions, including the Greek ruins of Faros and a 17th-century Venetian cathedral, weren't yet open for the season, but we enjoyed exploring the narrow streets and deserted squares of the Old Town.
From the waterfront, a 20-minute, strenuous hike up a steep hill topped by a giant white cross offers views of Stari Grad and the plains beyond, a UNESCO World Heritage site of agricultural fields dating back to the fourth century, with stone walls framing grapevines and olive groves.
That evening we visited them to reach Konoba Kokot, a farm restaurant specialising in “peka”, a type of grill where meat is cooked under an iron lid piled with hot coals. The family who run it opened in the off-season and greeted us with strong shots of rakija, a local herbal liquor. At a long table under a gazebo, we stuffed ourselves with homemade goat's cheese, wild boar pate and stove-roasted lamb, veal and octopus, along with unlimited jugs of red and white wine for €35 per person.
Starry nights
Small ships cannot easily enter small harbors, but a yacht trip is also a bit like camping, because it starts most mornings with homemade instant coffee. Marinas offer free bathhouses with showers.
The chilly temperatures seemed to deter the celebrity-filled megayachts that famously anchor in Hvar Town on the south coast of Hvar Island, which our captain referred to as the “Mykonos of Croatia” as we passed the harbor, which was packed with visitors carrying shopping bags and ice cream cones.
As clear weather was forecast, we moored in an undeveloped bay east of the town. The mooring belonged to the owners of the Moli Onte restaurant, who brought us ashore in a motorized rubber dinghy. This gave us enough time before dinner to visit the fortress above Hvar and drink an Ozujsko beer in St. Stephen's Square, the largest square in Dalmatia.
Back on board, with no artificial light to illuminate the night sky, we went to the upper deck to stargaze. While my shipmates went to bed, I grabbed a blanket and hat and lay under the stars to watch the unfolding spectacle, waking in between to witness the drama of the rising moon reflected in the still water.
Little Dubrovnik
As we made our way to the neighboring island of Korcula, fingers of gray rock stretched to the vineyards on Hvar's south coast. On our longest day of sailing, five hours, I was glad to have the opportunity to play first mate and handle the foresail lines.
To break up the trip, Captain Ljubovic navigated to a quiet bay off the Peljesac peninsula, where the Caribbean blue water, cloudless skies and sandy bottom convinced us to jump in despite the freezing sea temperatures.
15th-century walls surround Korcula's historic center, earning the town the nickname “Little Dubrovnik.” Behind stone gates carved with a winged lion symbolizing the Venetian Empire that controlled much of the Adriatic after the 13th century, narrow streets lead to ornate churches and mansions. There's no better way to get lost in history than to get lost in the network of pedestrian paths. That's what we told ourselves as we passed the alleged house of Marco Polo, still closed in the off-season.
Along the sea walls, restaurants served pizza and seafood under lights strung in the pines, and we watched the sunset from a former tower, now converted into the Massimo Cocktail Bar, where guests must climb a ladder to the roof as a warning of second rounds.
The most romantic port of the trip was also the noisiest, at least in the marina where a Polish sailing regatta was taking place. When I went to the showers at 6am the next morning, I found a group still dancing happily on a yacht littered with empty liquor bottles and crushed potato chips.
Stranded on Mljet
We left Korcula in a strong 20 knot southerly wind (Jugo) and Captain Ljubovic set sail and said: “You paid for a sailing holiday, not a motorboat.”
As we cruised back and forth towards Mljet, the boat tilted at an awkward angle and we took face photos of the ocean spray.
On Mljet, where Mljet National Park is located at the western end of the island, we rented bikes (10 euros) to ride a stunning route over the park's ridge. On the other side, we cycled around two inland lakes and took a boat trip to a 12th-century monastery built on an island in one of them (park entrance fee: 15 euros).
Arriving in the still sleepy town of Polace, we heard stories of the high season when up to 100 yachts anchored in the bay and members of the band U2 were once spotted cycling in the park. After a short rain shower, the town glittered in the sunset and the Stella Maris restaurant welcomed us with grilled sea bass (25 euros) and prawns (20 euros).
“I'm so glad I chose this time because I don't like crowds,” said fellow shipmate Nova Hey, 46, from Sydney, who was travelling with her 18-year-old daughter.
In the morning I had the path to the summit of Montokuc all to myself. The five-kilometer circular hike led to one of the highest points on the island, a rocky outcrop with a breathtaking panorama, which is also guarded by a family of wild goats.
Not long after, the Sauternes' engine stopped starting and we were stranded in a national park on a remote island without a mechanic.
The teeming Dubrovnik
The next morning, Captain Ljubovic tried to improvise to fix the problem, but it didn't last long because the engine stopped again, this time right opposite a cave on Mljet that we joked must be the refuge of Odysseus.
After a morning of easy sailing, a mechanic from the mainland arrived by speedboat and within an hour we were heading towards the Franjo Tudman Bridge, which spans the entrance to Dubrovnik's marina, where a hot shower awaited us.
“Dubrovnik is the most expensive city in Croatia,” said Captain Ljubovic as we spent the rest of our collective money (70 euros) and hired a minibus to take us to the walled heart of the ancient city, about 15 minutes away, and back again.
With two large cruise ships in port, Dubrovnik was teeming with visitors and the entrance fee to climb the stone walls that surround the city was a shocking €35. (During the two days that Kim and I spent in the city after the cruise, we bought the more comprehensive Dubrovnik Pass for €35, which included entry to the walls as well as several museums and public bus transport.)
On our last night, we compared the small crowds with closed museums, the perfect hiking weather with swimming water, ample dock space with a wider selection of restaurants – and decided we would be better off sailing during the bargain season.
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