Israel Cyprus Turkey Greece Croatia Italy Sicily Sardinia Corsica Monaco France Spain Gibraltar
Time for a boycott
Our plans had included a trip up the Adriatic Sea to explore Croatia and visit Venice, Italy on our own yacht. We were aware that Croatia had a rather expensive cruising permit but most reports rated the anchorages and scenery highly. We had cruised in these waters nearly 20 years ago when it was all Yugoslavia before the war and were anxious to see the area again..
One day in early July we cleared out of Greece and were scheduled to depart the next morning for Croatia. However before we could be on our way we received several messages from friends already there. It seemed Croatia had decided to institute a second tax on sailors in addition to the cruising permit which is already one of the most expensive in the world. In addition you must pay more fees for visiting the National Park islands which are one of the main cruising areas. On top of that many of the local villages have arbitrarily instituted fees from $20- $50 dollars simply to anchor off the town- something that is free in virtually EVERY place in the entire world. We do not mind spending money when we receive something of value in return but a hefty tax on using your own anchor is completely unheard of.
The combination of all these costs make Croatia by far the most expensive cruising grounds in the world. Not the prettiest , or most scenic, or friendliest, or most interesting culturally, just the most expensive. A month's cruise there would cost us nearly $ 1,000 while a month in 90% of the countries we visit is completely free or at most a few hundred dollars.
We decided Croatia was sending us a message -- stay away-- so we heeded it.
We hope other cruisers join us in boycotting Croatia. If we don't send them a message of our own it is a sure bet that in the future these type of outrageous charges will spread to other countries.