Although, on the whole, my wife and I enjoyed Croatia, one incident left a bitter taste in our mouths.
We were anchored downstream of the marina in the Komolac river, Dubrovnik, after checking in to customs etc and were enjoying happy hour aboard a friends yacht whom we had not seen since the Red Sea.
It was nearly dark and a fierce electrical storm was happening out side.
The harbour master approached in his boat and very rudely told us that we must leave immediately. We asked him why and his answer was' because I said so'. When asked where we could go safely in the storm he said' I don't care just go'
We asked if we could leave in the morning,'No you go now,' he was very rude.
One of the boats( there were 7)remarked about the cost of the marina the harbour masters answer was 'If you cannot afford the marina we do not want you in Croatia,' This was the rudest treatment we had received ever by an official and fortunately he was the only one we struck in our stay in Croatia however it did put a damper on our first days in Dubrovnik.
Incidentally one of the yachts send an email to the authorities whose reply stated that the harbour master had no authority to order us out and apologized for his rudeness.
We were not blocking the channel, nor were we in anyway disturbing the peace. We were 1 Canadian,2 Australian,2 New New Zealand and 2 American yachts All of us long term voyagers.
Despite that incident we found Croatia wonderful if not crowded, especially in August when all the Italians arrive
Happy Sailing
Terry
Terry and Elaine [ Virgos Child ] 01-Aug-2007