Spring is here and everything is blossoming in ACI marina Piškera.

This marina is situated at one of the most beautiful places in the world – between two islands Piškera and Panitula at National Park Kornati.

It is open from April 1st until November 1st and it holds daily berths only. Depth by the piers varies from 2.5 to 3.5 meters so exceptionally large boats cant dock there. It also has limitations as far as water and electricity supply is concerned, because water is delivered by boat and electricity is produced by a generator.

Nevertheless it is well equipped with showers and toilets. The closest gas station is in Zaglav port at Dugi Otok Island 12 miles away.

there are quite a few restaurants around in Kornati National Park and none of them should be taken lightly. Dining at Kornati National Park is not so cheap.

If you’re going to Zadar you can also dock in Preko. There is a really nice marina, where they take reservations (unlike Tankerkomerc for example).

You can cross the canal to Zadar with a ferryboat (www.ugljan.org) or with a shuttle boat organized by the marina.

You can swim in clear (considering that it is Zadar canal) water at the outer side of the peer. The toilets have air –conditioning and are well maintained. Another sign that they care, is that the marina keeps fresh flowers and spices in pots (which you can use to enrich your dinner).
The town is near; the store is even nearer and well stacked.

The bars along the shore are ok, they even include a lounge, where you can spend an evening drinking cocktails. The two night time photos show the view of Preko and across to Zadar.

The lines on the last one is the ferry Jadrolinija Jurij Dalmatinac, arriving in Preko. Somebody else will have to provide the daytime photos.

We spent the night at Borovnjaci anchorage on Kakan Island. The anchorage is situated between Kakan and two smaller islands called Borovanjak mali and Borovnjak Veli. The bay itself is called Potkućina.

There are about 10 buoys there and the rest of the surface is good for anchoring. The price for the buoys is about 200 kn for a 7-15 m boat.
Borovnjaci anchorage is especially nice at the shallowest point between Borovnjak Veli and Kakan Island because of its turquoise water.

In Tratica Bay, just SE of Potkućina there is a nice but simple restaurant run by a nice family. The prices are about the same as at Kornati (that is to say not too cheap).

The restaurant has a couple of their own buoys for their guest but if the forecast is bora (NE wind) I wouldn’t stay the night.

Oh and when going to the bathroom in the restaurant we recommend taking a headlamp.

It was a late august afternoon when we sailed into Griparica Bay on Škarda Island. The island has no permanent residents but during season concessionaire lives in a small house on waterfront.

Compliments to the guy that takes care of the buys; it was the first time that he waited for us at the buoy and helped us with docking. Good thing too, because the buoy only marks the location of the mooring.

We didn’t even need our own ropes for he did all the work and tied us to shore with our stern and tied the mooring to our bow.

The price for a 41-footer (12 m boat) is 150 kn.
Griparica Bay is open towards south so I don’t recommend spending the night if the forcast is strong winds from the south.

Sailing from say Rab or Pag Islands towards south, Rakovica Bay on Maun Island is a nice place to spend the night especially because there are not many safe coves along Pags southern coast except ACI marina Šimuni.

You can spend the night in Rakovica as long as the forecast is not Bora (NE wind) towards which the Bay is open.

The bay itself is separated into two smaller bays with sharp rocks chiseled by sharp bora. The good thing about this bay is the depth and the seabed. In the middle of the southern part of the bay the depth is between 7 and 10 meters and the anchor held ok. We tied our stern to the rocky shore only about 5 meters off where more than enough depth was still under our rudder.

In the morning fishermen came and closed up the entire bay and put the nets all the way along the NE shore of Maun.

Again if the forecast is stable weather or winds from the south there is no problem anchoring there but if a front is coming in you better choose a safer spot to spend the night.

If you visit Olib Island by a boat, you can either moor at the pier where you can get electricity and water, but you must choose the North side, because regular line docks on the other side of the main pier, or you can tie your boat to a buoy.

There are about 20 of them and the price is around 13 Croatian Kuna per meter.

There are some fun facts about the buoy and it concrete block on the seabed: the block weighs 800 kg, and its dimensions are 1.2 x 1.2 x 0.5 m. the rope is polyamide 20 mm thick, and the buoy itself is plastic (PVC) with 60 cm radius. It all says on the back side of the receipt along with the "How to Tie Your Boat to the Buoy" manual. If you didn’t know, you must tie one rope to the lower ring and one to the top ring on the buoy.

Though it should be protected from NE winds, we had a pretty rough night because Olib is very low and bora wind gets over it easily.

Oh, check out the last photo – quad with balls

Ever since we set sail we had a slight problem with our rudder and everywhere we stopped we tried to get somebody to look at it. Unfortunately no one managed to do anything to make it better.

The last day of our sailing trip we stopped at Marina Agana and tried the service workshop there. They called Šani – a Bob Marley look-alike who took the thing apart and worked for almost two days but eventually did it.

The town is called Marina and it lies between Primošten and Trogir. it is known for its nice hotel in the tower. The marina is 2 minutes’ walk from the town. More about the marina: www.marina-agana.hr

Maslinica is a nice little port on NW side of Šolta Island. It is protected by a group of small islands.

There is an ex-monastery turned into a nice hotel by a German owner. There are moorings also but they are a bit expensive. For 11.5 meter sailboat 460 kuna and they don’t even have showers for boating tourists.

Nevertheless it is a nice place to visit, but if the weather is clear, there is no reason to pay that much for a berth, especially when there is a nice, even better protected bay called Šešula just south of Maslinica.

Lošinj Port Authority is investing in a new pier on Island Ilovik. The existing pier will be widened from 2.6 to 6 meters and a new concrete pier is added to form an L shaped port.

The main reason of the enlargement of the pier is so the ship that comes there regularly will be more accessible by the local people (about 70 of them live on the Island all the time and there are even six children that go to school there), with their tractors and wheelbarrows, but there is also some benefits for nautical tourists as well.

The moorings will be placed on the inner side of the pier as before and there will be room enough to dock two or three boats on the inner side of the new pier. The outer side is reserved for the regular line.

They even built a small dock for a ferry, though if they don’t deepen the waters there it won’t be much of use.

The last bay on SW side of island Mali Lošinj is called Plijeski. It’s relatively open so I don’t recommend staying the night but it’s very nice to take a swim because of its turquoise water and sandy beach.

If you want to drop anchor and stay the night I recommend coves Krivica, Balvanida or island Ilovik a little further to the south.

You may also get lucky and get a bite to eat from the tourist boats which come there every day and prepare barbecue – usually fresh fish and squid.
The most Famous of these boats is a small ship called Mate or Mateo.