This was the first time either me or Raquel had ever gone sailing, but I’m a complete convert. I managed to switch off more than any other holiday, I loved the sound of the ocean as we cruised along the coastline while this felt truly like absolute luxury in every sense of the word.
A huge amount of credit must also go to our skipper and host, who were both brilliant at making our experiences so nice. Our trip was with More Sailing, an amazing Swedish sailing company which offers trips in Croatia, Greece, Caribbean and Italy. They even run sailing courses, something I need to consider for the future as I would love to learn every step involved.
The Route
Our focus for the sailing trip was exploring the islands off Croatia, while we started by flying into Split from Gatwick and then had a 10 minute transfer towards the docks, where they had a number of More Sailing boats moored.
They have a big team of people ready and waiting for your arrival, to guide you onto the right boat.
After unpacking our bags and getting to know our fellow sailors (with a glass of prosecco in hand), we headed off towards our first destination, which was Nečujam in Solta, a nice area to swim and exploring on the Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) attached to the back of the catamaran.
The next morning we ate our breakfast, before the skipper turned on the engines and we started heading towards Zukova beach in Hvar. This is where the paddleboard was first tested out and a bit more swimming occurred, before a big lunch.
We then headed to Jelsa to dock and find somewhere to eat. It was nice sitting in a local bar and restaurant, people and boat watching, until the flood gates opened and we hid inside from the unexpected rain.
In the morning we said goodbye to Jelsa with another great breakfast and even had a go at sailing the boat for the first time, albeit with a fair amount of supervision.
We stopped off for lunch at Uvala Stracinska, a beautiful bay with turquoise waters and plenty of fish in the sea.
Each day before eating the lunch, our skipper would guide us with a map on where we would be heading to next, with our Monday evening to be spent at Maslinica, where we enjoyed a great view of sunset.
There is apparently a great restaurant 20 mins from the harbour up the hillside at Maslinica where you can enjoy views of all the boats from above and a nice view of sunset, but we took the lazy route, visiting a restaurant 2 minutes from the harbour, before heading back to enjoy a glass of bubbles with sunset.
There were cute stray cats all around the restaurants, so we made sure to sneak them some snacks from our dinner.
Maslinica has a very wealthy resident, living on a grey yacht you’ll see when you come into the harbour, who has invested into the area and helped to convert it from a fishing village into a really lively town attracting tourists from all over the world. He made his wealth from a patent on the sim card, not a bad way to make your money!
First thing the next day we ate our breakfast and then we had a quick exploration, knowing we had an hour until we took off. The water was so turquoise in this hidden rocky area just outside of the harbour.
We then ventured off to Blue Lagoon, a hugely popular destination where a fair few boats gathered and clearly a few of those people on the boats were a few drinks in.
I jumped into the sea as much as possible as the weather had improved and we had plenty of heat to warm us up from the slightly nippy sea water. We also enjoyed a few glasses of mimosa, made by our skipper and host.
We were then taken back to our final port of call for the evening, Trogir, where we moored up at the Marina before making the 10 minute walk over Regi Ciovo Hid bridge to explore all the restaurants they had on the other side. Just remember, if you are looking at Google Maps, that many amazing options weren’t actually listed on there, so keep your options open.
I loved all the stone walls in Trogir, this was such a beautiful location and I wish I had more time to learn about the local history and culture, but alas, that will have to wait for my next visit!
The Food
On day one, we were fed dinner, but after that day you’re provided with breakfast and lunch (as well as snacks), whereas you go off in the evening for dinner to find a local restaurant. You also receive Fika around 4pm, but more about that in a moment.
I’ll give a breakdown day by day of what we eat, but the food will naturally vary, yet having spoken to the team, you can expect something similar to this. We also had a vegetarian in the group, which they made sure to cater for.
Our dinner on the opening night was mainly made up of fruit, cheese, olives, dry meats, houmous, garlic bread, a cheese and tomato salad, a nectarine and feta salad, plus a sauce made from artichokes. They made up the food in the kitchen so you could see it was all fresh.
The next morning for breakfast they served us at 8am, meaning we all set our alarms for about 7am to get showered and ready. The food options followed a similar path, with dry meats, cheese, tomato, cucumber, bread, cereals, yogurt, fruit, nuts, plus a type of porridge dish that was quite sweet.
The mix of fruits were impressive, including the likes of melon, pineapple, passion fruit, grapes, blueberries, strawberries and kiwi.
Then for our next lunch, we were served what I would call a Moroccan lunch (not sure if that’s accurate), with the likes of houmous, couscous, falafels, mint sausages and a tasty cheese dish, along with some bread.
Every meal was incredibly filling, there was easily enough leftovers at the end, which is good as the host and skipper tuck in once we’ve finished.
Another lunch, we had gnocchi in a mushroom sauce. I haven’t eaten gnocchi very often in my life, so this was relatively new to me, but I fell in love with this dish, therefore I ended up ordering gnocchi on the islands for dinner a couple of days, embracing the regular addition of truffle across Croatian restaurants (locally picked).
Our last lunch on the boat we were served halloumi burgers, with some potato wedges and a couple of salads. I love how everything is made from scratch, the host cutting up potatoes in the kitchen rather than serving us highly processed frozen foods.
Fika is a sweet treat (often served with coffee) provided in mid morning or mid afternoon. In this situation, it was around 5pm, before heading off to explore a new island each day, as a pre-dinner snack.
Pre-lunch, to keep you from getting too peckish, they would serve crisps and olives on the table around 11am, ideal as it’s that moment where you don’t think you’re hungry until you see a snack available and suddenly become ravenous.
What Drinks Are Included?
So they had plenty of canned beers, as well as wine (white, rose and cava). Every hidden door or section of the boat seemed to be packed with more bottles, so the supply was seemingly never ending and I can say even by the end of drinking each day we weren’t even close to using it all up.
They don’t serve spirits on the boat within the package, but you’re welcome to , for that you’d have to order it in the evening when you go ashore for your dinner.
They also had plenty of bottled water, coke zero and Fanta, plus in the morning there was orange and apple juice. We were served coffee and tea in the morning, I requested some later but realised why they don’t constantly offer it, as they have to heat the kettle on the hob which does take a while, not an issue at all, but you need to plan your coffee in advance if you’re a caffeine addict like me.
The Room
I wasn’t aware before we got on, but each room was an en-suite. We had seen a pic beforehand where it appeared like we would all be sharing a toilet, so I was delighted to see our own toilet and shower, meaning I don’t have to walk in the dark through the boat at night if I need to go.
The room was decent sized, bigger than we expected for a boat. The bed took up most of the space, but by the door entrance we had a chest of drawers, with enough for us both to fit all of our clothes in.
The bathroom doesn’t have shampoo or conditioner, so make sure to pack some before you go, we brought a shampoo bar as they don’t take up much space and you don’t have to worry about liquid spilling in your bag.
You get hot water when the boats are docked, so each morning we had hot water, but they only have a limited amount so they ask the guests not to take long showers, which is sensible to me.
The drawers below the sink were packed with plenty of back-up toilet paper, so no worries about that ever running out. Just remember not to flush the toilet paper, that all
What Activities Can You Do?
The boat had a paddle board, which two of the guests made the most of. I didn’t give it a try, as I’ve not quite tested myself out from a beach, let alone straight off a boat, I didn’t fancy falling in.
They would also stop at points and highlighted that it was a good time to swim if we fancied it. I took them up on this each time, but it was pretty cold, so I never made it more than 5 minutes in the sea before quickly climbing back aboard.
There was also a RIB boat, which we were free to take in order to check out different areas of the bay up close, but we only tried this once as it was a little bit confusing working out how to make it run.
