I've had the Riviera outside my window for years, and earlier in this series I'd already cruised the Balearics and the Cyclades — but the Adriatic stayed a blank spot on my map for far too long. This week I fixed that. I boarded PREWI in Split — an Azimut 73 from 2022, 22 metres of modern Italian build: eight berths in four cabins, three crew, and a hull fast enough that Dalmatia's furthest islands stop being "too far". I wrote the week down day by day, because the Croatian islands are a completely different world from anything I've shown so far.
Day 1 — Split and the quiet bay of Šolta
Split → Šolta, Maslinica
We boarded late afternoon on the riva in Split — a city that literally grew up inside Emperor Diocletian's palace, so you walk to the marina through a third-century gate. I didn't want the first evening in the crowds, so we cast off straight west: an hour of easy cruising and the captain dropped lines in Maslinica on the island of Šolta. A tiny stone harbour with a little castle at the water's edge and a handful of taverns. The first evening looked exactly the way it should — an Aperol Spritz on the aft deck, the port lighting up one window at a time, the water turning black and glassy. The chef served fresh fish off the grill. The phone went quiet on its own.
Day 2 — Dawn, the Pakleni Islands and Hvar
Maslinica → Pakleni Otoci → Hvar
I was up at dawn — my favourite moment of the day on the water. Coffee on the flybridge, the Adriatic flat as a lake, only the silhouettes of the neighbouring islands darkening against a pink sky. That boundless calm before the world wakes up is exactly why you come here. Late morning we crossed to Hvar, but not straight into town — first the Pakleni Islands, that archipelago of green islets right opposite the port. We anchored off Palmižana and for a few hours I did the thing I love most on a trip like this: swam and floated in that warm, clear water with no plan and no watch. We only went ashore in Hvar in the evening — a walk along the riva, the climb to the Fortica fortress at sunset, and the obligatory ice cream by the waterfront.
Day 3 — Vis, an island from another time
Hvar → Vis, Stiniva cove → Komiža
For years Vis was "too far" — the most remote inhabited island in Dalmatia, a closed military base until 1989, and to this day the least built-up and most itself. This is where the Azimut showed what those engines are for: what a slower boat would eat half a day on, we did in a smooth morning passage and still had the whole afternoon. First an anchor stop below Stiniva — a narrow throat in the rock that opens onto a tiny beach hemmed in by cliffs. Swimming there, in the shadow of the walls, is one of those memories that stay. In the evening we dropped down to Komiža, a real fishing town where dinner is as fresh as the catch.
Day 4 — The Blue Cave and a day with nothing to do
Vis → Biševo, Modra špilja → anchor and swim
Day four started early and on purpose — you have to catch the Blue Cave on the islet of Biševo at the right hour, when the sun comes in underwater and the whole chamber glows an unreal, electric blue. We slipped in by tender and simply went quiet; the light does that to people. We left the rest of the day completely empty. No port to "tick off" — just an anchor in a sheltered bay, a long swim, a nap, a book. Dinner aboard: seafood and black cuttlefish risotto, made the way it's only made here.
From my experience as a broker: on the Adriatic, a good week is decided by the wind more than people expect. In summer two winds can collide here — the dry, gusty bura from the north-east and the warm, humid jugo from the south. A good Dalmatian itinerary isn't a list of islands, it's a plan the captain builds around the forecast: when to jump to Vis, which side of an island to overnight on, when to skip the cave. That's exactly the part I take on.
Day 5 — Korčula, the stone town of wine
Vis → Korčula
An eastward passage to Korčula — and suddenly, from wild Vis, you land in a walled medieval town with streets laid out in a herringbone to break the wind. Local legend has Marco Polo born here, and the whole town lives off that story. But for me Korčula is wine first: the surrounding vineyards and the nearby Pelješac peninsula produce some of Croatia's best — white Pošip and Grk, red Plavac Mali. The evening went on a walk along the walls and dinner in the shadow of the bell tower, with a bottle the waiter recommended because "his neighbour makes it".
Day 6 — Mljet and two salt lakes
Korčula → Mljet National Park
The furthest point of the week: Mljet, the most forested island in the Adriatic, its western end a national park. Inside the island lie two salt lakes connected to the sea — Veliko and Malo Jezero — and on an islet in the larger one stands an old Benedictine monastery. We swam in a lake warmer than the open sea, walked the shore path in the scent of pine, and for a moment I genuinely believed the local legend that this is where Calypso kept Odysseus for seven years. After an afternoon like that, it's hard to argue.
Day 7 — Back to Split
Mljet → Brač → Split
The last day is my favourite of the whole week. It's a fair run from the deep south back to Split, but again the Azimut's fast hull did the work — what looked like a full day's haul the captain spread out so we cruised easily, coffee on the flybridge, smooth morning water under the bow. One last stop on the way: a swim at the foot of Zlatni Rat, that famous golden spit of sand on Brač that changes shape with every tide. Everyone a little tanned and noticeably quieter than at the start. I stepped ashore in Split already working out in my head which island we'd skipped unfairly. A good sign — it means you have to come back.
What it costs and what to know
This particular yacht — the Azimut 73 PREWI (2022, 22.33 m, 8 guests in 4 cabins, 3 crew, with a bathing platform and a full water-toy package) — charters in Croatian waters from €43,600 a week off-peak and around €46,900 in July and August, plus an APA of roughly 30% — call it €13,000–14,000 for fuel, food, marinas and berths, on top of Croatian sojourn fees and taxes.
And the thing no listing tells you: in Dalmatia the same week can be a string of dashes ahead of the wind or the calmest holiday of your life. The difference is the base you start from, the order of the islands and a captain who knows these channels. Whether it's better to start from Split or Dubrovnik, how far you can realistically reach in a week, when to skip the cave — that's exactly the part I take on. You have the map; a guide is still worth having.
Want to actually run this route? PREWI cruises the Adriatic and central Mediterranean — Croatia, Montenegro, Malta. See this charter on wyachts.shop → — tell me when and with whom you're sailing, and I'll build the itinerary around you, with a captain who knows the Dalmatian channels by heart.
This is the fourth instalment of the "Charter logbook" series — after the French Riviera, the Balearics and the Cyclades. In the next ones we sail on.