Split to Dubrovnik, 7 Nights

Passage

Split→Bobovišća, Brač

Distance

10 nm

Under sail

1h 20m

Boarding is in Split, and the first sail is deliberately a short one: an hour or so across to Bobovišća on the west coast of Brač, two small bays with a hamlet at the head of each and room to swing at anchor. If the wind sits wrong for it, Šolta is the same distance the other way and just as quiet. First swim off the stern platform, first evening on deck, and the week starts as it means to go on.

• Boarding in Split, provisioned to your list
• A short opening sail rather than a passage
• Night at anchor on Brač, or on Šolta if the wind says so

Passage

Bobovišća, Brač→Hvar Town

Distance

15 nm

Under sail

1h 55m

South across the channel to Hvar, with a swim in a bay on the way in. The day ashore takes one of two shapes: a wine tour inland across the Stari Grad Plain, laid out by Greek colonists in 384 BC and worked ever since, or the town itself - the Fortica of 1551, where Hvar sheltered while an Ottoman fleet burned the houses below, St Stephen's Square, largest in Dalmatia, and the theatre of 1612 above the Arsenal, the first public theatre in Europe. The evening runs as late as you want it to: Hula Hula for the sunset, Carpe Diem long after dinner, or a table the crew books wherever suits.

• Swim stop in a bay before going alongside
• Inland: a wine tour of the Stari Grad Plain, worked since 384 BC
• Or in town: the Fortica, the square, the 1612 theatre
• 3 Pršuta, the wine bar in a lane behind the square

Passage

Hvar Town→Šćedro

Distance

13 nm

Under sail

1h 40m

The morning stays in Hvar Town, which is the right way to see it: the square empties, the fortress walk is cool, and the shops open before the day boats arrive. In the afternoon the yacht slips down to Šćedro, a small island off Hvar's south coast with no road, no village to speak of, and two deep bays that hold a handful of boats. Dinner aboard at anchor, and then, if the evening is still, the crew can rig the open-air cinema on deck: the screen up, the sound system across the water, and a film under a sky with no shore lights in it.

• Morning in Hvar Town before the day boats come in
• Afternoon sail to Šćedro, off the south coast of Hvar
• Open-air cinema on deck, weather permitting
• Night at anchor with no road and no lights ashore

Passage

Šćedro→Korčula Town

Distance

22 nm

Under sail

2h 45m

A morning crossing to Korčula, whose old town is built on a small peninsula with its streets laid out in a herringbone so the summer wind runs through them and the winter one does not. Local tradition makes it Marco Polo's birthplace, on evidence historians still argue about. Ashore, Massimo pours cocktails at the top of a town tower and hauls them up on a rope, the moreška sword dance has been performed here since the 15th century, and the konobas inland around Žrnovo do the island's own pasta. The crew can book ahead if you want a table.

• Korčula's old town, laid out herringbone against the wind
• Cocktails hauled up a rope to the top of a town tower
• Optional table inland at Žrnovo, or the evening aboard

Passage

Korčula Town→Pomena, Mljet

Distance

15 nm

Under sail

1h 50m

A short hop to Mljet, where the western third of the island has been a national park since 1960. Two saltwater lakes sit behind a narrow channel, warm enough to swim in and flat enough to cycle around, and on an islet in the larger one stands a Benedictine monastery founded in the 12th century, now reachable by the park's own boat. Bicycles are the easy way to see it; the yacht lies at Pomena at the park's western gate.

• Mljet National Park, protected since 1960
• Two saltwater lakes, swimmable and ringed by a cycle path
• The 12th-century Benedictine monastery on its own islet

Passage

Pomena, Mljet→Šipanska Luka

Distance

25 nm

Under sail

3h 10m

The longest leg of the week runs east to the Elaphiti, the string of islands off Dubrovnik, with a swim stop on the way in. Šipan is the largest of them and the quietest thing this close to a city: two harbours, olive groves between them, and the summer villas Dubrovnik's nobility built when the republic was at its height, several still standing above the water at Šipanska Luka. The night is spent at anchor there.

• Swim stop on the way across to the Elaphiti
• Šipan, largest of the Elaphiti and still an island of olive groves
• Ragusan summer villas above the harbour at Šipanska Luka

Passage

Šipanska Luka→Dubrovnik

Distance

12 nm

Under sail

1h 30m

The last sailing day is a short one on paper, which leaves the morning free to work down through the Elaphiti, Lopud and Koločep, with a swim wherever the water tempts. Dubrovnik comes up in the afternoon. A licensed local guide is the way to walk the old town, the walls run 1,940 metres around it, and the cable car climbs Srđ for the view back down over the roofs. The quieter alternative for the last night is to lie in Zaton, a couple of miles north, and come into Gruž in the morning.

• A morning through the Elaphiti before turning for the city
• Old town on foot with a licensed guide, and 1,940 m of walls
• Cable car up Srđ for the view back over the roofs

At anchor

Dubrovnik

Breakfast aboard before disembarkation at 9:00 in Gruž, with the crew arranging transfers to the airport or into the old town. Dubrovnik is twenty minutes from the quay by car, and the airport rather less than an hour.

• Breakfast aboard before 9:00 disembarkation
• Transfers arranged to Dubrovnik airport or the old town
• The old town twenty minutes from the quay