October 31st 2008
Good news for Swiss Croatia fans. Low-cost Swiss airline, Baboo, has just announced a new nonstop service from Geneva to Zagreb. The two-hour flight will run Tuesday and Saturday from now until 28 March 2009 and round-trip fares start at a reasonable €179. See more on cheap flights to Zagreb.
October 28th 2008
Zadar is near some world-class scuba diving destinations. There’s Premuda (west of Pag Island), Mezanj Island near Dugi Otok, not to mention the fabulous diving around the Kornati Islands. (see more Croatian diving destinations).
So when star free-diver, Kristijan Curavic, was looking for a great place to set up Croatia’s largest scuba-diving center, it made sense for him to choose Zadar.
The Curavic Diving Academy just opened its doors in Zadar, vowing to sensitize clients to the ecological and environmental aspects of diving in addition to offering the usual menu of dive lessons and diving excursions
See more about Scuba Diving in Croatia.
October 27th 2008
Sibenik is near the world-class sailing destination of the Kornati Islands National Park and now the Sibenik marina will get the facilities it deserves. Mandalina marina is under new management and big plans are afoot. Island Global Yachting, a Florida-based developer of luxury marinas and yachting lifestyle destinations, and Nautical Center Prgin, a Croatian marine industry company, have announced a joint venture to develop Croatia’s first dedicated megayacht marina at Mandalina. It will represent the largest US investment in Croatia.
This vast project represents an investment of around 100 million Euros and will include a five-star hotel, expanded recreational facilities and residential villas plus the marina capable of berthing 100m-long yachts.
Much should be completed in time for the 2009 season but megayachts will have to wait until 2010 for the big berths to be ready.
October 27th 2008
This week The Independent ran an interesting article with an unusual angle on sailing in Croatia. Titled
“Woman overboard: A Croatian sailing holiday provides a horticultural treat”, the article describes not a sea tragedy but the author’s sailing adventure through Croatia’s northern islands including the Kornati Islands, Croatia’s premier sailing destination. These unique islands, part of the Kornati Islands National Park, feel “as if you are looking at the earth’s skeleton, not yet fully fleshed out” notes author Anna Pavord. She goes on to describe the greenery (such as it is) there and on other Croatian islands in a particularly evocative way. It’s not often that you see a sailing Croatia article in the Home and Garden section. See the article here.
October 24th 2008
Scuba diving in Croatia is a big industry that attracts around 70,000 tourists a year. Croatia’s clear waters are filled with fish and a number of shipwrecks over the centuries give wreck divers something to explore.
Unfortunately, where there is money there are people looking to cut corners. Diving without authorization, diving in prohibited waters (such as National Parks) and dive “courses” run by unqualified “divemasters” have become a serious problem. Zoran Drnasin, the head of this new department for the sea and protection of diving, recently remarked:
“Such people not only take our jobs but act as though they were in some kind of Banana Republic and can do whatever they want to without penalty. Current diving regulations are too old, do not provide for crimes and need to be changed as soon as possible.”
The new law, among other things, will make diving legal only for those aged 14 or older and allow women for the first time to work as professional divers (Duh).
Fines for violations of the law will range from 5,000 kunas or 690 Euros up to 300,000 kunas or 41,000 Euros. The Ministry hopes that the risk of being fined will help restore order to diving, especially diving by tourists.
See more about scuba diving in Croatia .
