Official Corona Procedures for Sailing from Italy to Croatia 2020

Because of the Corona pandemic Italian authorities requested some additional formalities:

• Filling in formCarabinieri.pdf and send it to stud511620@carabinieri.at 
  subject: name of skipper, name of boat, telephone number
  text: DICHIARAZIONE ESPARTIA PER CROAZIA
• Filling in formHealth.pdf and send it to USMA.Venezia@sanita.it
  subject: DICHIARAZIONE MARITTIMA DI SANITA
• During the cruise obtain daily measure of body temperature of each crew member and enter it in last page of the above form for possible inspection by Italian health officer.
  We used an excel file feverProtocol.xlsx for this reason.
• Obtain an entry number from Croatia by filling in a form on https://entercroatia.mup.hr/ you get a pdf file like ReiseankündigungEnter.pdf

 

Baseline:

• Nobody ever cared about those forms, 
• Entry and exit in Croatia same as last year, 
• Police 24h available and very helpful, 
• BUT: no harbormaster in Umag, harbormaster in Novigrad only open from 8:00 to 13:00
• We activated our AIS-Transponder for the whole cruise, so it would have been very easy to intercept us. But no official tried to check on us, neither in Italy nor in Croatia.
  

So the basic procedure to sail between Italy and Croatia seems to be like it was in the last years

Easy Sailing to Venice Lagoon in Corona Times

When my grandchildren together with their parents came on board, we decided to take it easy and visit Venice and Chioggia. We left Marina Stella at noon on Thursday 9th, July 2020 and anchored in the Laguna Marano at our favorite place. Early next morning we left the lagoon and sailed to Porto Lido, where we had to wait, because they tested the MOSE flood prevention system. So we anchored east of the Lido inlet and went for a swim. In the evening we entered the lagoon and anchored in Canale San Felice.

Next day we visited Burano and Murano, passed San Michele cemetery and finally took a mooring at Compagnia della Vela at Isola San Giorgio Maggiore in front of Piazza San Marco. 

The next two days we visited Venice with only half as many tourists as usual and had nice meals at Ristorante Altanella, Bar alla Toletta and Trattoria Ai Cacciatori.

After getting fresh vegetables, prosciutto, bread and cheese from Rialto market we left San Giorgio Maggiore on Monday 13th, and anchored west of Isola Poveglia, where we had a good swim, gnocchi with two dips and enjoyed a quiet night.

Next morning we motored southwest inside the lagoon to Chioggia, where we took a mooring at Darsena Mosella for three nights. Our grandchildren enjoyed the beautiful beach and we savored good food at Pizzeria Antichi Sapori, Minerva, and Il Ristoro.

On Friday 17th we left Chioggia back northeast and had to tack against easterly winds. High waves took their toll on the crew, but finally we moored in Caorle at Darsena dell'Orologio and had a fine dinner at Ristorante il Centrale. Next day we sailed northeast with nice southwesterly winds and quiet sea and finally anchored in Laguna Marano at our favorite place. We baked delicious pancakes and enjoyed a quiet night. 

To get back with high tide we lifted our anchor next morning at 8:45 and moored at 10:00 at Marina Stella. We took a refreshing swim in the marina's large pool and enjoyed an exceptional dinner at Ristorante 900 all'Isola

With our young crew we sailed 148sm in 33h during 11 days.

You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on GoogleMaps.

Sailing only in Italian waters poses no problems at all now; no official procedures necessary, but fewer people and boats on the way. Italians are very disciplined wearing masks in all restaurants, shops and offices.

 

 

Late Start into the Sailing Season

Due to the Corona Virus I had to postpone maintenance work on S/Y Sea of Joy 4 times. Until June 16th, 2020 it was just not possible to travel to Italy because of excessive measures of the Austrian Government. They wanted to keep all inhabitants in Austria to increase tourism revenues, violating the European Right to Travel freely. (see my Corona-blog in German).

Marina Stella is located in the river Stella in Friuli Venezia Giulia, where the ratio of new infections per inhabitants was way lower than for instance in Vienna, Austria in June.

Finally on Monday, 22nd I started the engine and motored 2 miles upstream to Marina Stella Shipyard

My boat was lifted gently by my skilled friend Luca operating a 100 ton travellift assisted by the reliable mechanic Erwin.

He cleaned the hull thoroughly and next day after drying artful painter Andrea applied a layer of antifouling Trilux 33 to the clean hull.

 On Wednesday I checked all seacocks, anodes, and repaired a wire for the electric toilet. The MaxProp propeller was greased, antifreeze was checked and motor oil and filters were changed. Thursday noon Sea of Joy was lifted back into the river Stella and I moored her back at her usual place in Marina Stella Porto Titiano.

I was happy to find that most good restaurants are fully open again, for example:
Ristorante Cigno

Al Pescatore

Agli Angeli

On Friday, June 26th, I cleaned off the long winter's dirt and now S/Y Sea of Joy is ready for the new sailing season.

End of June 2020 SeaHelp warns about accidents on shoals in the northern Italian river Stella.
Here is the position of the shoal.

Rainy Autumn Sailing to Venice

My crew Konstantin, Peter und Robert arrived in the afternoon of Saturday 21st, September 2019 in Palazzolo dello Stella. After buying provisions we started with a delicious fish dinner at Ai Tre Canai in Marano Lagunare.

Next morning at 9:30am with cloudy sky we left Stella Marina 3 hours ahead of high tide for Venice. Soon the rain started and we sailed with some north easterly winds to Venice Lagoon, which we entered at 5:00pm through Porto Lido. We anchored in Canale San Felice east of Treporti and enjoyed a legendary Bistecca Fiorentina on board.




In rainy weather we motored around Burano, Murano, and San Michele next morning and finally moored at Compagnia della Vela at Isola San Giorgio Maggiore in front of Piazza San Marco. We enjoyed the city for two days and I visited the famous Biennale di Venezia. We had a very good dinner at Taverna Scalinetto in Castello across Canale di San Marco.










On Wednesday 25th after buying some fresh Coda di Rospo and some vegetables at Rialto Mercato and tasting the best Tramezzini at Bar Toletta we continued south to Isola Poveglia, where we anchored and spent the afternoon cooking our nice fish dinner. Next morning before dawn we left Venice Lagoon through Porto Malamocco and sailed east to Slovenia with nice northerly winds. At 5:00pm we anchored in Uvala Strunjan, took a nice swim and had Gnocchi al Gorgonzola for dinner. 




After some swimming we motored into Izola harbor to bunker diesel at noon. With no wind we motored north to Grado and moored in the city harbor. After taking a long walk around Grado we had a remarkeable dinner at Trattoria de Toni.





Next morning starting at 7:30am with overcast sky and some drizzle we motored along Litoranea Veneta inside Laguna di Marano through Canale di San Pietro d'Orio, Canale Taglio Nuovo (with minimum depth of 1.3m 2 hours ahead of high tide), Canale Anfora Vecchia, Canale Muro, Canale San Pietro (with minimum depth of 1.4m 1 hour ahead of high tide), Canale Zellina, Alaciante San Andrea, Canale di Marano, Canale de'lustri, and finally Canale Cialisia to Fiume Stella. We moored in Stella Marina at 11:30am and celebrated our rainy cruise with an excellent dinner at Ristorante Da Boschet.

We sailed 167sm in 30h during 7 days.
You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on GoogleMaps.