Dubrovnik Gruz Pier

Corfu – Tzoufaka Beach to Dubrovnik Gruž Pier

Some passages stay with you forever… this will be one of them.

Immense swell gave way to a vicious storm, with 70 km/h winds and driving rain. Every time we thought we'd make landfall, the weather had other plans, adding another three hours to an already gruelling crossing.

When we spotted the Croatian Port Police racing towards us, we genuinely thought help had arrived. Instead, they wanted to board us in the middle of the storm because they believed we'd committed an immigration infraction back in 2024.

They actually instructed us to switch our engines off. Really?

We were under sail, fighting the conditions, soaked, wearing life jackets, and focused on keeping the boat and ourselves safe. Boarding simply wasn't an option.

We agreed to meet them at our planned clearing-in point in Dubrovnik, and they sped away, leaving us to finish battling the sea.

Exhausted, cold, and relieved to finally reach the Q dock, we were escorted straight to the police station. Three hours later, thanks to my obsessive habit of recording every voyage on Garmin, we proved what we'd known all along—we had correctly checked into and out of Croatia in 2024.

Twice we've been wrongly accused. Twice we've walked away cleared. Twice we've lost hours we can never get back.

Not quite the welcome we were hoping for after 206.54 nautical miles, 46 hours and 28 minutes at sea… but at least this story ends safely. 💤

Was good to go past Jade's ship on the way in. From now on we take photos to prove check-in 😭Read more