It’s easy to understand why this part of Croatia between Dubrovnik and Sibenik is so packed with charter boats. Every place you go has something unique to offer – if you don’t like the fortresses and castles, you have the beaches, or the quaint harbor boardwalks, or the stunning views, or the incredible nightlife that never stops – it’s the whole package.

Yesterday it was about the waterfalls for us as we headed south from Vodice towards the 8 mile narrow inlet that begins near the town of Sibenik. Like something out of a mid-evil novel we entered the narrow canal by navigating our way around the old fortress that guards the entrance. If we were Turkish, and this was 500 years ago, there would have been a serious confrontation at this point, but because that wasn’t the case we passed without incident. We spent the next two hours winding our way up the spectacular narrows towards the Krka waterfalls, which is a Croatian National Park and a major tourist attraction. We get easily frustrated by tourist traps, mainly because Photoshop doesn’t yet have a “remove tourist” function. But keen photographers have ways of getting around these things (which normally involves jumping over a fence when nobody’s looking), so we left the falls with the pics we wanted despite the collective efforts of the tourists to prevent that.

We’re now back in Sibenik on our way out of the canal and have awoken to another gorgeous windless day. As much as we love Croatia, we do miss the winds we had in Greece, and if we could change one thing about Criatia it would be that. The low wind levels make planning and anchoring simple, and there are countless other benefits (no ripped sails, swimming is fantastic, no need to stay on the leeward sides of the islands, no bouncing around at night, etc). But we are true yachties now and our lives depend on the wind for everything we care about – we miss our old friend.

Every preconceived notion we had about former Yugoslavia has been crushed by our experiences here over the past week. Croatia is as modern and forward thinking as any place in the world and its natural beauty ranks right up there with the Greek islands – it has everything you could possibly ask for in a country. The cities are safe and clean, the culture is neat and well organized, everything just seems to work the way it should.

Our first stop after leaving Hvar was the mainland city of Split, which is Croatia’s second largest city and a major sea port. Unlike most of the coastal cities here that focus heavily on tourism for income, Split is a “real” city, meaning you get to see real Croatians doing their thing. The attraction in Split is the harbor promenade and the adjacent historic Old Town which is a maze of cobblestone pedestrian streets (cars not permitted) filled with street cafes, taverns, and retail shops on the ground level, and small apartments on the upper levels. It’s a lifestyle so efficient that it makes you wonder why we ever bothered inventing cars in the first place.

After leaving Split we headed back into the islands and have been anchored in a small bay near two tiny towns (Tisno and Jazera) that we access using the dinghy. The original idea was to relax for a couple of days and recharge our batteries, but that plan took a dive when we discovered a music festival in the next bay over. Because the festival was sold out we cooked up a plan to swim in under cover of darkness, but then the Italians on the boat next door gave us their wristbands as they pulled anchor to sail home – thanks to them for that. Figuring we can sleep later (when we’re dead) we’re about to head in for a second night in the festival.

Tomorrow we turn around and begin our trek back south. This is as far north as we will go on our circumnavigation. Because we are now backtracking towards Greece we’ll get to see some of the spots we missed on the way up – many of which we’ve been saving for the return trip.