CITY OF WATER

PHIL AND ROXY JOHNSON ENJOY A MEMORABLE CRUISE TO VENICE, EXPLORING THE ‘CITY OF LOVE’ BY BOAT

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I’ll be the first to admit that I wanted to ‘skip’ Venice. In the myriad of Mediterranean sailing destinations I discussed with my wife and co-captain, Roxy, I thought we shouldn’t take time away from the endlessly beautiful archipelago of Croatia to sail to the northernmost end of the Adriatic to visit Venice. Why would we? Just to end up getting our keel stuck in a Venetian lagoon mudflat, or push through mobs of tourists all trying to snap the same picture of a gondolier under the Rialto bridge? But after searching in vain for a reasonably priced marina near a major international airport so we could leave our boat to attend a summer wedding back in the US, our plans coalesced around sailing to Venice... and I’m so glad it did. 

Since late 2018, Roxy and I have been working remotely while living aboard our 47ft monohull yacht, Sonder. She’s taken us from the Caribbean to the USA, across the North Atlantic, and throughout the Mediterranean visiting a succession of once-in-a-lifetime destinations, though possibly none quite as unique as Venice.

Lying at the northern tip of the Adriatic, Venice can be reached via a long daysail from the Istrian coast of Croatia or, as we did, an overnight passage from further south along the Dalmatian coast. As of January, Croatia is now part of the same Schengen EU immigration zone, so departing sailors no longer need to stamp out when sailing to Italy. However, last summer that was not the case, so our passage began with an abnormally lengthy two-hour Croatian exit formality at a concrete quayside in Marina Kremik before motoring out into a becalmed slate-blue Adriatic.