Picture-perfect sailing in Croatia and Montenegro

Forget yachts; the best way to see the Dalmatian Coast is by tall ship, and Ginny McGrath knows just the one

Rhea anchored in a quiet Croatian bay, for a spot of lunch, swimming and watersports

I had my photo taken regularly in Montenegro and Croatia – by locals, by tourists, even by policemen, and while I’d like to say it was my snappy dress sense that attracted them, I can’t take the credit. It was Rhea they wanted – her tall frame and smooth curves turned heads in every port.

She eclipsed every fibreglass yacht and shiny gin palace we moored next to, and even outshone the helicopter-topped super yacht owned by Roman Abramovich, which we inadvertently tailed around the Dalmatian Coast; but more on him later.

Rhea attracts the crowds for her unusual looks – a vast Baltic trader built in 1900 and constructed of pine, teak and oak, she has a topsail schooner rig (square sails) and two masts – she’s every inch the pirate ship.

It had been ten years since I’d been on Rhea – my family have great affection for her after years of sailing holidays in Greece and Turkey, so we couldn’t turn down the offer to be her first charter in the Balkans.

Owners David and Penny Ross have lived and sailed in Turkey for 20 years, but brought Rhea to the Balkans this summer because competition among wooden sailing boats is now so fierce. Gulet sailing holidays are two to the dozen in Turkey and the boats are inexpensively produced on a wide scale, which has driven down the cost of sailing holidays and eroded Rhea’s custom.

Being onboard felt wonderfully familiar, as places do when you return again and again – the pine smell mixed with sea salt and the creak of the oak beams as she rolls over the waves. One thing I hadn't remembered though after years of villa holidays, was the dimensions of sail boat living. People accustomed to sailing will know that travelling light and unpacking neatly into cubby-holes is the only way to avoid cluttered cabin fever – the phrase ship-shape has never been more apposite.

That said, you spend little time below-deck. Meals are in the shade of an awning on deck and of the eight family and friends in our party, half of us slept on deck most nights under vast inky skies smattered with twinkling stars. It’s a great feeling waking with the sun warming your body, and open your eyes to the sparkling Adriatic, even if it is 7am.

We began our trip at Kotor in Montenegro, a medieval town with narrow cobbled streets and wide defensive walls that you enter like a secret garden through a small stone arch. The town’s terracotta-tiled roofs are overlooked by the San Giovanni fort and chapel, which have origins in the 9th century. To reach them is a heart-pounding 90-minute walk up steps that wend between cypress trees on the steep slope above the city.

Kotor has a fruit and vegetable market on the quay, where jewellery is sold at night, lively nightlife that attracts hoards of glamorously-dressed young Montenegrins, and restaurants that spill onto cobbled squares and bougainvillea-draped terraces.

After Kotor we sailed into Kotor Bay, a steep-sided 16-mile fjord that spills into the Adriatic Sea. We passed two diminutive islands, Gospaod Skrpjela and Sveti Dorde, topped a 17th century church and a tiny museum and monastery respectively, which you can tour with the resident nun for a small fee. We sailed on to cross the border into Croatia at Herceg Novi, which required a not insubstantial effort from skipper David, and the presentation of two Rhea crew t-shirts for the officials.

Our initial plan was to sail to Hvar and Vis, two of the larger islands north of Dubronik, but we found so many beautiful bays and ports along the way that we didn’t make it further north than the island of Korcula. Here the walled old town has a fishbone layout that keeps the streets shaded and cooled by a sea breeze, and the main attraction is the house alleged to be the birthplace of Marco Polo. We had a memorable sun-downer cocktail at Tramonto Cocktail Bar and ate at the restaurant of the same name next door – it was another enjoyable evening where the affable waiters and sunset views made up for the odd disappointing dish.

On the point of restaurants, it is easy to summarise Dalmatian Coast cuisine – every menu we encountered had similar options: grilled meat (the lamb kofta kebab was excellent), grilled fish (scampi usually means crayfish), and various salads, fish soups, and often pasta and pizza, denoting the Italian influence.