Split to Dubrovnik

Boarding in Split, at the time the yacht sets, noon on some and late afternoon on others. The crew meet you on the quay, take the luggage aboard and show you the yacht over a welcome drink; if you arrive early, Diocletian’s Palace, the Roman emperor’s retirement home of about AD 300 that the old town still lives inside, is a ten-minute walk from the marina. The first passage is a short one across the channel to the island of Brač, with the night in a quiet bay on its western side near Milna. Milna is a fishing harbour of stone houses and narrow streets around a Baroque church with a 19th-century organ; it was known as the bay of a thousand boats, the safest harbour on the island, and the traditional Croatian sailing boat, the bracera, was designed here. Dinner is served on board. The tender takes you into the village if you want to walk it before bed.

Vis is the outermost inhabited island on this coast and was a closed military zone until 1989, which is why its coast, its villages and its water are the least developed in Dalmatia. The town of Vis grew out of three villages: the oldest part, Gradina, has Greek walls and a Roman bath with floor mosaics; Kut, the eastern quarter, has the Renaissance houses of the island’s noble families; the Franciscan monastery on the Prirovo peninsula stands on the remains of a Roman theatre, and the Archaeological Museum holds a bronze head of Artemis. The yacht anchors in the deep, protected bay below Fort George. Across the island, 20 minutes by car, is Komiža, a fishing town in a deep bay, and 5 nautical miles beyond it the islet of Biševo with the Blue Cave, where the sea lights up from below in late morning. A wine tour for the local Vugava, or a tour of the Yugoslav-era tunnels and gun positions, fills the afternoon. Night at anchor off Vis town.

An hour and a half to Mljet, arriving before lunch with the whole day on the island. The western third of Mljet is a national park, almost entirely under Mediterranean forest, around two salt-water lakes, Veliko Jezero and Malo Jezero. On an islet in the larger lake stands the Benedictine monastery of St Mary, built in the 12th century, reached by the park’s boat. The lakes are for swimming, and the paths around them for walking and bicycles, which can be hired at the park entrance. The yacht moors at Polače on the north coast, inside the park, so everything is within reach. Mljet is one of two islands claimed as Homer’s Ogygia, where Calypso kept Odysseus for seven years, and the sea cave on the south coast carries his name; Saplunara, at the eastern end, has the island’s sand beaches. Night at Polače.

An hour’s passage to Dubrovnik, arriving along the city walls where they rise straight out of the sea. For four and a half centuries this was the Republic of Ragusa, a free city-state that kept its independence by diplomacy while every neighbour was under foreign rule, and the old town inside the walls is intact: the Stradun, the Rector’s Palace, the Sponza Palace, the cathedral with the relics of St Blaise, and the Franciscan monastery with a pharmacy that has been open since 1317. The walk round the top of the walls takes about two hours. The cable car to Mount Srđ gives the view over the roofs and out to the Elafiti Islands, and the Maritime Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Game of Thrones locations are all inside or just outside the walls. The yacht berths at the marina up the river in Gruž or in the ACI marina at Komolac; the old town is 15 minutes by car. Last dinner ashore or on board.