Cruising in Croatia

Background

The lands that today comprise Croatia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the close of World War I. In 1918, the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom known after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia became a federal independent Communist state under the strong hand of Marshal TITO.

Although Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, it took four years of sporadic, but often bitter, fighting before occupying Serb armies were mostly cleared from Croatian lands. Under UN supervision, the last Serb-held enclave in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia in 1998.

Current Weather Report

Click for Dubrovnik, Croatia Forecast

Geography

Location: Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia
Geographic coordinates: 45 10 N, 15 30 E
Area: total: 56,542 sq km
Land: 56,414 sq km
water: 128 sq km
Land boundaries: total: 2,197 km
border countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina 932 km, Hungary 329 km, Serbia and Montenegro (north) 241 km, Serbia and Montenegro (south) 25 km, Slovenia 670 km

Coastline

5,835 km (mainland 1,777 km, islands 4,058 km)

Maritime claims

territorial sea: 12 nm
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Climate

Mediterranean and continental; continental climate predominant with hot summers and cold winters; mild winters, dry summers along coast

Terrain

Geographically diverse; flat plains along Hungarian border, low mountains and highlands near Adriatic coastline and islands

Elevation extremes

Lowest point: Adriatic Sea 0 m
Highest point: Dinara 1,830 m

Economy

Before the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the Republic of Croatia, after Slovenia, was the most prosperous and industrialized area with a per capita output perhaps one-third above the Yugoslav average. The economy emerged from a mild recession in 2000 with tourism, banking, and public investments leading the way. Unemployment remains high, at about 18%, with structural factors slowing its decline.

While macroeconomic stabilization has largely been achieved, structural reforms lag because of deep resistance on the part of the public and lack of strong support from politicians. Growth, while impressive at about 3% to 4% for the last several years, has been stimulated, in part, through high fiscal deficits and rapid credit growth. The EU accession process should accelerate fiscal and structural reform.

Waterways

785 km (2006)

Merchant marine

Total: 76 ships (1000 GRT or over) 1,090,162 GRT/1,738,590 DWT
By type: bulk carrier 24, cargo 13, chemical tanker 2, passenger/cargo 27, petroleum tanker 5, refrigerated cargo 1, roll on/roll off 4
Registered in other countries: 34 (The Bahamas 1, Cyprus 2, Liberia 6, Malta 11, Marshall Islands 2, Panama 4, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 8) (2005)

Sailing Specifics: Ports and terminals

Omisalj, Ploce, Rijeka, Sibenik, Vukovar (on Danube)

Other Sailing Destinations in the Region

Albania - Algeria - Bulgaria - Croatia - Cyprus - Egypt - France - Georgia - Gibraltar - Greece - Israel - Italy - Lebanon - Libya - Malta - Monaco - Morocco - Romania - Serbia and Montenegro - Slovenia - Spain - Syria - Tunisia - Turkey - Ukraine

Further Reading

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