“Montaigne”, a 2017 Lagoon 38 previously written about on this blog, has another charter season under her belt with DYC in Croatia. Phil and Judy from the UK were kind enough to share their experience…
Hi, a short introduction: My name is Phil and my partner is Judy. We have been truly bitten by the sailing bug. Our plan is to retire in 2025 and live aboard a catamaran with our Three dogs.
We have just bought and sailed our own catamaran, a Prout Snowgoose 37, from Poole to Glasson in the UK this summer. Our main reason for chartering: To experience various catamarans prior to purchasing for our retirement.
A quick Google search back in June 2019 for a bareboat charter of a Lagoon 380 brought us to a company called Dream Yacht Charter and what looked like the ideal boat, a 2017 Lagoon 380 called ‘Montaigne’ based in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Incidentally, this cat was also written up here on this blog so we had additional details at hand. The price for the weeks charter in October seemed very competitive, so we took the plunge and booked our first bareboat charter!
Roll on 4 months and we are on our way, pilot books and charts in hand with a rough plan on where we wanted to sail.
The weather forecast for the week looked great, sunny and around mid 20c. We arrived at ACI Dubrovnik Marina around 3 hours earlier than our scheduled take-over time for the boat, however we decided to find the charter office and make ourselves known.
The staff on our arrival were great and offered a warm welcome. We were told to give them a call in about 1 hour and they would see if they could get our boat ready early for us to start our holiday. Indeed, after a little over half an hour we were called by the office… ‘Montaigne’ was ready for us!
We were met at the boat by a staff member who went through a very detailed and thorough handover with us. The only thing that was noticed was that the fuel tanks didn’t read full on the gauges, showing them to be around 80% / 90% full, to which he said he would make note of the issue.
Once left alone, Judy and I had chance to have a good look around, and we both agreed that for a boat we believe to be at the end of its 3rd season in charter it was in very good condition.
Not perfect but aside from some bits of stick on interior trim flaking, the odd gel coat graze at the helm and a mismatched exterior cushion to replace one that was obviously lost at some point, everything seemed OK.
Indeed, if this was our Catamaran, we would have been very happy with its condition.
Prior to our arrival in Croatia, we had done some research into what the area is like for cruising.
Alarmingly, we found mixed reviews with regards to the costs of mooring / anchoring and eating out. Authorities issuing fines, Croatians being very unfriendly etc. Thus we set of on our sailing adventure a little unsure as to what we would encounter.
Our experience however revealed that our worries were unjust and indeed we anchored / moored in many bays for free.
Where we did stop at a restaurant’s jetty, we found the price for eating there in return for the overnight stay very reasonable and the People of Croatia that we met offered a friendly smile and welcoming persona.
The sailing area we encountered was truly beautiful and we would indeed recommend it to others thinking of visiting.
All to soon our week of sailing was over and on the Friday night we arrived back at Dubrovnik Marina.
It was a great first bareboat charter experience with a mixed week of leisurely motoring, sailing and motor sailing under our belt.
We arrived at the Fuel dock, refuelled ‘Montaigne’ and returned her to her berth safe and sound ready to be laid up for the winter as we were the last of her charter guests this season.
On our return we were met by a Dream Yacht Engineer who did a return handover check. Being the last people to charter ‘Montaigne’ this season, the engineer was very keen for us to let them know if we found anything that was faulty or needed attention so they could remedy it during the closed season.
The only slight issue we had during the week was that the tender outboard would occasionally cut out and we duly informed him of this.
All that was left to do now was to wait for the diver to check the underside of the boat before getting our deposit back.
To be totally honest, we did have a slight issue with the earlier mentioned fuel gauge fault. It would appear that the issue of the gauges not reading correctly had not been passed on and we were told we would be charged an extra 350 kuna as we had not refilled the fuel tanks correctly.
Despite initially paying the extra, I later disputed the fee and an engineer was sent to check that the tanks were full, which was confirmed, and a refund was issued.
This did add a little stress and worry to the end of the holiday and was indeed a little disappointing. What happened to ‘the customer always being right’?, which in this instance was true.
I must add that an apology was offered and accepted on the day.
So, to sum up overall and despite the hiccup at the end we had a great time in Croatia and are looking forward to chartering again in the future.
Happy sailing,
Phil and Judy
Phil, thank you for taking the time to send us this article.
I am glad the two of you had a great time. As an owner of a bareboat with DYC in Croatia myself, I am particularly pleased to hear that the company does look after their/my equipment.
I am equally sure that John H, the actual owner of “Montaigne”, feels the same way and appreciates you writing to us.
Hey Phil and Judy,
Thanks for your write up, what a great thing to read out of the blue, has made our day. It sounds like Montaigne is holding up well – your description pretty much matches when we last saw it in August 2018. Yes it’s now halfway through its tour of duty. Three years this month till we get it full time. Glad you enjoyed ‘our’ boat, and Croatia, as much as we did.
If you have any more pics showing the condition , good or bad, I would love to see some. Also do you recall the engine hours ?
I think the fuel guage thing was the same when we were on it in 2018. Probably only an issue when you are the charterer.:)
Cheers
John H
Hi, only just realised the article / review had been published, thanks Nils.
John, Montaigne is a beautiful boat and we thoroughly enjoyed every moment of our time aboard. I think the engine hours were around 1300 although not 100% sure. I don’t have any pictures however I do have a walk around video we did which shows all the details. I will add you on messenger / Facebook and share from there if you like?
Phil and Judy