Previous logs up to the time of our first cruising will be posted on Past section. You can read our decision and events leading up to the purchase, boat survey, purchasing process, registration process, etc. If you need to view some of the forms, checklists, surveys, please check the introduction section.

The following are the events leading up to our first cruising from Zadar, Croatia.

On this day, I arrived all the way from Toronto via Austrian airlines making a switch in Vienna then to Zagreb then a domestic flight to Zadar. Marina is only 15 minutes away, the owner of Bemex Marine, Vladislav was kind enough to pick me up at the airport. But I did not have neither of my luggage. There were a couple of more passengers in the same plane so we all filled out forms left them our address and drove to the marina. The luggage were delivered later at night, nothing was missing.

When I arrived at the boat, Snow White's inspection was already completed by the surveyor Mr. Srecko Favro, who came up from Split (see www.adriatic-expert.hr). There were some additional work to be completed by the owner as part of the sales contract. Everything seemed to be in place and in good condition. She was cleaned, antifouling was applied and overall maintenance was done.

She is seen here on crane ready to go into the water, Marina Dalmacija in Croatia.

Upon recommendation of the surveyor, we added a few extras and plan to add some more items later on.

One add on was a blade in front of the propeller for cutting ropes or other debris. It is a fairly new solution, hopefully it will work well.

The next day, we got Snow White into the Adriatic Sea, no leaks! Tall person in black shirt is Vladislav Bezecny, the Beneteau dealer, the owner of Bemex Marine in the region, www.bemexboot.com

I stayed on the boat until Sunday watching the charter activities and change-overs. People came with buses as far north as Sweden, Poland hopped on these sail boats and cast off. It was certainly a busy weekend all around the marina.

Snow White is seen here ready to set sail. Unfortunately, I had to go back to Canada to complete the rest of the registration. It is now all paid up and I have received the de-registration papers from Croatian authorities officially translated into English via a Croatian notary. Vladislav told me that the sale is complete on his side and he would prepare our export documents before we leave Croatia.

Monday morning, I went to Zagreb to the Canadian Embassy to have the documents stamped. They explained to me how not to do a sales transaction in Croatia. For each Croatian document, I would need to go to a municipal court, have the documents approved then go to Ministry of Justice to have the documents authenticated, then go the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to stamp the documents with their official translation approved. Only then the Canadian Embassy will recognize these documents and stamp them for me. I didn't know what to do since my plane was leaving the next day. So, I took all the papers with me.

I hoped to reason with the officer on duty to prove the documents were original and legitimate.

Surprise! Canadian Vessel Registry at 4900 Yonge Street accepted my application and de-registration documents of Snow White with its Croatian notarized translation. The remaining document was the sales document which must be signed at the Canadian Embassy in Zagreb in front of an officer. Fortunately, they only needed the owner's signature.

Good news! On Friday July 6th, I received the signed sales contract from Croatia with the Canadian Embassy's authentication stamp, The owner had stopped by the Embassy and signed the papers. The consular was not available, so later on they sealed and stamped documents have to be mailed to the dealer in Croatia first then to Canada. I took them to the registration office. I also had documents showing that the dealer is the legitimate owner of the company under which the sale was made. On July 9th, I went back there again to see if everything was in order, and "yes they were" said Mr. Powers at the Transport Canada Registry of Ships, 4900 Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto.

Hopefully, it would be alright because we were holding our flight reservations and may loose our space if the flights are not confirmed in a week. 3 days later on July 12th, I received the registration document. Snow White is now officially a Canadian registered vessel in Toronto. We even kept its original name.

We now have everybody's confirmation to fly over on August 8th and be in Zagreb on 9th, 2007.

Now, we need to organize ourselves to go to Croatia. There is no need for visas for Canadians so entry and exit is easy.

Sukosan to island (tbd) to Split to Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik to Bar (Montenegro) to Otranto (Italy) to Corfu (Greece). Alternatively, we will cross Albania in one pass.

Corfu to Preveza to Lefkas to Corinth Canal

Corinth to Athens to Andros to Chios then to Cesme (Turkey)

Cesme to Candarli to Ayvalik where we will winter the boat.

We have no idea how long will this trip take but 25-35 days is our modest estimate.

Camerons will fly back to Toronto from Istanbul on September 25th. We are returning on the 2nd of October.

Next year will be heading towards Istanbul and Black Sea.

We will post all the details as they come up at current log..