‍I personally checked the water area many times and described in detail by our instructor and columnist Alexey Romanov

From Pula to Venice, it's one of my favorite destinations for an extraordinary yachting experience. Getting out of Pula makes it “circular”, and a catabatic wind pattern often helps to whistle through the Adriatic. You should pay special attention to the weather forecast, calculate the miles of crossings and update the route's weather planning regularly.

Many charter companies require such routes to run exclusively along the coast, take note of this. This should be done at least once on the way back and forth. And if you are planning to visit Trieste (and it's worth it), you will come across Slovenia's territorial waters on the way to or from it — ask the charter company for the conditions for completing this section! Another important thing to consider is setting up the sonar (from the keel, from the bottom, from the waterline), since the Italian coast, except for Trieste, is replete with sandbanks.

The Italian coast (with the exception of Trieste) is a favorite vacation spot for German and Austrian pensioners, so they will be a constant background, and the two most popular languages are Italian and German even in marinas. Sometimes the assistant doesn't understand English. Traditional “between poles” mooring is used in many places: we go aft to the embankment, and attach the bow mooring posts to these pile poles (Grado, Sabbiadoro, Caorle).

Anchoring and swimming on the Italian coast is not an extraordinary activity, to put it mildly: constant currents along the coast, pumping, catabatic winds and lots of natural debris floating in muddy waters. Therefore, I recommend swimming and anchoring on the Croatian side.

All of the locations described below are located along the coast. The transfer will be from east to west, but they can be transferred in any direction and order.

Pula. I would come to Pula a few days before the cruise and take a good walk there. This is a really beautiful city with history and sights. For example, a cool ancient Roman amphitheater and buildings, a fortress, cathedrals, the Museum of Cool Memories and so on.

Northeast of Pula is Brijuni National Park — If you plan to enter the parking lot here, you should check the conditions in advance.

Trieste — a beautiful Italian city with classical architecture and waterfronts that are pleasant to walk along. There are many museums, parks, the famous opera house by Giuseppe Verdi, the street statue of James Joyce and other attractions. Trieste is significantly different from anything you'll see on the West Bank; it is much more Austrian than Italian, including in its climate, which is especially noticeable during the off-season.

In Trieste I used to get up at San Giusto Marina. It is small, with rather narrow alleys, which, combined with regular catabatic winds, may require a mooring assistant. Large boats are often lag there, and small and medium-sized boats have fenced pontoon seats (ankle boots) — so if you doubt the stern setting, feel free to drive there with your nose. If you look at it on a Google Map, you can see that many people are standing there like this. I only stood there once and I don't remember how I even got there.

Grado — a town older than St. Petersburg and Moscow combined, part of ancient Aquileia, its fishing suburb. Nice and cozy, with delicious seafood. From Grado to Aquileia and further into Cervignano There is a direct ancient Roman road, along which there are excavations of no less than ancient Roman villas. Aquileia and Cervignano have museums and monuments from ancient Rome through the Lombard era to the early and middle Gothic, so if you need anything, you can drive away. It takes about an hour to get from Cervignano to Venice by TrenItalia train.

There are two parking options in Grado: marina Porto San Vito et city marina. The marina has water, electricity, showers, toilets, laundry and services. At the city pier, all you have is the pity of standing almost in the center and the chance that you will be joked at some point in the parking lot, because the ownership of the seats is completely unclear. You can try to stand up during the day and move to San Vito, if you need anything.

You should walk around all the tourist places without going far to the east (there is not much to do beyond the city park), and visit Zero Mile Fish Restaurant — simply the best.

ATTENTION! You can enter the parking lagoon in Grado along a fairway that starts off the coast and leads to Porto San Vito Marina. You have to walk strictly along it, but in the lagoon itself, be extremely careful and monitor the depth: shoals “walk”, and there are daily and seasonal changes in the water level.

Lignano Sabbiadoro — a relatively freshly built resort town. There is nothing ancient about it, but there is a fun tourist promenade where boutiques are open during the day and partying is hell in the evenings. Marina Punto Faro pontoon and with all amenities. City port — I've never stood here, but they say it's possible.

Caorle — a resort town with delicious pizzerias, ice cream and a waterfront promenade from beaches to chapels on the promontory. You can stay in Caorle at Darsena del Orologio Marina or at city port — The difference is still the same (services and amenities). But the interesting thing about entering Caorle is that it takes place through the canal, starting at sea. If you plan to get up in Orolojo, check in advance what time you can come and go — they used to close sluice gates sometimes, but this happened more often during the off-season.

Venice There is nothing to explain about the sights here, except that you CAN drop off anyone on the waterfront almost anywhere on the waterfront from the Biennale Gardens to the Arsenal, or where imagination will tell you, but the police will not forbid you, and then go to the marina to moor and register. Or you can go straight to the marina and then take a walk. Entering the lagoon, again across the fairway.

There are two public marinas here. The first one is located on the eponymous one Certosa Island — this is a quiet green marina in the park, from which you need to get to Venice by boat (marina service, taxi, vaporetto water bus). The marina is old but modern, with all the services.

The second is new marina Santelena. It is located within walking distance of San Marco, but I never stood there because several years ago it was only equipped and its facilities were limited to biotoilets. As it is now, I suggest you find out for yourself.

Finally, a life hack from practice. If the day you leave Venice promises to be clear and the morning is calm, it makes sense to get up early, go to San Marco and watch the sunrise as you drift between the Doge's Palace and San Giorgio Maggiore — remember this for a lifetime. And when the sun rises, head to the Adriatic for new experiences.