Drvenik Veli Yacht Charter Guide: the Blue Lagoon an Hour from Split

“Drvenik Veli is the first swim of a Split week: the Blue Lagoon at Krknjaši, an hour from the quay, and a village harbour with nothing to do but eat.”

Drvenik Veli is the small island off Trogir and the western tip of Šolta, with its little sister Drvenik Mali beside it. It has one village, a harbour sheltered from every direction, a few hundred people, and on its east side the bay the day boats come for: Krknjaši, the Blue Lagoon, a shallow stretch of sand-bottomed water between the island and two islets that turns the colour of a swimming pool in the sun.

For a yacht it is one of the closest real swims to the Split and Trogir marinas, about an hour out, which makes it the first stop of a boarding day or the last of a going-home day. Our Trogir loop and Split round trip pass it on the way to Milna and come back past Šolta; our guide on how many islands fit a week counts a swim stop near Šolta as texture, not a commitment.

Must-dos at Drvenik Veli

The Blue Lagoon at Krknjaši, anchor on sand in three metres of turquoise water
Lunch at Konoba Krknjaši, the day’s catch on the beach behind the lagoon
The village harbour, a mooring by the mole and dinner ashore with no crowd
Maslinica on Šolta, the next stop east, seven miles from Trogir

Krknjaši, the Blue Lagoon: the east side

Turquoise water of the Blue Lagoon at Krknjaši on Drvenik Veli island — The Blue Lagoon at Krknjaši on the east side of Drvenik Veli; library photo.

Krknjaši is the reason the island is on the map. On the east side of Drvenik Veli, two low islets, Krknjaš Veli and Mali, close off a bay so shallow and so sandy that the water goes turquoise from the boat; yachts anchor in two to five metres on a clear sand bottom, and the group is in the water before the anchor is set. By day-boat standards it is busy in July and August, so a crewed yacht comes early or late: the lagoon at nine in the morning, or at five when the excursion boats have gone back to Split, is a different place from the same water at one.

Konoba Krknjaši sits on the beach behind the lagoon and serves what the boat brought in that morning, grilled, with the island’s own olive oil; it is the lunch after the swim. The islets themselves are for the tender and the paddleboards.

The village harbour and Drvenik Mali: the west side

The village of Drvenik Veli is on the north-west side, a harbour you can pick out from the sea by the church belfry and the houses stacked above it, with a second church on the hill to the west. Coming from the west, the only hazard is the islet of Malta in the channel between Drvenik Mali and Drvenik Veli; otherwise the approach is clear. The harbour is sheltered from every direction, so the practice is to anchor off the village on the sand bottom, with lines ashore if needed; the quay is too shallow for stern-to on a yacht of any size, and there are visitor moorings west of the mole for the restaurant. Ashore there is a konoba or two, olive groves, and no traffic.

Drvenik Mali, the smaller island to the west, has its own sandy bay at Vela Rina on the south side, quieter still than Krknjaši and the alternative when the lagoon is full.

Trogir, Šolta and Brač: what is close

Maslinica, Solta Island, Croatia — Maslinica on Šolta, three miles from Drvenik Veli and the last night of our Trogir loop.

The island sits at the west end of the Split bay, so everything is close: Trogir and its marinas about six miles north-east, an hour on a motor yacht; Maslinica at the western tip of Šolta three miles south-east, the settlement under pine trees with a marina sheltered from all winds and Martinis Marchi for dinner, the last night of our Trogir loop; Milna on Brač about fifteen miles east; Vis about twenty-five miles south across open water.

That geography is the whole use of the island. It is the swim stop that turns a boarding afternoon or a going-home morning into a proper day on the water without costing the week a night.

Fitting Drvenik Veli into the week

Drvenik Veli is a lunch stop rather than a night on the weeks that pass it:

Boarding day: off the quay in Trogir at noon, the Blue Lagoon by one, then on to Milna or Maslinica for the first night.
Going home: the last swim on the way in from Šolta or Brač before the marina, an hour from the airport run.
A night at anchor: for a group that wants a quiet first or last night with dinner on board, the village harbour or Vela Rina on Drvenik Mali, with the lagoon to yourselves at dawn.