Plan it yourself
Build your own day on the water
Choose the stops you want and this works out the rest: the sailing time out and back, the departure hour needed to reach the Blue Cave inside its light window, which charter length the day fits into and what it costs. It also tells you when a plan does not work — Budva is four hours from Tivat, and no amount of wanting makes that a day charter.
East — into the bay
Sheltered on almost any wind. Towns, islands and history.
West — out of the bay
Open water past Mamula. The Blue Cave and the clearest swimming.
South — down the coast
Four hours to Budva, so anything past Bigova wants a night aboard.
The rules it is built on
Nothing here is invented. Every constraint is one the captain works to.
The Blue Cave is the hard one. It lights up only when the sun reaches the angle where it passes under the water at the entrance, roughly between 11:00 and 12:00. Put the cave in your plan and the departure hour stops being a choice — the calculator works backwards from the window and tells you when to cast off.
Distance is the second rule. Every stop carries its sailing time from Porto Montenegro, and the day counts the return leg as well, which is why picking one stop on the far side of the bay and one on the near side costs more than the map suggests. Choose stops in opposite directions and the return is counted twice, because that is what the boat actually does.
Then the two thresholds. Anything past Bigova on the southern coast is four hours out, which puts it beyond a day charter and into a night aboard. And a plan over twelve hours has stopped being a day at all.
Wind is the last one. A hard south-easterly closes the open coast, so the exposed stops dim and the eastern half of the bay stays workable. The captain makes that call the evening before you sail, and the calculator only shows you what it would mean.
Which numbers are measured and which are estimated
Worth being straight about, because a planner that hides this is guessing at you.
| Figure | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Tivat → Blue Cave, 2 hours | Measured by the captain |
| Tivat → Budva, 4 hours | Measured by the captain |
| Blue Cave light window, 11:00–12:00 | Seven seasons of running the route |
| Cruise ships in Kotor from about 09:00 | Observed, varies with the schedule |
| Coaches in Perast from about 11:00 | Observed, varies with the season |
| Every other sailing time | Interpolated between the two measured ones |
| Time spent at each stop | What it usually takes, not a limit |
The final plan is drawn with you the evening before you sail, when the next day's wind is readable.
Send us the day you built
The plan goes over on WhatsApp exactly as you assembled it. We come back with what is free and what the captain would change.
What people usually ask
Are these times exact?
Two of them are: two hours from Tivat to the Blue Cave and four to Budva, both measured by the captain. The rest are the steps between those two points, and the times at each stop are what they usually take. The plan is confirmed the evening before you sail.
Why does the departure time change by itself?
Because the Blue Cave only works between 11:00 and 12:00. Put it in the plan and the calculator works backwards from that window to the hour you have to cast off.
Why can I not have Budva in a day?
It is four hours from Tivat by sea, so a day charter would be eight hours of passage and nothing else. Add a night aboard and it opens up.
Can we really pick stops in both directions?
You can, and the calculator will price it, but it counts the return leg twice because the boat has to come back before it goes the other way. It usually makes for a long day and a short stay everywhere.
Does the captain have to follow my plan?
No, and you would not want him to. He redraws it the evening before you sail based on the wind, and again during the day if something is better than what was written down. The plan is where the conversation starts.