We can see how vacation habits are changing for many foreign tourists, and more and more of them want to rent boats and enjoy the nautical tourism in Croatia. But to be able to do that, they need to have an international boat skipper license, category B, which gives them permission to manage boats with over 15kW of power. Without such license, it’s impossible to legally rent a boat in Croatia (and even illegal rent often includes the question “Do you have the license?”), so it’s no wonder many foreign tourists want to obtain it before their vacation.
And many of them ask around in their own countries and discover that there the whole procedure to get the license can cost more than a thousand euro, while in Croatia you can get one for around 800 kuna (which is just a bit over one hundred euro). Which is the reason why many Hungarians (they are the foremost users of that opportunity) come to Croatia to take the course and then the exam, which is unexpected until you realize one fact: you can do it in Port Authorities far away from the sea, such as the ones in Osijek and Vukovar, which are really close to Hungary, as Glas Slavonije writes.
The course, the exam and the issuance of the boat skipper license take around three days, which means that most such visitors have to find accommodations for the period, and they also need to eat, so many family farms and renters profit from them. But still, with all those expenses (and, of course, the translator for the exam they’re taking) the total comes up around three thousand kuna, which is still much less than it would’ve been back home. And they got a nice weekend-trip out of it as well! More than 140 foreigners decided to take the exam in Osijek this year, mostly from Hungary and 10 of them were from Serbia. In Vukovar Port Authority over 150 foreigners got the license last year, and the numbers seem to be growing in this year as well. Tomislav Cicvarić, a captain from the Osijek Port Authority explains that they warn their Hungarian customers about the debates in Hungary regarding the international boat skipper license, but that they mostly don’t care, as they only want to use them on the Adriatic or while in Greece. He adds that they mostly come well-prepared for the course, as they wish to have the license issued as soon as possible. The license is even cheaper for Croatian nationals taking the test, and captain Cicvarić disagrees with the idea that the exam is too simple and basic, as he says that sailing is, in fact, very simple if you obey several basic rules.
