Sailing the Adriatic - from Murter to Hvar

Weather on Saturday, August the 2nd, morning was nice, sunny and windy, and the sailing was good. Our first stop was on island Kaprije in a nice bay with crystal clear water, of course we were not alone there. Water was not very warm, but I had to go snorkelling.

At first it didn't look like much, but at a second glance I started to discover pretty and interesting things. Like this member of red algae, called Bledi grmiček .

                             

This Violet sea urchin or Belobodičasti morski ježek, camouflaged itself with the empty shell of another urchin.

This is one of the prettiest sponges, the Encrusting orange sponge or Spužva žilavka.

There were more fish than I expected, these are Salemas or Salpe.

This pretty landscape was under a rock - here we have the boring sponge or Spužva vrtalka, those are the yellow round things in the middle, sitting in what appears to be the Blue sponge or Modra spužva. Larger thing to the right is a solitary coral, called Pig-tooth coral or Kamnito nakovalce. And the orange round thing with needles to the left is, I think, another sponge, called  Ščetinasti sodček (Sycon raphanus). Pretty, isn't it?

There is a multitude of tube worms, all very elegant. This one is Red-spotted horseshoe or Apnenčasti cevkar.

In the afternoon we sailed further and found a good anchorage for the night on South-East of island Žirje.

Sunday morning was cloudy. A boat came by, selling bread, fresh vegetable and fruit and even ice cream, and we treated ourselves to a big and yummy breakfast. The clouds that were coming from the North-West were darker and darker, so we sailed towards South just when it started to rain. We even got some wind, but luckily not much rain. Since the day was grey and not very suitable for swimming, we decided to sail on through the day and in the afternoon we anchored Heron in one of the bays on the South of Šolta. It was already getting late, but I wanted to see how underwater world looks like. And I found some nice things again.

This is Bledi grmiček (Amphiroa rigida) again, and next to it some Hydroids, or Morska peresca.

This is one of the red algae, called Topovejnata lavrencija (Laurencia obtusa).

The Two banded sea bream or Fratrc

When I first saw this thing, I thought it's some sort of plastic packaging material. I took a photo anyway, and later found it in my book - it is actually a cluster of eggs of Murex snail or polža Voleka. Amazing.

This is a Purple sea urchin or Vijoličasti morski ježek, dressed in algae.

This is Black scorpionfish or Škarpoč.

This is an Octopus or Hobotnica, trying to blend in with algae, rocks and sponges of type Ledvičasta spužva.

Couldn't resist some more of Hydroids or Morska peresca (Aglaophenia), they were one of my favourites already in Caribbean.

This is the pretty bay or almost fjord on Šolta, that we spent the night in. Water is pretty deep here, so one has to throw the anchor, reverse the boat and then tie it to the rocks, it is call Med-mooring. Our boat was one of two there, we were moored a bit right of the house.

We sailed on to the Pakleni otoci near Hvar. Hvar is a very posh and crowded destination, so we knew there would be plenty of boats. We found a nice spot in one of the bays and a little later I was in the water. Near our anchor chain I found this Scaldfish or Morski jezik (Arnoglossus).

Soft next to spiky...

This is one of Blennies (Babica), I don't know exactly which one, sitting on an orange tube worm among sponges (Krompirjasta spužva)

Kardinal fish (Morski Kraljiček) looks the same as its Caribbean relatives.

A mullet (Cipelj)

That evening we had a great dinner in one of our favourite restaurant in Adriatic, in Dionis. It was worth going ashore and break our people-hater habit for it. Still, visiting Dionis outside the high season is more personal and intimate experience, and you have a chance to eat some of the seasonal delicacies like baby artichokes or wild bore.

Next morning was sunny, we took time to have long breakfast and go for a swim.

This was our bay, it was really pretty and water beautifully green and blue.

But there were a lot of boats...

... even a group of boats that had a party the previous night till very late... or should I say early.

We didn't stop in town of Hvar, we just sailed by on our way back North. In high season it is really hard to moor or anchor there. And we didn't really need anything, so after a day and a night in crowded anchorage we decided to keep on being people-haters.