And here they are...

 ...the many snorkeling photos, as promised. In my defense, these are only the small fraction of all the photos that I've made during my almost 4-week long stay on Heron. And I will have to write several posts to incorporate even only my favourite ones.

Our sailing playground this year was Northern Dalmatia, all the way from Olib in the North to Kornati and Zmajan in the South, as we made a small town of Petrčane near Zadar our "base camp". Most of the time we were not alone on the boat, but had our friends with us, and most of them were already  sailing with us in previous years. Although it was mostly quite lively on the boat, I found lots of time for snorkeling.

Olib remains one of my favourite snorkeling locations in Adria. Nowhere else I found the Black goby (črni glavač or Gobius niger) posing so willingly for me.

I'm not sure what this is, it looked like a small gelatinous ball, maybe it is algae of some sort.

This is a small young Slime tube worm (peščeni cevkar or Myxicola infundibulum) of very light colour and even the small pouch in which the body of the worm is hidden, is visible.

The brown thing in photo is Brown encrusting sponge (rjava skorjevka or Hemimycale columella), orange thing above is probably Red encrusting bryozoan (mahovnjak rdeči skorjevec or Schizobrachiella sanguinea) and the red circular things in it are parts of Boring sponge (spužva vrtalka or Cliona spp). And there are even a couple of tube worms there. Full of life, isn't it?

This is one of very few over-water photos, it was taken in Vir.

And this time it's some Yellow boring sponges (rumena vrtalka or Cliona celata) in Red encrusting bryozoan (mahovnjak rdeči skorjevec or Schizobrachiella sanguinea)

Mullets (ciplji or Liza spp) are very common, also because they can live in less than perfectly clean water. But they are quite pretty, too.

This was one of my best finds, a Redbrown leathery doris (ploščati perjaničar or Platydoris argo). I'm always so excited when I find a nudibranch. The "crown" on its back are the gills.

This sea star was placed almost as an ornament right beneath Heron, when we were anchored in Olib. It has 6 arms, but it looks very much like Spiny starfish (bradavičasta morska zvezda or Marthasterias glacialis), that is supposed to have only 5 arms

Another very good snorkeling ground was a bay near Tisno on Murter. Although it is very closed bay, excellent for shelter in bad weather, with less than perfect water, it turned out to be full of life, maybe because of the strong current and masses of water that move through the channel between mainland and Murter.

Unfortunately were all the Fan mussek (leščur or Pinna nobilis) that I've seen this year dead. There was a invasion of some parasite that killed off the shells not only in Adria, but also elsewhere in Mediterranean.

I saw plenty of Red encrusting sponges (rdeča skorjevka or Phorbas fictitius) there.

There were also several Hope's Elysias (pisanček or Thurdilla hopei).

Although it looks like a tube worm, it's actually a snail, I couldn't find the English name (spiralasti polž or Serpulorbis arenarius). There are at least two kinds, both in different colours, this kind has translucent last part of the tube.

I guess this is a tunicate or sea squirt (plaščar) of some sort.

I love the bright green colour of this Cyanobacteria (kalotriks or Calotrix spp).

I think this is my first photo of Peacock blenny (pavja babica or Lipophrys pavo)

This is a very pretty Banded-dye murex shell (čokati volek or Hexaplex trunculucs)

Red tube worm (pisani pokrovčkar or Serpula vermicularis) of a bit different colour in company of yellow boring sponge

This little Sea bream (orada or Sparus aurata) was following me for whole two hours while I was snorkeling and often tried to place herself in front of my camera.

This is another tunicate or sea squirt, I couldn't find the English name (črni kozolnjak or Phallusia fumigata)

Not the best photo, but these fishes are moving so fast - they are Bogues (bukve or Boops boops).

And this is an adult, darker Slime tube worm (peščeni cevkar or Myxicola infundibulum), with its body hidden in the sand

A very pretty Red-mouthed goby (rdečeusti glavač or Gobius cruentatus) showing off his stuff.

And another sea slug that made me happy - a Mottled sea hare (veliki morski zajček or Aplysia fasciata)

A bright Red sea squirt (rdeči kozolnjak ali morska breskev or Halocynthia papillosa)

I couldn't resist taking another photo of  Red tube worm (pisani pokrovčkar or Serpula vermicularis)

It is very obvious that there is much more marine life to be seen where there is a good flow of water, on exposed places like on North point of Dugi otok. There were plenty of Flounders (morski jeziki ali Arnoglossus spp).

This is the only octopus I've seen in whole 4 weeks. It tried to disappear into the hole when I approached, but didn't want to let go of the shell it was eating.

I think this is a Mediterranean red sea star (ognjenordečardeča zvezda or Echinaster sepositus)

An empty shell of a Heart urchin (srčasti morski ježek or Spatagus purpureus)

This sponge that encrusted a shell looks like huge orange lips.