September in Adria

This month I spent another two weeks on Heron. After a really full roads in high season (July and August) we were hoping we would have a fast drive to Petrčane. But no luck this time - there was a car crash on highway and waiting in traffic jam took two extra hours, so we arrived in Petrčane late in the afternoon, tired and hungry. After ribs and fish&chips in local whiskey bar we sailed to Muline on N end of Ugljan. It was already almost dark, so we only had a quick swim before going to bed. I was sad to find that the water temperature was quite chilly.

Next day we sailed North to Molat. There was not much wind, so we motored occasionally, but the weather was sunny, it was warm and we weren't in a hurry. Once in Molat I was considering going snorkelling, but the light was already getting low and that combined with not very warm water made me change my mind.

Next day we sailed  to a shipwreck near the N end of Dugi otok after breakfast. We all went into water there, and it wasn't even that cold.

The wreck lies in shallow water, it sunk some 50 years ago. It is an Italian ship named San Michele.

I expected it would be more overgrown...

...but there was plenty of fish there, the Two-banded sea breams (fratrci ali Diplodus vulgaris) were really big.

That evening we slept in S bay in Ist, and then sailed on to Olib. I just couldn't miss the opportunity to snorkel there again. We first anchored on E side. Water was - let's call it very refreshing instead of cold, so I didn't snorkel long. I found many Peacock worms (pahljačaste cevkarje or Sabella pavonina) on sandy bottom of the bay. These guys are super jumpy and as soon as they notice any movements or change of light, they disappear into their tubes in the ground. It took me quite some time and energy to get couple of decent photos.

In the afternoon we sailed on to W side of Olib and next day I went snorkelling. And it was again great, so much to see there, that I almost forgot the not-so-warm water. I found this Red comb star (oranžasta morska zvezda or Astropecten aranciacus).

Common stingray (navadni morski bič or Dasyatis pastinaca)

I've never before seen the Smooth clam (lepotka or Callista chione) so exposed and was even happier to notice that it is alive, you can see the edge of flesh if you look closely.

The Black scorpionfish (škrpoč or Scorpaena porcus) was posing next to red encrusting sponge.

And here are few Peacock worms, just because they are so difficult to photograph and have such pretty faces.

I don't know which jelly fish this is, it was very small and also quite tricky to photograph.

I'm always so happy to find plenty of living clams - this one is Bald scallop (mala pokrovača or Protopecten glaber).

There were several Cylinder anemones (peščena roža or Cerianthus membranaceus), here are the two of them. These were different as their tube was sticking out from the sand, usually I was seeing the ones with tubes hidden in the sand.

Even the clam, that was next to Sea squirt (črni kozolnjak or Phallusia fumigata), was alive, although I couldn't find out, which it is.

From Olib we sailed to Silba and had a great evening in a restaurant there. From there we sailed on to Ist again, this time we anchored in N bay. And we finally climbed the hill again. This time we also found the true summit, taht is a few meters higher than the church. 

I found this beauty on church's wall.

This is the view to the West, of the small town of Ist with South and North bay. One of the boats on the right is Heron.

The islands to the South - unfortunately the visibility was not so perfect to see all the way to Kornati.

Our bay in the evening.

Nex day I went snorkelling in the bay and even found a couple of pretty things - like this Red-spotted horseshoe (apnenčasti cevkat or Portula tubularia)...

...an Octopus (navadna hobotnica or Octopus vulgaris) that made me happy...

...and an encrusting sponge (rjava skorjevka or Hemimycale columella).

We sailed further South and in the evening anchored at the small island of Kurba mala. It is very pretty, but only for settled weather. We were here already a few years ago and then there were three donkeys on the island. I was happy to see that two of them are still there, they came in the evening and performed a true show on the beach.

The sunset was beautiful.

In the morning the donkeys came to greet us again. In the background is Ugljan and to the right Ždrelac with the bridge that connects Ugljan to Pašman.

Some more snorkelling photos

Here is the last part of snorkeling photos. First ones were taken in Kornati.

Here is the duo of Red tube worms (pisana pokrovčkarja or Serpula vermicularis), not the best photo, but very cute.

This looks like a bouquet of flowers, just made of algae - the brown one is a sort of red algae (topovejnata lavrencija or Laurencia obtusa), the white spiky one is another red algae, Red needleweed (bledi grmiček or Amphiroa rigida), and I'm still searching for info about the white smaller more dense algae.

 I had to include a pretty Red-black triplefin (rdeči sphrehajalček or Trypterigion tripteronotus), this year I haven't seen very many of them.

The Green ormer (petrovo uho or Haliotis lamellosa) is a member of Abalone family, this one was unusually big.

And this is still the biggest puzzle for me. I found it in a crack in the rock in Kornati island of Smokvica, it was very overgrown with Acorn barnacles (morskimi želodki), it was of size of a fist and although it caught my attention because of very uniform rim, in not very good light I wasn't sure that it is not just a piece of rock or sponge. Especially since I haven't seen anything that would look like that before.

Maybe that's why I didn't take more photos as I usually do to make sure I got some really good ones, so this is one of few of the whole thing. The fringes on the edge and the fleshy leg, that is visible beneath the shell definitely point towards a mollusc and although I have no confirmation, I'm leaning toward declaring this an Abalone of a kind or Haliotis. If you know what this is, please let me know.

This beauty is Zvonimir's blenny (jelenoroga babica or Parablennius zvonimiri)

We made a stop in this pretty bay with cute house at the entrance to Lausa lagoon.

And I found another Orange Puffball sponge (morska pomaranča or Tethya citrina) there.

The last photos were made in bay near Muline on Ugljan on my last snorkeling expedition before driving home the next day. I was surprised to see how much life there was under water, even with all the anchored boats there, but it was again obvious, how strong flow of water creates great conditions for it. These two are Golden anemone and Bittersweet clam (zlata vetrnica in sklednica or Condylactis aurantiaca and Glycemeris spp). All the shells there were quite big.

This Lesser spider crab (mali morski pajek or Maja crispata) was moving, or I would probably overlooked him.

Under this anemone were another six crabs, first I noticed the blue one on the lower side, and only later when I started diving down, I saw two more to the left, two to the right and another one behind the anemone.

I usually see Banded dye-murex shells (čokate voleke), so I was glad to find a Spiny dye-murex (bodičasti volek or Bolinus brandaris) for a change.

I'm not sure, but its colours suggest that this is the Blood-red hermit crab (zelenkasti obrežni samotarec or Clibanarius erythropus)

And on my last snorkeling expedition I made the best find of the season, a true coral tree. They are usually growing in deeper water and I have never seen any in Adria yet. This one was at about 4m depth, usually it grows from 10m depth down. I guess the strong current and lots of water that flows between islands of Ugljan and Rivanj  create the conditions for this living in such shallow water. It is White gorgonian (ravno morsko drevesce or Eunicella singularis).

And here is the close-up, to prove it is truly a coral. Needless to say, I was absolutely ecstatic about this find.

I'm driving back to Heron to Petrčane tomorrow, after being home for almost two weeks. I'm looking forward to some more snorkeling, I hope weather stays warm and water as well.