Holiday in Adria 2022 - part 1

This summer I spent four weeks on Heron. I travelled to Pula, where Tomaž and Heron were already waiting for me. Then we sailed South. Unfortunately there were a couple of days of bad weather and burja prior to my arrival, and the NE wind was still blowing and the crossing of Kvarner bay was rather bumpy. We slept in Artatore bay on Lošinj, because it is very well protected from the burja. Of course there were plenty of boats there, and although it is a quite a pretty bay with nice clear water, I didn't go snorkelling, and it wasn't just because of crowded bay but also because the water was rather cold.

Next day we sailed to Ist and passed the three small islands of Grebeni (ridges) on the way. The funny thing is that they are called South, Middle and West Ridge. Logically. 

Some years ago I had the bright idea to stop there for snorkelling, because the water around the islands is so deep that no one anchors or even stops there, so it must be very unspoilt. I was sure, my Captain would find a way to anchor Heron for couple of hours. But when we got there we saw that the only not so deep place was between the islands and it was narrow and rocky, so we didn't stop either. But I bet the snorkelling there must be awesome!

I didn't go snorkelling on Ist either, the fresh wind was still blowing and water was still cold. Dipping in the sea was not meant so much for cooling down as for washing. And the same was on Murter. But we had some nice company on both evenings. 

Next night we already slept near Vodice and again I didn't snorkel. Next day our stop was on E side of Kaprije and it looked like the summer was finally there. It was sunny, the sea was warming up as well, there was very little wind and even the evening was warm. It was rather late in the afternoon when we got there and the light was not the best and since I already snorkelled there and it wasn't very good, we were just swimming and lazying around.

Next morning we made a detour to Zmajan and of course I went snorkelling, this time in company. The best thing we saw was couple of beautiful Mediterranean Red sea stars - (Ognjenordeča zvezda or Echinaster sepositus)...

...and couple of Sea flounders (Morski jezik or Arnoglossus spp.)

Then we sailed to Ravni Žakanj in Kornati. Of course in the afternoon I went snorkelling again, after all I had to make up for the whole week. This thing is still a mystery to me, in one of my books it says that these kind of spheres appear in summer and are someone's eggs, but no one knows who's. Usually they are gelatinous translucent spheres lying on the sea bottom, but this was the first that I saw that was attached and floating.

Very pretty Rocky shore hermit crab (Zelenkasti rak samotarec or Clibanarius erythropus) with chequered eyes.

This year I only saw one Bearded fire worm (Ognjeni črv or Hermodice carunculata).

I also found the Red sea squirt (Rdeči kozolnjak or Halocynthia papillosa).

This is the Mediterranean rainbow wrasse (Knez or Coris julis), no other fish I know has the eyes this red

And just because I'm so happy I found so many octopuses (Navadne hobotnice or Octopus vulgaris) that afternoon, I'm posting the photos of all three:

I hope they survived the Italian sailors and local hunters and have the opportunity to grow big and have plenty of babies.

I couldn't resist this pretty face - it is Rusty blenny (Babica papagajka or Parablennius sanguinolentus).

We stayed in Kornati for two more days and I went snorkelling on every day. But even on Kornati the Fan mussels (Leščur or Pinna nobilis) are dead and there are Murex snail eggs (jajca Čokatega voleka or Hexaplex trunculus)...

...or Oysters Ostrige or Ostrea edulis) growing in them. They were destroyed by parasite as in the rest of the Mediterranean, and although I've heard that alive specimens were being seen here and there, I didn't see any.

But the protection of a national park definitely has very positive impact on fish, this is the biggest school of fattest Salemas (salpe or Sarpa salpa) I've ever seen. 

And here are two more octopuses from Kornati.

I was a bit disappointed that I didn't find more nudibranchs - this Hope's Elysia (Pisanček or Thurdilla hopei) was the only one. Sorry for the bad photo.

This monkey face might be a sponge covered in Briozoan (Mahovnjak).

As most people already know, I rarely leave the boat, but since we were tied to the pier on Ravni Žakanj, it was very easy to go for a walk in the evening. We "conquered" the peak of the island and there were some pretty views from the top.

And this is the view over the pier and the anchorage.