Holiday in Adria 2022 - part2

The third week, a week after Kornati, we sailed North back to Pula. Our first stop was in Kaprije and although I snorkelled there several times before and it wasn't really good, this time it was fantastic. Maybe it was due to the fact that the weather was glorious or that I haven't snorkel that much this year, but I was very pleasantly surprised.

There were several Mediterranean feather stars (Morska lilija or Antedon mediterrana) there.

And although normally Peacock worms (Pahljačasti cevkarji or Sabella pavonina) are really shy and it takes a lot of diving and luck to get a photo, this one just didn't mind me getting close. But unfortunately it didn't open its tentacles fully.

I also found several Cushion corals (Jadranska kamena korala or Cladocora caespitosa), it is the only coral in Adriatic that forms kind of reefs.

I know I posted plenty of these guys in the past, but Slime tube worms (Peščeni cevkarji or Myxicola infundibulum) are so delicate and pretty.

The Tubular sea cucumber (Navadni brizgač or Holothuria tubulosa) is not very unusual nor very pretty, but this one is in very unusual pink colour.

And to my surprise I found an Octopus (Navadna hobotnica or Octopus vulgaris), even outside the Kornati national park.

I'm not sure what this is, it might be one of the Tunicates, maybe the Jelly synascidian (Prosojni prevlekar or Diplosoma spongiforme). 

This Red tube worm (Pisani pokrovčkar or Serpula vermicularis) has a very colourful "lid" with which it closes off its tube when it feels threatened and after it pulls its tentacles into the tube.

I was happy to find several Red sea squirts (Rdeče kozolnjake or Halocynthia papillosa).

And here is another pretty Red tube worm (Pisani pokrovčkar or Serpula vermicularis).

This was the smallest Black sea urchin (Črni morski ježek or Arbacia lixula) that I ever saw.

And here is another Tunicate, I couldn't find the English name, but in tranlstion it would be "Miniature world", because it usually hosts all kind of sea organisms (Nagubani kozolnjak or Microcosmus spp). In the back there is a completely different animal, a brown sponge.

I don't often manage to take a photo of the Flounder while it is swimming (Morski jezik or Arnoglossus sp.).

After a very promising start I didn't snorkel much the next few days. It was either that we were sailing right when the light would be the best for snorkelling or taking photos, and last two days we had bad weather, even with some rain, so we skipped Olib and ended up in again crowded bay of Artatore on Lošinj. And next day we crossed the Kvarner bay and sailed to marina in Pula, another bad weather front was forecast for the night. On the way we passed the pretty lighthouse Porer.

On Sunday our friends joined us aboard and we sailed South again. First evening we stopped at small island of Bodulaš. Usually there are not too many boats anchored there for the night and there are two big Boškarin bulls on the island, that roam around every evening and morning and they are quite a sight. We had a calm night and in the morning crossed the Kvarner bay again. Our first stop for swimming was SW side of Unije. I went snorkelling again and although I had high hopes, since it is just the sea on W side of Unije all the way to Italy, and no hotels or restaurants anywhere near, it wasn't very interesting. 

The only interesting thing I found was this Tubular sea cucumber (Navadni brizgač or Holothuria tubulosa) that was standing upright. I've seen this once already, it is the sign cucumbers are preparing to mate and release their eggs and sperm into the water.

In the afternoon we stopped at Susak, we tied the boat to the pier and our friends went for a walk up the hill to see the old part of the village and the cemetery. The interesting thing in cemetery is that one mostly sees only four family names on gravestones. I was already up there several times, this year as well, Captain even many more times, so we stayed on boat. In the evening we sailed to Lošinj and for once didn't anchor in Artatore, but in a smaller bay to the W that is called Zabodarski. I was surprised there were only four boats anchored in such a beautiful bay.

It was even prettier in the morning, and I went snorkelling right after morning coffee. It was pretty, but the light was not yet very good for taking photos. But there were very many Mediterranean red sea stars (Ognjenordeča zvezda or Echinaster sepositus).

Towards the noon we sailed off along the Lošinj and stopped in bay Plieski for swimming. We moved further S for the night to the island of Ilovik to the bay Przine. It was again quite crowded, there was more NE wind burja forecast for the night and the bay is quite well protected.

Next day was cloudy and some of the NE wind was still there. We sailed S along the W side of Premuda, just because none of us was there before. We made a stop in one of the wild bays, I think it has the same name as the island. There were lots of fish and marine life in the bay, just the light was not the best because of the clouds, so not all the photos were sharp and good.

Finally I found lots of these pretty guys, I was afraid they are disappearing like the octopuses - they are Red-black triplefins (Rdeči sprehajalček or Tripterygion tripteronotus)

This is Crater sponge (Rjava skorjevka or Hemimycale columella)

This is a Common prawn (Žagasta kozica or Palaemon serratus), I'm amazed every time how translucent it is.

And this remains the mystery of the year, and also of last year. I have no clue what it is other than it's definitely a snail. Last years I also saw one in bay Opat on Kornati, but just as here in a very open bay with very little human presence, and that one was even bigger, but just like this one covered with barnacles (z Morskimi želodki ali Chatamalus depressus). Last year I was thinking it might be some sort of Abalone, but looking at it several more times I'm not sure, I think Abalones are not so symmetrical. And it is too big for a Limpet (Strešico or Patella vulgata). So the detective work continues. 

There I also saw one of the biggest Annular sea breams (Špar or Diplodus annularis).