Sailing to Zrmanja

In the beginning of July we were sailing with our friends for a week. We started from marina in Mali Lošinj, where Heron is based this year. First day we sailed along Lošinj, made a stop for swimming and anchored in uvala (bay) Sunfarni for the night.

Next day, on Thursday, after big breakfast and some swimming we sailed around South end of Lošinj, by on Ilovik towards East to island Pag. We anchored in bay Košljun for the night. We were all surprised to see that there were no other sailboats around and only few motorboats. We had a very calm night.

Next day we sailed between Vir and island Pag towards Pag bridge.

On our way we saw a sun watch built in 19th century.

We anchored in bay Vlašiči. There is a wetland at the end of the bay and we rowed there with the dinghy. We saw an egret (bela čaplja)...

...and plenty of salt loving plants. Unfortunately I didn't see any dragonflies.

After some swimming we sailed on by on these elephant toes...

...and old fortress...

...under the Pag bridge.

This bridge is quite high but there is always some nervousness present when we sail underneath one.

We then sailed behind Vir towards South and anchored near small town of Ražanac for the night.

Weather forecast was not great and already in the night we had some SE wind Jugo, but we still slept well.

Next morning we sailed on towards South to new Maslenice bridge.

The surroundings are very wild and rugged.

From the shade under the bridge some goats were watching us.

Next we came to old Maslenica bridge (the new one is for the highway, the old one is actually not so old, it was rebuilt after it was destroyed in war in 1991).

 It is made of steel and painted red and is very pretty.

Then we sailed through Novigradsko more and entered the river Zrmanja.

Only when we were very close to the canyon we saw where we should sail. Well, there are red and green posts marking the waterway, but its difficult to trust them when all you see are high rocks all around you.

In every river bend on slow side (the inner side) there was lots of plants growing and among them were the swans.

The scenery was really beutifull...

...and rock formations impressive. 

We hardly met anyone except swans.

There was absolutely no wind and water calm and all the rocks and sky and clouds were reflected in the water.

The waterway was rather narrow, one could see the very shallow water right next to the markers.

Above in the Velebit hills one could see the highway leading up to Sveti Rok tunnel and the cars and trucks driving on it.

At the end of the navigable part of the river there is the town Obrovac, it is really not pretty so I didn't take any photos. We planed to stop there for ice or coffee and some fresh bread, but couldn't find enough space on the waterfront to tie Heron, so we turned around and sailed back. But before we could made a stop for a swim the wind and rain started and we hurried to Novigradsko more and anchored Heron, it felt much safer there than in the narrow canyon in stormy weather. Then we sat there for couple of hours to wait out the rain.

We were all blown away by the beauty of the canyon, we were just a bit sad we didn't get to swim in the river. Next time...

Later in the afternoon, when the rain stopped, we sailed back under all the bridges and anchored in bay Ričina. There is a pretty little church there...

...and lots of vegetation.

And only one other sailboat was anchored in the whole bay beside us. This was another great thing about sailing in this area, it was not at all busy and crowded, in two days we only saw three sailboats and couple of smaller motorboats.

Next day we sailed towards Olib. We were accompanied by several yellow butterflies, Brimstones or citrončki. I just read that English word butterfly is supposedly derived from butter yellow colour of Brimstones. 

We anchored twice around Olib for swimming and in the evening we moved to our "usual" ancorage, the NW side for the night. Next morning we woke to a warm sunny summer morning with all the beautiful colours Olib has to offer. 

Although the rain and wind from the day before cooled both air and water, I had to go snorkelling. And was happy I did - it was again so very pretty. I found plenty of White Sea-Squirts (Bradavičasti kozolnjak or Phallusia mamillata), this one is in company of Black Sea-Squirt (Črni kozolnjak or Phallusia fumigata).

This is a Common tusk shell (Navadni slonov zobček or Dentalium vulgare).

This is the Bryozoan (mahovnjak), covering something I don't recognise.

One of the prettiest tunicates, the pink social seasquirts (zadružni plaščarji).

And here is again a gelatinous ball, I believe a cluster of eggs of some Bristle worm (mnogoščetinca).

The trophy of the day was this Redbrown leathery doris (ploščati perjaničar or Platydoris argo), I'm always so happy when I find a nudibranch. 

When I dove for the second time to take more photos, it was gone and I was surprised how fast it disappeared. After a while I noticed that it was climbing onto algae to join another one, maybe in hope of a romantic date.

And just because it's so pretty - a Red tube worm (Pisani pokrovčkar or Serpula vermicularis).

In the evening we moved to the anchorage on East side of Silba and in the evening had a delicious meal in Vila Velebita. Despite the shower that came at 4.30 in the morning, we slept well.

Next day we sailed back to Mali Lošinj, with couple of stops for swimming and meals and in late afternoon drove back home.
 

Malta contd

On Thursday we wanted to visit the Ghadira Nature reserve. We took a bus and travelled along East coast up North. When we got off the bus, we found ourselves before the locked gate. Nature reserve was closed. Somehow I overlooked it on Internet. This was all that we saw over the fence, it is an area where the birds and the insects gather, among them also dragonflies.

There was nothing worth visiting in vicinity, so we needed a plan B. Captain suggested we hop on bus again, ride to the ferry and then sail across to the island of Gozo. And so we did.

On our sail to Gozo we passed the small island of Comino wit its famous Blue Lagoon, we only saw it from afar, but we could see the blue water.

We docked at the Mgarr...

...and took the bus to the capital of the island, town of Victoria.

It is a pretty town with many old buildings like the Teathre.

We walked to the top of the hill where the Citadel is. It is walled area with a church, some palaces...

...more walls...

...and great view of the surroundings, that were green and pretty.

But there was again a church on every other hill as well.

Behind this gate we found a restaurant, where we ate some very nice local pasty and had a drink, to our surprise for a very reasonable price for the location.

Next day was a holiday, Independence day, and everything was closed. But there was a regatta of historic rowing boats in Valetta, so we went there to see it. We walked again by some big churches...

...and this strange thing - these are Graineries, an underground silo carved in rock they could store huge amounts os grains that helped them survive in case of siege.

By chance we also discovered the botanical garden, that was of course closed, but there was plenty to be seen over and through the fence.

In this area there were plenty of cats, we also saw some bowls with water for them.

This is the water storage, in old times Valetta had the aqueduct that brought water from the inland. Again very useful in case of a siege.

And another church with very ornate entrance. Now it's used as the hall where the Maltese national philharmonics are practising.

The regata took place in Grand Harbour so we walked to the waterfront. This is near the cruise ship terminal.

The competition was already in full swing. We watched for a while...

...and then took an elevator to Upper Barrakka garden with great views over the harbour.

We then walked through the streets of Valetta to the other side to ferry that took us back to Sliema.

Next day we visited Mdina, that was once the capital of Malta. This is the famous gate that had its moment in Games of thrones.

Contrary to Citadel on Gozo here there are people living in old houses that are behind the walls, even cars of inhabitants are allowed there.

It is still very pretty.

From the walls one can almost see Valetta in the SE.

There are several very old doors in the walls.

It cracked Captain up every time he saw the sign Pulizija. It means police in Maltese and in Slovene it would be policija and pulizija is how maybe a child would misspell policija. Captain thought it was the best joke of the week and he said he would have a hard time taking anyone seriously that would had a sign like that.

We walked through Mdina for a while, but one can only enjoy so many old stone buildings and churches. Since it was still early in the day we decided to take bus to the Dingli cliffs that were not too far away. It still turned out to be a long journey, because we had to wait for a bus for a whole hour. Because it was Saturday the busses ran even more rarely and of course not to the schedule.

But finally we got there. The views were not as spectacular as we expected, because the day was a bit cloudy and hazy.

But we saw some very pretty flowers...

...and had the best local deserts in the restaurant by the street. I was again surprised that one could get such great food for normal prices on such a tourist spot.

The weather forecast for Sunday was not very nice, with even some rain. So we decided to walk to the Manoel island and maybe do some shopping - this was of course my idea, Captain didn't want anything to do with it. On Manoel island we saw some pretty flowers, but it was already cloudy and I didn't take many photos.

Later in the afternoon we walked to Marks & Spencer and had a quick byte on the way. Rain was slowly moving closer and in the evening everything was wet and all the lights were reflecting on wet streets.

Next day we took the taxi to the airport and flew back to Treviso, then we drove home and arrived there just before night. It was really a great and eventful week. And since there is still so much in Malta we haven't seen yet, we might have to go back some day.