August sailing - part 2

The night in bay Pržine on Molat unfortunately wasn't as calm as the evening, but it wasn't too bad. But in the morning the bay looked really pretty. Around the noon I went snorkelling. I found this pretty Red-black tripplefin (rdeči sprehajalček or Tripterygion tripteronotus) there...

...and the wrinkled Beadlet anemone (rdeča morska vetrnica or konjska vetrnica or Actinia equina).

I noticed the Mediterranean shag (vranjek or Gulosus aristotelis) watching me, but it flew away when I tried to come close.

A little after noon we sailed on in direction South. In late afternoon we anchored in bay on the North side of Tisno on Murter. There was a regatta of traditional Latin-rigged sailboats there during the day, but we were probably too late as not much was happening there when we arrived. Bu we still had a nice evening and a quiet night. 

Next day I went snorkelling, I snorkelled there already several times in past years and it was surprisingly good and I was curious to see how it was now. 

And it wasn't great, there was a really low tide so I had to suck my tummy in all the time to get close to the rocks, and the water was very murky and full of plankton, as you can see in the photo below. Still I found some interesting things, there were lots of Mediterranean mussels (klapavica or Mytilus galloprovincialis) there...

...and also European flat oysters (ostriga or Ostrea edilus).

I was happy to have found another Tentacled blenny (rogata babica or Parablennius tentacularis). Although it looks a bit sad with its bent tentacles.

And this was my first this year, it is an Adriatic blenny (Dalmatinska babica or Lipophrys adriaticus).

There were surprisingly many European seabasses (brancin or Dicentrarchus labrax) around and they weren't shy at all.

And here is one more Red spotted horseshoe (apnenčasti cevkar or Protula tubularia).

I'm sure that in better visibility snorkelling here would have been really good.

In early afternoon we sailed on. In front of town Betina we saw these small sailboats, they reminded me of small ducklings swimming behind their mom.

The small islands around Murter are so very pretty and the water clear and blue.

On the way to the bay Mirina we stopped at a little island of Dupinič Mali (in translation small little dolphin, small relates to the size of the island, little dolphin is the name; next to it there is also a big little dolphin). The island is really small and offers very little protection from waves, but it was ok for a short stop and a swim. And of course snorkelling for me.

First exciting thing I found was this tunicate, it could be the Fruit sea squirt (jabolčni kozolnjak or Polycarpa pomaria). I don't think I have seen it before.

This colourful fish is the Axilliary wrasse (mediteranka or Symphodus mediterraneus), also something I don't see very often.

I just had to take a photo of this pretty Tompot blenny (velika babica or Parablennius gattorugine).

Next are two sponges - the pretty blue thing is probably a Bluish Encrusting Sponge (modra skorjevka or Phorbas tenacior). 

For this one I'm still not sure and am still searching...

This is a Red encrusting bryozoan (mahovnjak rdeči skorjevec or Schizobrachiella sanguinea).

And this was one of the most exciting finds on this trip - although I wasn't able to photograph the head of this fish, I'm pretty sure it is a Forkbeard (mrka tabinja or Phycis phycis). No other fish has fins like this and is coloured this way. And I was very happy to have discovered something new after sooooo much snorkelling. 

I was surprised how few of Hope's Elysias (pisanček or Thurdilla hopei) I found this year. But this one made a very good appearance.

What a pretty sight - a Black-headed blenny (črnoglava babica or Lipophrys nigriceps) is sitting on Yellow Clathrina (mrežasta spužva or Clathrina clathrus).

And just because it is so pretty, here is a close-up.... I love the structure of the yellow sponge, it looks like tangled strands of yarn.

Snorkelling here was amazing, probably due to open water all around and no people or anchored boats very near. Next time I will try to explore the outer side of island as well.

After the stop we sailed on to bay Mirina. Some bad weather with storms and SE wind was forecast for the night and next day, so we picked this well protected anchorage for the night. Most of the night was still very calm, but first rain already came at day break. We just needed to close some hatches, it would be too hot to have them closed all night, but everything else was already stowed away and prepared for bad weather, as it usually is. 

After a long breakfast the rain almost stopped, so it was time for snorkelling. The light wasn't ideal for photographing, but my camera can manage low light pretty well.

This is probably a Slime tube worm (peščeni cevkar or Myxicola infundibulum), juts a very pale one.

I assume this is a cyanobacteria, in Slovene it is called Nihajka (Oscillatoria spp.) I see it many times, usually it looks like a shaggy carpet on the rocks or algae, but this one built a whole structure, even with branches. It took my quite a while to figure this one out (hopefully), this thing is obviously not very frequently photographed.

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

This is probably Five-spotted wrasse (kosirica or Symphodus roissali).

I was not able to determine which this clam is, but it looks like a mouth with teeth. It could easily perform in Muppet show.

This is almost certainly the Stinker sponge (snopasta hrapavka or Ircinia fasciculata).

After a mostly cloudy and rainy day we sailed to the island Prvič in the evening, we wanted to be closer to the marina.

Next morning, after a swim, we sailed into Skradin marina. Last hours were spent on packing and cleaning, there is always so much to do before we can leave the boat. And it was really hot again, which didn't make work any easier, even the Mediterranean shag (vranjek or Gulosus aristotelis) in the shallowest part of the marina was panting.

And in the middle of the day we all drove home.

August sailing - part 1

On August 16th we went sailing again. I drove to Skradin with our friends, Captain was already on the boat.  After loading the boat with lots of food and drinks we sailed to Zmajan, where we went for a swim and had a nice dinner.

After a calm night we checked the weather forecast and decided to sail North. In the late afternoon we anchored between small islet Mimonjak and mainland near Murter. While there were many motor boats around us during the day, only one more sailboat stayed in the bay for the night. We had a beautiful sunset in the evening.

Next day we sailed on towards North. We made first stop in the channel between SE edge of Žut and small island of Žutska Aba. We went for a swim and I finally went snorkelling. There were still plenty of Gilthead sea breams (orada or Sparus aurata) around, just like in June.

And I was again very happy to have found an Octopus (hobotnica or Octopus vulgaris).

The Tubular sea cucumbers (navadni brizgač or Holothuria tubulosa) were still mating, they were standing upright and they were releasing the milky substance into water.

And there were also the clusters of eggs (the almost translucent balls) of one of the Bristle worms (črva mnogoščetinca).

While the place was quite pretty and the water clear and blue, there was lots of NW wind and the place didn't seem suitable for staying over night. So in the afternoon we sailed on to the island of Žižanj. We had one more pretty sunset in the evening.

After a calm night we sailed further North. We chose anchorage near Ždrelac for the night, as there was SE wind forecast for the night. In the protected part of the anchorage there were several boats already, obviously other sailors were also paying attention to weather forecast. But it didn't feel crowded.

Next morning we sailed on right after the morning coffee, we wanted to make a good use of SE wind that was blowing. While sailing by on fish farms we even got a quick glimpse or two of several dolphins, but there wasn't enough time for photos. We were quite fast and didn't stop at the Muline on NW end of Ugljan as originaly planed, but sailed on to N side of Ist. It was very windy, but the bay is well protected against waves. After a great dinner we had a pretty peaceful night.

Next day was cloudy and windy and crew used it to climb up the hill to the church. I have been up there several times and was much more interested in snorkelling. Despite not ideal light there was lots to see. I found this Pigtooth coral (kamnito nakovalce or Balanophyllia europaea).

Only on my computer I saw that a Red-black tripplefin (rdeči sprehajalček or Tripterygion tripteronotus) was sitting next to Red sponge (spužva žilavka or Spirastrella cunctatrix).

I also found the pretty Red tube worm (Pisani pokrovčkar or Serpula vermicularis)...

...and this Red algae, in Slovene named bledi grmiček (Amphiroa rigida).

The neon blue fishes are young ones of an only Mediterranean coral fish, the Mediterranean chromis (črnik or Chromis chromis).

I was surprised to see the Cardinal fish (morski kraljiček or Apogon imberbis) here, I haven't seen it this high North before.

This is a Peacock wrasse (lep or Symphodus tinca), the female.

And here is a close up of a Brown kidney sponge (ledvičasta spužva or Chondrosia reniformis).

This is probably the prettiest of my photos made in this bay, this jewel like beauty is a Daisy anemone (sončna vetrnica or Cereus pendunculatus).

Here is a duo of Red-spotted horseshoes (apnenčasti cevkar or Protula tubularia).

And this lovely upside-down face with blue lips belongs to Tompot blenny (velika babica or Parablennius gattorugine).

I also found several Beadlet anemones (rdeča morska vetrnica or konjska vetrnica or Actinia equina).

The weather stayed cloudy during the day and the wind strong. So we decided to stay in this bay. And I decided to go snorkelling again in early afternoon. I swam all the way across the bay to see what is on the other side. First exciting thing that I found was this small moray eel or rather its tail, it is a  Mediterranean moray (murena or Muraena helena).

I had to wait a while to also see its face.

In this part of the bay there were plenty of Mediterranean fanworms (spalancanijev cevkar or Sabella spallanzani) around.

This pretty Mediterranean rainbow wrasse (knez or Coris julis) male was unfortunately dead.

And finally I again met plenty of Pointed-snout wrasses (dolgoustka or Symphodus rostratus).

This is a Sea snail, the marine gastropod mollusk (priraščeni polž or Vermetus spp.).

I couldn't resist the blue eyes of this Striped hermit crab (obročkasi samotarec or Pagurus anachoretus).

This is a small Mediterranean cone (sredozemski stožec or Conus mediterraneus).

There were also some Spiny starfish (bradavičasta morska zvezda or Marthasterias glacialis) there.

This is another Mediterranean rainbow wrasse (knez or Coris julis), this time it is a female and alive.

After I came out of the water, clouds started to break and we quickly changed our plans and prepared the boat for sailing and left the anchorage. We sailed along East side of Ist ...

...and then along Molat to the bay Uvala Pržine. It looked very pretty and calm and we had another beautiful sunset in the evening.