Monday, October 6, 2014

Sailing the Adriatic - from Olib to Krk

Here is the last sequel of our sailing and snorkelling summer trip.

After leaving island of Olib on Tuesday, 12th of August, we first sailed to small island of Delfin just West of North edge of island Pag. I was hoping for good snorkelling again, but didn't expect so many boats. When I took the photo many have already left, when I counted the boats on our arrival there were more than 30. Still we dropped the anchor, a bit further away from the crowd.



Captain declared the water too cold for swimming and stayed on the boat, and I went snorkelling. There was a lot of sea grass and it was not very colourful and alive. I found this Jania (Janija in Slovene), a member of red algae.



And as it should be, there was also an octopus.



Shortly after I came out of the water, we sailed off. Weather forecast was really not good, in the night there was stronger wind from South forecast, which would turn to West and then to North-East towards the morning. We were discussing where to anchor for the night, to be safe and have a quiet night. We checked several anchorages  and ended on island Rab in Supetarska Draga just before dark. We were tired and hungry, sailing lasted longer than we anticipated, but we were happy to have a good anchorage for all kinds of wind.

Next morning we sailed off towards Krk. For the first time in last weeks two dolphins came to play at our bow.



After first stopping in Stara Baška to meet up with friends, we sailed on to Grgur, where we stayed for the night. In the afternoon I went snorkelling of course and I was surprised to again find some things I haven't seen before.

This is a Cylinder anemone, but I like the Slovene name much better - it is Peščena roža, which would translate to Sand rose. And it deserves a poetic name, it is really pretty.



And this is Peacock worm (Pahljačasti cevkar), I've seen it before but didn't make a photo.



The forecast was again funny, after strong South wind during the afternoon, the wind was supposed to turn to West and then North West towards morning. We decided to stay, although the bay where we anchored, was on the western side of the island. We were hoping that maybe the forecast was not so very accurate this time. Unfortunately it was. Wind turned at about 6 in the morning and at 7 the waves were rolling into the bay, rocking Heron quite a bit. But we were still ok, I was feeling sorry for our neighbours, two guys in a motor boat anchored between us and the coast, their boat was not very big and was jumping on the waves like a young bull. But after a couple of hours wind started turning towards NE and soon waves became smaller.




Before noon I was in the water again. I saw the Parasitic anemone (Progasta stražna vetrnica), this time without the solitary crab. It was doing some kind of exercise or dance, moving and undulating and it was great to watch.




And this is another Sand rose, this time in different colours.



Maybe there was a shortage of Hermit crabs in this bay, because I found a few more of Parasitic anemone (Progasta stražna vetrnica), just sitting in the sand alone.



This one is again a first for me, a pretty little dragon, named Weever (Navadni morski zmaj).



When I was taking photos of this particularly beautiful Sand rose, I noticed the Mysid shrimps (Roječe kozice) above it.



And they are real shrimps, with bulging eyes, legs, tentacles...



And this was the trophy of this bay - the Mediterranean Feather star (Morska lilija). Again, I prefer the Slovene name, translated it would be Sea lily, I guess elegant and delicate creature like this deserves a poetic name. Her tropical relatives are also elegant, but brighter and more colourful (check it out here).




In the afternoon we sailed back to Krk and that evening we were already home.

1 comment:

  1. It looks like I've found my next diving place. Thanks for the article.

    ReplyDelete