Happy Holiday and all the best in 2024!

 

Have a lovely Holiday time and wish you lots of joy, health and happiness in New Year!

And lots of fair wind!

P.S. In absence of photos with winterly motifs I'm posting this one I took last week in Mali Lošinj. The temperatures were almost high enough so one could swim around the Christmas tree....

November in Lošinj

Last week we spent a couple of days on Heron in Mali Lošinj. The weather forecast was not ideal, but with temperatures between 15 and 20 degree during both day and night we figured out that that's the warmest that we can expect for quite some time to come.

Monday was grey and cloudy. But that makes photos very dramatic!  Our first stop was Lubenice on island Cres. On our way there we stopped above the bay where the small town Valun is - somewhere down there in the left corner. On the horizon the Istria is visible.

The road to Lubenice is narrow and bad and driving was very sporty. The sun was trying to break through the clouds. The small beach down there is rated very high in all the Top 10 lists, but I think that's mostly due to that fact that it's so difficult to get there - either by boat or 1 hour hiking from the village. And then another hour hiking back uphill!

The village is very picturesque, even in cloudy weather.

I was surprised to see rosemary in bloom, and also sage growing on the roof.

We only saw two people there, the village seemed mostly deserted. Maybe that's why this grumpy cat was complaining so loudly, although he doesn't look like he is not fed.

The sun and the clouds created a great play between the shadows and the light, almost like in religious pictures. If you look closely you can see the ray of sun that is making a dot of light in the sea.

Captain was taking photos too.

The night was pretty rough as the South wind Jugo got stronger and brought waves into the bay where marina is. So the night was not very peaceful. 

We decided to stay in marina because of the weather. Next day we drove to town Mali Lošinj. This is Captain on the promenade.

Town is quite pretty, I bet the colours look even better and more vivid in the sunshine.

Then we drove to the hill above the town.

Our next stop was town of Veli (Big) Lošinj, which is smaller but even prettier than Mali (Small) Lošinj.

This was a big surprise for me, and joy as well. This pretty little Goldcrest or Rumenoglavi kraljiček (Regulus Regulus) was searching for a snack right next to the path and wasn't very shy, so I could make tons of photos. For this I was regretting not bringing my camera with me, all the photos were made with my phone.

I only saw this beauty once before, it was this autumn in the wood near Ljubljana while picking mushrooms, and that was from afar. So watching it for so long from so close was a real treat. This alone made coming to Lošinj worth wile.

After another windy and not very peaceful night we finally saw some sun. We did some chores on the boat and again went for a walk in Mali Lošinj.

The seagulls were strategically placed on this roof.

Promenade looked much nicer in the sunshine. And we treated ourselves to ice cream. Yum!

The wind turned and the third night was a bit better than the two before. While the Mali Lošinj marina is quite nice, it is not very protected from the both strongest winds, SE wind Jugo and NE wind Burja and both manage to produce waves in the long bay. But I think the most annoying thing is the wash produced by many boats sailing by, even in dead season in winter.

In the middle of the day we packed our things and prepared our boat for a bit longer absence and drove home. On the way we made a stop in town of Cres. It is very pretty and it was obviously a quite wealthy town in the past.

There is plenty of narrow streets...

... nice ornaments on the houses...

... and ornate windows.

While on the ferry from Cres to Krk the clouds were already gathering and next portion of rain, wind and bad weather was slowly coming from the South.

Even without sailing it was a nice trip, and besides seeing lots of pretty things and creatures we also manage to do some useful tasks on the boat. Maybe winter surprises us with some more mild and nice weather and we might drive to Lošinj again soon.

Some more bits and pieces

While I was browsing through my under water photos I decided there were some more that deserve posting. 

I've been seeing these odd small holes in the ground or in the rocks for years now, and have never figured out what they were. Now I dug a little deeper and again learnt a lot of new stuff. These are molluscs that bore theirselves into the rocks and only their intake and outtake openings are exposed. There are several species of them, quite different, but unfortunately the different part is buried and the holes look very similar. I still think this is Bryopa aperta, because of the limestone collar around its softer parts. I couldn't find neither English nor Slovene name for it.

And here I think are the Rocellaria dubia clams with straighter tubes and more clean figure of 8 shape. I could be wrong, of course. And also for these I couldn't find English or Slovene names. It's funny how a species that appears in such high numbers can stay under the radar for so long. By the way, the orange things belong to the boring sponge.

These snails are also often seen, but overlooked because they are maybe too plain. They belong to the family of Moon snails, their Slovene name is Marogasta popika (Natica hebraea).

Despite its colour this is a red algae called Twig algae or Bledi grmiček (Amphiroa rigida).

Another overlooked snail is the Turbinate monodont or Polž kotač ali Pegavka (Osilinus turbinatus), here the shell is inhabited by an hermit crab or rak samotarec.

This fall I was drawn to these fluffy beauties - the Pink bush algae or Kosmata alga (Wrangelia penicillata), maybe also because they are not easy to photograph. With so many little parts that are moving with the water my camera struggled to focus.

I already mentioned that I like Sea strawberries or Rožnate plaščarje (Sindyum elegans or Aplidium elegans), and that is also the reason why I took loads of photos of them. What surprised me was how different they were, I don't know why. But I'm sure that it is the same species on next three photos.

I was very frustrated with the big amount of not very sharp photos I made, to the degree where I already started to search for the new and better camera in net. But what I was seeing on many of my photos was the rainbow, which made me think that it could all be just because of the angle of the sun and poor light, even in the middle of the day. The angle of the sun at the end of September is the same as in middle of March. So I'm keeping my camera for now.

Since I read a lot about the limpets last year, I photograph them frequently. This is a Common limpet or Latvica (Patella spp.) and while photographing it I didn't even notice the  Common prawn or Žagasta kozica (Palaemon serratus) hovering above the limpet.

Few moments later I photographed another limpet only few centimeters away and what do you know - the same prawn wanted to be on this photo as well! Unfortunately I again didn't notice it...

This is just a pretty photo of Trumpet anemone or Marmornata morska vetrnica (Aiptasia mutabilis). Nex to it above right is probably a Mediterranean cone or Sredozemski stožec (Conus mediterraneus).

And I'm in dilemma about this one as well - I am sure it is a tunicate or sea squirt, but I think it could be Navadni kozolnjak (Ascidia virginea) based on its orange colour and whitish shoulders, rather than the Red squirt or Rdeči kozolnjak (Halocynthia papillosa) that I usually see and is darker red.

I don't think I have ever photographed this algae before. Even after some browsing through my books and internet I am not sure what it is.

There's still so much to learn.
 

September sailing - part 2

In the afternoon on Thursday we sailed to island Krk to Punat lagoon to pick up some more friends. We spent the night there, and sailed to Rab again on Friday morning. There was still some NW wind blowing, but not much. The most exciting thing was a group of dolphins, some dozen of them, swimming by. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera at hand.

On Rab we anchored in Uvala Planka, one of my favourite bays for snorkelling. I went into the water straight away and it was again great. 

This is without a doubt a big trophy of this year, I found it under a rock on East side of the bay. I dove down several times and still the photos weren't as great as I hoped for. It is a Spinous squat lobster or Pisani skakač (Galathea stringosa).

This was another nice surprise, first Sepia or Sipa (Sepia officinalis) this year.

Here is another Marbled rock crab or Marogasta rakovica (Pachygrapsus marmoratus), just couldn't resist the pretty face.

Uvala Planka is full of these beauties, the Sea strawberries or Rožnatih plaščarjev (Sindyum elegans or Aplidium elegans), this is probably where I saw them for the first time quite some years ago and was amazed that such colourful things exist in Adriatic sea.

But there were other Tunicates there as well, not less pretty. These are the Colonial tunicate or Spužvasti plaščarji (Didemnum spp.)

These two are both members of the seabreams family - the bigger Annular seabream or Špar (Diplodus annularis) and the smaller Commno two-banded seabream or Fratrc (Diplodus vulgaris). In every bay in Rab where we anchored there was a big school of Annular seabreams under our boat. They were grateful for all the bread crumbs and vegetable rests that we threw into the water.

Finnaly there was also plenty of small fish in Planka, this one is a Zvonimir's blenny or Jelenoroga babica (Parablennius zvonimiri).

I think this is a Pink bush algae or Kosmata alga (Wrangelia penicillata).

I saw several very large schools of Mediterranean sand smelts or Velikih gavunov (Atherina hepsetus).

And finally one of the fan worms - the Red tube worm or Pisani pokrovčkar (Serpula vermicularis).

The Pig-tooth coral or Scarlet coral or Kamnito nakovalce (Balanophyllia europaea) doesn't look like much during the day, it only extends its polyps at night. I find that Slovene name is most suitable for it, translated it would be Small stone anvil. 

This was a first for me - these are Greater amberjack or Gofi (Seriola dumerili), I recognised them by the darker stripe across the eye and small fins. They probably came into the bay to hunt for Sea needles.

There were also plenty of birds in the bay, especially the ones that feed on fish. The European shags or Vranjeki (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) were drying their feathers on the rocks after they were diving for gobies. This one was a bit confused by me swimming up to him but stayed put...

...and this one decided I came too close and moved across the bay.

These weren't the only birds we saw there, in the afternoon while swimming I saw a beautiful Kinfisher or Vodomca (alcedo atthis), he was fishing from a rock at the edge of the bay. I swam in his direction very slowly and he even let me come quite close. I wish I had my camera with me!

These pretty flowers are  relatives of corals, they are the Yellow cluster anemone or Rumeni zoantar (Parazoanthus axinellae). I found them in huge numbers in a small cave in relatively shallow water, usually they live in deeper water and always in very shady areas.

This was one of my attempts at using the microscope feature of my camera and I was surprised that it worked, usually there is a lot of good light necessary for a decent photo. Here you can also see the polyps on Hydroids.

There is plenty of interesting stuff on this photo, there is an Orange ray sponge or Spužva žilavka (Spirastrella cunctatrix) with translucent osculas (the openings through which the filtered water is expelled) above, then there is the the Kidney sponge or Ledvičasta spužva (Chondrosia reniformis) in the middle and in the bottom there is the green algae Codium or Zgrbančeni kodij (Codiun effusum). And I think there is even a colony of tunicates just left of the Kidney sponge - maybe a Sponge sea squirt or Prosojni prevlekar (Diplosoma spongioforme) and next to it above the Codium there is also a Sea strawberry or Rožnati plaščar (Sindyum elegans or Aplidium elegans).

This photo didn't earn it's appearance in this post because of the Sea strawberry or Rožnatega plaščara (Sindyum elegans or Aplidium elegans), but because of the nudibranch Hope's Elysia or Pisanička (Thurdilla hopei) just left above the sea squirt. I discovered it only after analysing the photo on my computer, and I found some more on other photos where I was photographing other things. It is not a good photo of it, but it is the only one where the nudibranch is even recognisable. It is probably due to the poor light that I haven't noticed any while snorkelling.

Next day, on Saturday, we sailed to town of Rab and filled  Heron's fuel tank and bought some fresh bread. Then we sailed to Uvala Sveti Kristofor again. Shortly after anchoring I was in the water again. There were plenty of fish and interesting things to see.

This fellow is the Sharpsnout seabream or Pic (Diplodus puntazzo).

I love how pink the tentacles tips of this Snakelocks anemone or Voščene morske vetrnice (Anemonia viridis) are.

This is a green algae Green sea forks or Grmičasti kodij (Codium vermilara), here from the side ...

... and this is the same thing from the front. I didn't touch it, but it looks very fluffy.

Here is another Zvonimir's blenny or Jelenoroga babica (Parablennius zvonimiri), in a bit brighter colour than the one above.

There ware also the Mullets or Ciplji (Liza spp.) patrolling the bay.

The Sea lemon or Morska pomaranča (Tethya citrina) was exactly the same as a few days ago, but I think it deserves another photo here.

This is a Small triplefin blenny or Pritlikavi sprehajalček (Tripterygion melanurus), in Croatian Pjevčič patuljič and in Italian Peperoncino minore. It has such poetic names - translated Slovene name would be a Dwarf walker, Croatian name would mean Dwarf singer and Italian Little chilli pepper. Cute!

On Sunday afternoon we brought our friends back to Punat on Krk. We sailed off straight away and anchored in bay Meli on Cres at around 10 in the evening. I was surprised that there were already 4 sailboats anchored there.

We had a peaceful night and sailed off in the morning after breakfast. We sailed by on Ćutin islands in front of bay Meli...

...and anchored in a bay at Male Orjule in the middle of the day, I decided I want to snorkel there.

Under the water I didn't see anything spectacular, just this big and fat Mullet or Ciplja (Liza spp.)...

.. and obligatory school of Annular seabreams or Šparov (Diplodus annularis) under our boat.

In the afternoon we sailed along the coast of Lošinj and anchored in bay Sunfarni for the night. And luckily we were alone again. 

Next day I went snorkelling again, around midday, when the light is the best. It wasn't the best snorkelling ever, but I found lots of usual suspects. And I enjoyed every moment of it, knowing it is probably my last snorkelling for the year. 

This may look like a green algae, but it's not - it is a Calothrix, a sort of Cyanobacteria, its Slovene name is Kalotriks (Calothrix spp.)

There were many Beadlet anemones or Rdeče morske vetrnice or Konjske vetrnice (Actinia equina) with its velvety red mantle.

In the evening we returned to marina in Mali Lošinj and next day I returned home. Captain stayed on the boat for two more weeks.

I was so happy that we had such good weather and that water was still warm enough for snorkelling. And that I managed to make so many nice photos, although the light was really not the best.