We set off eventually, after waiting for the forecast to improve, on 13th June, a beautiful clear day with enough wind to sail but not so much as to make it hard work. We sailed on one tack, with a few adjustments, for about 35 kms all the way to Vodice.
Where we anchored outside the harbour, supper on board and a peaceful night.
The next morning we motored down the coast and into the Krka River, past the Jadrija lighthouse on the port side,
and the 16th century St Nikola fort on the starboard.
Part way up the channel there are two manmade caves built to hide submarines and torpedo boats during World War II.
Sibenik faces you as you leave the channel and enter the lake, it is well worth a visit and we plan to do just that on our way back down.
The road bridge looks very impressive,
the books say there is a 27m clearance which means we should have plenty of room to spare.
It looks a lot closer from down below though.
The channel narrows and does a couple of sharp turns and then our destination comes into sight,
Skradin where we will stay for 2 night.
The town quay has water and electric,
and that bar must be at least 30m away!
Almost immediately we are joined by some of the local residents. And another of the local residents came to show his support for the Croatian team who would be playing football later that evening.
Even the restaurant where we had our dinner were showing the game on the TV.
Bright and early the next morning we boarded one of the free water taxi boats that took us up to the Krka National Park famous for it’s waterfalls. The park was established in 1985 and covers 109 square km of the river basin, the river drops 7 times over limestone cliffs of various heights, widths and lengths.
The waterfalls are composed of travertine barriers, islands and lakes which are followed by a network of raised paths and bridges which we walked along in the increasing heat.
Along the way there were traders selling their home made products, dried figs, sugared almonds, olive oil and wine, plus fresh cherries which he assured me were from his garden, which was probably true, most locals grow beautiful fruit and vegetables and sell the surplus at their front gates.
Each corner we turn brings us another view of another waterfall.
The remains of the former hydroelectric plant are being refurbished. It was constructed and began production in 1895, only 2 days after the hydroelectric plant at Niagra Falls.
Sibenik city received hydroelectric power before any other European city.
The falls continue and we continue walking upwards,
making the most of a little shade when it is available.
The villagers made the most of the water power milling grain, it would be brought by boat from all over the area as no other river produced enough power for the process.
Above the first falls we boarded another water taxi boat and headed up stream,
to the island of Visovac.
Originally settled by Augustinian monks in the 14th century,
it was enlarged and adapted by the Franciscans in 1445 who left Bosnia when the Turks took over the area.
A new monastery was built in the 18th century and its library contains many rare and valuable books.
They also built a cistern to save rain water from the monastery roofs through a network of gutters and pipes, then through a sand filter into the cistern. The river water is not drinkable because it contains too much calcium.
Then back onto the water taxi and further up stream,
the channel became narrower and the cliffs higher.
But it opened out into another lake and at the far end we could just see the final falls,
Roski Slap,
where the boats took you in for a VERY close look.
Lunch was first on the agenda, Croatian smoked ham, local cheese and home made bread all washed down with a bottle of cold beer, what could be better,
and the table was right next to one of the cloth washing tubs, where the force of the water does most of the work.
The water mills here have been lovingly restored,
upstairs are the living quarters, very basic but the most important ‘Peka’ cooking equipment hold centre stage.
down stairs the villagers make use of the power of the water to mill grain and treat woollen cloth which was woven in the village.
The Blacksmith’s forge was always in great demand to make and repair parts for the equipment and to shoe the horses and donkeys used to cart the raw materials in and finished products out.
Only an hours stop over so back on the water taxi and back down stream,
past Visovac island and back to
Skradinski Buk, the main falls.
Where we just had enough time to walk the trails on the other side of the falls and take a few more photos,
before boarding the water taxi back to Skradin. It had been a long day but well worth it.
Back on the quay we had been joined by a huge Sunseeker, at 88 foot it was twice our size and made us feel very small.
We went for a walk around town to try and find a restaurant for our evening meal. Past one of the churches still awaiting renovation after it was bombed during the war with the Serbs in the early 90’s.
We found Toni’s the restaurant that had been recommended to us by Willem, the food and wine was very good. The outside ‘Peka’ was all ready for the first order of the night, but as it takes 3 or 4 hours to cook it has to be ordered in advance. Dave opted for steak and I had the best octopus salad of the whole trip.
We left the next morning, heading down stream, on yet another glorious day.
Part way down we turned into Zaton bay and dropped anchor for the night.
We had another really good meal at the Konoba Porat then drinks over looking the bay.
Another warm night so we sat on deck for a while enjoying the view.
Next day we motored down to Sibenik, once we got tied up on the town quay it was time for a beer, it may have only been 11.30am but it was 35 dec and we felt we had earned it!
The quay has water but no electric but with the sun beating down on our NEW solar panels we didn’t need it.
The spectacular cathedral of St. James took over a century to build due to lack of funding, disputes, plagues and a fire. Started in 1433 it was not finished until 1536. The roof was badly damaged during the war in September 1991 and it took a team of international experts to rebuild it.
It is a triple-nave basilica and the dome is 32m high INSIDE. It was declared an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.
We had intended to eat at the restaurant overlooking the cathedral but they were building a stage for the forthcoming children’s festival which took over the entire square so we decided to take a walking tour of the city and try and find somewhere else to eat that night.
Apart from the cathedral there are many other churches in the city,
some more elaborate than others.
Back at the quay the huge sailing vessel ‘Bristolian’, 37m long and 146 tons, which we had watched come in earlier in the day, was unsurprisingly drawing some attention, yet again it made us feel very small. The next day however they were brought down to earth, when they tried to leave the second engine refused to start and they had to tie up again while they sorted out the problem, evidently oil was leaking into the computer !
The narrow back streets have houses dating from the middle ages and from the time of the Venetian rule.
We emerged onto the terrace of a small bar/restaurant where it was obviously beer 'O'clock. We returned later that evening for dinner which was very good and we met 2 biker boys from Yorkshire who were touring and we spent an hour or two discussing bikes, the TT and other stuff.
After 2 nights at Sibenik we motored back down the channel, which was very busy,
but just before the mouth of the river we turned into a small bay called Uvala Capljena where we anchored for the night. It was also very busy during the afternoon with small boats bringing families for swimming and snorkelling. But they left eventually and we had a very peaceful night.
The next morning we left, back past the lighthouse
and the fort, which was built to protect Sibenik from the Turks, it had 32 cannon but it was never tested in battle, it seems the imposing structure was enough to keep the invaders away.
We retraced our path back up the outside of Murter and then down the other side to Tisno where we found space on the town quay. No water or electric but it was free.
Mostly quiet but when they opened the lifting bridge twice a day the motor boats blast past and cause a lot of wash. We decided it was a good place to stop and shop, the super market was just across the road, but maybe next time we would pick up a buoy in the channel for the night.
We crossed the road for a beer in the Konoba Broscica where we could watch the boat from our shady chairs. We had dinner there that night as well, the pizzas were excellent and huge, I took half of mine back to the boat and we had it for lunch the next day.
The next evening we walked around to the other side for dinner at Antonio’s, very good as usual,
and the sunset finished off the evening nicely.
The next day we returned to one of our favourite places Murter town where we anchored in the bay for a couple of nights.
The island of Murter is approx 16k south of the Kornati islands and is part of the Sibenik archipelago,
It has a large fishing fleet and the old fishing boats take a trip out once in a while too.
We ventured ashore and we were delighted to find that our favourite konoba Barbara had reopened. The waiter told us that the road works that had caused it to close were not finished but they had filled in the holes for the summer and were due to dig it all up again later in the year, ‘maybe’ he said!
We had to motor back to Biograd, no wind but someone else had got around that problem, a rib with a micro light attached to it, they touched down in Velika Luka but took off again and disappeared into the distance.
Home port again, wind forecast for tomorrow so its good to be in a safe harbour.
We had 13 days out, some really good times, had to motor more than we would have liked but that's the cost for really settled weather. Now the work begins, the boat needs a really good clean, piles of washing to do, and the motorhome has to be made ready for our Italian trip, but that's another story!
