Exploring the Šibernik Archipelago

With a force 3 westerly wind we lifted our anchor (along with an old disused fishing net) and left Rogoznica. We sailed slowly around some small islands, avoiding the fishing boats, heading north towards Otok Zmajan in the Šibenik archipelago.

On arrival at the island we planned to anchor in Uvala Smetnja but it is a small deep bay and as it was early evening when we arrived several boats were already there taking up all of the good spots. We continued on to the next bay, Uvala Zaražanj which was less busy and we were able to drop our anchor for the night.

It is a pretty little bay on a small uninhabited island but unfortunately seems to be home to many wasps which soon came on board to welcome us. Thankfully, it was not long until the sun went down and they all disappeared for the night. In the morning they returned for a couple of hours until the heat was too much for them to hang around.

Apparently there are starfish along the rocky shoreline so we went snorkeling to have a look, the rock formations were impressive and covered in shells, we saw several small fish swimming around but only one lonely starfish.

The next day we had a short trip just 8 nm around some islands and across to the mainland. It was another lovely clear day with flat calm water, hence no wind and so the engine was running. We could see dolphins playing in the distance but they were too far away to get a good picture.

We anchored just north of Rezalište in the bay known as Šibernik Aquaparc which is a large shallow bay with beaches, water parks and a holiday resort. It was unusual to find that we were the only boat there which made us wonder if everyone knew something that we didn’t! We made the most of having plenty of space and dropped 50m of chain in a depth of 5m, giving us good holding ready for the strong winds which were due to blow the following morning.

Fortunately, the bay proved to be a good choice and sheltered us from the strong winds. The only excitement came from the numerous windsurfers and jet bikes being hired out from the resort to novice users.

After 2 nights we lifted the anchor and motored through a narrow shallow channel weaving our way between rocks just under the surface, small islands and the mainland. We anchored just in front of Otok Krapanj, which is one of the smallest inhabited islands of the Adriatic Sea covering 0.36 km² with a population of 170 and car free. It is also the lowest level inhabited island with a maximum height of just 1.5m above sea level.

There is pretty village with well maintained pastel coloured townhouses built close to the blue sea, beaches and a small harbour. A ferry runs frequently across the short distance to Brodarica giving easy access to the mainland.

Until a recent boom in tourism the main source of income for the residents was harvesting sponges from the surrounding deep waters.

Having visited the small local diving museum it was apparent that the inhabitants have a less perilous life these days.