Today we took a boat tour for four and a half hours in the local area of Dobrovnik.
There are so many islands around here! (The group is called the Elaphite Islands)
We booked it yesterday after a bit of last minute research and are pretty happy with the choice. Before leaving home we had half a thought that we might do a sea kayaking tour here, but Trev's arm issues had cancelled that out as an option. These guys were the next thought, and the thought of seeing the blue cave got us sucked in as well (with good reason)
We walked down the road a little and waited in front of the Petka Hotel for our pick up, who took us off to the small boat harbour. There we boarded the boat along with two English girls and a family of three from the US. Our skipper , Joseph had pretty good English and has worked on the big cargo boats all over the place , including Australia, before settling down in his home town and doing this role.
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| This is Joseph and his boat. |
Our first stop was Sunj beach on the island of Lopud- where the boat was able to pull in about 50 m from shore so that we could step off of the ladder into waist high water and walk in to the natural sandy beach from there. The water was warm due to the shallow depth and sparkled with that clear tropical island look. It was really lovely to just lol in the water and relax on the beach a little after the pace that we have been keeping up.
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| boats had to stay outside the marked boundary. |
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| you could hire a beach umbrella and lounge if you wanted |
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| some of the boats in the bay. |
There is a legend that is you swim here with your loved one you will never be apart. By the time we left here there were over forty boats of all sizes and shapes in the bay, all with their occupants enjoying the lovely area.
We enjoyed a bit of lunch in the form of fresh rolls and white wine while we waited for some of the others to arrive back at the boat.
Then we headed for the island of Kolocep, which has high cliffs and hidden caves. We battled the waves caused by the wind direction here to make our way in to two of the three caves close together. The rocks appeared purple where the water level reaches due to the growth of lavender algae on them. Strange orange jelly lumps the size of cockles were attached to some of the rocks. The water here was also very clear, so that you could easily see the bottom, even though it was well below you.
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| YOu can see two of the three caves in this picture |
The best had been saved until last, with a visit to the Blue Cave, a little further down the coast of the island. Here the low entrance (about 60cm above the water) looks like any other entrance to an opening, but when you swim through you find that light is being refracted through the cave entrance by the water and is lighting up the water like pool lights. The light is continually shifting due to the water movement, giving a strange beauty, a little like some of the movies I have seen of the Northern lights. This was a lovely experience to have and we are very glad that we made the effort to do so.
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| picture borrowed from the web - I did not take my camera in the water. Thanks to Kayaking Croatia for this photo. |
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| The entrance on the right is the one into the special cave - It just looks like nothing until you enter.... |
Here is a map of the route from the company web site. We were quite impressed with the service, and the cost. It wasn't fancy, but it gave us a taste of what we wanted without breaking the bank. The company were Zaton Water Sports. They do a variety of tours.
Now we are home, resting up and packing our bags, Tomorrow we start the long haul journey via Frankfurt, Abu Dhabi and Melbourne to home.
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