Kornati Islands, Croatia

Fair dues to His Lordship. I don’t know how he did it, but he has managed to persuade Her Ladyship to go on a boat trip to the Kornati Islands. To be honest, I don’t even care how he did it. The main thing is we’re going to spend all day on a ship in one of the most beautiful parts of the Adriatic. It doesn’t get much better than this!

We set off at the crack of nine o’clock from Sv. Filip i Jakov. Our vessel is a wooden, former three masted ship which is over a hundred years old. It is perhaps not as shipshape and shiny as some of the modern excursion boats out there, but you can take it from this wooden seagull that there is nothing like sailing in a wooden ship.

Her Ladyship’s eyes light up when breakfast appears, even more so when she realises that it is being served with a shot of local grappa. She obviously has no problem downing the hard tack at that ungodly hour and soon starts to look quite relaxed. We might convert her to sailing yet!

As we slowly cruise through the islands, we notice a number of fish farms along the way. Our captain tells us that these are tuna farms. Apparently most of the tuna is exported to Japan where it commands big money. Not surprising, I suppose. The Japanese are known for having a yen for tuna.

I can’t get enough of these islands, they are all so beautiful. Although this one is bit weird, little more than a flat rock. Apparently a couple got married on it recently. What were they thinking? It doesn’t augur well for the future, does it? Your marriage already on the rocks from day one.

We pass through a narrow channel and our captain announces that we are now on the open Adriatic. Her Ladyship (need I remind you? a.k.a. The Heroine of the High Seas) immediately turns rather green and starts bellyaching about the ‘high waves’. Although, to give her her due, I did detect a slight ripple at one point. As she clings onto the railing for dear life, she grudgingly admits that it’s worth negotiating the open sea for this view. The cliffs of Dugi Otok (meaning ‘Long Island’) are truly outstanding, rising gradually to their full height of 200m.

Her Ladyship is nevertheless visibly relieved when we later dock in beautiful Telašćica Bay on Dugi Otok. From here it is only a short walk to Lake Mir . This is a salt lake which is even saltier than the sea, with a buoyancy that proves to keep even reluctant bathers such as the Oldies afloat. In summer, the lake is several degrees warmer than the sea in spite of being connected to it through fissures in the rock. It is also full of minerals with curative properties. Oh yes, and it is on top of a cliff. Definitely not your average lake!

I was intrigued to read a list of the ‘significant species’ that can be found in this part of the Kornati Archipelago, the Telašćica Nature Park. These include the Peregrine falcon, the common bottlenose dolphin, the loggerhead sea turtle, the carnivorous sponge… what? Gosh, if you live around here, you’d want to sure not to use the wrong sponge in the tub. It could end up turning into a blood bath!

After their swim and a stroll along the top of the cliffs, the Oldies head back to the ship where they are treated to a long-awaited lunch. Her Ladyship is highly relieved to hear that the ship will remain docked throughout the meal. She is equally relieved to see that, along with the fish (a four-letter word for her), there is barbecued pork on the menu. She immediately plonks her fish on His Lordship’s plate, swopping it for his pork.

Even though he now has a double portion of mackerel, the stingy so-and-so isn’t too keen to share with me!

After lunch, we slowly meander back to base, this time taking a route via the Srednji channel between Ugljan and Pašman islands. For such a slow, leisurely trip, it went by far too fast for me.

What better way to wind up our visit to the ‘land of the 1,000 islands’ than this trip through some of the 200-plus islands in the Kornati National Park. Which still leaves us at least 800 more islands to visit next time.

Bring it on!