Tuesday, 11 February 2025
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There is no need to praise the Croatian Adriatic as such. The length of the coast including islands is 5835 km. There is somewhere to sunbathe, somewhere to swim and, of course, plenty of places for both recreational and technical diving.
I enriched my exploration of this part of the underwater world this time with the Kornati National Park, which is located in the sea, in the central part of Dalmatia, south of Zadar.
To get things going, my sons and I made our first dives near Zadar. It wasn’t great, in fact it was very poor. Grey, little life, uninteresting. Fortunately, I treated the first two dives as a check dive for the boys. It went quite well. Salty taste, water temperature around 25 degrees C, good visibility and tasty figs after coming out of the water. What we like just happened to us. We needed more exciting dive sites to be fully satisfied.
After a chat with our friendly guide we signed up for a trip to the park. It turns out that in high season it’s worth making a reservation on the boat, as free places disappear quickly.
The boat is manned by a dozen divers. We have miles of sea ahead of us and about two hours of non-stop sailing. The Adriatic Sea is slightly rough and the sun fights with a few clouds. We pass and overtake various vessels. There are sailboats, ships, boats and pontoons. With every minute we are getting closer to one of Croatia’s natural wonders. The natives, as well as many tourists, say that Kornati is a pearl of nature. The bird’s eye view shows it perfectly, and for those with a richer wallet it is possible to buy a helicopter flight over the archipelago.
The Kornati National Park is part of the Kornati archipelago, which consists of 149 islands covering an area of approximately 320 km2. Its name comes from the largest island called Kornat (Kurnat). The park itself was created in 1980 of the last century and consists of 89 islands and islets which comprise 2/3 of the archipelago. It is worth noting that the park is not only beautiful limestone islands with cliffs reaching over 80 metres, but also a wealth of water and underwater resources. Three quarters of the Kornati National Park is a marine ecosystem(www.kornati.hr). It is to this that we will devote our underwater time limited by the air from the cylinders on our backs.
Meanwhile, we watch numerous birds, including the large yellow-legged gull Larus michahellis, and alpine swifts (rock swifts) gliding over the water. There are also peregrine falcons and eagle owls. We also look for dolphins, on average twice a week.
We squeeze between the islands, and you have to slow down and be careful, because in the bottlenecks the boat traffic gets tighter. The views are breathtaking and anyone who likes nature, the sound of the sea and adventure should come here. We hope that even underwater our tastes and imaginations will be satisfied.
Everything testifies to the underwater richness of the area. The protruding cliffs are vertical walls full of nooks and crannies underwater, and they go down deep as far as over 90 metres. The jagged coastline seen from a boat, underwater, is very interesting because it changes and reveals its diversity to us. There are ravines, small grottos and larger caves, rock shelves that end with rock walls falling somewhere far into the depths. The reefs here are richly covered, even at great depths. Visibility reaches 25 metres, and thanks to this we can admire not only gorgonians, polychaetes, sponges, maroon and red tunicates or nudibranchs from close up. The most common are the spherical Doris with black spots (Discodoris atromaculata) but also the purple Flabellina affinis snails.
In one place called Garmenjak veliki we meet several octopuses, and when it comes to posing for photos, one of them has more patience than the others. A place worth recommending. We dive at a shelf that goes down to a depth of 30 metres and then turns into a canyon with a small cave. There are tiny red or yellow fish of the tripterygidae family here, and in one of the bends I spot Phycis phycis, rarer in the Mediterranean. The grotto is literally awash with encrusted anemones – luscious yellow colonies that like the neighbourhood of sponges. Again, polychaetes roam between them.
In the depths we are accompanied by large numbers of sarpa salpa fish, chestnut chromis, mullet, coris and finally oblad.
In another place we meet shrimps, and on the way back there are moray eels, crawfish and a large grouper.
The underwater world of Kornati is colourful and luscious. There is a lot going on, and you have to keep your eyes peeled because there is something interesting everywhere.
Animated and inanimate nature leads its life here, which only in the light of torches and torches reveals a palette of colours, saturated colours, strange shapes and mysterious nooks and crannies.
Returning to the harbour, because the air in the cylinder is such that it always runs out, we still admire the conical islands protruding from the azure sea. How not to give thanks for such Wonders of Creation? And we additionally know what they look like under water!
Finally, let me just say that if I were to return there again (because there are hundreds of places in the world to visit), I would definitely give up diving in the Zadar area – except for Kornati, and allocate resources and time only to dives within the National Park.
Source: www.dive-adventure.eu
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