“Wow, 30 feet deep and you can see some sea cucumbers on the bottom!” says Joanne as we grab the mooring ball. “I’m going swimming.”

Greg and Joanne Holmes with their Croatian friends set sail out of Biograd na Moru early September on a 45 ft catamaran to explore the Croatian coastline and archipelago. This includes Kornati Island and its lesser islets grouped as the Kornati National Park, and its northern neighbor Telascica Park on Dugi Otok (island).

Joining Capt. Bob, Cabin Charter Sailing, the Team Kornati made it clear during the Itinerary discussion – “no marinas, we’re not dock people, we like secluded coves and we’ll eat aboard, maybe a dinner or two at a small local restaurant”. Enough said (or so I thought!).

One of the several advantages of this sailing area is the incredible assortment of destinations. Our planned route took us southwest from Kornati Marina, Biograd, a well-appointed, large marina with lots of charter boats and excellent facilities, and then north along the Kornati towards Dugi (long) Otok. Studying the local charts, we plotted a tentative course for the week looking for nice bays to anchor or take a mooring ball, maybe a Konoba (traditional family restaurant) in a cove, good swimming and attractive views.

‘Tentative’ because the abundance of midday and overnight stops allow flexibility and we’re always subject to safety and weather conditions. As it turned out, although the weather was nearly perfect with mostly sunny days, mid 70 to low 80 degrees and variable winds, we didn’t make it as far north as we outlined. With so many choices for stops, we always had great secondary options.

Our 2015 Lagoon, BELLA, was in great shape with 4 en-suite queen bed cabins and two small forward hull cabins; later occupied by one crew to escape snoring! Solar panels helped keep the house battery bank charged, supplemented by a generator (also used for the espresso maker when sailing!), an electric winch to raise the large main sail and electric heads in the aft cabins.

About 18 NM southeast we had in mind several coves on the islets at the southern tip of Otok Kornati. The islands surrounding Kornati are green hillsides with shrubbery, grasses and sage, pine, larch and olive trees but the Kornati group is distinguished by nearly bare limestone formations of craggy hills and cliff sides that are a geologist’s dream.

The water in the entire area is clean, clear and refreshing after a day of sailing; equally a swimmer’s dream. Moorings and populated bays are well-maintained; the Konobas are tidy, blending attractively into the local setting and welcoming even though it was the end of the long, busy high season.

North of Kornati, the large Telascica Bay is surrounded by low wooded hills, a colorful contrast to Kornati. It opens to several coves, each with a small fleet resting at mooring balls. Spying the one remaining ball at our 2 pm arrival, the Bella crew again expertly snared the ball and we settled into a lazy late afternoon of lounging on Bella, swimming and eventually a dinghy ride to the nearby Konoba for local calamari and white wine.

We had good wind on our nose with lots of tacking to reach Dugi Otok. The northern tip was another 25 NM so with a forecast of lighter winds from the northwest, we decided to alter course to northeast hoping for a midday close reach to the southern tip of Otok Iz … “or Isn’t”, as Joanne pointed out if the forecast proved inaccurate.

Roles over the week on a cruise often crystallize so as Joanne corrected grammar, Greg stayed busy as Cruise Photographer and Narrator, Kresimir did the heavy lifting and plastic water bottle crushing, Tatjana turned out mountains of Palačinke (delicious crepe-like delicacies) and Vesna played referee between Greg and Joni during political debates.

Our Cruise Chef, Chez Joni, half American and 75% Croatian, turned out another splendid dinner of cevapi for us in the small, very pretty cove of Uvala Vodenjak after she and Joanne completed their Olympic swimming course. Formerly, square riggers would put out the longboats to have the unlucky row them forward. In lighter wind, we considered harnessing Joanne and Joni.

A nice downwind sail brought us quickly to refuel, re-water and re-provision at Zaglav. Another 12 NM downwind with a few well-executed jibes and we tuned into the lovely tri-bay at Hiljaca on Otok Zut. We were waved off our first mooring ball by the Konoba proprietors; unfortunate after Greg’s heroic efforts of lifting the mooring anchor off the seabed.

Our second choice turned out better, if equally chaotic; rather than paying for the ball or pay by having dinner at the Konoba that owned it, the second Konoba discounted us to drinks at sundown. Konoba Trabakul was beautifully laid out with the use of local wood for details and a splendid view over the bay towards Bella where Joni worked wonders in the galley as the rest of the crew worked diligently at their cocktails.

After a morning swim, Bella and her eclectic crew continued south in light winds, increasing as the beautiful day progress, allowing us to sail the last few of hours into Kaprije Bay. At 3 pm, the mooring field was surprisingly underpopulated but filled up quickly. The last yacht puttered in a 9 pm aiming at the ball a bit too close off our port hull. As we tried to alert them to the few others remaining in less challenging locations, a Teutonic voice floated back: “Not a time for discussion, we are doing a maneuver”. (Blimey – let’s put fenders out!)

The glory light (a fav of Greg’s) of our final morning illuminated the village of Kaprije to its full advantage. Before departure, Kresimir persuaded the local mooring fee collector to deliver us some eggs, since we had forgotten them in favor of gelato when we dinghyed in to visit the evening before. While waiting, Joni and Joanne returned from circling the bay on their swim reporting you could clearly see on the seabed large clam-like ‘thingies 25 feet down’ —- “Periska”, explained Vesna, Cruise Curator of All Things Croatian, ‘the largest local clam species’.

(PHOTOS COURTESY OF CAPT. AND CREW)