Kornati are a group of over one hundred small islands in Croatia, which form a national park. Most of them are uninhabited, on some of them you will find villas, owned by rich persons, that also own a sailboat, so they can visit the island. Sometimes, you will find Kornati described as a paradise for sailors, and it is true, because the scenery is amazing, and the weather conditions are almost always perfect. There are also many excellent spots for divers, where you can see remainings of some old ships and even a plane. As soon as I do my diving licence, I am planning to explore those places.
On some of the islands, you can spend a so – called Robinson vacation. The boat, that will take you to the island, passes by once a week. You will be absolutely alone on the island (well, except if you are going there with someone), there are just a few houses (or maybe it is better if I call them shelters). There is no electricity, no liquid water, and probably no phone signal. You will find drinkable water in a container, that stores water from the rainfall.
Although the price for this castaway is very high, this kind of vacation is getting more and more popular, because people simply want to be away from mobile phones, internet and television for some time.
I have not gone on the Robinson holiday yet, but it is definitely on my bucket list, but I was on the boat that is taking the passengers there and picking them up (my acquaintance used to work on this boat), and they welcomed us with a huge smile and said that they would stay there longer if they could. I am sure that for me, first few days without a mobile phone and internet access would be extremely difficult, but it must be great when you get used to 'life' without it. Well, in my childhood, we were all happy without mobile phones and computers.
But back to the original topic, the cruise. First, and the most important piece of information – where can you book it?
The answer is simple. You do not have to visit the tourist agency or book anything in advance. The only thing that you have to do is just walk to the nearest port (and through it). In the port, you will see those ships that take passengers on cruises, with promotors and big informative signs in front of them. The hardest part is to decide, which one to choose. The best thing that you can do, is go to each and everyone, offering the excursions, and ask them about the price, duration, and what do they offer. The prices vary from boat to boat, but in general, they are not higher than twenty – five Euros per person. If you are there with your family, some boats offer a special discount.
Usually, the best decision is to go there a couple of days before the cruise. There, you have to book your slot, and on the day of the cruise, you pay the remaining of the price.
We have started our trip from the island of Murter, where we were spending our summer vacation. Murter is a beautiful island, which is connected with mainland with a bridge, and it offers many sights. The cruise around Kornati was the perfect addition to our vacation there.
The departure for the cruise is usually early in the morning, our estimated time was at eight o'clock, but we were waiting for some members of the group, and therefore we departed half an hour later. We sailed about fourty – five minutes, until we reached our first stop.
Our first stop was on a heart – shaped island, that you usually see in the commercials for Croatia. From the land, you can not see its shape, but some companies offer panoramic flights over it. believe it or not, some farmers are planting potatoes there, so you can see the part of the 'destroyed' land, if you fly over it. The island is uninhabited, flat and empty, and in not so distant past, they used to have sheeps there. What is interested about this island, and the reason why the boat stopped there, is a nice place for snorkelling and swimming. The sea around the islands of Kornati is crystal clear and perfect for snorkelling, or just swimming. Although the water is a bit colder than at the coastal part of Croatia, its temperature is still about twenty – five degrees, or even more. We had two hours of free time, which was just enough, and then we departed to the next island.
The second island that we went to, is inhabited, but only a few people live there, and ships bring them supplies once a week. Besides a few small houses, the only other thing on this island is a restaurant. In this restaurant, I ate the best grilled fish in my life. In the Croatian region of Dalmatia, they have a special way of preparing grilled fishes, and they have some strong, unique taste. I have eaten them in many restaurants, but so far, none of them were nearly as good as the ones on this island. The meal was already included in the cruise price, and it was all you can eat version. Although, in summer heat, you cannot eat much. On this island, we had about two hours of free time, including the meal. After that, some of us jumped into the crystal clear water to refresh. There was a tall pier just next to the restaurant, which was great for jumping into the water.
After that, we went towards our last stop on this cruise – a swimming and snorkelling spot in the open sea. Before we reached it, we passed by another uninhabited island, that has a big rock formation, which looks like the head of the labrador dog. At first, it took me a few moments to see it, but once you see it, the only thing that you will say, will be: 'Wow!' It is not artifically made by humans!
Our snorkelling spot was situated between two islands, and despite the fact that we were in the open sea, the water was quite shallow – eight meters at most. The water was crystal clear and the experience was awesome. At some points, there was a lot of seabed, and we did not see much, but mostly, there is white sand with lots of starfishes and beautiful shells. The only bad thing for me was, that I could not pick them, because I had some problems with pressure in my ears.
The water at this point was deep enough to jump from the top of the ship, and this is another thing that you should try, if it is available at your cruise.
After an hour of fun, we slowly prepared for our way back to the Murter island, which took us about an hour, and we were there just in time for dinner.
If you are spending your summer vacation in this region, you will notice many offers for those excursions. They are basically all the same, but some of them will take you to different islands than the others. Usually, you will visit three islands on a daily cruise, and one swimming and snorkelling spot on the open sea. You can also choose from ordinary tours, dolphin watching excursions and a fishing tour, which usually accomodates smaller groups (only a few people). Those are less popular and more expensive. I went on a dolphin – watching excursion once and we did not see any dolphins in the whole day. Kornati are known as a region, where you can see many dolphins, but we were really unlucky. Nevertheless, the excursion was nice, because, besides the dolphin watching, it also included lunch on a small island and snorkelling. You may also see offers for 'cruises under the stars', which is basically a ride with the boat at night, and you do not get to see much.
You can see some examples of those cruises on the internet, and if you would like to see some opinions, you can also find them on TripAdvisor. Most of them have a very high ranking.
A thing that I especially liked on both of the cruises, was the staff. They were extremely friendly, and they told us a lot of information about the islands and Croatia itself. They also speak several languages, which is another plus.
What you must take with you on the cruise, is a hat, sunscreen and plenty of water to drink. It may not seem so, but a day at the open sea can be exhausting. You do not need to bring snorkelling equipment with you, because all of the boats have it.
For the end, I would say, that most of those cruises offer a great value for your money, and are an excellent way to spend a day of your vacation. Of course, there is a chance that you will not be happy with what you will get – like me on the dolphin cruise, but I still enjoyed it a lot.
