Dugi Otok

More about Dugi Otok

Until recently, I’ve usually been rather wordy with my blog posts but in the last few posts, I’ve tried to let the pictures tell more of the story. And I’m going to do the same again by posting some more photos of Dugi Otok to try and give an indication of why I fell in love with the place.

Limestone Cliffs on the west coast of Dugi Otok © Ricky Yates

The southern end of the island, immediately to the south and west of Sali where we were staying, is designated as the Telašcica National Park. It is an area of amazing beauty with its karst topography, limestone cliffs and the long Telašcica Bay which is dotted with islands. The best way to really appreciate the area is no doubt by boat, something we didn’t manage to do. But it is possible to drive part way into the park & then walk further and see some stunning views of which I hope these two pictures are indicative.

Telaš?ica Bay © Ricky Yates — Telašcica Bay © Ricky Yates

Savar and the Church of St, Pelegrin © Ricky Yates — Savar and the Church of St. Pelegrin © Ricky Yates

Further north on the island, just below the ferry port of Brbinj, lies the village of Savar. Here, on a wooded peninsular jutting out into the sea, is the pre-Romanic Church of St Pelegrin. The chancel dates from the seventh century and most of the rest of the tiny Church from the ninth. Its setting is idyllic as you can see and my only regret was being unable to see inside the building as it was locked with no indication as to where one could obtain the key.

Sali Harbour in the evening © Ricky Yates

And to finish, before I write about our experiences back on the Croatian mainland, here is picture of the inner part of Sali harbour taken one evening with the setting sun lighting up some the nearby buildings. Here the locals moor their boats whilst in the outer harbour, visiting yachts and motor cruisers would tie up each evening. Walking around the harbour in the evening was always an interesting and enjoyable experience with a mix of boating visitors, holiday makers like ourselves, together with local islanders both old and young.

‘The Beach’

Sali 'Beach' and sunbathing pier © Ricky Yates

As elsewhere in Croatia, what is called ‘the beach’ on Dugi Otok isn’t what one normally would think of as a beach. There are no long stretches of sand gently sloping down into the sea. Instead, in each of the island’s coastal settlements, there are man-made places where it is possible to enter the sea and swim and sunbathe on the shore.

The two pictures on the left are of our nearest ‘beach’ in Sali, about ten minutes walk from the apartment. They illustrate what I mean by ‘the beach’ being man-made. The handrails do make entering the sea that bit easier and the sea itself was very pleasantly warm. However, there is no chance to gently wade in as the sea-bottom drops away quite steeply. This part of ‘the beach’ is quite shaded but the pier provides plenty of space for sun worshippers.

Similar ‘beaches’ to this can be found in all the island settlements along the sheltered east coast of Dugi Otok. There are no settlements at all on the more exposed west coast. But in a couple of places, a steep minor road leaves the main north-south road and descends to the shore. One leads to a place called Mala Voda which literally translates as ‘little water’. I say ‘place’ but there are no buildings other than a wooden shack – just an area for car parking together with a tiny harbour where small boats can be launched.

It is then possible to walk 300-400 metres north from the car park, either along the pebbly shoreline or on a parallel path through the ‘maquis’ and reach a place that more resembles what I understand as a beach! Whilst the area above sea level is made up entirely of pebbles, as soon as one enters the sea there is sand under foot. And here it is possible to gently wade some way into the sea before being out of one’s depth.

Mala Voda became our favourite beach during our ten days on Dugi Otok. It was never crowded, no doubt because it takes a little more effort to reach it, and always felt very relaxed. In many respects it is the perfect beach for children as access to the sea is so much easier than on the man-made ‘beaches’. But we saw very few children almost certainly because of the greater effort needed to reach the beach. It has no shade so we always took our beach umbrella and often went in the late afternoon when the angle of the sun was lower.

If we return to Dugi Otok sometime in the future, which I hope we will, one thing I shall certainly look forward to doing is swimming in the sea again from the beach at Mala Voda.

Dugi Otok

Jadrolinija Ferry arriving at Zadar © Ricky Yates — Jadrolinija Ferry for Dugi Otok arriving at Zadar © Ricky Yates

Having arrived in Zadar on the afternoon of Tuesday 7^th July, we decided that now was the time to head for an offshore island for the time of relaxation that we had promised ourselves. We found the booking office of Jadrolinija Ferries on the Zadar quayside and enquired about booking a ferry crossing for ourselves and the car for the following day to the island of Dugi Otok.

There are more than a thousand islands along the Croatian coast of which more than one hundred are inhabited. Some are so close to the mainland that they are connected by a bridge, whilst others are so small and isolated you would have to take everything needed for your stay with you. We opted for the island of Dugi Otok because it fell into neither of these categories. It takes a one and a half hour ferry journey to reach the island from Zadar but has a resident population of 1800 people and therefore has most basic shops and facilities.

The name ‘Dugi Otok’ means ‘Long Island’, which is most appropriate as it is around 43km long but only 4km wide. When driving along the one main road that links Veli Rat and Bozava in the north to Sali in the south, there are places where you can view the sea on both sides at the same time. On the west coast is the full expanse of the Adriatic Sea stretching all the way to Italy. From the east coast, the Croatian mainland is visible, with several parallel smaller islands in between.

Just before midday on Wednesday 8^th, we joined the line of cars on the designated section of the quayside, ready to board the ferry. We waited for and then watched its arrival as the bow section rose and the access ramp was lowered. Once the cars and passengers travelling from the island to the mainland had disembarked, we were then summoned forward to carefully drive onto the car deck. Then the ramp was raised, the bow lowered and we headed off out of the harbour, bound for Dugi Otok.

Ferry Port at Brbinj, Dugi Otok © Ricky Yates

The ferry port on Dugi Otok is at Brbinj, just over halfway up the east coast of the island. From there it took us about thirty minutes to drive south to Sali, the administrative centre and by far the largest settlement on Dugi Otok. We parked on the quayside of the picturesque harbour and walked along to find the tourist office to see if they could help find a one bedroomed apartment for us to rent for the next ten days. The young lady in the tourist office assured us that she could and, after a brief phone conversation in Croatian, told us that an owner would be with us in less than ten minutes to show us one. It was within my price range, had the basic requirements we were after, as well as a splendid view from the balcony across the harbour. We took it!

The harbour at Sali from our balcony © Ricky Yates

One of the reasons we took the risk of setting out on holiday with no accommodation booked in advance, was because we expected the current economic downturn would reduce the number of tourists meaning that, even in July, places would hopefully, not be fully booked. And so it has proved to be. Our apartment is in a building consisting of four separate apartments. When we arrived, none of the other three were let. Likewise, the ferry car deck was only two thirds occupied. Whilst Sali is busy, especially in the evenings, clearly the tourist industry here in Croatia has also been affected by economic events elsewhere in the world.