Sibenik to Skradin & Krka River and Waterfalls

We spent three days here but we loved the area so much there are numerous photos so I have put some directly into the blog and also put some on each topic in as photo albums hence the variation – I hope this is not too confusing. The problem with taking so many photos it takes so much time to sort them!! This post may also take a while to load will try and sort out when I have a higher internet speed. Good luck.

Arrived Sibenik via the narrow Canal St. Anthony and past the spectacular Saint Nikolas Fort at the entrance on the SE corner. There are even red and green lights on the NE point on informing you whether there are ships coming out and over a certain size you have to ask permission to enter. We saw the red light and kept well to the side going up the chanel. Several ferries were coming out.

We continued on to Marina Mandalina( about 10 min by taxi out of town) otherwise you can go back into the town wall but we had a few jobs to do – see if we could find rigging wire for replacing the first reef, finding why the mainsail cars wouldn’t slide and fixing the leak in the dingy. Also some shopping for linen. Succeeded with the duvet covers at a large mall near by. Chandlery shops were shut so needed to wait till the next day for all the boat bits.

Took a taxi into the old town for dinner and walked up to St Michaels fort. Great view and we had managed to leave all phones and cameras behind so no photos!!! Very interesting town with four different sets of fortifications called the guardians of Sibenik- St Michael’s Fortress(built 12th century), Barone Fortress( names after Baron von Degenfeld who started the construction) and St John’s Fortress built 1646 during the Cretan war, and St Nicholas Fortress at the entrance. Could easily have spent a few days here. Had dinner at a little restaurant in the back streets and off back to the boat.

Morning it was up and onto the washing!! All the new sheets and our current ones and some sorting out of linen. Good to have no wind for once and flat sea. Hew was up the mast looking at the mainsail cars and could see nothing wrong then off to the chandlers for some lubricant and some glue for the dinghy repairs. Managed to get some Teflon PTFE spray – brilliant worked perfectly – latest magical thing from the chandlery so all sorts of things got sprayed.

Needed to go back into town to get our documentation extended and we had not seen the cathedral the night before so off we all went . Capitaneria was easy to deal with paid to extend our sojourn form so more money … and we asked about the the bridges etc and route up to Skradin. He showed us the map in the office and said the bridge should be ok and not to end up on a rock in the lake like other tourists.

The Cathedral of Saint James was built over 105 years ( 1431-1536) and is on the UNESCO world heritage list for the type of construction. The baptistery si also famous and incredibly ornate. The exterior is covered in sculptures of heads which local legend says are images of those in the town who would not contribute to the building of the cathedral!!!

Later that day off up the river to Skradin. What an experience!! Something quite different. Firstly we had to go under a bridge and then two sets of high tension lines. The bridge has a limit on it of 27m and we were up around 23 m. We thought it looked very close and headed to the middle but the bungy jumpers did not like the look of it either and were pulling up their ropes!!! then just get through that and there are two setrs of high tension wires that are not much higher.

All the way up the estuary are oyster, mussel and some fish farms. Very pretty.

Under another bridge and another set of lines and then we were into the Lake….. which has some very shallow patches even though it is huge. Down to 2m clearance at one stage.

Finally made it to Skradin and decided to tie up to a buoy since we were going to go further the next day and you had to do it in the park boats.

Went into town to look around and try and buy tickets for the morning but found they only sold them on the day, good park bureaucracy!!

Lovely park building and beautiful park of 109km2 of Krka river with 7 travertine waterfall barriers formed by limestone settling on algae and mosses.

White swans are everywhere here and all boats give way to them.

Got up early the next morning and off to the waterfalls the day was calm and no wind and so a beautiful trip.

The falls were beautiful.

Tried to go and find the boat for the next section of the river but very short of signs. Ended doing a complete circuit of the main falls and then had to walk up the same track again.

Finally found the track to the next boat which was actually up a road.

Got there and then off up the river for the monastery and the next falls. The Monastery is on an island and they apparently built it on a lump of rock and imported the soil from the other parts of the river. It is spectacular and so peaceful.

Departed the monastery after half an hour which was too short to really enjoy it all and went up to the next set of falls. Thy are very beautiful and the upper parts are called ” the necklaces”. We only had a hour there but could easily have stayed longer, but not part of the park scheme.

Took the boat back to the main waterfalls and walked back to the lower boat stop to take it down the river – what a change!! There were thousands of people there swimming, walking lounging around and the queue for the boat down the river was about 500m long. A shambles and it was boiling hot. I had really wanted to have swim on the way back but seeing all the people in the water put me off completely – oh for the morning! This is such a famous spot that it is on all the lists so go early.!! Talking to others in the queue it seems that they were put off by the number of people in the water as well.

Travelled down in the park boat to Skradin and then decided we would go all the way out and anchor in a bay at the entrance to Sibenik where the water would be clean and a new view.

Very sad to see the last of the area but I am sure we will come back. On the eay down we decided to treat ourselves to some oysters from one of the barges 10kn each unopened or 15kn opened. We decided we were travelling so wouldn’t open them but they took so long we almost left. While we were there one of the charter yachts stopped and bought a sack off them!!!

Reached a bay at the entrance and anchored well inside. Had our treat of oysters and prosecco – they were beautiful and worth every kuna!! Very nice bay but music from over the hill payed all night.

Rose early in the morning to go and have a look at Saint Nicholas fort but were told that it was under construction and restricted visits – you could only go by catching a boat at the town pier and only 4 boats a day with about 80 people on each. We were not going back into town to do that. That was a real downer so went for a swim, then saw some people collecting shellfish so went to have a look and found they were collecting mussels in a very restricted area that was shallow but had water flow coming in from outside under a walkway bridge!!. Not knowing the rules we decided to leave it. We departed and headed south.