Dugi otok kayak tour

Kayak tour Dugi otok
We wish to share our special day spent kayaking in one of the best island of Croatia.

Kayak tour Dugi otok
We prepare the picnic in our apartment with tomatoes, some pieces of pecorino cheese, tuna fish, bread and to make it more tasty we also put mayonnaise in our bag. We smear ourselves with sunscreen, put on our sunglasses, the cap on our head and we are ready.
The kayak is wide, comfortable and spacious. On the bow and stern there is room to put our bag, slippers and even the mobile phone.
We start from the last pier in the village of Verunic (looking at the picture, it is the highest on the right). In front of us lays the Pantera Bay, the northernmost part of the island Dugi otok, which is like a big swimming pool.
We immediately decide to cross the channel; in a few minutes we reach the village of Veli rat.

Kayak tour Dugi otok
We decide to stop as planned for a coffee break. We lay the kayak on the beach (picture: at the bottom left). The bar is a few meters away. After having enjoyed the coffee and drunk two cold apricot juices we continue paddeling.
We cross the channel again and skirt the pine forest (picture : at the top right). The scent of the pine trees is intense and good. The sea is transparent : we see the sandy seabed and some holoturies on the bottom. The morning air begins to warm up. It would be nice to stop for a bath and rest in the pine forest, but we decide to postpone that for another day, when we will have our playing cards and books with us. Today has to be a day of sports.
The sea is calm and there are no currents. Some boats leave the Marina of Veli rat and pass by, some crews saying hello. The sense of peace and freedom is pure. We continue to paddle along the coast and reach the tip of the island on which is installed a small red lighthouse, which together with the green one positioned close by, indicates the captains the route to follow to enter the Panther Bay without ending stranded up in shallow waters.
At the red lighthouse we make a stop mooring the kayak at the pier. The sea is turquoise and the temperature is pleasant: swimming is regenerating!
We go back on the kayak and paddle along the coast which is always to our right. We arrive in the bay of Lokva. There are small piers and two houses. The sea is enchanting: we feel we are in a parallel world.
We take a ride around the small island in front of us. The inhabitants told us, that until the nineties, local people used to keep sheeps on this islet: the animalsused to eat the grasses and the sea served as a natural enclosure. But on summer days the animals had no shelter from the sun! With these thoughts in mind we continue our journey until we reach the bay of Lucica, literally translated it is equivalent to a small port. In fact, this bay offers shelter from the winds and the inhabitants of Verunic used also to keep their boats in this place.

The Mandarino campsite is located on one side of the bay (on the right in the pic). We decide to reach the first pier we meet (on the left). We leave the kayak and put on fins, mask and snorkel. Not far from the pier, in 3-4 meters of water lie two wrecks.

The one towards the center of the bay is much better preserved and more interesting to see. Snorkeling in Dugi otok is a real pleasure! In this cove the sea is absolutely quiet and many fish are at home on the sunken ship. It is a wooden boat that due to the thick fog has finished its run in this bay on a sandy bottom.
On the other boat we have very little information except that the accident seems to date back to the years of the Second World War.
At this point we were very hungry! We take the kayak and moor it at the pier in front. We stretch out our towels and finally we eat! We taste every bite and then we lie down in the shade of a pine tree. We spend a few hours chatting and laughing: a full belly has put us in a very good mood!
It’s 5:00 p.m. when we decide to get back on our way. We get on board and paddle in silence. The peace is pleasant: you can only hear the rhythmic sound of our paddles.
At the height of the green lighthouse we look in vain for the turtle that some people told us they had seen a few days before: the tanimal was eating the mussels attached to the lighthouse. Very pity: it would have been wonderful we could have seen it!
We are back to our apartment in Verunic: tired, but very happy! We spent a wonderful day kayaking and snooping around the bays of Dugi otok.
Kayak tour Dugi otok is absolutely to recommend!