Croatia | holiday | living - All about Croatia

As I mentioned in our travel story from Vis, one day of our Holiday was spend on a visit to the Island of Biševo, which is a small island situated 4 nautical miles SW of Komiža.

Our visit to Vis was not only for pleasure, my friend Shane, from Lifejacketadventures, had convinced me to help him bringing his kayaks, from Biševo back to Komiža, where he normally stores them when he is not on a trip – so I actually had to work!!

So Tuesday morning at 7.30 we met in Komiža with Shane, his family, and a Swedish girl - Johanna, who also was going to help with the kayaks. From here we took a fishing boat (taxi boat – 25 kuna) which was loaded with goods, tourist, the skipper and his bodies. The sailing time to the first drop of point at the east site of Biševo was around 40 minutes, as we had to go to a bay on the west site of the island we got an extra 20 minutes sailing trip.

Well arrived at the Island, we went to visit some friend of Shane’s, Lile and Davor who has a small house 50 meters from the beach, Lily and Davor are some very interesting people, they are actually from Zagreb, but spend 6 month’s a every year on the Island, where they among other rent out small cottages and have a environmental project running called “Mali Zeleni I Biševo” (the little green at Biševo) you can read about their project here http://www.bisevo.org

The morning we spend with swimming in the nice bay, where Lili and Davor last year removed around 20 tons of garbage!! At noon we went to next bay Porat to have lunch, as you can see on the picture here, we also had a nice place to swim.

As 3 PM it was time for the hard job, Shane, Johanna and I prepared our selves for the kayak trip back to Komiža, I must say I was bit nervous to back in a kayak again, as the last time was (and also first time) was at Vogalonga 2008, but as we first started paddling I forgot about that.

The first stop on our Kayak trip was Modra Špilja(The blue cave) as you can see the cave does not look like much from the outside, and when you get in there in a 6 meter long kayak without a flashlight it is a bit scary, but very beautiful.

After the blue cava we started our crossing direction Komiža, the weather was very nice so we had no problem with the waves. At about7 PM we reached Komiža I was very tired, but glad that I took the trip, as it is not everyday you get the chance to sit in kayak 20 NM from the mainland.

A few thinks about Biševo

• The Main attraction – Modra Špilja (The blue cave) – can be visit by organized trips (Price 100-140 Kuna) or you can take fisher boat as we did.
• Biševo has some very nice Sand beaches – the fisher boat from Komiža would e.g. take you to Porat in the morning and return in the afternoon around 4 PM.
• Only 7 people live the whole year on Biševo.
• Rainwater is the main water supply on the Island
• The wine from the Island should be great.

Sunday morning at 05:45 we left the camp together with 10 other kayakers and went direction Venice, after a 1 ½ hour drive we arrived in Venice where we easily found the parking spaces (just after the bridge), which Georgia hat recommend us on the info meeting the day before.

At 07.45 we all had offloaded and prepared our kayaks and were ready to go. From the point where we entered the water there was about 30-40 min paddling to the regatta starting point the Piazza Saint Marco.

Shane and I had of course signed up for the regatta, but we did not yet get our starting number, so we had to go to the official information office to pick it up, typical Italian they of course had moved this, so after being directed to several wrong places we finally managed to find it and get our number. Shortly before 09:00 we were gathered with the rest of the group directly in from of the Piazza Saint Marco, waiting for the starting signal.

Precisely at 09:00 a canon shot was fired and 1600 registered and x number of unregistered vessels started moving, Amazing!! All kind of different vessels like Dragon boats, kayaks, rowing boats, Gondola , start paddling and rowing at the same time.

Before the race I had my serious doubts if I would be able to paddle more then am few km, but as It was so interesting to see all the boats and people dressed up for the race, I did not notice how far we were actually going, so when we stopped for a break at a sand pier, I was assuming we had paddled 4-5 km, I turned out that we actually at that point of time already went 12 km, and the island not far in front of us was Burana, the turning point, so I really started believing I could actually finish the race.

In Burana (I nice city with lots of colourful houses) we went down the main Canal in the centre of the city, here there was “supply ships” distributing bananas, water and fanta for the paddlers. Many participants actually stopped here for real lunch in one of the restaurants, or had lunch on the boat, but as I said to Shane “I already manage to get out of the kayak once without falling in the water, so I didn’t feel like wanting to push my luck again”.

After Burano the hardest part of the race came, 6-8 km on open water with few “milestones”, so I had to take several breaks, so Shain had to do the hard work him selves, but eventually we managed to pass this part also and enter into the city Murano (famous for its glass production), from here one the tower on the Marcus church became bigger and bigger which was very good for the motivation.

As we reach the races bottleneck, a small canal in the city part Cannaregio, I was already totally full, so we had to fight our way through as you can see on our Video, but after around 20 minutes we manage to pass the bridge causing the bottleneck and headed on towards Kanal Grande. The last part of the race was easy, all along Kanal Grande and on the bridges there was people encouraging us shouting Forza Forza when we past by, which of course gave plenty of motivation to keep going.

At around 14:00 we passed the finish line in front of the Piazza Saint Marco and got our medal and diploma, after crossing we paddle back to where our cars was parked, so at 14:45 after 7 hours in a Kayak we finally had solid ground under our feet again. Of course I had pain especially in my arms, but the feeling have actually manage the 30 km was every pain worth, so for sure would recommend also newbie’s like me to try something like this, I definitely will do it again.

Our fotos from Vogalonga

Here is some usefull links for Vogalonga and for kayak holiday in general

The camp which we stayed in - Capalonga

The organizer of the Bibione kayak week - Bibionekayak

Kayak holiday in Croatia - lifejacketadventures

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As I told in prior post, my friend Shain and I had signed up for the 34^th Vogalonga which was held on the Sunday the 11^th of May in Venice Italy.

Friday we left Split and headed to the Camp Capalonga in Bibione, which is 100 km north of Venice, as we had a few work related thinks to handle on the way so we did not arrive before 23:30, so it was good that Julie a few hours before had announce our late arrival, otherwise they would not have let us in as the camp, as it is closed for vehicles from 23:00 to 07:00. The trip from Spilt had taken us 10 hours, so everybody was ready for the beds.

On the Camp Capalonga, we had rented two “Golden Suite Mare” , which we had booked through Bibionekajak at a special rate of 65 Euro, which to me seam ok for the luxury mobile homes, with 6 beds, 2 bathrooms and fully equipped kitchen.

Saturday morning Shane and I went to pick the two new double kayaks he had ordered by an Italian dealer in the area, this took much longer as we expected as we had a hard time finding the town where the dealer was situation, but finally we managed.

As we came back to the camp, I went in to the pool with the kids (which already spend most of the day there), Shane went to talk with the arranger of the bibionekajak 2008 – Gergio. At 17:00 all we went to information meeting regarding Sundays race in Venice, after we finished the meeting, we prepared the new kayak and finally, at 18:30 if was time for my virgin trip in a kayak, which was only a trip of 30 minutes, but enough for me to get serious doubts if I would be able to do the 30 Km on Sunday.

We finished the day with a very important task, Barbecue on the Terrace while we where mentally preparing us for the race by having a few glasses of wine.

Next weekend we will go to Venice with our Australian friends, Shane and Julie and there kids Aklei and Roklan, to participate in the 34 Vogalonga regatta, for rowing boat and Kayaks.

For me it is going to be a big challenge to finish the 30 km route, as I never sad in a Kayak before, but Shane who is a Kayak expert has been so kind to get a double kayak for me and him, so I have chance to rest if necessary.

We will leave Split Friday at noon and have to reach our Italian camp destination Capalonga Camping/Tourist Village at around 19.00 in the evening, Saturday we will go and have look at the surrounding area and prepare our selves for the race Sunday.

When we are back I will let you know if I managed to finish the race in one peace.

Her you can read about Vogalonga

If like Kayaking maybe you should check Shane and Julie’s homepage and see the kayak tours they are doing here in Croatia www.lifejacketadventures.com

Omiš is a small town and port at the mouth of the Cetina River in the littoral of Poljica, 26 km southeast of Split. Major attractions include quality accommodation facilities, good traffic connections, gastronomic offer (the hinterland of Omiš is famous for wholesome foods) and the Cetina canyon - Zadvarje - Gubavica. In the vicinity is also the well-known restaurant in Radmanove Mlinice (water mills), which offers local specialities. Omiš is known as a mediaeval pirate centre.

Picturesque mountains and the river enclose the urban core with fortresses. On the coast are an almost 1-km long sand beach (ideal for children) and the 700-m long shallow, created by the Cetina drifts.

The famous Cetina River and its canyon, nearby mountain tops and islands, ancient vineyards and olive plantations, small fishermen villages together form the landscape of extraordinary beauty.

Without any doubt, the Cetina River is one of the most beautiful places in Croatia for freshwater kayaking white water rafting. It is situated in a luscious region surrounded by quaint little villages and is very important, both historically and archaeologically, and is definitely the place to go for. Omis has it all. Numerous beaches and bays, rich vegetation, fresh air and crystal blue sea make Omis Riviera the perfect place to escape the stress and rush of modern life.

At the summer you can enjoy in traditional Festival of the Dalmatian a Capella songs and “pirates evening”. Omiš is also known as old pirate town. As excellent seamen, Omiš citizens, during 13th - beginning of 15th century, “supervised” navigation on the Adriatic Sea, endangering, generally, Venetian ships and their property in Dalmatian, as well as ships of Naples Kingdom. In that name people from there, and of the June organise “Pirates evening” for them self’s and tourist .It is very attractive and interesting with lot of fun.