Onboard the Andrea Cay: Water... water... everywhere

After a nice “welcome dinner” ( fresh red snapper from the fish market in Split) for Barbara, Sheridan, Carol and Peter Wednesday night, we left Thursday morning and headed north to an anchorage outside the Krka National Park. The park encompasses the 47 mile River Krka, which begins inside a canyon on a limestone plateau behind the city of Sibenik and finally empties into the Adriatic after a series of waterfalls, rapids and lakes that are surrounded by lush vegetation. We took our tender to the small village of Skradin, one of the main access points to the park. From there, a park boat took us upriver to the base of the first and largest of the waterfalls. There is a boardwalk that winds through the area from the bottom of the falls to across the top. Hundreds of small waterfalls surround the boardwalk as you make the one hour hike. It really is “water water everywhere…” Sheridan is Superintendent of Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine and was quite impressed, as we all were, with the construction and management of this park. There are signs along the path identifying interesting plants and animals… and if you want more information, you simply hold your cell phone over a scanner. The ultra-modern, all-glass visitor center in town was a bit of a shock at first sight because the rest of this sleepy little village looks like something from the turn of the century. It was very well done, with multi-language interactive displays and information centers.

We spent the next day in Sibenik which lies at the mouth of the Krka River. Although there is no doubt that there were ancient settlements here, this town is the “youngest” of the cities along the Dalmatian coast and the first one founded by a Croatian king (1066). The historic town center is well preserved and we wandered through local shops, markets and piazzas. The most impressive of the buildings is the Cathedral of St. James. It is one of the largest in Croatia, and built with local stone, all so perfectly cut, that the interlocking slabs have no mortar between them. The detailed carvings along the exterior of the church, as well as the magnificent marble statues, arches and columns inside are truly breathtaking. The church took a direct hit during the 1991 war and for the last 10 years has been under extensive renovation by Croatian and international experts, paid for mostly by UNESCO, as the church had previously been designated as one of their world artistic sights.

Our last day with Barbara and Sheridan, we turned back south and spent most of the day at Hvar, a town John and I had visited earlier (see the "Enough is enough" blog) and had enjoyed so much we wanted Barbara, Sheridan, Carol and Peter to see it, too. After a hike to the fort at the top, we enjoyed a lovely outdoor lunch in the center of the main piazza.

After a couple hours of cruising back to Trogir for a flight out the next day, the 4 hearty explorers braved the rain-threatening skies, and spent a couple hours touring that quaint historic town as well.

Unfortunately, the weather gods have turned against us: rain and wind are putting a damper (pun intended) on our current travel plans.