Under the Bridge

To get to the waterfalls in Krka National Park we had to go up a river and cross under two bridges. As we had only gone under a bridge once so far (Rion Bridge in Greece near the Corinth Canal), it is still an exciting thing to do for us! So, with a little trepidation, we entered the Krka River near Sibenik. The journey was gorgeous and off course, our mast did fit under the bridges!

Mr. Mussels

There were some mussel farms along the river, selling mussels directly to passers-by. One enterprising salesman, let’s call him Mr. Mussels, came over to us on his jet-ski, took our order and then came back with a big bag of mussels. We did not even have to stop and tie up our boat!

Surrounded by Hungry Swans

We dropped anchor in a large bay just before the national park. We needed a swim and a place to spend the night before going into he park itself the next morning. The kids were having fun swimming while we were cleaning mussels. Suddenly we heard Kai call out in a small voice, something about big ducks coming near. They were swans and there were lots of them. I have not seen the kids get out of the water quicker! The swans were clearly used to being fed by boaters and it took a while of ignoring them – and not feeding them – to get them to go. They are beautiful animals, but we did not like the idea of swimming with them!

The Waterfalls

Next morning, we picked up a mooring buoy at Skradin town, where you enter the national park. No private boats are allowed in there. So you leave your boat behind, buy entry tickets to the park in town, then get on the ‘free’ boat service that brings you to the falls and the walking tracks. We felt a bit like tourist cattle shuffling into the queue, sitting on a full boat, and finally disembarking by the falls, only to find that there were about 5,000 other people already! I guess that we are just spoiled, being used to having the most beautiful nature places to ourselves.

Once we got out of the mob of people and followed the walking track through the park, we were so glad we came! A wooden walkway took us up along the big waterfalls, and then slowly down again across small streams and pools. We saw old watermills, fish swimming into the currents of the falls and the most beautiful dragonflies with opaque blue wings. It was just breathtaking.

Feeling Jumpy

The next morning, we said goodbye to Rebekah in Skradin. She would travel back to Luka from there, and we would continue our way south, once back on the open sea.

On our way out to sea across the river, someone bungee-jumped off the last bridge just as we were making our way towards it! Luckily he climbed back up right on time for us to go under without having to worry about getting his bungee tangled in our mast… With a wave and a smile he was back on the bridge. Crazy people!

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