Prvić is the first island to the Vodice mainland, only 1000 m away. It is inhabited by two picturesque, typical Mediterranean villages with stone houses and alleys, Prvić Šepurine and Prvić Luka, with about two hundred inhabitants in each. For their authenticity, they are protected as a cultural entity.

The island abounds in beautiful natural beaches and the island’s tame terrain, with traces of arable land that bear witness to the people of Prvić as hardworking farmers who, in addition to the island itself, cultivated a wide range of overseas properties.

Passing through the guide area, we notice Logorun, an island in front of Tribunj, which the locals call Veliki Škoj. It is only 200 meters away from the mainland. It was home to the world’s first donkey reserve, an autochthonous protected animal that was domesticated on the Dalmatian islands, coast and hinterland.

Donkeys are no longer found in Logorun, but today it is possible to see them precisely as one of the available attractions in the Telašćica Nature Park.

Passing the waters of Vodice, you will note the island of Tijat, an example of bare karst terrain with vegetation of typical Dalmatian macchia, which in the past was wooded and with arable land. It is estimated that there were about 2,500 olive trees on the island.

Vegetation impoverished by the cessation of human activity and the release of mouflon, wild sheep to uncontrolled grazing.

On the way to the Kornati, we will sail on the “Pučina”, as they call the Murter Sea in the local Murter dialect. At these 200 kilometres, in the heart of the Šibenik archipelago, you will see beautiful horizons from all sides with the islands’ outlines in the distance and feel the thrilling experience of the deep, sea expanse.

“Pučina” is exposed to forceful and sudden wind changes. The sea here reveals all its unpredictable nature, so here, in severe weather, sailors need special care.

We enter the Kornati through the Vrata od Opata Strait or the Gate of the Kornati. We consider the Kornati Gate a place between the southern part of Kornat and the island of Smokvica. On this spot, we can notice an unusual top of the hill which has a characteristic ending resembling a shaved abbot’s head. The hill was named after this feature (Vrata od Opata in the translation are Gate of the Abbot).

On the island of Klobučar with the highest cliff of 82 m, we can see the Kornati “crown” phenomenon for the first time. Crowns or cliffs are a characteristic of offshore islands facing the open sea, formed by the cracking and disintegration of the Earth’s crust when the African tectonic plate underlined the Eurasian. On the Kornati crowns, we observe the processes of abrasion, erosion and corrosion. The longest crown of 1350 m is on Mani’s island, and the deepest one descends 90 m into the sea depth on the isle of Piškera.

The uninhabited island of Rašip Veli is placed between the islands of Piškera, Mane, Rašipić and Rašip Mali. It is 64 m high and exceptional for its “crown” (cliff) which is almost 1100 m long and 62 m high. One of its rocks looks like a human head, which is why it is a unique attraction.

Kravljačica Bay is a bay on the island of Kornat in one of the most notable parts, near Tarac and Tureta. There are only a dozen fishing houses in it that are recently adapted for vacation.

Our Lady of Tarac on the island of Kornat is a one-nave late Romanesque church built on an early Christian basilica site, most probably from that older church’s remains. Once a year, on the first Sunday in July, masses are held here. Then hundreds of boat anchors in the bay for blessing, which, in addition to religious significance, also is a tourist attraction. Once upon a time, the feast was only agricultural, and only the field was blessed. As the farmers gradually turned to the sea and fishing, the blessing spread to the sea and ships.

On a tour of the Kornati, you will see Tureta, the best preserved of the Byzantine fortifications from the 6th century, the time of Justinian, built to protect and control navigation on the Adriatic Sea. Her military crew monitored the Kornati Channel.

On the islet of Vela Sestrica, the Tajer Lighthouse from 1876 can be seen, at an altitude of 47 m above sea level, creating the most romantic view from the Kornati National Park and the Telašćica Nature Park border. Its white-red octagonal metal tower and the stone lighthouse building spread over an area of up to 500 square meters stand out from afar. It is one of the few lighthouses inhabited by the crew who operate it.

Telašćica Bay in the southeastern part of Dugi Otok is one of the largest and best-protected natural harbours on the Adriatic’s eastern coast. Its name comes from the Latin “tre lagus” which means “three lakes”, and it consists of three parts separated by narrowings. These bays were karst sinkholes that fell under the sea ten thousand years ago after the last ice melting. The bay is rich in wildlife and the bottom, covered with sea flowers, is of substantial importance for reproducing many fish species.

When on the way back from the Nature Park Telašćica, we pass the strait Mala Proversa, between Dugi Otok and Katina, you will experience sailing through one of the busiest passages in the Croatian Adriatic. It is also one of the main entrances to the Telašćica Nature Park and the Kornati National Park. Today’s depth of the straits is artificially dug at 4.5 m. Due to the difficult passage, traffic is limited to 5 knots. According to some unwritten rule, passengers from excursion ships have a habit of waving to each other as a greeting sign. Observing the remains of ancient villas on the strait’s banks, try to imagine the former scenes of villas in function with the associated pools to store caught white fish.

Just as after the departure route to the National Park and Telašćica Bay we pass the first island group called Donji (Lower) the Kornati, on the way back, to complete the entire tour and get to know all the key attractions of the archipelago, we pass the Žut-Sit group of islands or Upper Kornati. These islands include two series Balabra-Sit-Šćitina-Gangarol-Bikarijica and Tremuli-Glamoč-Žut-Kamenar.

The Galiolica cliff or Misi, as it is called on Murter, is a shoal we encounter on the way from Žut, a place of danger for careless sailors. Local people state this is a place where ships can run aground. At this point, at the bottom of the sea, there is the wreck of an old iron ship that was transporting coal after World War II and ran aground and sank. Divers say they can still find a ton of coal on the seabed.

Along the island of Vrgada, in the zone of good sea current or “korenta”, there is a cage farm of white goldfish and sea bass, of which 2.5 tons are produced annually. About 90% of the fish is exported to the Italian market. The fish is labelled “antibiotic-free”, fed on the food of proven quality and farmed according to the highest European standards.

Vrgada is a beautiful island of rich vegetation in the Murter island group. It is already mentioned in the Middle Ages with its Gradina, which was necessary for monitoring the Adriatic Sea route. Pakoštane is in the north, Pašman in the northwest, the Kornati in the southwest, and Murter in the southeast of the island Vrgada. The sand was extracted on the island, and there were salt pans. In addition to fishing, the inhabitants grew olives and vineyards intensively. As on other islands, arable land has gradually been covered with pines and maquis, but mostly the population of Vrgada island still maintains olive groves, cultivates traditional vegetables, and keeps some sheep poultry. Part of the population is also engaged in tourism.

Drifting the way to Murter, 300 meters from its western coast, you can see the lighthouse Prisnjak, built in 1886. It is located on the islet of the same name. Built of stone, the lighthouse has a terrace that descends only 15 meters from the sea and a small pier. It is a recognizable symbol of the island of Murter and an indispensable landmark of welcome to the Murter archipelago for sailors during night sailing.

On the way back to Vodice, we pass Murter – called the Island of the island, since most of the Kornati islands are in its composition. The Tisno bridge makes it accessible by land. There are four settlements on the island: Tisno, Jezera, Betina and Murter with four different local dialects. The zone is rich in traces of historical heritage, from Liburnians, Romans and Venetians. Murter is a place with beautiful natural beaches, a quality gastronomy place, and a mecca for traditional wooden shipbuilding lovers. The Museum of Betina Wooden Shipbuilding is of exceptional importance for the island’s identity.

Along the southern coast of Murter, there is an attractive archipelago of two islands and two cliffs. One of the cliffs is Kukuljar, a rock on which is the first lighthouse in Šibenik waters powered by the sun. To the west, the round island of Babuljak is 28 meters high. Vodnjak, the largest island among Kukuljari, hides a cave with drinking brackish water, which fishers visited regularly. The last in a row is the Kamičić cliff, resembling a sharp stone knife, about sixty meters long and only half a meter high.

We end our trip by boat NP Kornati & PP Telašćica by returning back to Vodice.

We pass by Tribunj, a colorful fishing village that is characterized by a beautiful front of nearby islets and a preserved originally Dalmatian look of the settlement. Looking from the sea side, you can see a picturesque view with the dominant church of the patron saint of St. Nicholas, which overlooks the tribune fields, houses and the coast from the hill.

On the hill there was once the Jurjevgrad fort. Abandoned and destroyed when the population from the mainland, in the face of danger from the Turks, took refuge on the islet, on which from that time remained a picturesque complex of densely populated stone houses with typical Dalmatian narrow streets.