Just back from a couple of great weeks in Croatia we had great time sea kayaking and climbing.
Croatia is close enough to chamonix that we could drive there in about 12hrs with all the toys in the Van. After the long drive we started the trip proper taking a ferry from Zadar to Dugi Otok then driving to the south end of the island to the Telascica national park we planned to have a 4 day circumnavigation of the Kornati National park an amazing group of over 80 islands most of them uninhabited. We had to load the kayaks with loads of fresh water as there is no water on any of the islands. The first day we paddled about half way down the main island of Kornat visiitng various islands along the way. We spent the nigh camped on the pier of a seasonal village which was only inhabited by a few fishermen and a herd of wild donkey's which decided to visit us in the night. The next day we carried on to the south end of Kornat to a beautiful bay, we could view the whole archipelago from the top of the hill. We were planning to take 2 days over the rest of trip but a mixed weather forecast and great paddling enticed us into making the 40km trip back in a oner.
After a couple of days climbing we headed south to Dubrovnik, this made us really realise how long a coast line Croatia really has, it took over 5 hours to drive down the coast. We found some accomodation outside Dubrovnik with the help of a local sea kayak company Huck Finn the first day we explored the local Zaton bay then we paddled about 1 3/4 hrs down the coast to Dubrovnik which was the perfect way to arrive in the city and gave us a great view of the walls. The last day in the area we paddled round the beautiful Kolocep island enjoying one of the few sandy beaches we found in the area. We had to start the long trek home from here we split the drive having a day at Paklenika climbing the superb Domzalski in the morning and going kayaking in the afternoon. We drove from Paklenika to Venice where we had a day then home.