FIND YOUR (PEBBLE) BEACH
A sandy
beach is what this humble traveler covets when he walks out his front door into
that great vast world. I’m a Benny from the Jersey shore after all. (Janet is a
shoobie) I’ve spent countless days frolicking in the surf and riding waves. I’ve
walked miles and miles barefooted on the beaches of New Jersey. I love digging
my toes in it. Beaches are a second home. They are for basking, and lounging with
friends as we sip beers and ponder the horizon. They are my destination of
choice and between work and vacations I have had the great fortune to visit
many and each has a unique cherished quality, whether it is the distance
traveled, the sand or the vistas, or the companions one shares the time with. Call
me a cheapskate, but I collect sand from nearly every place I have visited.
Yes, it is true, sand may be a free souvenir, but I am a bona fide Arenophile.
Come to our house, and you’ll see the world on display in little jars.
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| WILDWOOD NJ |
Yes, we like
sandy beaches, but there’s a big world out there, and on our recent trip to
Croatia we did not see any at all. They exist, but we never got close to any of
them. Most of the beaches in Croatia are pebbles or small smooth rocks and it
is kinda hard to wiggle your toes in that, but what is sacrificed in sand
castles is gained by the pristine clarity of the water. Not muddled by swirling
sands kicked up by the surf the water is clear and strikingly beautiful. So
clear is the water that from the top deck of our Unforgettable Croatia small
cruise ship, MV Infinity, I could see the feet of people in the water. That’s
something you’d never see at the Jersey shore.
Indeed, beaches
in Croatia are more for swimming and aquatic activities than lazing about. Water
shoes and padded mats are requisite equipment. It was beautiful everywhere we
swam, but I never could get comfortable sitting on the rocks. In New Jersey, or
Delaware, we’ve been known to linger for hours on beach chairs and not really
go into the water. But, in Croatia we wanted to wade right in and enjoy the
soothing warm, calm waters.
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| PRILOVO VIS |
Our first
week in Croatia we basically jumped off the boat to swim. The Infinity would
anchor in a cove for a few hours to enjoy the soothing water. Every day we visited
a new island and we had a choice of exploring or tagging along on one of the
many excursions Unforgettable Croatia lined up for us. Islands like Korcula and
Hvar have sandy beaches, and Vis has some of the best beaches in Croatia, but
it would have been a scramble to reach them in our fleeting allotted time.
Srebrna on the southeastern coast of Vis and considered one of the most popular
beaches in Croatia was too far so we raced over to the harbor beach Prilovo for
a quick swim. It was either exploring Vis or foregoing the trek over to Lepanovic
Winery arranged by Unforgettable Croatia and later a lovely dinner with good friends
in the garden at Villa Koliopa.
I added a
few pebbles to my “sand” collection from Prilovo.
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| POZORA BEACH TRPANJ |
ON THE
ROCKS
It wasn’t
until we reached Trpanj on the Peljesac Peninsula to stay with friends that we
had time to explore. There are several places to swim near Zeljko’s summer
house within walking distance. Pozora in town is the main pebbled beach that
caters mostly to the hotel there and at the end of their street is Belecica, a
small beach just large enough to spread out a mat. But the closest “swimming
hole” was just across the street from the house.
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| WATERING HOLE TRPANJ |
A series of steep steps
descends to an outcropping of rocks that had cement poured onto it to smooth
over the rough edges to form a platform. One could either leap into the
crystalline water or wade down a series of submerged rough-hewn steps. When Zeljko
first brought us down to see the swimming area the Adriatic was churning and swells
were covering not only the stairs but part of the platform and I thought it was
too dangerous for this Benny; I have an aversion to cracking my head; but as
the week progressed the sea calmed and we would take daily refreshing dips. We
would linger on the rocks to bask in the sun. The end of Hvar was right there,
gracefully flowing into the Adriatic and the rugged coastline of Croatia was
across the blue water. Amazing views and a quiet serene place to swim. I came
to enjoy this little spot very much.
WONDERFUL
There are
several beaches near Trpanj and we visited a few by taking Zeljko’s little
boat. During the summer he keeps it at Belecica the little beach near his house.
One day we traveled west along the northern edge of the Peljesac Peninsula to
Divna Bay where there is a popular and very beautiful beach. Yes, you guessed
it fair reader, the water is clear and the surrounding landscape was
mountainous and spectacular, but there also was a campground here and a crowded
beach bar that was so similar to ones back home. There are also a couple of
homes at the edge of the beach. The beach itself was pebbly and almost sandy at
times. Just off shore at one end of the bay is an islet. Children splashed in
the shallow placid water. Divna means “wonderful”.
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| DIVNA BEACH |
For my “sand”
collection, I gathered up a few choice pebbles.
LUKA
Luka
means port in Croatian, and to reach this little shallow watered beach on the
eastern edge of Trpanj we passed a number of smaller beaches with one popular
with naturist bathers and saw many churches atop hills. We also passed Blace Bay, sought out for its medicinal mud that evidently cures a plethora of ails.
It
was a clear day, this area averages only 3 days of rain in July, and the Croatia
mainland loomed across the Peljesac bay. Luka beach is very wide and we dragged
the boat onto the far end, like we did at Divna and walked on the road for a
bit to the Luka Beach Bar. There, we shared drinks and watched a masseuse take
customers inside her tent and children splash in the water, and from our perch
at a table in the shade of pine trees the resplendent day unfolded nicely.
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| LUKA BEACH BAR TRPANJ |
OLIVE
OIL TRAIL
On
the way back to the good ship Zeljko we passed a sign on the road that mapped
out an olive oil trail. Janet and I were excited and mentioned we would love to
explore this area of centuries old olive plantations. Croatia is just across
the Adriatic from Italy and the olive oil here is very good, but our ex-patriot
Bosnian friends don’t appreciate olive oil in the same way. So, we never got to
go.
DUBA
PELJESKA
One
late afternoon Zeljko drove us to this fishing village further west from Divna
where there was a very tiny fishing village and a long curving beach. It was very beautiful with the setting sun
casting a warm glow on the harbor and silhouetting Hvar just across in the near
distance, Duba has a pebbly beach but not a lot of residents. It is an isolated
location, but we saw quite a number of very modern homes on the western edge of
town.
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| DUBA PELJESKA |
VIGNAJ
On
the southern side of the peninsula are a series of towns including Orebic where
there is a ferry stop to Korcula, just a short distance across the water. We stopped along the way to see Korcula city,
glinting brightly in the morning sun, where we just were the week before while cruising
through the Dalmatians.
Orebic
was not our final destination though, but a place popular with wind surfers and
parasailers, Vignaj. The whole southern coast is very busy and had a real
summery beach town feel. Restaurants and bars and people crossing to get to the
beach with their boards and sails it was vibrant with activity. The skies and
waters of Vignaj were awash with a multitude of flashing swift moving colors as
the surfers and sailors darted about catching the wind. We parked near a small
peninsula that had a yellow thatched beach bar and watched the swirl of activity
for a while. The area is popular with Slovenians and Vignaj is near the end of
the Peljesac peninsula. The “pebbles” that comprised the beach were smooth
rocks actually, very similar to the rocks at Slatni Rat.
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| VIGNAJ WIND SURFING |
I
added to my collection by picking up one choice “sand” grain the size of my
palm.
That was just a small sampling of the available beaches throughout the Croatian islands. There's so much more to see. Remember it's a big world out there! Here's a list of sandy beaches in Croatia if you need to add to your sand collection!
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