Krka National Park

We recently visited this beautiful part of Croatia in ITIKI and it was the highlight of our trip so far. With the recent rain the falls at Skradinski Buk were in full force. From the river mouth to Skradin it is an 11nM journey and this is as far as you can go in your own boat, but the journey was as special as the destination. 

Sveti Nikola Fort

​We wove our way between islands from our anchorage the night before and entered the river mouth around noon. There is an old fort (Sveti Nikola) “guarding” the broad entrance to this busy harbour but the river soon narrows and we were surrounded by steep hills either side. We approached our first ever bridge a little nervous even though we knew the height was 30m and our airspace is 22m. Even more disconcerting though were the powerlines beyond that! 

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ITIKI's first Bridge

Overhead powerlines

It is so hard to tell the height of these above the mast and neither of us wanted to touch anything metal as we went under them. We passed a few tunnels, which could have been submarine caves, before the river opened out in to a wide bay and the town of Sibenik, which we motored past. Quite a few large yachts tied up at the town quay who must have been a bit more nervous than us with those power lines! We continue on through another narrow section of river, past oyster and mussel farms. No sign of any houses through this section. Suddenly the river opens up into a large lagoon and the surrounding land is much lower. 

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Race fleet

We cross a race fleet of several one design ketches and found an anchorage in the east of the lagoon, close to the start of the next narrow section of the river. A large swan came by to visit, no doubt looking for food. We got up early to navigate up river under another bridge to arrive at the pretty little town of Skradin.

ITIKI at Skradin

We find a floating pontoon opposite the town, tie up ITIKI and head over in the RIB. The park entrance fee includes the boat trip up to Skradinski Buk where the first of the falls are and we arrive before the seething masses. The falls are really raging with water going over the paths in some places and the noise is incredible. There are boardwalks around the falls, some old water mills and a power station as well and we do a complete lap before jumping on another smaller boat up the river to the island of Visovac where there is an Franciscan monastery. The water level unusually high so the boats can’t go further up river to the Roski Slap falls, which is disappointing as who wouldn’t want to go to a place called Roski slap! We can see why though, as the mooring cleats are underwater! It’s a small and peaceful island with 8 novices currently in residence. We arrive back at Stradinski Buk just in time to miss the boat back to Skradin so take a "leisurely" 4km walk along the river instead and back to ITIKI. We weave our way back down the river, under the bridges again, and spend the night at an anchorage in the river mouth opposite the fort. A unique journey, and well worth a visit.

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The Skradinski Buk Falls

St Francis