Razanj trip diary

There are 3 cans of Karlovacko in my fridge. Karlovacko is one of the classic beer brands of Croatia and I usually buy some bottles or cans during my trips to the Adriatic. I spent the last 5 days there and I brought some souvenirs until the next spring when I surely will go again. A few days ago I wrote about my really nice summer diving experiences in Croatia and these days proved the trip in August was not one of a kind. Very nice weather, warm water, good visibility- this is what I need in the sea.

We arranged our trip with a local dive center in the Rogoznica area. My friends in the Adriadive center have a base in the quiet village of Razanj and they promised me an appartment close to the sea and the dive center with sea view. Our huge balcony was the place of our first tasting of Karlovacko, after 8 hours long drive we simply needed a cold beer in the September summer.

Our group consisted of 3 advanced divers and a beginner who started her dive course in the Adriatic as many other Hungarian divers. She was excited and keen on scuba diving. With her newly bought white dive mask and snorkel and ultra stylish black-white-pink wetsuit she looked really neat. The instructor, Istvan gave her the first briefing and after some basic surface training she was ready to do her first dive. All of us heard when she made the back roll as she screamed a bit while we were preparing for our shore dive. I didn't want to disturb the course, I simply celebrated my 444th dive with an easy and lazy plan. Just before the dive center in the shallow I counted 11 sea hares and one of them even swam before the lens of my camera- such a wonderful attraction! An octopus, some smaller and bigger fish for a first dive, I was quite satisfied.

We had 6 more boat dives. There was a really special one, we joined the underwater cleanup of the harbor of Rogoznica. I was sure there were some trash but when I filled the third big sack with bottles, shoes, medicines, plastic garbage I felt it was a mission impossible. More than a dozen Hungarian divers worked there and I can proudly say we really did a nice job though we left just enough trash for the next year's cleanup. The organizers gave a shirt and a good lunch for us but sadly we couldn't taste the good local wine because we planned a dive in the afternoon.

The typical dive spots of this area are walls. One of them is famous of the cat shark eggs between 30-40 meters, another one has place covered with purple gorgonians. We started in the deep and spent the last 10-15 minutes in the shallow where the water was 22-24 degrees. There wasn't any really special encounter but many small wonders which make a dive nice. We visited the so-called 'small wreck' to cheer up the wreck enthusiasts.

But a good trip is not only about diving. Yes, I have to mention again the Karlovacko and its 'friends' who joined the discussions every evening. We had two barbecue nights with awesome fish and local meat food. We talked about our future plans and recent dive adventures. And the new diver was able to feel the difference of a dive trip, when we didn't finish the dive after surfacing. We showed the photos, we heard the stories about the incredible sightings of sharks or mola mola from the local dive masters. On a morning we saw some dolphins as they swam into the bay. And we knew this is the place where we should come back again.

Photo gallery from the trip. 
Videos of the sea hare and the octopus.