A trip around the largest island in the Adriatic takes you to tranquil anchorages and through bizarre karst landscapes. Our three-part travel feature: Around Krk. Part 1: From Punat along the west coast to the northern tip.
With the glistening evening light on our faces, we leave Punat Bay and set course westwards. We have taken over a sailing yacht at Marina Punat to sail round the largest island in the Adriatic in a clockwise direction. The west and south coasts of Krk are a popular holiday paradise with beautiful bays, where mainly smaller boats and yachts drop anchor against a backdrop of imposing rocky panoramas or narrow beaches.
In the Realm of the Bora
The situation is different on the north-east coast of Krk. Here, a karstic, lunar landscape of rugged rock dominates the scene. The Bora is to blame. The Vinodolski Channel, a narrow, natural strait between Krk and the mainland mountains, is the home of the Bora. When it blows, wind speeds of up to 240 kilometres per hour are recorded in the Vinodolski Channel. If expressed on the Beaufort scale, this would be twice wind force 12. These extreme phenomena occur mainly in winter, and only rarely in spring. During the water sports season, Bora gusts of 8 to 9 on the Beaufort scale are possible.
We’re out and about at the end of May; the meteorologists are forecasting a bora for the next few days. Nevertheless, we’re determined to sail round Krk in our 41-foot charter boat. Just ten years ago, such an idea might have been described as overconfident or even reckless. Today, things look a little different. No, it isn’t the bora that has changed. What has changed is the accuracy of the weather forecasts. Ten years ago, meteorologists could only predict that, under certain conditions, a (usually unexpected) Bora might occur. Whether it would actually happen, at what time and how strong it would be – nobody could predict that.
Nowadays, marine weather websites can predict to the hour when and where a bora will sweep down from the Velebit Mountains onto the Adriatic, and how strong it will be. This makes sailing safer. You can then still decide whether to take shelter in a bay or enjoy sailing in the cold north-easterly wind. The route around Krk is about 70 nautical miles, roughly a third of which runs through the Vinodolski Channel. Let’s get going.
A night before Sveti Juraj
We set sail from Marina Punat in the most beautiful evening light, heading six nautical miles westwards towards the anchorage at Sveti Juraj. In summer, it is often absolutely packed. At the end of May, there is just one motorboat and one sailing boat here. In the sheltered north-western arm of the bay, we drop anchor at a depth of six metres. The wind is still blowing from the west. It is due to veer north after midnight. We’ll have a peaceful night in this bay.
With shifting winds, we leave Sveti Juraj behind us in the morning and head north towards the jetty at Glavotok Monastery. This Franciscan monastery, built in 1468 and beautifully situated by the sea, forms the centre of the village. In stark contrast to this sacred site, topless sunbathers are lying on the monastery jetty today. The harbour jetty, which is open on all sides, has recently been refurbished; there are even rings for mooring lines on the south side, though no mooring lines themselves. So you can only moor alongside – provided the weather cooperates.
Our destination for the day is Njivice, a popular holiday resort in the north-west of Krk. The harbour has been undergoing an ambitious expansion since 2020. As a highlight, a ‘music bridge’ has spanned the fishing harbour since 2021. If you walk across the stone arch bridge, you can play the piano with your feet. There were also plans to extend the main jetty by 60 metres and to build a new jetty from the promenade on the opposite side, thereby creating a new harbour basin for visitors. This wonderful project was widely publicised, and the plans can already be found in the standard harbour guides. Yet in 2025, there is no sign of it. The project has also since been removed from the harbour authority’s website. And the musical bridge no longer works either.
You can read more about expansion plans in Croatian marinas here:
Njivice: Between harbour plans and reality
As the harbour expansion never went ahead, the few mooring places on the main jetty are firmly in the hands of local boat owners. Visitors are permitted to moor on the outer side of the north-east jetty. Although there are mooring lines attached to new stainless-steel rings there, there are no bollards on the jetty. Mooring there without assistance is quite a challenge if no harbour master is to be seen to hand over a mooring line or take a stern line and thread it headfirst through the steel rings.
It’s just a few steps to the promenade, where one pub follows another and the town comes alive in the evenings. Here, you can still enjoy a meal at reasonable prices. For those with more discerning tastes, the ‘Rivica’ at the head of the harbour bay is highly recommended. It’s one of the best restaurants in the Kvarner region and is featured in international gourmet guides.
Sailing on the ‘moon side’ of Krk
From Njivice, we plan to make the crossing round the northern tip of Krk. Windfinder is forecasting a bora of 4–5 Beaufort, though it isn’t due to pick up until around midday. We motor northwards, round the petrol stations at Omišalj, hoist the sails and head for the Krk Bridge. No sooner have we passed under the bridge than it feels as though Rasmus has flipped a switch. Cold gusts whistle in from the north-east, rippling the water and filling the sails. Our Oceanis 41.1 heels slightly to one side and picks up a speed of 6.2 knots from a standing start.
On the port side we now have the Velebit Mountains, from which the bora sweeps down, and on the starboard side the lunar landscape, stripped bare by the cold winds. It is pure pleasure to sail south along the Vinodolski Channel with a 15-knot north-easterly wind. There aren’t many safe places along this coast where you can take shelter should the bora get out of hand.
To be continued
See also:
Bodo Müller
Freier Autor