DARUJ/DONATE SLOVENIJA:

Zavod TANIDA, Rozna Dolina, c XV 010, 1000 Ljubljana

Bank Account No: SI 56 0310 0100 3107 849 (Opened at SKB Banka)

October 3: We are up by 5am. A long day is ahead of us. Dejan makes coffee in the kitchen in the center. It takes me some time to pack El chello. We fill our bottles with water, and pack everything in our boats. By 715am we take off, and the sea is still completely calm in the morning bonaza. The forecast is that after the morning there will be some southern wind, which will get a bit stronger in the afternoon. So it is best for us to paddle on the northern side of Vis where we will be sheltered from any waves, and then see how it feels to continue paddling over towards Hvar, which will make for a very long day. So we paddle towards the northern tip of Komiža bay, then proceed past the Barjak lighthouse and the military fortifications from the times of Yugoslavia on the western tip of the island opposite to Barjak. We turn the corner. The northern side of the island has steep valleys with pine forests descending into the sea in between cliffs and a few skerrys. It's very wild and beautiful. About 8 miles into our paddling we finally get to the first bay, Okjucina. There used to be a village there with a school with about 100 children enrolled. That was 90 or hundred years ago. Now I am not sure if one person lives in Okjucina year round.
We decide to take a break two or three miles further at Rogacic beach already on the eastern side of Vis. There Brandon and I venture into an abandoned submarine shelter from former Yugoslavian military installations, then we join Dejan on the beach. Quite idyllic, except when I jump into the water, I realize that I have to avoid sea urchins on my way out. We are 11 miles into our day. To get ready for the final push back to Zlatko's place in Zorace uvala, we prepare some gluten-free pasta (for me -- I get sick if I eat gluten) with canned tuna and mackerel fish. Then a coffee and a nap, and we are ready to go. The wind is Jugo, from the south, and as we are heading N-NE, that is not too bad. For a while we paddle almost parallel and almost as fast as a sailboat. Dejan and I get on its wave, Dejan then continues in our direction, while I continue to paddle behind the sailboat. The crew are very friendly, from Finland, several couples in their late fifties or so. I tell them about our charity project, and they want to know more. Before I drop off their wave I shout over my instagram handle. Then I have to paddle extra hard to get back on our course and catch up with Brandon and Dejan. The outline of Hvar in front of us is practically changeless, and it will be a while before we can discern the rock protruding into the sea in front of Malo Zorace. We nail some point on the horizon and we paddle. At the beginning we chat, Dejan goes to the right, South of me and Brandon, halfway, about two hours into the crossing, Brandon and I stop for some protein bars. Then we don't chat anymore. We just paddle. We reach Malo Zorace in late afternoon, about an hour before sunset. Zlatko and Vanda are just leaving for Hvar but they prepared a salad for us. Boiled potatoes, home-grown arugula, pickled capers that they picked, and a local variety of tuna, called luc, that they preserved in jars the day before. The beautiful meal awaits us after we carry all our gear up and kayaks up from the beach, about 25 meters elevation each load, which seem never ending after our longest day of paddling -- more than 28 miles. We sit down exhausted and soon completely fulfilled after we dip our forks into the luscious dish. When Vanda and Zlatko return from Hvar we talk, and then I finally play. Dejan retires first, then Brandon... Tomorrow we will drive back to Slovenia. Tonight we have finished our kayaking adventure, about 265 miles in total, almost 400 kilometers.

October 2: In the morning, Andrei invites us to his balcony and brings us proper capuccinos. We sip them over the morning calm, the pink haze of early morning lurks above the sea. Andrei is an architect. He can work remotely, somehow: he raises his cellphone on a telescopic about 8 meters above ground. That way he can get the signal from a network repeater in the next uvala over. Around 9am we are in our kayaks, paddling towards Komiža. We reach the lighthouse on Stupište on the southern side of the large Komiža bay, which is beyond half way. Exactly at noon we reach Jurkovica beach in Komiža. We pull our kayaks out of the water right in front of the scuba diving center B-24, which belongs to my friend Veljano. He is not around, he went to the island of Sveti Andrija (Saint Andrew), he is coming back later, we are told. But we have reached our final destination! That's it, we made it! I take el chello from the back of my kayak and take it inside the center. We are hungry. We need lunch. I need to say hi to all my friends in Komiža. I haven't seen them in two years. After lunch we take it easy for the afternoon. Veljano returns in the afternoon, I run to meet him and his mother and we embrace. In the evening we all sit in front of his center, including his father and a couple of friends. They want to know everything about the transplant, how Dejan is feeling, how I am feeling, how it all went. Two older men sit at a table outside of the adjacent house to play cards. They are also my friends, and I dash over to greet them. Back to the bunch where we continue chatting until Veljano takes us for dinner in the town of Vis on the other side of the island. When we come back I play in the center for the company. We are all quite tired. Veljano has been diving the whole day in a project for Croatian ministry of Culture. They have located a wreck from antiquity with some special amphorae. We are also tired, tonight we get to sleep in the center, by Veljano's direction I get the sofa, Dejan and Brandon put their sleeping pads on the large wooden tables.

October 1: Overnight there is Bura, northerly wind, which continues into the morning. We chat with Zlatko over our morning coffee. It takes us some time to set up our kayaks and take off. Meanwhile the wind slightly changes the direction and is almost into our backs as we paddle off towards Vis. We set our direction directly towards the southern tip of the silhouette of Vis on the horizon. The distance to the small islands on the southern side of Vis is about 16.5 miles and it is the most direct line we can take. Dejan immediately notices a strong frontal current, and the wind is slightly from the right into our backs as we paddle towards W-SW. The waves that are hitting is diagonally from the right into the back keep rising as we move along. Two hours into the day we leave behind the last of the Pakleni islands on the right. Brandon and I paddle in a straight line, Dejan takes more to the right. By the time we stop for a snack at the two hour mark, Dejan is an almost invisible lonely dot in the waves to the right, amidst occasional sail boats. We are fortunate that the weather is so stable. In rougher weather conditions it would be too risky to cross the channel between Hvar and Vis, which is known for some of the roughest sea conditions in the Adriatic. Even now, in relatively mild conditions, the waves rise to about 5 or 6 feet and break around us. However, they are almost perfectly aligned with our direction, and give us some welcome play, while pushing us along towards our destination. For a while, Brandon and I lose sight of Dejan, until we see him again already in the vicinity of Vis, resting next to the skerry Greben. We paddle on directly towards the lagoon with a pebbled beach on the northern side of the little island of Budikovac, our lunch destination. We reach it by about 2pm, after 4 hours 10 minutes and about 17 miles of paddling. Dejan pulls his kayak on the shore shortly behind us. Dejan and I reminisce how we slept in the pine forest above the beach on a previous kayaking trip with two other friends. We realize that ten or eleven years have passed since then. Back then, a sailboat was anchored in bay, now we are alone, except for two or three visitors who have walked over from the other side of the island, where there is a restaurant. After lunch we paddle into the wind, around the island, and around the next little rocky island called Travnik. One of the characteristic sea caves, Zelena Spilja (The Green Cave) lies in a small bay on its southern side. We reach the bay and paddle inside the cave, about 20 or 30 meters long and 10 meters wide. Light comes into the cave through the entrance and through an opening in the ceiling about 6 or 7 meters above us. The water is crystal and calm and we can see the rocks, sea grass, and life underneath our boats. The strokes of our paddles echo from the walls. A very serene experience. After we get out of the cave, we turn the corner of the Travnik and paddle past rocky cliffs of Vis, about a quarter mile to our right. The wind is now to our side. We are headed towards uvala Stiniva about 2 miles further. The cliffs offer no indication where it might be. One uvala before Stiniva is uvala Molo Trovna (or Mala Travna). A celebrated poet and writer from Vis has his konoba there, Konoba Senko. We are supposed to pass greetings from Zlatko, Senko's friend from Hvar.
Dejan paddles ahead towards Stiniva, while Brandon and I veer into Mala Travna. There are only a few houses there, but the shutters on the windows of konoba Senko are closed. There are a few fishing boats pulled on the shore, and there is a rudimentary sailboat with inflatable rubber sides holding a platform. Two men, one in his early twenties and the other that could be his father swim and clamber about the sailboat. I address them in Croatian, then in English. The middle aged man tells me that they have a house and are spending time there. Senko was there earlier but left. They ask where we came from. When we tell them the start was in Slovenia they drop their jaws in awe. Then I tell them that I carry my cello behind me, and the older man says I am making it up. I insist and Brandon adds that he is carrying his guitar. We tell them about the purpose of our trip. "In that case come play a concert for us in the evening," says the man. We introduce each other, they are father and son, Andrei and Jacob, by the accent I guess they are German. We paddle over to Stiniva to pick up Dejan. Plenty of sailboats are anchored in front of Stiniva, we pass them to enter the narrow canyon. At some point it was a large cave and then the roof collapsed. The rock walls surround the beach with round pebbles, the sea surface is calm with no waves. It is wonderful, and the evening is setting in. We paddle back to Molo Trovna, and Jacob and Andrei meet us with some snacks. We walk up to the terrace of Senko's konoba overlooking the bay and the sea to the South. Brandon and I take out our instruments, and we play in the intimate setting. Andrei and Jacob tell us they are from Luxembourg. They can't quite believe their eyes and ears. We play, we talk, we have a wonderful evening. Andrei unlocks a house of one of his neighbors, some mattresses are stacked next to a wall, and we bring three of them out on the terrace. Dejan, Brandon and I get comfortable beds under the starry night above the beautiful uvala. We have paddled a lot, about 23.5 miles.

September 30: I get up early for a morning practice. Brandon joins later and we watch dolphins popping out of the sea as they pass beneath us. Dejan calls that he is on his way. We decide it will be best for him to take the evening ferry to Stari Grad on Hvar to meet us at Zlatko's place. Last night was full moon and Brandon and I are both excited about the idea of paddling to Vis in moonlight. We will see what happens when Dejan gets here. We spend a day resting, I walk down to the beach to swim, in the afternoon we drive into the town of Hvar where I have to make an errand, while Brandon gets to see the town. By the time Dejan arrives it is past 10pm and he is tired from the road. We decide that it is better to have a good night's rest and paddle to Vis next morning.

September 29: In the morning Brandon and I pack our instruments and gear. Then we drink a warm cup of coffee with Pablo and Paul. Our exciting new friends new friends wave us goodbye as we paddle away. A few minutes later Dragi steers his small fishing boat next to us. He used to be a competitive sailor some decades back, still in Yugoslavia, and he is fond of sports and sportive achievements. He accompanies us to the mouth of the bay where a quick judgement of the weather conditions leads us straight across the 10 mile stretch of the sea to the northwestern tip of the island of Hvar. The alternative would have been to paddle about 6 miles further SE along the island of Brac and then cross just 5 miles of open sea to Stari Grad on Hvar, and then paddle additional 6 miles or so to the NW tip of Hvar. Why, when there are practically no waves, and a stable wind straight into our backs for the crossing? The only issue turns out to be the heavy speedboat and ferry traffic from Split to the islands. After a few zig-zagging attempts and retreats into the safety, we finally pick a good moment and paddle fast across their lane. We reach Hvar in just under 3 hours. Our final destination, Vis, looms ever closer to the southeast, past Pakleni Otoci (Hellish islands). We turn turn around the northwestern tip of Hvar, and almost simultaneously, the wind turns as well so that it continues to gently push us along from behind. What a privilege. After a couple more miles, we turn into uvala Vira, where we paddle onto a pebbled beach next to a konoba. We have paddled 13 miles, and we find ourselves close to the town of Hvar, so we pull out our kayaks for a well deserved lunch break in the shade of pine trees. After lunch I contact my friend who lives in an uvala a few miles further from Hvar. All along the plan has been to stop at his place. No answer (yet) but I know it's fine if we simply show up. Rested we set out for the last stretch of the day. We paddle parallel to the Pakleni islands, past the town of Hvar on our left, then the lighthouse on the tiny island of Pokonji Dol on our right, and straight into the uvala Malo Zorace with its characteristic rock sticking far into the sea. We pull out onto the beach and I run up the stairs leading from the beach to see Zlatko, whom I haven't seen in more than two years. He is there. A warm greeting, then I rush to play in front of the little church of Gospe od Zdravlja (The Mother of God of Good Health) into the sunset beyond Vis. Later we sit down, Zlatko puts dinner on the table, then we chat late into the night.

September 28: We spend the night next to our kayaks, wrapped into our sleeping bags on the beach. That doesn't prevent clouds of mosquitos to swarm around our heads so when we get up before sunrise, Brandon's face is almost unrecognizable. But Brandon is unhindered. We remember we are out of water and I knock take a walk past the houses. An early riser is up and about, and when I ask him to please fill up our water container, he kindly obliges. We pick up our camp and leave in the morning calm. There is a light breeze from right front, approximately from the South, and about 2 miles out I remember that Maslinica would have been the perfect place to fix my rudder string. Without the rudder it could be much more challenging to cross the 5-10miles of open sea, depending on how direct of a line we pick, to Hvar. After a quick deliberation, we decide not to turn back and that we can take the detour to the larger town of Milna on Brac if we decide it's necessary. We paddle by sheer cliffs and inlets (in Croatian "uvala") where pine forest meets the sea. I paddle close to the cliffs to shelter from the side wind that is pushing me off course. By early afternoon we have paddled almost the whole length of Šolta and we find a calm uvala for a lunch break. A few sailboats are anchored in the calm bay which bifurcates left and right, a pebbled beach with a few houses each way. We take the left and pull our kayaks onto the pebbles. Brandon storms up the beach with his polyethylene kayak and then helps me carry out my older and fragile polyester and kevlar boat. We munch on bread, rice cakes, tuna cans, cheese, and boil water for coffee, when a stand-up-paddles steps onto the shore. An enjoyable conversation leads to a cup of coffee with an athletic free-spirited new German friend, Pablo, who invites us over to the right side of the bay. He and his friend Paul are high-line slackliners and have plenty of strings so Pablo says that they should be able to find one to repair my rudder. We paddle past the sailboats to the small pier in front of three or four houses, and walk up the stairs, where an older man points us to their house. There is about a 100 meter long slackline set up from one shore to the other just in front of Pablo's house. It turns out that Pablo's ropes are too thick but the older man, Dragi, who is from Šolta, helps me out with the perfect string. While Brandon and our two new friends hang out on the terrace, I repair my rudder. Pablo then shows us a few tricks on the slackline before jumping into the water, with the folks from sailboats watching in awe. Pablo and Paul tell us that their big projected, which they just dismantled, was to set up a 500 meter slackline at the entrance into the uvala, almost a hundred meters above the sea surface. It took them a week to set it up. Dragi tells me that his friend's twenty one year old son just started dialysis and is getting ready for a transplant. He calls him up and hands me the phone, so I can impart some of my experiences. Then the two young Germans, Brandon and I prepare some dinner, Brandon picks up the guitar, and I unwrap my cello. We end the evening with a few songs Brandon and I play together and some Bach on the cello to a standing ovation from the sailboats. Then we retire into the house behind the safety of the window nets for a restful night - no mosquitos allowed!

September 27: Brandon and Jernej. A morning surprise: the mice have attacked Brandon's sleeping pad and stolen his hair lace! After that we are in for some smooth "sailing" in the morning calm, a wee bit of wind in our backs, we make.way (more than 9 miles) to Mali Drvenik where we arrive before 11am. We try to find coffee, but the only cafe on the island opens at 2pm. We hike a mile to the other side, where we learn that in the winter only 20 souls live on the island. It seems Winter is nigh... There is again this strange feeling as if the island swings between quite a few summer tourists and then suddenly there are.mostly just empty vacation houses once the tourists are gone. We take a longer lunch break so we can get a long-awaited-for coffee, and the nice patron and his friend make a contribution. Then we paddle SE towards the island of Šolta, the favorable wind has picked up, and the we ride the waves to get to.Maslinica on Šolta rapidly - we average more than 4mph. The only mishap is that one of the strings of my rudder breaks so I will have to fix that asap. We pull out our kayaks on the nice town's pebbled beach. Tomorrow we are in for some more beautiful weather on our way East towards the island of Brac. If all goes well, we will be on Hvar the day after tomorrow.

September 26: Still Brandon and Jernej, on our own. Our boats almost completely packed.from.the previous night. The plan is that we first go to the only cafe in town and I make an impromptu cello performance. When we get there especially the few younger local coffee drinkers enthusiasitcally demand that I play and then Višeslav makes buys me a coffee and makes a 10Euro contribution for the fundraiser. By the time we wrap the cello up again and take off it"s more than 11am, and when we turn the corner to paddle southward we face unexpected headwind. The first few miles are tough until lunchbreak on a small island before Primosten. Each takes a refreshing swim, then we continue paddling, now with a breeze in our backs. Shortly before sunset we land on a lovely sandy beach on a small island, Smokvica Vela (Litte Big Fig). After a few steps on tge island, we immediately get a strange vibe. Several large, beautifully built stone houses, wuth highest quality stone, modern doors and windows, looking almost luxurious  if they weren't all deserted. Some doors are open, some windows broken, trees lie across concrete paths, there is even a helicopter landing platform on one end. Finally we make a quick search and we find out that the island used to be leased long-term to a former Croat supermarket tycoon, until he was indicted on corruption charges. So now Brandon sets his hammock in the trees above the beach, I set ny thermarest on the concrete pier next to some of the houses, and mosquitos from swarm out of abandoned water wells... The night is warm and dry, the sky is lit up with the stars.

September 25: in the morning we spent time filling up on calories from whatever was left in the fridge -- mostly eggs -- of our little apartment overlooking the bay in Zlarin. The wind still strong, we decided to go for a coffee in the little cafe next to the pier with the locals' fishing and other boats. By now all the faces were familiar. We are also familiar. Finally got my chops to get the website journals up to date, and on the way back we catch the tiny supermarket to buy provisions for the next days. Some parmiggiano, because it keeps well and it is packed, and some cans of tuna and pasteta (old school Yugoslavian liver pate). Some bread, some fresh peppers and pears because that will keep too. Packing my stuff gives me an instant headache, Brandon is much more effective, and so I propose we should rather have lunch first to eliminate still more stuff from the fridge. That results in a risotto of pancetta, a mix o cheeses, salami, pears, and fresh figs. We are packed and floating next to the pier by about 430pm, we can see the waves foaming further out, Bura blows strong into our faces. We paddle outside the bay, but realize the waves and the wind gusts would be too risky. So we turn back. We try another time, and then the third time. Well, it seems we will stay another night. We haul out kayaks back onto the shore, I run to tell our host Ivana not to clean after us quite yet, and we catch the sunset on our little balcony. Tonight we are not unpacking, we treat ourselves to a meal at the Konoba for a change, and tomorrow morning we will take off early. Fkrecast: favorable.

September 21-24: We stay in Zlarin. Some rain early morning on Thursday, 21, and the wind keeps getting stronger through the day. Friday 22 is damp with strong wind (Jugo from tge south), and there are strong showers in the evening and storms overnight, which continue throughout Saturday. We visit a local museum dedicated to corals. During the past centuries picking corals and making coral jewelery has been important for the island economy. The second part of the museum is dedicated to coral biology, concerns with conservation, especially related to pressures from polution and global warming. The island is part of several initiatives: no cars (except firemen) have been allowed on the island since 1974, and since more recently, there is an initiative to eliminate the use of non-biodegradeable plastics. A local lady who owns a small shop remarks that there is now an excessive use of electric golf carts on the island,  where one can walk from one end to the other in an hour (about 5km). We intend to spend much time with music, however, a part of my electric cello cracks on Friday. I manage to get a multi-purpose glue from our landlady, and it takes two days for that to dry. On Sunday the rain subsides but because the rain has cooled off the air there is strong Bura (Burja in Slovenian or Bora in Italian), an east-northeasterly wind which blows from the shore as a result of cold air spilling over from the higher ground of the hills and mountain ranges that run along the mainland shore. We have to wait until Monday 25, for Bura and the waves to calm down.

September 20: in the morning they start soon after sunrise, and even then they are warned by a fisherman that Jugo (southern/southeastern wind, bringing bad weather) will pick up and that the bad weather is coming. They paddle through the picturesque straight between Kakan and Kaprije, and then cut back East between the islands of Zmajan and Obonjan. From Obonjan they cut NE towards tge island of Zlarin, with the sea and the wind still mostly calm, a calm that is supposed to precede rising Jugo. In the mid-afternoon they reach the bay in front of the quaint toen of Zlarin. They decide that it is a good place to weather the imminent high winds and the coming storm. The season is over so it is easy to find a place for a few nights. 

September 19: Brandon and Jernej take off from Vrgada towards the next island, Murter, passing some fish and shellfish farms. At lunchtime they take a break on a small island opposite to Murter's southwest coastline. Then Maestral begins to pick up (a northwesterly wind) and late in the afternoon tgey decide to cross further West towards the even smaller islands of Kaprije and Kakan. At sunset they reach a bay on Kakan cruising with the wind in their backs, passing in between anchored sailboats. They managed to hit a konoba (a restaurant), where they get dinner, and then sleep on the lonely pier.

September 18: Brandon and Jernej face the morning with a large amount of gear to put inside and onto their kayaks, including Brandon's guitar and Jernej's electric cello. After that feat is accomplished they take off and cross the strait to the island of Pašman, narrow and long, stretching parallel to the coast from NW to SE. After they reach its southern tip, they cross  stretch of about 3 miles to the small island Vrgada. They paddle along its outer (south-western) coast and veer around its tip into a small bay on its southeastern side. There they pull their boats up onto rocky shelves and set their hammocks in the pine forest. A damp evening results in a few drops of rain and Brandon goes on a night hike to have a look at the island's insects and spiders. 

September 16-17: On Saturday, 16, they wait for Atej's father Tomaž to arrive and take him back - time to return to school! On Sunday, Jernej is finally well enough so he arrives just after lunch. The bad news is that Dejan has a bad toothache. So they decide to make a change of plans and Dejan drives Brandon and Jernej to a campground south of Sukošane, and then returns to Koper to get treatment. Brandon and Jernej will spend the night and then continue the journey next morning.

September 15: Another beautiful morning on the beach. But tiredness and fatigue has crept in, except for Atej, who is used to the rigors of a competitive training schedule. It is a good moment to take a break. So they paddle just a few kilometers to a large camping resort, Bi-village, a short distance before Pula. They pull their kayaks out next to a pier and Dejan negotiates a good rate to spend two nights until Sunday,.

September 14: After their morning coffee, a necessary routine, Dejan, Atej, and Brandon pick up camp and get into their kayaks. Their course continues due South, they pass the town of Rovinj on their left. The coastline continues with pebbled beaches in between rockier stretches. In the afternoon they eye a perfect spot only a few kilometers before Fažana. 

September 13: Their journey continues over a smooth sea. Brandon is getting quite profficient. When they paddle past Poreč they come upon a school of dolphins! In the evening they make it past Vrsar and the long Lim bay- akin to a fjord. Soon after they set their hammocks in a pine forest next to a pebbled beach. Atej prepares a delicious zuchinni risotto for dinner -- delights of camping outside!

September 12: Dejan, Atej, and Brandon continue paddling along the Istrian coast. The sunny weather brings a few waves and a tad bit of wind on an otherwise smooth day. In the evening they find a beach  close to Poreč and get comfortable on the chairs from a nearby vacation resort. 

September 11: Brandon, who arrived from Los Angeles a day earlier, joins the adventure. He is less experienced and it has been several years since he last sat in a kayak however, under the guidance of two world-class experts, Dejan and Atej, it will be a piece of cake for him to get in the groove. They encounter some wind and waves, as they paddle past Strunjan and the beutiful town of Piran perched on top of the cliff at the tip of the peninsula. Then the wind dies down so they paddle accross the bay, Portorose and Piran salt fields on their left, to make it to Croatia. Close to Umag they find a pebbled beach where they set up camp. After Dejan prepares dinner they hide in their hammocks for the night. 

September 10: On the second day Dejan, Atej, and Marko paddle from Muggia (Slovenian: Milje) in Italy and soon paddle along the Slovenian coast where they cross the bay of Koper to Izola. A beautiful and relaxing day of paddling. They finish in front of the Sunset Bar in Izola. At Sunset, during sunset, Jernej (still with a cold) performs alongside Slovenian rock musician Gusti. Together they play Gusti's songs and a song that Jernej recorded 25 years earlier with Gusti's former band Big Foot Mama, and then Jernej plays a set.