The following morning we got up early to catch an 8am ferry to the island of Dugi Otok (meaning ‘long island’). We didn’t know what to expect as it was a miserable and cool day to begin with, and most people join a tour group to explore the bays around the island but we wanted to be adventurous and do it ourselves!

We arrived in Sali (southern end), one of many fishing villages on the island, and found a small warm cafe with nice coffee, run by a friendly man. He happened to hire out scooters, hence we had our wheels for the day sorted! We now love white Vespa’s (purchase on return to nz?). We took off wearing huge white helmets and looking like space men, and explored the length of the 47km island and had a picnic lunch at the other end in the sleepy village of Bozava. There were lots of small bays and tiny fishing villages along the way which we popped in to, the water was crystal clear but was too cold to swim. The weather improved to patchy cloud and no rain, exposing spectacular views high on the ridge which would be mint on a completely fine day. Telascica Bay at the southern tip is the most famous bay in the island and very popular with luxury yachts. It was beautiful but had lots of rubbish on the shore line. Out on the peninsula beyond the bay was a salt lake (Mir lake) formed by limestone, looked similar to NZ lakes! Overall, we though Dugi Otok is underrated with it’s amazing views and character!