HOW ABOUT SOME MORE SEA KAYAKING?

In this winter time thinking on my sea kayak, I get an idea for a great trip it would be fun to do. Well maybe not now, since strong winds wouldn't be in our favor to visit the area of remote Adriatic island. But it would be definitely fun to visit it in Spring, as soon as days become longer and temperatures higher. Sea kayaking adventure to the island of VIS.

Vis island, the «off the beaten path island». During the summer Vis is considerably different from the islands of Hvar, Brač or Korčula. The main reason for this is probably that Vis offers only a very small number of hotel beds so it is mainly visited by people who like it for their own specific reasons and not by "regular tourists" who may have seen its name in a brochure and thought it might be a nice place to visit.

We know that one of the reasons for Vis' uniqueness lies in its 500 years of isolation, often as a military island where time had stopped. However, as so often happens in life, the thing that once seemed to be a disadvantage in the end turns out to be an important advantage. So, Vis' exclusiveness does not lie in its excellent hotel capacities, but in the island itself; its untouched nature and the people that haven't been possessed by tourist commercialization (yet) but who are hospitable in an authentic, "native" way. At the same time this lifestyle is reflected in high quality food and wine offer set in the real Meditteranean ambience.

The trip (with the average of 10 nautical miles of paddling per day) itself is designed for reasonably fit people with kayaking experience. But it is not just about navigating around this beautiful island and its beaches; we dare to say there's more to it because this journey takes you through both the history and the culture of these parts that have been inseparable since the ancient times, long before Greeks and/or Romans sailed across the Adriatic till our present days.

More about the tour: http://www.croactive-holidays.com/4-days-sea-kayaking-vis-island/

Who we are?

FROM HVAR ADVENTURE TO CROACTIVE HOLIDAYS

9 years ago the four of us (the founders) met on the island of Hvar, (called For in the local dialect), picking olives and later that night over sea food and local wine decided to form the agency not exactly knowing where it would take us. We didn't have role-models – adventure tourism in Croatia was still a new territory back then and we were curious. This is when our mother company was born: www.hvar-adventure.com - offering great day trips on Hvar island.

8 years after, a new child was born based in Split, with a mission to offer even more exciting tours on wider territory. 

www.croactive-holidays.com 

As we all have great passion for Dalmatia and Croatia in general, our new project developed with a mission to take you to places in Croatia we love, not only the most popular ones that you read about in guide books...

ONE GIANT LEAP

Coming from different fields of activities as well as experiences it felt  natural to join them together and try to make them our living.

Our core activities are sea kayaking, rock climbing, hiking, biking, sailing.

Our trips are well planned, but we're not afraid of  improvising.

Our equipment is tested and reliable.

Our experienced guides know what they are doing.

We simply offer what we do ourselves and like to think we're good at it, yet knowing that learning (and hopefully getting better), never stops.

We don't believe in uniformity but diversity – therefore we have more things on our adventure menu and all are done with knowledge and passion.

In fact, our trips reflect our personalities. We've never stopped exploring the nature of things.

We are all locals fluent in English and some of us speak Spanish, German, Italian. We know people, characters, stories, restaurants, secrets and secret/secluded trails, coves, groves, all kinds of places outside Lonely planet. We know where, when and how to find a solitary spot in the middle of the highest season. We care and want our guests to have best possible time when travelling, because everything less than that is simply no good for anybody involved.

We know that by selling our services in a way we are selling ourselves and that may sound awkward at first, but only by committing yourself totally you're able to deliver something truly good and our aim is to leave every single guest with the feeling of well-earned pleasure. Of course, it takes two to tango, so we do our best and if the clients do the same, as a song goes, we're certain to succeed.

MORE ON HOW AND WHO WITH

Individuals and small numbers of people we prefer working with and somehow it's when you can give most but as we're never satisfied with average results our approach stays the same with bigger groups.

Beginners, intermediate and experienced adventure seekers, families, strong individuals; we don't discriminate our clients. Our trips vary from leisure style, moderatly sweat to hard going ones, plus everything in between.

In addition to this accomodation range goes from camping in the wild, campsites, family run gesthouses, private accomodation and luxurious big and small hotels and villas.

AND JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE

Self guided trips, wine tasting, traditional regional meals, culinary delights and lessons, treasure hunt, team buiding, stand up paddle, white water kayaking and rafting, canyoning, zip line, jeep safari, photo safari, boat and other transfers – we do it all. Ok, maybe not everything ourselves, but we are associated with other companies who we know do it well.

We operate in the north, middle and south Dalmatia, its mainland and the islands from Zadar to Dubrovnik, Montenegro, northern parts of Croatian higlands like Velebit, Gorski Kotar, from conventional trips like Plitvice national park to many other destinations off the tourist tracks.

Sea Kayaking - Croatia

We're not the only ones who know how, but we're really good and not ashame of it.

And we're hungry to do it more...

When doing the most common short trips we make one or two stopovers to relax, grab something to eat or explore the underwater world. 

As we ride high quality sit-in kayaks with rudders that not many people have used before, every trip in fact begins as a little sea kayaking workshop so afterwards you've gained more kayaking skills.

The real stuff is setting out on a multiday trips. More days – more possibilities – more beaches - more varietes of food  - more islands - more waves – more ore adventures – more pleasure...

Did you know that more means sea in Croatian?

Of course, the week-long tours are designed for poeple who already have some kayaking experience, (although there were some exceptions to the rule), and can cover longer distance (10 – 15 miles per day) and deal with, on occasions, rougher conditions.

The trips run from Split and the islands of Hvar, Vis and Korčula. Depending on the season and the itinerary we go to more or less desolate or crowded places during 2 – 7 -14 days but can be tailor-made to suit your needs.

Other then great moments on the water, we care about providing every day different gastronomic delight to add value to the trip. 

Great November weekend - a life after the "season"

Many people think that after the "official season"in Croatia is over, that there are not many things which one could do around here. Well, partially it is true for most people, but there is always "...but..."
If laying on the beach and getting even tan, or going out in most popular clubs or summer beach parties and festivals are not your constant concerns, that words which follow might be interesting to you.

Try answering a very basic question: is there urge for the Adventure in your hart or not?

Forget about crowds and prepare yourself for something completely different: Quiet, but yet challenging enough to make your senses awake.

Being out on the sea is always spacial, in summer time or now in November, it always makes me happy. It is true that in summer you can see the calm face of the sea most of the days, and that in autumn the weather can be unpredictable, changing its moods quite often. But why should this stop anyone to do something one likes?

This is a story of a great November weekend in Croatia spent with dear friends:

It is beginning of November, as the weather forecast says, on Friday and Saturday would be fair weather, while on Sunday they announced some rain and winds. Good enough for us, so the decision was made; we go sea kayaking this weekend.

It was Friday around noon. Wether was warm and sunny, sea looked perfect, so there was nothing stoping us to follow our intentions. Started from Ciovo island, we kayaked across to the islands of Veli and Mali Drvenik.

Passing by a group of small rocks and islets, we set a goal to use the advantage of nice weather and to do a longer leg of the planned route. So it brought us to the island of Drvenik Mali.

Even the weather was great, we did need to put some extra effort around the south side of Drvenik Mali, because there was a current running in opposite direction that ours. No big deal, but just a bit of extra work. Due to this extra work we have done another stop on a beautiful beach, to have some food and swimm. Yes, you read well: It is November and we were swimming.

The sea kayaking day ended in a small island village of Drvenik.  But not for all of us. Part of the group decided to go fishing for squids. And luckily we had the best fresh squid caught just there, in front of the small island. Freshest grilled squids and great local red wine really seamed like a reward on the end of our paddling day.

On Saturday the weather didn't look as good as on Friday, so we did start bit slow that day. The south wind started to pick up and rainy clouds were approaching. We all felt like we needed and extra coffee to makes us function (and it doesn't have any connection with the red wine we drunk night before).

The plan was to start early, but we again started around noon. 

We did a shorter part today, from Drvenik Mali to Drvenik Veli and to beautiful lagoon of Krknjasi on its east part - crystal sea lagoon surrounded with little islands. In summer packed by boats and people, but in November just us. We had this beautiful place just for ourselves. Well almost. We met a new friend there, he was living on one of the islets.

He looked quite curious when we approached, so we believed it was fair to introduce us and give him some presents (he loves oranges..)

But the highlight of the day was short shower of pouring rain, which caught us on the sea. It was great moment, when you really feel alive and even more connected to the elements...

And as expected, when we arrived back to Ciovo, from where we started, the rain was long time gone, clouds were clearing. There was great serenity that made us all feel that we don't want the day to end...

We didn't need posh hotels, popular places or mainstream clubs... All we had is a dear person, adventure in our harts, some good sea kayaks and a lot of great time. I don't see a reason why you couldn't do the same?