t is said that the Argonauts, forerunners of the nomadism that graces most sailors, put into its straits in search of the Golden Fleece. Somewhere here, in the Kvarner, in the outer reaches of the legend, a not over-well-known hero called Apsyrtus was sacrificed. From the chopped-up parts of his body that his sister Medea threw into the sea the Kvarner islands arose. Legend, always in sympathy with victims, says that it was called after him, becoming the Apsyrtean Archipelago.

Though people are fond of telling over legends that link them with their most distant and famous forefathers, perhaps because of its cruelty, this story never became part of the heritage of the people that inhabit the coast of the Kvarner mainland or its islands.

A hundred miles to the south, another story, free of the cruelty of Greek myth, talks of the origin of the Kornati islands.

God, not knowing what to do with the handful of stones that were left over after the world had been created, simply threw them down without caring where or how. When he looked down, for God too is curious, he said to himself that nothing more should be touched.  
rawing on this story, George Bernard Shaw wrote:

On the last day of the Creation, God wanted to put the finishing touches on his work, and from tears, stars and breath created the Kornati.

Let us not compare these two legends. Instead, returning to the present, we are faced with the question: how is it possible that of all those famous and talented people who have visited the Kvarner, none of them have taken the trouble to describe its beauty? For to be quite frank, we cannot find any serious traces in art pointing to the Kvarner as inspiration.

Looking for reasons for this ingratitude, for the moment we can acquit only Mahler, who used his stay in Opatija to reorchestrate several moments of his 4th Symphony.

Opatija! Is that not the answer to the question? In its hundred years of existence, Opatija has become synonymous with the Kvarner. But the appearance of it, the manner of its building, known to almost everyone, is void of any mysteries, the mysteries that stand at the base of all legends.

Comparing it with Dubrovnik at the south of the Croatian Adriatic, it is hard to find why Opatija should cast a shadow over the whole of the Kvarner. Dubrovnik, it goes without saying, in its thousand-year existence, deals out its pride to everything in its surrounds. 

But what about Opatija?

nlike many towns and cities that have had to fight for their very existence for decades, for centuries even, the Opatija that we know today came into being, or so it seems to its many visitors, as a present. Although this inveterate tale is not actually true, for these regions too have had their storms in the past, the story most often runs: a gentleman, by the name of I. S., gave his beloved Angelina the gift of a villa, which he called after her. This was the very first villa in Opatija as we know it today. This will raise a sigh from many, who will say: what a marvellous feeling, to get a villa as a gift.
But what makes Opatija special is the power to give. It is a fine gift to receive, but much nicer to be able to bestow.

Enhancing the gift of nature with hospitality, realising that it is impossible to compete with a thousand-year history filled with billowing defensive walls, it gave every visitor the gift of its own unobtrusiveness. And very soon it became a starting point and a refuge for all travellers desirous of rest. Among other things, a rest from the mass of stories and legends that, every day and at every step, demand that we be their witness. Therefore we need not wonder at James Joyce who, having been granted the retiring calm of Opatija, vowed that he would keep silent about it.

But let it not be thought that we are not lovers of legend and the past. The intention was really to explain why we should start our journey through Kvarner in Opatija.

he physiognomy of Kvarner is created by a profound, regular, almost equilateral gulf, and a few large islands. Faced with islands like Cres, Rab and Krk, of which Cres and Krk compete for the title of the Adriatic's biggest, mariners often wonder whether to pass them by without stopping, aiming at some more intimate destination, or to spend days exploring their numerous bays and capes.
Cres, as well as occupying a very large area and making a single unit with Lošinj, is an exceptionally long island. Linked by a bridge, with their geographical position, the two of them present yachtsmen a natural barrier, and for many the objective is to get round them as fast as possible, or slip between them. One proof of this is the Osor Canal, which has been in vigorous use since the Roman period, for it considerably shortens the voyage between the northern Adriatic and Dalmatia.

But however big the islands are, those who get to know Cres, Lošinj, Rab and Krk better more often than not become aficionados of their diversity and loveliness.
Irrespective of whether we want to linger on these islands or bypass them at a fast lick, wanting to get to some other place, it is very important to know the weather conditions that we will most frequently encounter in the Bay of Kvarner. 
The reason: the meteorological features of the area will often force the seafarer to rapid adjustment to the sudden changes in the circumstances of the voyage.

he main reason for these changes is the nearness of the great mountain massif named Gorski Kotar and lofty Mt Ućka, the foothills of which plunge right down to the sea. Opposite Ućka, looking from its almost 1,500 metre-high summit across the very head of the Bay of Kvarner stretches the beginning of a long mountain massif - Velebit. And it is Velebit that is the main cause of the wind known far and wide called the bora.

The bora has been described in many books, in both specialist works, and those that just express their wonder or fear at its strength. Irrespective of its origins, of where it is born and where it dies, the bora is, we might say, fast and superficial. It sweeps down the steep foothills of the mountain and seems to have no time to tarry on the sea. As if it were in a hurry to fly past as quickly as possible and vanish somewhere, as if it found the sea tedious. It is capricious, blows in fits and starts, cares little for sailors.

The sirocco, called jugo, unlike it, comes from the depths of the sea. It is patient and rolls for days. Though bringing rain, it is never in a hurry, and pays sailors all due respect. It won't blow with gale force on the first day, but warns all afloat to take refuge from its mighty waves if they are insufficiently experienced.

The sirocco, coming from the southeast, rolls into the Kvarner with great waves that during storm periods come almost from Otranto. It is most dangerous in Kvarnerić, little Kvarner, where sailors, attempting to hide from its rage on the open sea, hope to find more peaceful waters. But some kind of viciousness seems to seize it here, very likely aware that it will lose its strength just behind Plavnik.

The maestral (from the north-west) is the favourite wind of sailors, but seems to have too little impetus, and seldom or never gets into the head of Kvarner.
Unlike the maestral, the tramontana does get into the head of the bay, at Preluka,, where it is the favourite wind of the windsurfers. It is actually quite hard to recall a day not stirred by the freshness that this northerly brings from the mountains, getting all the way down to the northern shores of Krk and Cres.

If it is true that the northern part of Cres got its name from the wind that reaches it every day (Tramontana), then Cres certainly does not fit into the usual manner of assigning names, for winds have always carried the name of the land. And it is understandable that the mainland, so solid and so lasting, cannot bear the name of something as unpredictable and fickle as a wind.

Although there are many stories that tell what the winds are named after, there is often mention of the time when Corfu was an important trading centre, and the winds had the names of the mainland from which they blew towards that island. The bora was called Grecco, because it blew from the hills of Greece; the Libecco from Libya, and the Sirocco from Syria.
Whatever the frequency and strength of these winds, when sailors talk of Kvarner, they most often mention the storms. Those who have experienced them tend to remember them, and talk about them long after.

The exposure of Kvarner to powerful north-easterly or southerly winds and the frequency of summer storms will pose each yachtsman with the question of what course to sail to his destination or on what basis to plan the journey. Planning a route, you have to know in advance in which places to find refuge, if need be, or simply distraction.

Mariners have been crossing the Kvarner for centuries, and although it is hard to pick out their tracks upon the surface of the sea, their experience will nevertheless be the basis for this guide to sailors.
There are five itineraries that seafarers most often use sailing across the Bay, or Gulf, of Kvarner.

I itinerary: Opatija - Cres - Lošinj - Ilovik

II itinerary: Opatija - Krk - Rab

III itinerary: Pomer - Unije - V. i M.Srakane - Susak

IV itinerary: Rab (island Rab) - Goli - Grgur - Prvić - Velebitski kanal - Tihi kanal - Opatija

V itinerary: Ilovik - south of island Lošinja - south of island Cresa - Osor (o.Cres)