Welcome aboard! – are words by which Goran Ikač cordially greets each passenger boarding the boat. He also makes sure he offers his hand to ladies to help them get on board. The engine of the 12 metre Patalole, moored at the pontoon in front of the Šibenik Customs Office, is already roaring and in a few minutes Captain Zoran Baranović will turn the steering wheel to the right, Goran will release the ropes and the whole one hour panoramic sail along the Šibenik Bay and St. Anthony’s Channel will be ready to begin.
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This is a welcome piece of news in the tourist offer of the town which has been establishing itself as an attractive holiday destination in the past couple of years. Baranović and Ikač make up the crew of this recently restored “old-timer” boat constructed on the Island of Korčula in 1953. At the waterfront outside the Customs Office, Snježana Ikač, Goran’s wife, approaches potential passengers and once they are on board The Patalole, Silvana Slavica, a tour guide from the “Slaptours Agency”, joins them. Silvana, together with Ivica Bezić from Šolta, who owns The Patalole, is behind this project, the likes of which have not been seen in Šibenik for more than one hundred years.
– We always tell our passengers that this is a form of time travel as well, as such panoramic cruises on a practically identical boat were introduced in the beginning of the 20th century by the legendary Šibenik Mayor Ante Šupuk. This is the same visionary who built the first hydropower plant after the one on Niagara Falls and introduced the electrical public lighting system to Šibenik, which was the first of its kind in Europe – said Goran Ikač while we chatted on The Patalole’s deck, waiting for it to be filled with passengers eager to take this short cruise that, according to our hosts, no one has ever left disappointed.
The story about “Hitler’s eyes”
– Here, before us, lies the history of the town that was just a few years ago so desperate that one NGO threw it an actual funeral at the town’s most famous cemetery – said Zoran Baranović, a fan of traditional boats and a skipper who also used to be a member of the crew on the Island of Vis’ first falkuša traditional boat at the Maritime Festival in French Brest back in 2008.
– If Šibenik was dead back then – he added – it most certainly is not anymore, as now we have a vision. The town is slowly awaking and that can be seen wherever you turn. This panoramic cruise is a proof of that since the tour of the channel ending with the sail back to the Šibenik Port is a unique experience even for us who were born here.
It was just a matter of time before someone thought of offering such a cruise that included a tour of the mega yacht marina and the new hotel in Mandalina, sailing next to the promenade and hermit cave with St. Anthony’s Chapel all the way to Saint Nicholas’ Fort, one of the most beautiful fortifications of its kind in the whole of Mediterranean, overlooking the Jadrija Beach and the vivid seaside culture history on our coast. The tour guide Silvana Slavica explains all this in detail to our guests and we also join in and present our Šibenik in the best light possible – explained Mr. Baranović. Guests’ reactions are positive, especially when we mention that a Maritime Museum will be opened in the Minerska Cove in a few years. They also enjoy the story about Hitler’s Eyes, a sea tunnel dug through solid rock in St. Anthony’s Channel where German Navy used to hide their ships, protecting them from the Allied air-strikes.
A unique combination of the sea and river
After entering the channel, the boat sails to Martinska, where a well-known Šibenik beach once was. Twice a week they have a special treat when they take their passengers to Krka National Park, where The Patalola’s passengers come aboard the national park’s vessel which takes them upstream, under the waterfalls. Tourists are crazy about this combination of the sea and river. According to Goran Ikač:
– You can see some frowning faces sometimes before the cruise begins – often it’s the wife who wants to go and the husband is not that interested, but agrees to do it anyway… However, once the cruise is over, no one leaves with a frown on their face – smiles are all you can see.
We also promote Šibenik’s private accommodation renters and they suggest our tour of the Šibenik Bay and Channel to their guests in return. I think there is room for at least several other similar boats offering Šibenik Bay cruises and I’m sure that time will prove me right – added Zoran Baranović.
