Croatia Day 6

 Day 6: Mljet National Park

Started the morning with pancakes and pure maple syrup (thanks to Jeri's forethoughtbrought our own from home).  It was tricky cooking pancakes for 8 of us (plus Captain Luca) on the tiny galley stove with a frying pan and olive oil, but it worked out fine.  Had some experience with the stove after french toast yesterday- a well fed crew is critical for good performance.

After breakfast we headed to the west end of Mljet to the National Park.  The park was founded in 1960 and is the oldest marine protected area in the Mediterranean. It spans over almost a third of the island. Two deep bays filled with seawater, known as Malo Jezero and Veliko Jezero (Small Lake and Great Lake) are connected via a narrow channel.

 

We docked at another family restaurant for the overnight, with prime real estate a five-minute walk to the entrance to the park.

We were met by Olivia, the daughter of the owner who was feeding sea urchins to tanks of fish (who would soon be dinner).

We took a nice hike around the two lakes and then

took a boat ride to a small island that had housed an old monastery and now had a small restaurant and 

GELATO!!!

After being rejuvinated with gelato, we walked the grounds of the monastery.

Then headed back to the dock for showers and dinner. Today's temps were up in the 90s, so we really needed showers

Cleaning dinner

Dinner tonight was scorpion fish and John Dory on the wood-fired grill

and octopus peka (stewed with vegetables in cooked in a steel pot over the wood fire by our chef.

Dinner was outstanding, again, but we are certqinly eating too much.

Tomorrow we move on to Korčula.