Visiting Krapanj – the epicentre of Croatian sponge diving
- by croatiaweek
- in Travel
(Photo: Private album)
By Hana Klain
Krapanj is a car-free island, known for centuries for its sponge-diving tradition. If you visit outside the tourist season, you can enjoy complete peace, the beautiful scent of Mediterranean herbs, and casual chats with the locals.
Krapanj is truly small, yet a real gem of the Šibenik archipelago. You’ll enjoy a pleasant walk through its streets, dominated by charming stone houses, often with lovely gardens.
This is an ideal place for those who dislike crowds and prefer relaxing in nature and swimming in crystal-clear sea.
This little island is special in many ways, one of them being the fact that it has the lowest elevation above sea level. It can only be reached by a small boat from Brodarica (350 m away), which runs every hour off-season, every two hours on Sundays, and more frequently during the tourist season.
It’s also the shortest ride, lasting just a few minutes.
(Photo: Private album)
We met a retired couple from Zagreb who moved here and say they feel reborn without the crowds, noise, and chaos that inevitably accompany city life.
Around 150 people currently live here, and the island also boasts a truly lovely four-star boutique hotel, “Spongiola.” In addition to a great gastronomic experience, you can enjoy a well-equipped wellness center, and in the basement there is a very interesting mini museum featuring the largest sponge ever harvested.
(Photo: Turistička zajednica Krapanj – Brodarica)
The hotel also includes a diving centre with a classroom and indoor pool, where you can learn the basics of diving. The Sponge Divers’ Cooperative once stood on this site.
(Photo: Turistička zajednica Krapanj – Brodarica)
Traces of sponge diving will lead you to another place well worth visiting: the Museum and Gallery of the Tanfara family.
(Photo: Private album)
(Photo: Private album)
Members of this family are still involved in sponge harvesting today, and in their museum you can see the first diving suits, weighing about 80 kg, as well as old photographs that testify to past times when many more families practiced this noble craft. Today, only about a dozen remain.
(Photo: Private album)
(Photo: Private album)
(Photo: Private album)
(Photo: Private album)
(Photo: Private album)
In the Žitak souvenir shop, you can also find an original keepsake, sponges in various shapes and sizes.
(Photo: Private album)
(Photo: Private album)
(Photo: Private album)
The people of Krapanj are very friendly and proudly told us about the “Krapanj plate,” a dish that will appeal to gourmets. The star of the dish is dried octopus prepared as a stew with pasta, which you can enjoy in one of the four local taverns.
The village also has two cafés, ideal for a morning coffee with a view of the blue seam, a pizzeria, and a shop.
(Photo: Private album)
It may not seem like much to some, but it’s more than enough for a pleasant holiday and for exploring the beauty of this small island, which is becoming increasingly popular thanks to its offerings and the peace that more and more tourists are seeking.
(Photo: Private album)
