Dugi Otok, Sunken Ship and Military Tunnel Speedboat Tour Zadar

Zadar harbour – the departure point

Zadar is the main city of northern Dalmatia, built on a narrow peninsula with Roman and medieval streets at its heart and a waterfront that faces the islands. The speedboat departs from the harbour front near the old town, where the skipper waits in a white T-shirt. From the water you get a clear view of the city walls, the bell tower of the cathedral and the promenade where the sea organ plays with the waves, before the boat turns towards the channel that separates the mainland from Ugljan.

A speedboat tour from Zadar is the fastest way to reach the outer islands: the archipelago is a maze of long, thin islands and channels, and places that take hours by ferry are 20 to 40 minutes away by speedboat. Departures run in the morning and in the afternoon, so the trip fits before or after a day in the old town or a visit to the nearby national parks.

Muline and Južna Luka on the island of Ugljan

Ugljan is the island facing Zadar across a narrow channel, green with olive groves that were planted in antiquity; the Romans ran olive oil presses here, and the remains of one of them can still be seen near Muline at the island's northern tip. Muline itself is a small village with a harbour and two sheltered coves, where pine trees grow right down to the water and the sea is shallow and transparent over a pale bottom.

The first stop of the tour is at Muline and the beach of Južna Luka. The skipper anchors in the cove and hands out snorkelling masks; the rocky edges are full of small fish, and the shallow water suits children and beginners. Those who prefer not to swim can walk through the village, sit at a café or explore the Roman remains. Allow about 45 minutes here before the longer crossing to Dugi Otok.

The military tunnel on Dugi Otok

Dugi Otok, the long island, is the outermost of the Zadar islands and marks the edge of the open Adriatic. Its sheltered eastern coast around Dragove and Božava was used by the navy during the Cold War, when tunnels were blasted into the limestone shore so that patrol boats could hide from the air. The structures were abandoned decades ago and today stand open, cool and silent, with the sea lapping inside the entrance.

The speedboat sails straight into the mouth of the tunnel and the skipper tells the story of how and why it was built. Walking into the dim gallery, with the bright blue sea framed in the opening behind you, is the most unusual moment of the tour and a favourite photo. A Dugi Otok tour from Zadar normally takes a full day by ferry; here the tunnel visit takes about 30 minutes and the crossing is a scenic ride past the island's cliffs and coves.

Sabuša Bay on the island of Molat

Molat is a quiet island north of Dugi Otok with three small villages and almost no traffic, known among sailors for its peaceful anchorages. Sabuša Bay is one of them: a sheltered cove with a shoreline that is partly sand and partly smooth rock, so families can wade in from the beach while others snorkel along the rocks. The water is calm and clear, and the surrounding slopes of pine and maquis keep the bay cool even in July.

You have around 45 minutes here to swim, snorkel or simply lie in the sun; there are no facilities, which is part of its charm, so bring your own drinks for the cool box on board. If the wind makes Sabuša uncomfortable, the skipper replaces it with the village of Božava on Dugi Otok, which has its own string of wild coves and beaches, keeping the number of stops and the swimming time the same.

The sunken ship Ledenik – snorkelling over a wreck

The last stop is over the wreck of the Ledenik, a merchant ship that sank in the channel between the islands in the second half of the 20th century. It lies in shallow water close to the shore, with the upper parts of the hull only a few metres below the surface, which makes it one of the few shipwrecks in the Adriatic that you can see clearly with just a mask and snorkel rather than diving equipment.

Over the decades the steel has become an artificial reef: sea sponges, algae and shoals of fish have settled on the hull, and the skipper points out what to look for and tells the story of how the ship came to be here. The wreck snorkel lasts about 30 minutes, after which the boat returns to the Zadar harbour front, about 4.5 hours after departure. Protected-area and anchorage fees along the route are paid to the skipper on the day.