Plovopis – Southern Pučinski Islands

Komiža on Vis is the departure port from which Dubravko Merlić and the Plovopis crew set sail for the southern Pučinski Islands. Darka Zankija’s wooden sailboat “Odysseus” will be their temporary home. In the first episode, they sail to the island of Svetac, better known as Zankija’s Island—named after the family that settled there in the mid-18th century. The glorious years of the Zankijas on Svetac ended in 1944, when they were no longer able to sustain themselves there, and the island became uninhabited…

On the island of Svetac, we visit locations that demonstrate it was inhabited even in ancient times. The crew then travels to Biševo, the only inhabited Pučinski island. There, they visit the Tafra family in Porat Bay, as well as Lucija and Lenka in the center of the island. There’s a stark contrast between the highly commercialized tourist Modra Cave and the island’s interior, which, despite its enormous potential, has been left to fend for itself.

Brusnik is a small black islet near Svetac that many mistakenly call volcanic—as our geology expert Tvrtko Korbar will explain, it isn’t. This islet of wild beauty was extremely important for fishermen – at the dock they hauled in their falkuše, while in the center of the island they maintained a place for safeguarding lobsters. The mythical island Jabuka was the next destination, its beauties and incredible stories especially etched into the memory of the Plovopis crew…

We set sail for Sušac and Palagruža, uninhabited islands hosting lighthouse crews. Historian Dinko Radić, a new addition to our team, explains why the oldest ceramics in the Adriatic were discovered on Sušac and how the Benedictines left their mark on the island. We uncovered the historical, botanical, and zoological treasures of Palagruža, where our days ended with engaging conversations alongside lighthouse keepers Voja and Krešo.