The bold journey from the Dalmatian coast to South America is expected to last until Christmas!
As Morski writes on the 4th of October, 2018, the Šibenik-based ophthalmologist Dražen Grgić has decided to take on an adventure of a lifetime.
Grgić plans to sail a sailboat from the historic Dalmatian city to no less than Brazil, to point to the importance of preserving the sea and the ocean, and protecting it from harmful plastic waste, one of the sea's most dangerous modern threats. He was wished a safe journey and peaceful seas by his friends and family from Mulo Krke in Sibenik.
The Šibenik doctor initially planned to set sail for Brazil on earlier, but his plans were scrapped owing to the Mediterranean hurricane which whipped up Croatian waters, so he began on his way at around 14:00 on Wednesday, the 3rd of October, according to a report from local portal ŠibenikIn.
He packed about a ton of cargo and equipment into the boat, everything he deemed necessary for about one month and a half's worth of the voyage; as well as around 300 litres of water and some drinks for ''raising his morale'', and enough canned and dehydrated foods.
His mother, Marija Grgić, came to Šibenik's waterfront to see her son off, and revealed that Dražen has adored the sea as a child and that was a love which never ceased.
''He's very calm, so I just told him, 'look after yourself son, your mother will pray for you.' I prayed to God, paid for a mass, came from the cathedral to bless the ship and him, the nuns and the priest also came to do the same. Let it go well for him, let him be safe, and let him come back,'' said the mother of the sailor who will sail along the Italian, Sardinian and Spanish coasts, and after Gibraltar and the Canary Islands, the unpredictable open water of the Atlantic Ocean awaits him.
Through the Kornati archipelago, he will sail to the islands of Fernando de Noronha in front of the coast of Brazil and back, and these two points weren't chosen purely on the off chance, but rather because they're probably the two most beautiful maritime national parks in the world, the symbolical linking of which ties itself in to Grgić's desire to promote awareness of protecting the sea.
