July the 21st, 2022 - The Dora catamaran is set to connect the City of Dubrovnik and the mainland with the nearby Elaphite islands (Lopud, Sipan and Kolocep/Kalamota) as of next week as the connections between the Pearl of the Adriatic and the islands continues to improve.

As Morski writes, as of next week the Elaphite islands which lie just north of the city and Dubrovnik will be connected by the Dora catamaran, as was recently confirmed to local portal DuList by the Croatian ferry company Jadrolinija.

''At the request of the local population for the use of fast vessels on passenger lines of transport, and with the consent of the Agency for Coastal Liner Maritime Transport, a temporary approval was obtained to put the Dora catamaran on the aforementioned line. Travellers and islanders alike can expect Dora to start performing this task as of next week,'' stated the official answer signed by Jadrolinija Rijeka, as reported by Dulist.

There has otherwise been no answer to the question as to whether the old Premuda vessel which traditionally maintained this line will go in for overhaul and when that will happen. In addition, a question was asked about another ferry, Postira, and whether or not this vessel is still undergoing overhaul, and if so, why did it take so long to start the process and why is it taking so long so complete it.

Better connections between the Dubrovnik region's mainland and the nearby islands...

Furthermore, in the answer from Jadrolinija, they explained that connecting Dubrovnik with the Elaphite islands is being maintained via two state ferry lines.

''One is a ferry and is intended for the daily transport of both passengers and cargo. The second line is a passenger line maintained by the Postira ferry. Given that the pier on the island of Kolocep was reconstructed last year, the ferry line was redefined, which until now didn't have the possibility to dock at the island of Kolocep, so the cargo had to be transported by our passenger line.

With the reconstruction of the pier on Kolocep, the conditions have been created for all of the islands to be connected with a ferry line, so the sailing times of the aforementioned line will be changed in such a way that it will be able to dock at all ports on both departure and return trips in accordance with the requirements of the local community. The aforementioned change will greatly enable a better connection between the mainland and the islands,'' they pointed out from Jadrolinija.

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As Morski writes on the 9th of November, 2019, some dramatic footage taken of a large waterspout has emerged from the beautiful Elaphite (Elafiti) islands close to the City of Dubrovnik. A Morski reader from the island of Lopud, one of the islands in question, recorded it and claims that it was the largest that has been seen there in recent years, and this one on the video is far from the only one.

''This the largest waterspout (Croatian: pijavica) seen in the last few decades near the Elaphite islands. I took the footage of it from a balcony on the island of Lopud. You can see how today's largest waterspout (and there have been others) can be seen passing between the islands of Šipan and Mljet. The storm is still ongoing. The radar footage shows the front coming across from Italy straight to the Elaphite islands. It looks like a tornado route when hot and cold currents merge and rotation occurs,'' Pavo Noin Lein tells us.

Otherwise, waterspouts are not uncommon for the southern Adriatic area of Croatia, the last major one having been recorded just one day before between the island of Korčula and the Pelješac peninsula.

Waterspouts like this are characterised by extremely strong winds that often exceed hurricane speeds (> 120 km/h), especially if they're fully developed. Estimates of hurricane speeds can be inferred from the damage they cause when they reach the mainland. Therefore, it is clear that there is a great danger of waterspouts like the one in the video engulfing boats or other vessels, or indeed arriving ashore.

The duration of waterspouts is usually up to about ten minutes, but sometimes they do last much longer. In the Adriatic, waterspouts can occur at any time of the year, but most often they happen during the summer and especially in the autumn, when fronts above the still warm sea begin to occur much more frequently.

Although waterspouts are still a relatively rare occurrence, there are, unfortunately, documented  encounters with waterspouts in the Adriatic sea that have ended tragically. 

Watch the video of the Elaphite waterspout taken from Lopud here:

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