Soline Bay
Address
Meline
GPS
45.150963124307, 14.601538181305
Level of difficulty 3 | Gastronomy 2 | Length 6.7 km | Time 1.5 - 2 hours
The Soline Bay is known for its black healing mud and also reveals incredibly turquoise water on sunny days. Nevertheless, here you are away from mass tourism and can enjoy paddling through the spacious salt water basin and towards the sea.
General information
Navigation rules
Boat and ship traffic as well as bathers always have priority. If you make any stopovers along the natural beaches and on the island, please avoid rubbish or take it with you.
Dangers and risks
The water access on Meline Beach is shallow and you have to pull your board through the water a bit until the big fin is no longer stuck in the sand. In addition, the transition from the beach to the water is quite slippery and under the water surface there are always unanticipated differences in level or holes in the sand. Carefully feel your way into the water so as not to twist your ankles!
Medium to strong breezes are always possible here, mainly because the bay is open to the northeast and this is where downwinds from the mainland come from. Paddling then becomes difficult, exhausting and, depending on the wind strength, also dangerous.
At the end of the breakwater on Meline Beach there are larger rock formations below the water surface, so it is better to paddle around the breakwater in a wide arc.
There are also some sharp-edged rocks around the island of Školjic Veli and on many shores.
There is ship and boat traffic in the bay and in the port of Čižići. You can paddle in the small harbor, but caution is advised.
Directions
The bay can be reached from three different directions via small roads that lead through the villages in the center of the island. The best and most direct route is via the road from Omisaj in the direction of Rudine/Cizici, and ends at the north-western part of the bay. The southwestern and southern part can be reached via two roads: one connects Soline in the south with places on the east side of Krk such as Silo or Risika, the other leads from Cizici via Tribulje and Rasopasno towards the west coast of the island.
Parking
There are plenty of free and paid parking spaces along the beaches. Above all, we recommend the spacious gravel parking lot at the healing mud beach.
Swimming
The entire bay offers a spacious and uncrowded bathing area with sand and pebble beaches. By the coastal villages of Klimno, Cizici, Meline and Soline there are small beaches with the usual infrastructure. The northern stretches of shore also offer excellent natural bathing spots, which can be reached from the street via footpaths through the countryside. Also worth mentioning are the „Wild Beach” Loncarica and Slivonjska Beach near Rudine, about two kilometers north of the Soline Bay.
Above all, best known is the sandy beach of Meline with its black healing mud, which has a positive effect on bone pain and diseases. Bathers come from all over to take the mud from the ground and rub it all over their bodies. People completely colored black-grey by the mud are part of the bizarre scene here.
The water in the bay is considered to be very clean, which is why the Soline pebbly beach has been boasting the Blue Flag since 2013, which also seals this fact.
Tour
From Meline beach left to the north shore and from there to the island. From the island to the strait and back along the south-eastern shore.
Length
6.7 km
Time
1.5 - 2 hours
Start and landing
Along Meline Beach.
SUP rental
Paddletour
Laurinská 3, 81101 Bratislava
Phone +421 (0)907 777 187
The rental station is located in Šilo
Between healing mud and stone ruins
The black healing mud of Meline is known far beyond Krk's borders and not only helps the neighboring villages, but also the surrounding bay attract tourist publicity. There are innumerable ways to find out about unknown paddling territories.
The Soline Bay offers not only a great view of the Croatian mainland with its Velika Kapela Mountains (Part of the Kapela Mountains) but also warm and quite calm water as well as sandy beaches and little touched natural bathing spots. The tiny island of Školjić Veli adds another attraction to a paddle tour around or through this bay.
It is best to park for free along the street or on the gravel parking lot between the villages of Čižići and Soline. The sandy beach leads gently into the water and is almost never overcrowded. But walking around here are strange people dipped in gray black and those who are just smearing themselves with a dark mass that they dig out of the sandy soil.
These men in black are not crazy exotics, but simply treat themselves to a health-promoting fango pack for free, which has been proven to help against gout and arthrosis - probably when applied regularly. My self-experiment confirms that at least the skin is smoother and softer after a single application. Will this help me to achieve better aerodynamics on the water? We'll see!
In order to get the board to glide, you first have to wade through the water until the fins no longer touch the sandy bottom. In principle, you could start the circumnavigation of the bay from any conceivable water access. But the beach with the healing mud is right by the access road coming from the center of the island and usually offers enough free parking spaces.
To the left, I paddle around the breakwater to avoid the surface rock formations. Nevertheless, you still have sufficient footing here, especially since the water is still waist-deep even 200 m from the beach. Passing the mud-smeared bathers, I first aim for the small harbor of Čižići and watch the hustle and bustle on the water a little. Although the bay of Soline is quite quiet and isolated from mass tourism, due to the port there is regular boat traffic, which paddlers should also pay attention to.
From the port I continue to the beach of Čižići and after that the scenery becomes quiet and natural. In a small bay there are stone ruins in the middle of the wild thicket. From here it is only 500 m to the small island called Skoljic Veli, which also shows a ruined stone building.
The wind has freshened from the northeast, and I'm paddling starboard towards the deserted island so that it doesn't push me back to the mud beach of Meline. You always have to reckon with that here on Krk in the bays, which is why a wind check in advance can be worth its weight in gold. With a bit of extra effort, I soon reach the island and moor on the leeward side to allow myself a short walk around the area. My first steps scare off some lizards, which I would not have noticed if they hadn't disappeared rustling into the undergrowth.
There is a little rubbish lying around, and a footpath leads to the abandoned ruins, but not many visitors are likely to stop here. In addition to a bird carcass, I also notice several bird bones scattered on the ground. The animals probably know that they can spend their last hours here in peace.
Since the wind and the waves are still okay, I leave the island and paddle to the strait that marks the beginning of the bay. Of course, since the sea is pushing in and the area is exposed to even more wind, it gets a bit rougher out here, so I soon turn right to Klimno and treat myself to a slight downwinder along the south-eastern shore of the bay.
In front of the village of Klimno there lies the tiny rocky island called Otočić Mali Školjić, which is an incredibly great photo motif, especially when the weather is nice.
The port of Klimno can also be reached quickly thanks to the back wind and waves, and the beach of Meline is already within reach. Now there are even more people here than when I arrived about two hours ago, but you can't call it overcrowded. In addition, the waves decrease towards the beach because the wind also loses strength. After all, it is already 2.5 km to the strait and the direct influence of the Kvarner Gulf.
On the beach of Meline, I comfortably let my board glide out of the paddling zone and finally jump off into knee-deep water. Maybe I'll treat myself to a little mud rub to enhance my satisfied smile with extra soft cheeks.
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