REVISITING KRNJICE: AN AMAZING SKADAR LAKE BOAT CRUISE

Assuming that the corona crisis is almost over, we were happy to accept Jelena’s invitation to join her for a Skadar Lake boat cruise to Krnjice with one of their traditional boats (www.lakeskadar.me)

The five hours lasting tour appeared to be a mix of pelican spotting, stunning nature, birdwatching, local gastronomic specialties, abandoned fishermen’s villages and, last but not least, the prison island of Grmožur.

The cruise started in Virpazar and we were surprised to see so many excursion boats in the port. Most of these around 150 (!!) boats were still waiting for tourists, who have not arrived yet due to the corona-measures in the EU. But in some way this also had a positive side: it was absolutely quiet on the lake. No motor boats, noisy tourists, loud music, no waste …. Just some local fishermen in their traditional wooden boats called ‘čun’.

By the way, do you know what a ‘čun’ is? Well, it is a traditional, shallow wooden boat that can easily pass through the narrow canals of the Lake and it is most commonly used by the locals.

Skipper Andrija took us to the Morača river delta and ‘Manastirska Tapija’, a bird reserve that offers good opportunities to watch pelicans and other birds. And yes, besides cormorants, herons and other water birds, we saw several groups of pelicans quietly floating on the water surface.

Water snakes were swimming in the clear water and we heard the screaming of seagulls from a sand bank nearby.

The boat ride continued through reed and waterlily fields, and then across the open lake to Krnjice, an old fishermen’s village with 26 inhabitants, situated on the banks of a small bay. We had been here three years ago, and we could clearly see that life is coming back now. Apart from several ruined houses, some buildings were also renovated and obviously inhabited, at least during the weekends.

After leaving the boat, our international group was welcomed by a hospitable local family. The day was sunny and we had a wonderful time sitting on a terrace above the bay.

An old man with a big white mustache and a walking stick came from a house in the upper part of the village and greeted us in a genuine Montenegrin way, with a solemn welcome speech. He then got into his old boat, emptied it of water and slowly left the bay on his way to the open lake. Our host told us that he is 83 years old and that he is living alone in the village, earning some money as a “taxi boat” for fishermen who want to go to lonely places, which are suitable for fishing.

The fish soup was excellent and we had a selection of various fish dishes, vegetables and olives. Everything fresh and directly from the Lake. There is much fish in this bay, as the Lake is very deep here, even 24 m.

As the level of the Lake was quite low, we saw a lot of edible water caltrop, also called water chestnuts (Trapa natans) on the water surface. This chestnut is not a nut at all, but an aquatic vegetable that grows in marshes, under water.

On our way back we passed the almost abandoned village of Raduš. Although the average depth of the Lake is around 6 meters, the “Eye of Raduš”, a natural spring, is considered to be the deepest spot of the Lake. Divers have come to the conclusion that the Lake is at least 60 meters deep here, and maybe even deeper, as the “eye” has the form of a funnel, which makes diving very scary… Due to the constant temperature of underground water springs, this is an ideal place for the spawning of bleak (Alburnus alburnus), a small fish that is smoked and served as a specialty of this area.

In the totally abandoned hamlet of Seoca, on the very bank of the Lake, the ruins of old houses appeared to be already overgrown and overtaken by natural growth.

Soon we arrived at the island of Grmožur, which was once infamous as a prison during King Nikola’s reign. The story goes that no one who was able to swim could be locked up here. And if somebody did succeed in escaping, his custodian was condemned to serve out the prisoner’s sentence. It is told that only two prisoners made it, using a prison door as a raft.

After an exciting day, the boat cruise came to an end in Virpazar.

I would recommend all visitors, who want to get a complete picture of the history, traditions, gastronomy and nature of Skadar Lake, to make this extraordinary Skadar Lake boat cruise with Boat Milica, accompanied by Jelena and Andrija Dabanović.