Kornati

Kornati National Park

The Kornati archipelago of Croatia, also known as the Stomorski islands, is located in the northern part of Dalmatia, south from Zadar and west from Šibenik, in the Šibenik-Knin county. With 35km length and 140 islands, some large, some small, in a sea area of about 320km², the Kornati are the densest archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. From northwest to southeast (from the island of Balabra to Samograd), and from northeast to southwest (from Gangarol to Mana) they stretch for 13km. The name of the archipelago is the plural form of the name of the largest island, called Kornat.SettlementThere are no permanent settlements in Kornati. Simple houses in well-protected coves such as Vrulje, Kravjačica, Lavsa and others are used by mainland landowners as temporary shelters. Most of the land owners are from the island of Murter and Dugi Otok.ClimateThe average monthly temperature for January is 7.3°C, in July it is 23.9°C; the average sea temperature in winter is 14to and in summer 22.8°C.GeographyGeographically the Kornati islands can be divided into two main groups – the Gornji Kornati or Upper Kornati, closer to the mainland, and the Donji Kornati or Lower Kornati, which are mostly facing the open sea in the southwest.The islands known as Gornji Kornati include the northernmost island of Sit and the surrounding islets, divided by a channel from Žut and its surrounding islets to the south. Žut is the largest and most indented of these islands.