Going boating in winter months is a chance to explore the coast when we have it to ourselves. With the beautiful sunny weather this weekend (though I have to say a tad chilly) we took the boat along to Vela Stiniva where there’s a lovely little dock for mooring. That allowed us to go ashore and walk around this little fishing village on Hvar’s north shore.

Vela Stiniva is the fishing port for Zastražišće, which is an agricultural village in the hills above. Stiniva means “rocky”, and is a very apt description of the cove, with its high cliffs to right and left and you sail in. These are good cliffs for climbing, attracting locals and visitors to scale the heights. Somewhere on the west side is a cave, though we couldn’t see it from below.

Most of the buildings in Vela Stiniva are apartments to house summer visitors. There are a couple of restaurants here in season also, but if we want to eat here in February we’ll need to bring a picnic! There are a couple of well-tended vegetable plots and some beautiful daffodils and irises in flower.

Stiniva is a rather popular name for bays among the islands. The best known Stiniva Bay is on Vis, but there are others – the neighbouring islands of Korčula and Brač have one each, there’s one on Kornat further north, while Hvar has a total of three – Stiniva, Mala Stiniva and Vela Stiniva. As in, what’s that bay called? Rocky Bay, Little Rocky Bay, Big Rocky Bay!

It was so peaceful sitting on the dock in the sunshine, I even got my sketchbook out for a while…