September the 3rd, 2024 – One absolutely beautiful Istrian beach has become one of the most dangerous places to spend time on the Adriatic coast, but why?
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, every day, hundreds of cliff jumpers, swimmers, kayakers, boat trippers and more flock to Galebove stijene (Seagull’s cliffs), or Golubove stijene (Pigeon’s cliffs) as some others call them. This beautiful Istrian beach has got plenty of problems, however, with local authorities often referring to it as the biggest problematic area on the entire coastline.
“There can be no anchoring and no tying your vessel up closer than 150 metres from the coastline. If you’re caught doing that, you’ll be fined,” said Dolores Brenko Škerjanc, a harbour master in Pula. It appears however that this tends to fall on deaf ears for boat users, as vessels having been caught illegally anchoring is common, with some being precariously and dangerously placed about 20 metres from the cliffs themselves.”
“You’re not permitted to sail any closer than 150 metres away from the coastline, and 20 metres away if you want to moor,” she added. Despite those warnings, in in less than just two hours, a dozen vessels broke the law, seeing fines from 400 euros upwards being issued.
Large tourist ships also arrive close to this increasingly dangerous Istrian beach. That has resulted in plenty of quite intense discussions being had, and a lot of administration being involved when doling out fines, reports HRT.
this beautiful but dangerous istrian beach is croatia’s wild west by the sea
Whether you refer to these cliffs as belonging to the seagulls or the pigeons – and it really doesn’t matter which avian species you align them with – this Istrian beach is Croatia’s coastal wild west. The harbour master here has more work on their hands than the vast majority in Croatia, even in larger, busier areas.
The reason for it is very simply – it seems that absolutely everyone wants to get as close as possible to these rather remarkable and imposing cliffs and enter the caves below. These caves are home to bats and occasionally, curious and cute Mediterranean seals.
This year, one very popular American internet platform for seeking out specialised accommodation placed this Pula attraction among the eight most beautiful beaches in the world, which frankly didn’t help the situation at all.
“I think this place is great, the whole of Istria is just beautiful. We’re delighted with these cliffs and caves, and we found out about it on the Internet,” said a tourist from Poland when referencing this problematic Istrian beach.
As the harbour master and staff spend the majority of their time frantically dispelling the onslaught of people on boats from the sea, there’s still no solution for the cave, and the surrounding forests have unfortunately doubled up as toilets for the masses, as there are no such facilities nearby. Maritime officials say this is one of the parts of the whole frustrating saga that seems impossible to control. The current plans are to turn the forests into an officially listed forest park, so as to attempt to curb this issue.
Something should definitely be done, regardless of what ends up being decided on in the end. The local police have lamented that over the past three years, thirteen people have been injured, mostly seriously, from jumping off and climbing up the cliffs at this Istrian beach.
