Not much change in the skies on Europe’s sunniest island of Hvar on January 1, 2017, but a brave few took part in the annual Hvar New Year Dive.
With an average of 2,718 hours of sunshine a year, the Croatian island of Hvar is known as the sunniest island in Europe, and if the blue skies that greeted 2017 are anything to go by, this year will be no different.
Hvar, which next year will celebrated 150 years as the place where organised tourism in Europe began in 1868 with the founding of the Hvar Health Society catering to convalescing aristocrats from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, used to have tourism based on its mild winters, and those passing the Bonj les Bains complex by Hotel Amfora at 13:00 this afternoon will have understood why.
A group of hardy souls, no doubt shaking off the excesses of last night’s revelling to welcome in the new year, took part in the second organised Hvar New Year Dive, organised by Polarni Tovari/Polar Donkeys, whose aim is to promote winter swimming on Hvar, to reach out to possible other winter swimmers on Hvar and to document our winter swimming adventures. Today’s water temperature was a refreshing 15 degrees Celsius.
Bonj les Bains is an 1930s colonnade which has been revamped by Suncani Hvar Hotels, and which in the summer season sees a lot more swimmers, as well as upscale guests taking advantage of its luxury wellness and dining services, as well as being one of Hvar’ most popular wedding locations.
Take a look at today’s dive in the video below, and congratulations to all those who took part. A fine way to start the year!
Want to book your stay in swimming paradise? Visit the Suncani Hvar website for more.
