I was standing on the top of the hill, above the bay mentioned in the title ...
... when this opening photograph was taken.
Budava is a relatively large bay surrounded by hills and sheltered from the winds, situated on the stretch of coastline about twenty kilometers from my hometown.
It's perfectly fine for swimming and enjoying the hot summer days, but is far from being a popular tourist place like many other stretches of coastline in this area.
It's well-hidden among the hills and you have to drive quite a few kilometers of steep, dusty gravel road to reach it.
Budava is mainly known as a fish farming place. The Gilt-head bream (Sparus aurata) and European bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) live and grow in the floating cages that you can see in this photograph.
Besides the fish ...
... plenty of shellfish is also being produced here.
All these colorful buoys ...
... are attached to ropes ...
... covered with clusters of mussels.
The fish is kept at the outer end of the bay, not far from the open sea ...
... and the clams are hanging under the buoys in the water closer to the opposite, shallow end that ends with a muddy, marsh-like inlet.
While standing near the top of the hill, I was surrounded by a dry, stony environment ...
... and I spent an hour or so searching for small details through the macro lens.
First I noticed these interesting yellow flowers, and then ...
... a spider.
The flowers belong to an orchid ...
... the Orchis pauciflora, commonly known as the Sparse-flowered Orchid. I never encountered this plant before the April of 2021, when all the photographs in this post were taken.
The spider, on the other hand ...
... is very common in the coastal areas around my hometown as well. I can't tell you the exact species, but it's a Wolf spider. Lycosidae family. The genus is probably Alopecosa.
Here you can see the tiny Arabis hirsuta flowers while the following photograph ...
... shows the long, elegant stem with a couple of fresh, young leaves on it.
In this third picture, you can take a look at the old, hairy leaves at the base of the plant.
This is a small detail of the Fumana procumbens plant. The flower just started forming among the leaves.
With this photograph ...
... the focus is back on the sea.
A speeding boat was driving from the fish farm to the harbor.
Among many clearly recognizable stuff on the surface, I saw also this floating thing that looks like a basic structure for a birdcage or a tent with blue buoys attached to it. I don't remember seeing that thing before.
Boats of various sizes, from small to medium, from fishing to sailing ones, were resting on the calm water while I continued downhill ...
... towards the harbor ...
... and the saltmarsh at the and of the bay.
When I passed by this old shack, the harbor was near.
The thing was mounted on a trailer ...
... and I saw a nice variety of obsolete stuff inside.
Down in the shallow water beneath the trailer - shack there was a small makeshift pier. From here, I had to walk about a hundred meters to the central part of the little port, with bigger, more solid docks ...
... shown in this photograph ...
... and more or less the same to the muddy, brackish shallows at the and of the bay.
While walking up and down one of the main docks, I noticed this small boat ...
... and I took a couple of shots, mainly because it had the anarchy symbol painted on the prow. Definitely not the usual decoration embraced by local fishermen.
As I was standing there, observing the boat, a man arrived at the dock with a boat of similar size. He said hello and stopped to chat a bit, and I caught the opportunity to photograph the fish he caught. A nice bunch of small, but not too small Sparus aurata.
Meanwhile ...
... another small boat with a man in it was directed towards the buoys with mussels.
I followed him for a minute or so ...
... and then walked to the muddiest part of the bay.
While standing there barefoot, surrounded by typical saltmarsh vegetation ...
... I spotted a small white dot, far from me on the sea. It looked like a buoy at first sight. Only when I zoomed in with my camera, did I notice that it was a swan. These birds are very common in the inland parts of Croatia, but here where I live, the swan is a rarity. Before this encounter, I never saw one along the coast of Istra. After taking this shot ...
... I put my slippers on and walked back.
Passed by a series of small, makeshift piers ...
... and continued uphill. It was time to go home.
And that's it.
AS ALWAYS IN THESE POSTS ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK - THE END.
