Wednesday morning we slept in a bit and then had breakfast out on the
Riva. Around 10, we headed to the South Gate of Diocletian’s Palace to
get picked up for our canyoneering adventure. Our shuttle took us over
to the small town of Zadvarje and we had about a 20 minute break to use
the restrooms and grab a snack. Then we headed to the tour office for a
safety briefing and to get our gear – wet suits for the cold water, a
PFD, and a helmet. Once we were all geared up, they drove us to the
start of our adventure. It was quite warm in the wet suits, so the cold
water was a bit of a relief. We hike down into the gorge and soon
starting canyoneering down Cetina River. The water was chilly but
wearing a wet suit kept us warm enough. Almost immediately we had to
jump into a deep pool and then rock hop and wade further down. There
were several spots to jump into the water as well as a couple water
slides to enjoy. In slow-moving sections of the river, we just floated
downstream. About half way down the river, we stopped for a break on
some big rocks and then got out of the water and headed into a narrow
tunnel. This river was used extensively for hydroelectric power
generation and the there was evidence all around. In fact, the tiny
village of Zadvarje had power before Split thanks to the river's power.
We used this tunnel to get around Gubavica, a large waterfall on Cetina
River. Back at the river, we headed upstream a bit to the base of
Gubavica.
There was a big rock here to climb up and jump into the deep
pool at the base of the falls. After a few jumps here, we continued
downstream. There were a few more rock hop and swimming sections and
then we came to another spot where we had to climb a ridge to get
around. There were ropes to assist with the steep climb up and then
back down, reminding me of some of the more difficult waterfall hikes
back home. Soon we came back to a rather flat section of the river near
the end of our adventure. We floated downstream a bit and passed a
tall waterfall. It comes from the overflow of the dam, so it’s not a
real waterfall, but was really pretty nonetheless.
At this point, we
got out of the water and followed a trail to once last wade across the
river and then up to the road where the shuttles were waiting to bring
us back. We changed clothes and then headed back to Zadvarje and then
were shuttled back to Split. We took showers and then headed to dinner
in the evening. We stopped by a grocery store to pick up some wine and
had drinks down by the Riva.
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