Croatia · Dalmatia

Zmajevo oko

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Jezero Zmajevo oko

Zmajevo oko, the Dragon’s Eye, is a small oval lake of sea water on the Gradina peninsula at Rogoznica, opposite Soline Bay and the Frapa marina. Sheer rock walls ring it, and a cave called Zmajevo uho, the Dragon’s Ear, larger and deeper than the lake itself, joins it to the open sea.

How it formed

The lake formed after the last Ice Age, when the rising sea entered a sinkhole on the peninsula through cracks in its walls. A thick layer of hydrogen sulphide lies at the bottom, and the water layers usually do not mix. Every few years the oxygen runs out: fish, jellyfish and other creatures leave for the sea through the cave, the water clouds and changes colour from yellowish-red to green-blue, and once it clears again the animals return. Scientists, who have studied it for two decades, call it a natural bioreactor.

History

Rogoznica tells many stories about the lake: that a meteorite made it, that it was left by the curse of a cheated blind brother on the one who stole his inheritance, or that it is the eye of the dragon Murin, slain by a hero. When the water changes colour, people say the dragon is stirring, and couples who bathe in it together are said to stay in love for life. In 2021 Šibenik-Knin County started the procedure to protect the lake as a nature monument.

Visit

Getting there

Nearest settlement: Rogoznica

Swimming

No reliable information

Tips

The lake is open to all, in the greenery a short walk from the beaches of the Gradina peninsula, and it is popular with swimmers and divers; the water is a little warmer than the sea. The mouth of the Dragon’s Ear can be seen from the shore.

Combine the lake with the pebble beaches of Gradina, the parish church and the chapel of St Mary in Rogoznica, and the Frapa marina across the bay.