A narrow inlet cut into the base of the 1,700m Velebit range, with white scree walls dropping to green water and the wreck of a…A narrow inlet cut into the base of the 1,700m Velebit range, with white scree walls dropping to green water and the wreck of a German WWII vessel lying in the shallows at the head, visible from the surface and snorkellable. It looks Norwegian, not Mediterranean. The ship was sunk in 1943, variously described locally as a German patrol boat or landing craft, and has lain in the inlet ever since. Zavratnica sits inside Velebit Nature Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and the largest protected area in Croatia. Anchorage: A 300m fjord-like inlet under the Velebit massif giving superb shelter, and a rare safe hole on a coast famous for savage wind. Hazards: The Velebit channel is the most notorious bura corridor in Croatia, gusts over 100kt have been recorded. Watch the forecast obsessively on this coast. Plus