Kayaking and yoga holiday, Vis Island Croatia

Planet

We want our relaxingly active holiday to be high impact in experiences but low impact on the Vis Island environment. Once we pick you up from the ferry, transport will be mostly on foot, kayak or bike. On the days that guests are not eating at the old stone house we will provide transport to and from local restaurants as a group, with local restaurants that are accessible by foot also highly recommended.

As an UNESCO GeoPark Vis Island is managed with a focus on protection, education and mindful of local development. We are committed to this ethos and make sure we start of the week chatting to our guests about the island resources, our solar, respect of our neighbours, the community, wildlife and the responsible use of water and air conditioning. Our kayaking trip can often become a small beach clean up when needed.

We have a close relationship with Blue World, a marine biology NGO organisation based on Vis, sharing the research with guests and hopefully raising awareness. We have contributed actively as well as financially to local initiatives, such as Street Cats of Vis and are actively involved in beach clean up projects and organising kayaking trips for the local Vis students to encourage alternative ways to appreciate the sea. For over a decade we organise school group visits to the island and with working with local providers and the local high school, we share the commitment to protecting island life.

At our base, we are committed to small group adventures. As a vegan household, we use locally sourced, seasonal ingredients whenever possible from our Vis Island neighbours. We have made the decision not to grow our own vegetables as we believe that we didn’t have ability to provide the adequate watering system in these increasingly dry summer season. We now prefer to work with organic producing friends on the island who can produce larger amounts of seasonal crops, with a rain water collection system. Therefore supporting our island growing community.

Our old stone house also respects the environment. With metre-thick stone walls as the traditional Mediterranean way of keeping the room cool. We do have air conditioning, but we encourage guests to use it wisely, and use nature to air the room when possible. As we are on an island, we have to raise awareness about considerate water use in the summer months.

People

We are an independent company that have turned our home and love of the island into a small group activity holiday. We only have four rooms and we are have strived to be involved within our small community. With close ties to the island, we make sure we use local guides and have partnerships with Vis Island businesses. We employ locally and they enrich our business with a shared commitment to the island, for example Petra, who prepares breakfast for our guests, often arriving with her organic vegetables, first press olive oil and an assortment of homemade jams. At meals times we serve local wine from family producers who we have close ties to and often help and sometimes our guests help with the annual grape harvest.

In supporting the maintenance of historic traditions, from the making of wine, olive-oil, Vis island speciality foods such as Hib, and flavoured grappa, this contributes to the local economy and encourage the development of and investment in agro tourism. We organise the opportunity to visit these local establishments and boost the awareness of the proud island heritage.