This summer, the Blue World Institute achieved a nice collaboration with the RokOtok association and project, which was designed by Domagoj Jakopović Ribafish, prof. geography, TV host and blogger in memory of his prematurely deceased son Rok.

In order to fulfill promise he gave to his son, he has been swimming along the Croatian coast since 2019 with the goal of connecting all 50 inhabited islands. This year, he is entering the last stage and plans to swim across the last, northernmost 17 of the 50 inhabited Croatian islands in the period from July 3 to 26. On each island, there is a meeting with children and parents, a conversation about ecology and the importance of spending free time without screens.

On July 18, in the morning hours, Ribafish swam 32m between the islands of Cres and Lošinj and later on sailed to the port of Mali Lošinj, where we organized a festive welcome for him with the presence of about 170 children on the beach next to Beach Bar Apollon. Ribafish hung out with the children, and the main topic of conversation was spending time actively, and they also touched on environmental topics and life on the islands.

 

Ribafish told the children how he became a marine ranger by downloading the Marine Ranger app and reporting a dolphin sighting. The application was developed by the Blue World Institute as part of the Life DELFI project, co-financed by the LIFE program and the Office for NGOs of the Government of the Republic of Croatia.

 

At the end of the lecture, all the children cleaned the beach and received unique gifts from the RokOtok association as a memory of their meeting with Ribafish.

The event was organized jointly by the Blue World Institute, TZ Lošinj and Beach Bar Apollon.