Kakan Island

Kakan is an uninhabited island in the Šibenik archipelago, sitting between Kaprije to the east and Žirje to the southwest. It has no village and no year-round residents, yet in July and August its northeastern bay fills with yachts, because Potkučina is one of the most sheltered and most photogenic anchorages in this part of the Croatian Adriatic.

An Uninhabited Island in the Middle of the Šibenik Archipelago

Kakan stretches roughly 5.2 kilometres from northwest to southeast, covers a little over three square kilometres, and has a deeply indented coastline of about 14.3 kilometres — a great deal of shoreline for such a small island, which is precisely why it has so many usable coves. Its highest point rises only to around 112 metres, so the profile stays low and typically Dalmatian: bare limestone, maquis and low scrub rather than forest.

Kakan and Kaprije effectively form a single geographic unit, split by the Kakan Channel, which narrows to roughly 325 metres at its tightest point. To the southwest, the Žirje Channel separates Kakan from Žirje, the most remote inhabited island of the archipelago. Kakan itself is settled only during the tourist season; a small light on the southwestern side, with a nominal range of four nautical miles, is the closest thing the island has to permanent infrastructure.

For scale, both neighbours are larger and both are inhabited. Kaprije covers 7.11 square kilometres, lies about 15 kilometres southwest of Šibenik, has a single village of the same name, rises to 129 metres at Velika glavica, and takes its name from the caper plant that grows wild on its slopes. Žirje, roughly 22 kilometres from Šibenik, is bigger still at just over 15 square kilometres, with a fertile central plain, eight natural caves and pits, and a hilltop called Kapić at 131 metres crowned by the remains of a prehistoric circular fortification.

Potkučina Bay: Depths, Buoys and Shelter

The bay that made Kakan's reputation is Potkučina, on the northeastern side. Two small islets, Borovnjak Veli and Borovnjak Mali, lie across its mouth and turn what would otherwise be an open cove into something closer to a lagoon, with pale rock underfoot and the greenish-blue water the island is known for. Depths run from about 5 to 16 metres over a bottom of sand and weed with generally good holding, although the middle of the bay is too deep to be practical for anchoring, which is why mooring buoys are laid around its edges through the season.

Shelter is good in almost all conditions, with the notable exception of strong northerly winds, which can push straight in. Two navigational details are worth knowing before committing: there is a submerged rock west of Borovnjak Mali, and the passage between Kakan and Borovnjak Veli carries only about 2 to 2.5 metres of water, so most keeled yachts should go around rather than through it. Arriving in daylight is the sensible habit here, since seasonal buoys vary in how well they are maintained.

Tratica Bay and Eating Ashore

Around on the northwestern side is Tratica, a smaller cove that is home to Konoba Paradiso, effectively the island's only business. It serves the standard but reliably good Dalmatian repertoire — grilled fish, squid, scampi, shellfish and local wine — and it also operates the mooring infrastructure that makes an overnight stop on Kakan straightforward. The konoba maintains roughly 16 buoys plus a handful of berths alongside its pier in depths of 2.5 to 4.5 metres, another 60 buoys in Potkučina by the Borovnjak islets, and a further ten in Remetić bay across on Kaprije. Guests who eat at the restaurant are ferried over from Potkučina and given a discount on the mooring, which is the main reason the two bays function as one stop rather than two.

Where Kakan Fits Into a Šibenik Itinerary

Counting the Kornati group, the wider Šibenik archipelago takes in something like 220 islands, islets and reefs, and Kakan sits almost exactly in the middle of it. Zlarin is the closest island to Šibenik itself, Prvić lies nearest the mainland, and Krapanj is only about 400 metres off the shore at Brodarica. Just off the northern coast of neighbouring Kaprije is Baljenac, a tiny islet famous for the more than twenty kilometres of drystone walls that cover it like a fingerprint.

Push a little further west and you reach Kornati National Park, established in 1980, which protects 89 islands, islets and reefs across roughly 220 square kilometres of land and sea — almost entirely uninhabited limestone, with no fresh water and no permanent population. Kakan is not part of the park, but it is the natural staging post on the way there: close enough to Šibenik for a relaxed first leg, and quiet enough that the trip already feels properly begun. For crews leaving the city, an afternoon swim and a night on the buoys at Potkučina is a classic stop on a Sibenik blue cruise itinerary before the run out to Kornati.