Croatia · Adriatic Sea
Kornati National Park
Summer is the main boat-diving season through the Kornati islands.
Kornati National Park is a Croatian archipelago of 89 islands — rocky walls, posidonia meadows, and a protected marine ecosystem. Atmospheric Mediterranean diving with the bonus of Croatia's tourism infrastructure.
Good season
May–October; July–August is warmest. Visibility best in spring and autumn.
Trip duration
3–5 nights, often combined with sailing.
Dive style
Boat diving on walls; mild current.
Dive level
Open Water; Advanced for the deeper walls.
Reef health
What you’ll actually findSome loss since the 2010s, but the reef still has plenty to dive. Pick depth and shoulder-season carefully.
Coral reef health
How is this calculated?Heat stress right now
No abnormal heat right now. Corals stay coloured.
NOAA Coral Reef Watch · updated May 2026 · 0 °C-week heat dose
What to expect on a dive
Adriatic reefs structured by gorgonians and sponges. Cool-water ecosystem buffered from tropical bleaching.
Sources, methodology, and the raw numbers
Raw observed numbers
- Coral cover: 12% (survey Sep 2024, Mediterranean benthic transect (algae + gorgonian cover))
- Bleached: 0%
- Recent mortality: 0%
- Mediterranean — observed condition reflects the stable regional pattern.
Raw thermal numbers
- NOAA CRW alert level: No stress
- Degree Heating Weeks: 0 °C-wk
- SST anomaly: +0.7 °C
How we summarise this
Observed coral cover, bleaching, and mortality come from named in-situ surveys with a stated date and method — they describe one snapshot of one reef and do not extrapolate to neighbouring sites. Current thermal stress is satellite-derived from NOAA Coral Reef Watch at ~5 km resolution; it indicates risk, not observed coral damage. We deliberately separate observed condition, current thermal stress, and projection — and we never publish a projection without a documented model and uncertainty.
Sources
- International Coral Reef Initiative — ICRI Secretariat
- NOAA Coral Reef Watch — U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- AIMS Long-Term Monitoring Program — Australian Institute of Marine Science
- Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network — GCRMN / ICRI
- Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment — AGRRA Program / Perry Institute for Marine Science
- NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program — NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program
- Reef Check — Reef Check Foundation
- NOAA CoastWatch / OceanWatch — NOAA NESDIS / STAR
- Allen Coral Atlas — Arizona State University Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science
- Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority — Australian Government
- Reef Life Survey — Reef Life Survey Foundation
- NASA PO.DAAC — NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Caltech
- Copernicus Marine Service — Mercator Ocean International for the European Union
- NASA Ocean Color (OB.DAAC) — NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Ocean Biology Processing Group
- Argo float network — International Argo Program / UCSD
- CoralWatch — University of Queensland
- IMOS / AODN — Integrated Marine Observing System / Australian Ocean Data Network
- WRI Reefs at Risk Revisited — World Resources Institute
- Ocean Health Index — OHI partnership (Conservation International + UCSB + NCEAS)
- IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere (SROCC) — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- GOA-ON — Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network — GOA-ON Secretariat + IOC-UNESCO
- HAEDAT — Harmful Algae Event Database — IOC-UNESCO Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms
- NCEI Marine Microplastics — NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Reef condition changes year to year. If you visit, consider supporting responsible-travel and conservation operators on the ground.
Pressure on this reef
Protection · fishing · what you can doProtected-area status
Strict MPAInside a strict marine protected area with active enforcement.
Fishing pressure
Moderate fishing pressureDominant pressures
- overfishing legacy
- warming
- invasive species
1 Green Fins-verified operator known at this location.
What you can do
Kornati National Park covers most of the archipelago. Mediterranean MPAs (Medes Islands, Cabrera, etc.) are recovering from decades of trawling. Cited dive sites are healthier inside MPA boundaries — pay any access fees.
Protection status sourced from Protected Planet / WDPA and refined with Marine Protection Atlas. Fishing pressure proxy is Global Fishing Watch AIS data. See the methodology for what these sources can and can’t prove.
Dive sites here
0 curatedDive sites for this location are still being curated.
We’re working through our top destinations first. Check back soon, or browse the globe for areas with sites already mapped.
Gear
What to bringWhat divers say
“Sailing the Kornati with a tank rack on the deck — the Mediterranean as it should be done.”