Sail Croatia

(As usual, more photos available in the photo album).

There was a lot of this action on our recent holiday, sailing along the Dalmation coast in Croatia.

We jumped on board a boat with Sail Croatia, and over the coarse of seven days, we sailed from Split, down to Dubrovnik, then back up to Split, weaving in and out of the small islands along the way. The six of us – Todd, Shannon, Julian, Shelley, Kristy and I – were on a boat with about 20 other people – mainly, other Australians. There was also about 14 other boats of our size (or larger) in the harbour when we departed; and again, mostly Australians! Quite amazing, really. Everyone on our boat was very friendly, and in general we all got along; however, since our party tended to do things together (a lot of the other folks were singles), we quietly became known to the others as, “the six”. How creative!

Every day’s routine was pretty much the same. We’d wake up around 7:30 AM to the sound of the boat’s engines, and we’d soon be en route to our next destination. Breakfast was served from 8-9 AM, consisting of corn-flakes (with UHT milk, yuk!), fresh bread and jam/honey. We’d stop at about 10 AM for a few hours to swim, followed by lunch (always 3 courses – soup, a main, and dessert) around 12:30 PM. In the afternoon/evenings, we’d pull in to a port for the evening, then we were free to explore the town, have some dinner, and find a local watering hole for a quiet ale or two.

One of the islands we stopped at was Mljet, which had a beautiful inland lake that we all enjoyed a swim in. Following this, we caught a ferry to an island in the middle of the lake, which had a small monastery on it. After walking around the entire island (which took about 7 minutes), we took the first of many six-person selfie’s.

Dubrovnik has to be one of the most beautiful towns I have ever seen. It’s old town is surrounded by some city walls, which for the bargain cost of €5 (or so) you can walk around to get a birds-eye view of the place. By the time we’d finished the walk, the sun had set, and we headed down to eat in one of the town’s squares. Shannon bargained with the waiter and got us 10% off our bill, as well as a free drink. Nice!

There was a funny looking stray dog wondering around the streets in Dubrovnik. We saw him so often that we felt he needed a name; Shannon, ever resourceful, decided he should be called “Selfie”. He didn’t seem to like the name though, as he never came when called; perhaps he was deaf.

We ate very well in general; most nights, I enjoyed fresh seafood at one of the restaurants in whatever town we stayed in. Possibly the best dinner I had was at Luna restaurant, in Hvar, where Brad and Jackie had tipped us to go. I had an entire snapper, grilled, and served whole, with vegetables. It was an enormous fish – 700 grams, as it turned out (they charge by the kilogram), and easily came in as one of the more expensive meals that we ate. Still, it was simply amazing, and I wouldn’t hesitate to have it again.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the same for Kristy; a few hours after eating that night, she became quite violently ill, and over the course of the next few days, the bathroom became her best friend. Looking back, we suspect it was something she ate that made her sick, though one of the other passengers had suffered a similar fate, so at the time we thought it was a bug. Happily, she made a full recovery after a few days, and was back to full strength before the end of the trip.

The highlight of the trip for me was definitely the amazing, clear blue seas. I’ve never seen water so clear; even with depths well over 15 metres it was easy to see the bottom. The water temperature was really varied too, though always on the cooler side. It was a welcome relief from the hot sun though; by the time we docked each morning, I couldn’t wait to jump off the boat!

On our feedback form, I suggested to the company that they should dock earlier each night; in a lot of the places we visited, the towns shut down for the evening around 6 PM, which often meant we didn’t get the opportunity to explore them as much as we had wanted to.

Still, I otherwise had no real complaints, and it didn’t do much to taint what was otherwise an absolutely fantastic holiday. Most importantly, by the time we were done, I had completely relaxed and forgotten about work, which I think is always a testament to a good holiday. Bring on the next one!