Ahoy merry readers and welcome to the first of our nautical themed updates. After wrapping up in beautiful Budapest, it was time to once again work on our "brown bear tan" and hit the sand (or pebbles in the case of Europe).
Traveling on what can only be described as a relic from communist eras past, we arrived in Croatia's capital Zagreb. Often missed by travellers making a bee-line to the coast, we decided to spend a few nights to explore the city. Overall a pretty nice city with a lovely main square but nothing to really get the travellers pulse pumping.
From here we boarded a more comfortable train and headed for the coastal city of Split. With pirate hat packed the next day we took off on the adventure that would be forever known as, Pogled: the little boat that could - The Sail Croatia story.
After eventually finding our little boat Pogled we set sail for our first port, Hvar. A few of us took a little while to find our sea legs, but did arrive safe the first night without any men (or women) over board. In Hvar we had a quick swim before hitting up some dinner and drinks before bar hopping the night away. It was with heavy hearts later that night when we had to board our little dingy instead of the multi-million dollar super yachts parked beside us. Cruel.
The days were spent lounging on deck chatting with the crew and catching the rays. At night we would stop at different ports and have some time to check out the different islands.
We took off in the morning for our next stop Trstenik…. but we ended up spending most of the day at the petrol station! Woo petrol party! Our little boat was having a tough day so we got to take in the beautiful sites surrounding the petrol pump, stock up on snack food and practice our boat diving. Eventually we did get back under way and make it to port.
The following day was definitely a highlight as we sailed into Dubrovnik and had the afternoon free to explore. After checking out the amazing old town, we sweated up a storm and walked the few kilometres of city walls which surround the entire old town. The views were unbelievable!! We finished off with a quick dip in the ocean as we watched the crazies cliff dive.
After a quick spruce up back at the boat, the whole boat crew got together and hit the old town and tore it apart. Many buckets of booze and late night hot chips were consumed. There was also matching t-shirts and a sneaky floor/vomit straw sipping. My rock paper scissor skills came in handy to avoiding losing that bet and drinking!
The next day we travelled to the smaller island of Mljet for some more relaxing. We decided on a slightly "quiet one" and enjoyed Chefs amazing cooking skills for dinner. Still amazing how that man managed to cook anything in a kitchen the size of a cupboard. He also managed to be a deck hand, DJ, bar tender and first aid medic. What can't he do?!
Anywho's, the next day our crazy captain avoided all sensible advice and pushed our little boat through some crazy arse waves while the bigger better boats stayed in port. Poor Edwina spent more than a few hours hugging the toilet bowl and praying for calm waters. I believe at one stage she may of been hit on the head by the toilet seat… poor thing. I fared better but did remain stuck up on top deck of the boat by myself, chilling out and rolling around on the floor to avoid flying overboard. BUT WE MADE IT!!! There were high fives… tears… champaign. Well okay not really, but we were all very much glad to get there in one piece.
After arriving at the birthplace of Marco Polo (Yep… as in the awesome pool game and some explorer dude), we swam and explored their old town (Everywhere in Europe seems to have an "old town"). We had another lovely family dinner before we went back to the boat for a few sneaky pre drinks. This ended up in an epic few games of Kings with people drinking out of shoes on top of a garbage bin and drinking jager shots filtered through used underwear. Keeping it classy!
I then got dragged into a quick 5 minute game of "7,11, doubles", the most potent drinking game ever, before we all hit the town. Somehow we all made it to the local pubs and the night disintegrated into a one litre cocktail blur. At one stage I convinced the bar tender that we had an arrangement if I returned my giant cup, I'd get a shot. He agreed. It was a bad decision on my behalf. Fail. Good times were had though! Unfortunately a few of the crew suffered some party injuries, but thankfully we all managed to be on board to leave the next morning. What troopers!
The final and one of the most beautiful islands we "hopped" to was Makarska. Highlight of this place was definitely the footpath drinking games (once again keeping it classy) and the Deep nightclub, which is INSIDE A CAVE!! Right on the waterfront, it offers beautiful views and other cave-like scenery. Was definitely something different and a lot of fun.
We then finally returned to Split where we had to say goodbye to our new friends. Super sad face. We managed to squeeze in one final family dinner before we all had to go our separate ways. Lots of good eggs on that boat, which really made all the difference.
We may not of had the best looking boat, but the people on board definitely made the difference… and by that I mean we were all ridiculously good looking. It didn't hurt that we had the 1st runner up of Ms Croatia 2011 on board. Unfortunately for the single fellas she was the captains girlfriend!
Anywho's Edwina and I had a few more days in Split to explore before we flew out to our next nautical adventure, the Greek Islands! I'll get working on the next blog, and my tan, right away.
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