A couple of weeks ago I brought you 6 Reasons Why Sail Croatia Med Experience was one of the best travel experiences of my life. I also promised to bring you a day by day account of what really goes on during one of these holidays, as written by two of my favorite boat-buddies, Ellie and Ryan. These two are one of the cutest couples I know. They are from Australia but currently living in England while Ryan does a stint teaching at a very uppity boys private school. Over the next week I will be transcribing their daily Med Experience diary (they take it in turns to write every other day) on AMW.
Sail Croatia Med Experience: A Diary, Day 6:
Ellie
Ryan awoke uncharacteristically early, and had (in his words) an “unforgettable swim”. I think he was just trying to make me feel bad for sleeping in. After a bit of tossing and turning I got up, jumped into the ocean off the boat for what had now become the requisite “early morning wake-up shower” and headed out to find some food. The shop on Vis had a limited range of actual food, so while there was only one bottle of water available between three of us on the boat, the shop was the place to be if you wanted to source a large amount of zombie toys for your (non-existent) kids.
Breakfast ended up being a white chocolate magnum and some cheese. Breakfast of absolute champions if you ask me. We stayed in Vis for a much-needed morning coffee, Adam and I sharing a confused look when our waitress who had, until now, sounded quite Croatian, suddenly dropped an ocker “Yeah, dunno, aye?” This left us shaking our dizzy heads in wonderment. Turns out she was born in Australia and lived there until she was 6. The people you meet in the strangest of foreign places, aye. Erin and I “oohed and aahed” at an angelically blonde toddler running around frantically, while his Mum complimented my good taste in Havaianas (she had the same) that I had bought in Dubrovnik. They were coincidentally the cheapest available… black soles, neon pink straps… basically just plain ugly-awesome.
We finally set sail (perfect time for a diary catch-up) until arriving at our swim/lunch spot, a gorgeous little island I have no idea the name of. We headed on over to the other boat ‘Go With The Flow’ for a chat with the others, only to arrive back at our boat to witness Jacksa taking the ‘Steph/s” and Erin to the short for some cocktails (which was apparently a trying experience, what with it being 11am and all). With a lack of served alcoholic beverages, the girls opted to buy an entire bottle of Campari with the fantastic idea of making Campari spritzers for us all back on the boat.
I can confidently say that we were all unenthusiastic at the prospect of setting-sail once more, only because as the skyline of Split suddenly appeared on the horizon, we were all glaring at it as if it were ‘the real world’. At least Stephy didn’t have to fly out tonight, which she mistakenly thought at one point and made a few rushed phone calls. Only the prospect of cocktails on arrival could cheer us up, but Jubilo was definitely lacking in it’s joviality now that the trip was coming to an end. As we cruised into the Split Marina, despite the beautiful and almost opaque turquoise water with the lovely old town as the backdrop, we all vehemently agreed that it was ugly and we should sail on elsewhere.
We all finished packing our things, tidied up and commenced downing the promised cocktails (which unfortunately didn’t live up to expectations, to me, they were a bitter as the prospect of leaving tomorrow).We did try to pump everybody up with our Bohemian Rhapsody rendition, which was postponed from the night before. Sadly I think that neither we or our audience were quite drunk enough to recreate the Irish performance of 2010, but it did get some laughs and even some applause from a neighbouring boat. At the mention of Sushi for dinner we positively skipped into the old town with roadies (minus one when we smashed in the liquor store when buying them).
Even Greta, Jacksa and his girlfriend (who we were meeting for the first time) joined us for dinner – which was awesome by the way! The Steph/s went elsewhere for their last meal of Chevapi and Ligne, while we stayed to enjoy an entrée of fresh Oysters. Greta, Olivia and Ryan picked out the first platter they could find on the menu, saving the hassle of first reading, then comprehending the many option without spending a fortune. Erin and I were exceedingly adventurous and not the least bit tipsy, and ordered an array of deliciousness that hit the spot.
We met up with the remainder of the group and checked out a bit of the old town nightlife, before smashing some tasty Cosmos and pizza and miraculously finding the boat when we headed home to bed. Greta, Erin and Stef had beaten us back so we were able to make plans for goodbyes in the morning as Steph and Stef were making an early trip to the airport. Or were they…
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