Gemma & Jason's Gypsy Journal: September 2015

On our last day of our sailing trip we cruised to Dubrovnik with one last swim stop, a sail past the old town of Dubrovnik, then we finished up at the marina, where we parted ways with the skipper and the other girls from the boat. We made our way to our accommodation, a last minute score at an apartment overlooking the water. We made a little mistake of thinking our sail ended a day later, so we had to quickly find another night’s accommodation. When we got there we made a nutritious lunch, packed full of veggies; our bodies needed some loving after all our drinking and eating out! We needed rest time, so we took it easy for the afternoon.

The view of Dubrovnik from the boat

Our view from our accommodation in Dubrovnik

Out the window of our apartment

Dusk in Dubrovnik

The next morning, we had to slowly make our way to the next accommodation in Dubrovnik, with four hours to kill in between check out and check in time. We virtually did a café crawl, stopping along the way to waste time before we could check in. We found ourselves a nice shady spot in a café courtyard, and the hours passed quickly. We checked into our Airbnb apartment and took in the amazing views, definitely our best yet! We had an amazing courtyard overlooking the water and each room had sea views! A family lives in the apartment during the winter months, so it had everything we needed for our stay! We went the beach later in the afternoon; a few minutes walk from our accommodation. It is unlike any of the beaches we’ve been to so far. It’s a rocky beach, rather than pebbly that you enter by either diving in off the rocks, or by the metal stairs, like you would at a pool.

We were lucky enough to catch the full moon on the first night, rising over the sea, which we had a perfect view of from the apartment. We could see the old town to the left, the mountains in the distance, the sea forever and to top if off, there was a pirate-like ship sailing along under the moonlight.

We also checked out the old town, walking through all the narrow streets and had some delicious Indian for dinner and finished with ice cream.

A lovely leafy balcony in Dubrovnik

The boys did some rock diving from just near the apartment. We had some stairs right near the apartment that led down to the sea, via a little bit of rock climbing.

We also checked out another beach just down the road from where we’re staying. This one was beautiful (as if the other ones weren’t)! It was a lovely green colour with a cave for exploring.

We walked along the city walls, about a 2 hour round trip around the old town of Dubrovnik. We waited until the afternoon so it wasn’t too hot and in turn we got lovely golden light across the roofs of the old town. It was a great walk, and a nice way to end our day, our trip and our summer!

From the wall

The view on the way home to the apartment

A little spot we saw on the way home from the old town

We arrived at Baotic Marina, just out of Split, checked in, and met our skipper for the week, Rachael. We settled in to our cozy room (situated under the stairs and the communal upper area of the boat). This required organization and cleanliness. There just wasn’t enough room for any other way! The bed was wall to wall, with less than 1 square metre at the entrance for our bags. We met the other guests on the boat; four Aussie girls, three who lived in London. We were given a rundown, and then off we went. We stopped along the way for lunch and a swim, and then we docked at the island of Sesula. We had a swim here. Every time we swim in Turkey or Croatia, the colour and clearness of the water never fails to amaze us! We are blown away every time! We had dinner at the restaurant just up the hill from where we were docked. We sat with all the guests from our boat (nine of us, including the skipper) and all shared a giant, delicious plate of lamb peka, a traditional Croatian dish. It is lamb, capsicum and potatoes in a sauce.

Day two we headed for Parmizana, of course with a stop at a bay along the way for a swim and a snorkel. Mid afternoon we arrived at Parmizana Marina. There was a beach just near the marina, so we headed there, found a shady spot and napped! Later we got a water taxi to the island of Hvar, which was about 15 minutes away by water taxi. We had to walk through an outdoor nightclub to get to the restaurants. Since the sun was just starting to go down, we decided to find a quieter spot, get some beers and watch the sunset (and people watch!). The boys went to the bar, missing most of it because of the huge line up, managing to catch the end of it, but Smythe and I had a great spot! We got going again and walked to the main part of the town, taking a side street to get away from the main bustling tourist strip. We found ourselves a seafood restaurant in a lovely, narrow street and tried the local mussels, scampi and prawns. It was a bit of a mission back to the marina, since the water taxi didn’t leave from the same spot as we arrived. After some friendly shopkeepers’ help, we finally found the spot and headed back to the marina to bed.

Day three we went to Vella Luca. Along the way we stopped for swims, snorkels and had a go at stand up paddle boarding. The water is perfectly smooth for stand up paddle boarding. At Vella Luca we wandered around the town with no particular aim, just to explore. We wandered past locals’ houses, with their front yards full of edible gardens. We stopped for a coffee at a café, and then met the others from the boat at a pizza place along the waterfront. We ordered huge, delicious pizzas to share, the slices as big as our faces. We had a lovely view of the water with the sun going down behind the boats. We tagged along while the others got ice cream, and then headed back to the boat.

The amazing sunset at Vela Luka

Huuge pizzas!

The view from the pizza place

Next, we visited Korcula. We had a few drinks on the boat, then we went to a wine bar nearby and did a wine tasting; three whites and two reds, all local to Croatia. Next we went to a cocktail bar nearby which was on the top of one of the turrets of the Korcula town wall. You access the cocktail bar by entering the building, taking some stairs and climbing a ladder through a small hatch to the outdoor rooftop seating. From here we could had 360-degree views. On one side were the orange roofs of the town and the other side was the sea, full of boats with the sun setting in the distance. We saw the other girls from the boat and had a drink with them, and then we were off again! We moseyed around the narrow streets looking for dinner, most street with a glimpse of the sea at the end. We ran into the girls from the boat again, and headed to a fish and chip shop near the water. We all ordered prawn and calamari platters with salads and fries. Dinner was amazing! This was one of our favourite days of the sail!

Bar tender Jason preparing arrival drinks on the boat in the expensive glassware

Sampling the local wines

The view from the cocktail bar

The sunset from the cocktail bar on top of the turrets of the Korcula town wall

The pastel sky from the rooftop of the turret

Exploring the town of Korcula

Dinner with the crew from the boat

Next stop was Mljet National Park. Naturally we stopped along the way at some bays for swimming, snorkeling and stand up paddle boarding. We are certain that the bays are just getting nicer and nicer. One of our stops was just near and monastery, which was perched right on the water. At Mljet National Park, we got ready as soon as we could because we were hiring bikes to explore the national park. The first part was a huge hill, made worth it by the views along the way.

The view you're rewarded with after nailing the hill on the bike!

The national park has two very large saltwater lakes, which we stopped at for a swim and a little afternoon picnic. The ride was lovely and scenic. We rode back to the boat to be back in time for our dinner reservation. The restaurant was literally stepping off the plank of the boat and taking about five steps and we were at the restaurant.

Swimming in the salt water lake at Mljet National Park

Mljet National Park

Bike riding in Mljet National Park

Day six and we were starting to realise that it was almost all over! From Mljet we went to Sipan, the tiniest village of all! It is a Medsailors tradition to have a sailing race with the other boats in the flotilla. We didn’t have enough wind for the race, so the crew had to come up with another competition. This wasn’t so bad, because it meant for smooth sailing and excellent swimming and paddle boarding conditions! They decided on a stand up paddle board race, two people on the board at a time, laying down, using arms only to paddle, around a big ferry, change team members and race back. We had a chill out back on the boat and went to dinner at a restaurant on a big hill, overlooking the marina as a get together with all the guests from our flotilla. We had a delicious dinner of wild pork with gnocchi. We stopped at the bar on the way home (the village has one bar and two restaurants as far as we could gather, its just so tiny!) then headed back to the boat for bed.