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 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
The pastel sky from the rooftop of the turret
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.
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.
And here are some more miscellaneous photos from along the way!
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