Sail Croatia Days 6 & 7

03.05.2012

So glad that I left everyone to it last night and went to bed, they didn’t finish up till real late and are rather hungover this morning. Managed to get my hands on some sore throat iodine gargle this morning so have been doing that as much as I can to try and fight this bug that’s in my system, the throat isn’t real sore just yet but my glands are up and my throat is red.

Today is the first day that there have been clouds in the sky, the wind has picked up quite a bit so they got the sails out for about half an hour but we probably moved at a whopping speed of about 4 knots so that didn’t last long and the motors were turned back on, must have just been a way for the Captain to kill some time.

We have a dress up party tonight, nautical themed, and we have to go out and try and find a costume today, I’ve already got a stripy thing so will wear that and maybe buy a hat, the others that went out last night aren’t so keen on the idea of partying again tonight, and me with my sore throat won’t be drinking I don’t think.

Finished the second book in the Hunger Games series, just waiting for Andrew to finish the third but he said that he’ll give the book to me if there isn’t enough time for me to finish it before the trip is over.

Makarska is a really beautiful town/city, they call it the St Tropez of Croatia, has heaps more beaches than any of the other places we have visited, and you can tell that its not peak season yet as only half the stalls in the markets are still shut.

The town has a ginormous back drop of cliff faces and mountains, the kind you could imagine someone proximity flying off of, no greenery on them until you get down so otherwise just a light grey in colour. They almost look like they are painted there, a backdrop in an old movie or something cause they are so huge and so close to the sea.

Lucy & I found a great bar on the waterfront where there was free wifi, yay! We sat there for a bit but yet again the connection was terrible so made life a bit tricky so we moved on and went looking for costumes for tonight, I just got myself a sailor hat and Lucy got some pirate stuff. We eyed up a restaurant for later that night, it had Mexican food and we were craving something spicy. We got there and ordered our Mexican but was then told that there was no Mexican food available, so he went away and 20mins later he came back and we ordered steak, he then told us that steak wasn’t available, so in the end we both got pasta. My tortellini cabonara had a distinct burnt taste about it and I don’t think it was the smokey bacon, Lucy’s lasagne was pretty good and our beers were only 10 kuna each.

With the sun setting and the orange colour projected on the cliffs, we made it back to the boat to have a wee siesta before getting ready to go out later.

Feeling rather average due to this cold I’ve caught, trudged downstairs to have a few drinks with everyone before we all were to head out to a night club. Somehow I was roped into doing a Tequila Slammer, I had heard of these from Alex and as soon as the helmet was put on my head I knew what was coming. Alex had described it that you put a war helmet on your head, then they slam you over the head with a hammer then you have to have a shot of tequila. It wasn’t as bad as that when it got done to me, the captain got an oversized shot glass and filled it with tequila and lime cordial, then put a tea towel bunched up over the top, then slammed the glass onto the helmet heaps of times getting faster with each blow, then he slammed the glass down on the bar and I had to neck it. I ran as fast I could away from the bar at that point cause there was no way I was doing one of those again!

Lucy & I got a 1 litre cocktail instead and sipped on that for the evening, we hung at the boat for a while and everyone came out with their outfits. A lot of pirates and sailors, however my favourite was a couple that had found kids ponchos with scuba divers on the front.

We headed across the road to the bar and as a welcome drink, the bar lined up pina colada shots along the bar then poured lighter fluid behind all the glasses and set it on fire.

We noticed this lady dancing by herself out of the corner of our eyes and then saw a man just sitting in front of her watching, she was dancing quite hard out and he didn’t look at all interested so we went and joined her. Later on in the night she was still dancing on her own in front of this man but now he had fallen asleep.

The highlight of the night for Lucy & I was the toasted sandwich, Andrew got himself a frankfurter toastie and also rates it in the top 5 feeds. This lovely Croatian woman who could barely speak any English made Lucy and I these sandwiches with chicken, freshly cooked in front of us, lettuce, tomato, t sauce, mayo & mustard, then toasted the outside of the bread. She was so stoked that we loved them so much, to date the best after drinking food I think I’ve ever had.

04.05.12

Last day of sailing today, and while it is coming to an end it was the perfect amount of time on the boat, it didn’t feel like it went too fast or too slow, was just awesome.

I think nearly everyone skipped breakfast this morning, I know we certainly did, but we did drag ourselves out of bed and onto the deck to soak up the last days rays.

Finally got round to reading some of my lonely planet to try and figure out where I’m going to next, still don’t know actually so I am going to spend tomorrow in Split and then maybe head off somewhere on Sunday, I need a day to just chill out and get some good internet to work out a plan, plus need to find myself a Laundromat.

After lunch we went white water rafting, all very excited about this we got picked up and driven into the mountains. Was so nice to take a step away from the coastline for a few hours and into some bush and mountains, the scenery was stunning. The six of us, Andrew, Alex, Michael, Leon, Lucy & me all got in a boat with our guide Tony, clearly the craziest of the guides there, so we were in for some fun. We had wetsuits but only had them on up to our waists cause it was so warm, Tony reckoned that it was unusual for it to be this warm this time of year. The river was crystal clear, one of the cleanest in Europe, and it was really deep in some parts. In the winter the river rises by over 4 metres and it turns from a grade 3 river that we were paddling on today to a grade 5 and sometimes 6.

We traveled 10km for about 2.5hrs, stopping for a swim break half way, the water was crisp but was so refreshing to be swimming in fresh water for a change.

Heaps of fish in the river too, can see them from the rafts and also swimming around your feet, mainly trout Tony said, they were introduced to the rivers after the war cause most of the fish that naturally lived in there were fished out by people using left over explosives to catch them all.

Along the banks of the river were little wee shacks, Tony called them houses but they were shacks and it took us a while to believe him when he said people live in them in summer cause the town gets too busy.

The team was knackered afterwards and we were driven back to Split where we had a hot shower and went out for our last supper together at a place called Toc down a back street that was recommended to me by the hostel I stayed in here last week.

Said goodbye to Andrew and Alex, they had to race to catch the ferry that is taking them to Italy to meet up with their parents.

Went to the final farewell drinks tonight at the Paradiso Bar here in Split, we dragged ourselves there against our will, or more like against my body’s urge just to get into bed and try and get rid of this cold. We stayed for 1 drink, steering well clear of the alcohol, then headed back to the boat, will get to see everyone in the morning anyway.

Quite sad to be spending my last night on the boat, it has been such an incredible week of pure relaxation, was awesome just to switch off and do nothing for a week, not to mention the nice tan I gained also.

Will totally do it again sometime, although have also heard of similar cruises in the South of Turkey that I would also love to check out at a later date.