Dropping our car at Split Airport, we continued on into town by bus, and after getting totally confused by the address and instructions to find our apartment, rang Dean the owner, who rescued us and showed us the way to our abode.
Dean proved to be a terrific young guy. I showed him the address of the Orthopaedic doc where I was booked to have a progress Xray and check on my leg at 0830 next morning, asking if he knew where it was. He did. Too far, he said, and immediately told us he would pick us up at our apartment at 0800 in the morning and drive us there. What a guy!
Armed with a good report on my hip we then set about enjoying Split for a few days. Actually, the enjoyment had started the night before when, after an evening walk along the Riva, the wide waterfront walkway, we found our way to a restaurant recommended by Dean's young lady assistant. The food was good, the waiter friendly, knowledgeable and happy to chat, and best of all, great people-watching entertainment. We had an outside table, close to the door to a bar next to our restaurant and run by the same people. This bar seemed to be where the local men came for an evening drink, a blokey chat, and a fag. There was a group of them at an outside table close to us, chatting and laughing away, who showed consideration for the non-smokers around them by walking across the narrow street to a table and benches against the wall. There they sat, drinks and gaspers in hand, talking across the street to their mates and being very entertaining.
We spent the next couple of days enjoying the Diocletian Palace - the Roman, walled "old city" which had many hidden delights, including bars where you could sit and watch the passing parade over a cool drink. We caught the local bus out into a peninsula NP right next to the city where we hopped off at a "beach" and swam in the crystal clear water, lay about in the rays for a bit, and then shared a Radler. We discovered these in Slovenia, I think, and have become quite partial to them. They're kinda like a shandy - combination beer and sparkly grapefruit or lemon - 2% alcohol and very refreshing on a hot day!
Other highlights were an evening walk up about a thousand steps to a cafe in the NP overlooking the old town - great view and a very nice rose, thank you - and wandering around in the recently excavated "basement" of the Palace - fascinating looking at walls and sewer systems the Romans built way back in the 6th century.
On our last day in Split we went paddling again. Our guide, Ivan, picked us up with rest of our small group, and we drove a half hour down the coast to near the old walled city of Trogir. We paddled right around the island city and back to our starting point at a gravelly beach about a km from the town. After a cool down swim we got back in our boats and paddled into a very narrow opening between high reeds, which then opened up into a completely fresh water stream, very cold at 12C, fed by a spring about 100m up the nearby mountain side. We paddled up this beautiful, quiet stream for a couple of kms to an old mill with the date 1778 on it - just a youngster compared to much in Europe!
The following day we climbed aboard our ferry for the 2 hour trip to the island of Hvar. Our host Pero met us when we arrived in the town and showed us to our apartment high on the hill overlooking the bay. Well, not too high - there were only 130 odd steps from the apartment to the waterfront path. (You're probably saying to yourselves about now, "This guy is obsessed about steps!" So I'll shut up about them, but fact is you can't avoid them around the Dalmation Coast, the land is so damn steep.)
After giving us a rundown on local restaurants and things to do, Pero presented us with a carafe of his father's red wine, a tad rough around the edges but very drinkable, and left us to it.
First on the program was a half hour walk to a beautiful sheltered little bay with great swimming and a cute little outdoor restaurant at one corner. After a cool down swim and laze around we decided lunch at the little restaurant looked good, and it was. Great food, and waddaya know, our hostess's family produced their own wine. After sampling a glass of their rose (sorry, can't do acutes on this keyboard - you'll just have to imagine them) with lunch, we bought a bottle for Ron.
On climbing aboard, Susie said to the young skipper and owner, "Oh, I see you have running back stays", which meant nothing to me but impressed him no end! They had a long chat about running back stays (I know what they are now!) and sailing in general, and Susie got to have a fairly long drive during the day, which made her a happy girl.
Our destination for the day's sail was a beautiful limestone sea cave at the base of cliffs on a small island off the larger island of Vis. We parked the boat just at the entrance to the cave and all had a wonderful time swimming through the cave while the skipper cooked up a lovely meal of fresh whole Sea Bass and salad on the bbq. Pretty damn good.
Susie had known that Dave, a MYC sailing mate, and his partner Liz were going to be in Croatia at the same time as us, but imagine her surprise when she heard Dave's voice outside our apartment one afternoon. By pure chance they had booked into the same apartments, so Susie got another chance to talk sailing. We enjoyed a couple of pretty good evening meals with them before we went our separate ways, one being octopus "under the bell". This is sort of like a camp oven - they put the octopus and accompanying veggies on a hotplate over coals, cover it with a wok shaped lid, which is itself covered with hot coals. Slow cook for 2 hrs, and Voila! Super tender delicious octopus!
Moving on from Hvar, we caught a fast cat back to Split, and a slow bus to Dubrovnik. Our actual destination was Zaton Bay, about 10 km short of Dubrovnik. We saw the sign and asked the bus driver to drop us off there, but no, rules is rules, he had to take us all the way into Dubrovnik, where we then rang our hosts who then had to drive the 10 kms into D to pick us up.
Arriving at our accomodation for the night, Villa Ivana, who did we see emerging from the Adriatic but mate Eric. Handshakes and hugs all round, we then found Eric's wife Lynne, and met our other new mates for the trip, Michael and Valerie from San Francisco. Over a getting-to-know-you beer, we then met Zelko, owner of Huck Finn Adventures and Huck Finn the sailing cat which was to be our home for 5 nights, and the delightful young Monica, Zelko's assistant and our paddling guide.
That evening we motor sailed across the channel to the island of Kolocep, and Konoba Kasa, a very cosy little restaurant with tables practically in the water. Feeling very happy with life, we motored back to Zaton Bay and bed at Villa Ivana.
Next day was a day to explore Dubrovnik, which was great, the highlight being a swim around the outside walls of the old town, stopping in the crystal clear water to look up at the sweltering people walking along the top of the wall. We knew they were sweltering because we had just done it! But we were hanging out for our trip on the Huck Finn to start, and next day it did.
We paddled actually, while Zelko motored, out of Zaton Bay and across to Kolocep Isl on glassy sea to a restaurant, Konoba Skerat, for lunch. Then paddled again around to the other side of the island where we met Zelko and the Huck Finn at the entrance to a limestone sea cave. The cave had a narrow entrance with just enough headroom to swim in on the surface, opening up into a big, high, wide cavern with deep water. The diffuse light in the water made our bodies below the water almost glow. After ODing on the sensual treats of the cave we loaded the kayaks onto HF and went for a sail out around a tall cliffed island with a lighthouse whose name I can't remember, and then to the island of Lopud for the night. Another great meal ashore and it was time to hit the hay in our cabins.
Paddling in these beautiful waters, in good company, was just a treat, with lots of outlying rocks to paddle in behind and around, and potential caves to stick our investigative noses into. This next day was no exception - we first sailed along the outside of Sipan Isl, then paddled around the smaller island of Jakljan where we again met Zelko and HK.
Zelko had parked the boat at the entrance to another sea cave, and this one had an underwater entrance, just below the surface. We were told it was only an underwater swim of 2-3 metres, but I'm not sure I would have done it if Eric hadn't gone in first, then come out saying, Yeah, mate, it's easy. It was, and the cave inside was fabulous - long and narrow with a sandy bottom, and filled with that same soft diffuse light as the first cave. Eventually we were all inside, soaking up the cathedral like atmosphere.
That night we anchored in the bay off the village of Sipan, on the island of the same name, and had another great meal on the shore before retiring to Huck Finn.
Almost all of the restaurants we ate at during this week were Zelko's suggestions, and I couldn't fault him, whether they were his mates or not!
In the morning there was still a breeze and we poked our nose around the end of Sipan Isl and into the channel between it and Mljet Isl. There was more breeze out here and Zelko just had the main up, reaching across the channel at a good clip. This was where Susie got to have a drive. Zelko gave her a course to steer and she set herself up at the wheel. I can still see her there, smile on her face, making adjustments as the small swells came under our port stern, all concentration.
The course Zelko had given Susie to steer seemed to be aiming us straight at the cliffs, but slowly the unbroken line of cliffs morphed into a couple of offshore islands with a narrow but deep channel between them, opening up into a beautiful anchorage and village, protected from almost any wind. I thought we were going to stop there, but Zelko just wanted to show it to us, and we cruised back out into the channel again for a fast downwind run along the mainland shore of Mljet until we reached another anchorage - this time the port where the car ferry docked.
While Zelko got the boat fuelled and watered, the rest of us caught a shuttle bus to the other side of the island for lunch, and then a paddle on sit-on-tops across a couple of beautiful, almost landlocked, but still salt water lakes, to an island with, you guessed it, a monastery on it.
Actually, only Eric, Susie and me paddled - the others opting for the ferry. After a wander around the island (which, apparently Prince Charles once tried to buy) and the old St Mary's Monastery, Susie then deserted me for the paddle back, and it was just Eric and me. Just after we started back, Eric turned to me and said, "Okay, some rules, this is not a race - okay?" Not understanding why he would say something like that, I just said "Yeah, sure" and we paddled back to find Zelko waiting for us about halfway. Zelko is a big powerful man, and a former Croatian white water champion, so I was thankful he also was in a cruisey frame of mind. That evening we motored across the channel again to a village on the Peljesac Peninsular where we went ashore to a family home, friends of Zelko's, where we had a bang up meal of roast veal and lamb and veggies accompanied by the family's own very good red. Valerie liked the red so much she bought a few bottles!
Next morning we had another great paddle along the shore of the Peljesac Peninsula, staying in close to the cliffs to avoid the wind in our faces, but then had a good 15 minute workout crossing a channel into a good stiff breeze. A little more fun along the coast and we pulled the kayaks up onto HK and motored into shore where we piled into a van and drove to the end of the peninsula and the ferry to Korcula. Catching the ferry across the channel, we went for a wander around the old town and visited Marco Polo's home where I found out for the first time the heroic scope of his journeys. What a guy!
From Korcula we ferried to the mainland again, then Monica drove us in the van along the spine of the Peninsula to Ston, home to the worlds second longest fortified wall, behind the GWofC. After a look at the town and dinner, Zelko found us and ferried us out to the Huck Finn which he had anchored in the nearby estuary.
In the morning, early, we went out for a last paddle through the calm shallow waters of the estuary, checking out egrets and other water birds going about their business and looking back at the town and the wall climbing up and around the mountain behind it.
Cleaned up after the morning paddle and breakfasted, we piled into the van again and headed off into Bosnia/Hercegovina for the town of Mostar. The town still has many reminders of the 90's war, with the walls of some buildings still riddled with bullet holes, and the recently rebuilt old stone arch bridge connecting the two sides of the town, one Croation Orthodox and the other mostly Muslim, has become a symbol of the reconciliation of the nations of the old Jugoslavia. We watched a video of the shelling and rocketing of the old bridge by the Croats, destroying it to stop the advance of the Serbs. Very sad.
Susie and I spent our final day with the team travelling by minibus again, south from Dubrovnik into Montenegro and the Bay of Kotor. The bay is stunningly beautiful, resembling a Norwegian fjord, with high steep mountains cuddling it's deep waters on both sides.
As the crew were returning north to Zaton Bay for the last night, and Susie and I wanted to continue south, we decided that Monica would drop us in a little village on the Adriatic coast called Sveti Stephan, where we would stay a few days before continuing with our exploration of Montenegro.
We found a place to stay, unloaded our gear, hugged Eric and Lynne and new mates Michael and Valerie, and of course Monica, and waved goodbye as they turned north again.
