Croatia Report

Right... I've promised to write some more so here's the latest. About my cellphone: the online deals seem to be much better than the deals at the stores so we've decided to buy my cellphone online. Dilemma: I wanted to have the Sony Ericsson K800i but when we went to the store we found out that the screen size of the M600i is much bigger than the K800i despite of what is mentioned online in the specs. So in order to use the GPS option I reckon it would be better to go for the M600i instead. Although this is more like a PDA... I'm going to study the specs again because I would like to order it online tonight if possible. I miss my colleague for his excellent reflection; Christiaan if you read this please give me your good advice?

Now... More about Croatia: we had a lovely time out there with S. and M. and their two daughters A. and T. The weather was absolutely fantastic the first week with temperatures up to 33°C, at times a bit too warm for me. We went to Croatia on Thursday the 17th and spent two nights at a hotel and exploring Trogir during the day. On Friday afternoon we checked in at our marina and bought groceries for our sailing trip. We were supposed to meet up on Friday evening at S. and M.'s marina which was about 15 minutes drive from ours and have dinner. Saturday we would be sailing to our first destination to meet up; Bobovisca.

First night we stayed at an anchorage in Bobovisca na moru on the island of Brac. We woke up in the middle of the night because of a storm that seemed to have come out of nowhere. The boats were tied together so we had to separate them asap. It was a hectic night. S. and M.'s boat called 'Marina' ended up being caught in some lines and S. had to dive under the boat to solve the problem. Can you imagine diving in these circumstances: in pitch black water and a storm? Hectic!

Next day we sailed to Bol also on the island of Brac; there had been a swell and I didn't feel too well, seasick that is. I had to lie down for a while and sleep a bit. We decided to go out for dinner and ended up in a very nice restaurant which was a former wine cellar.

When we went back to the boat we found out that the local disco club had started right in front of the boat, a open-air bar playing very very loud music. It was groovy but too loud. I managed to fall asleep but when the music stopped some idiots [drunk tourists] started to have loud conversations next to the boat, screaming at eachother... We didn't sleep much that night either.

Another funny thing that happened was storms we sailed into twice. It started off with pretty vertical rain, big fat rain drops and within a few minutes the rain drops turned into a major hail and thunder storm. Rain doesn't really hurt you but trust me the size of this hail was so absurd it caused bruises. A. took over at some point and had to cover his face and head. Plain torture. It turned out we've been in a serious gale with a force up to 9. I was so cold at some point, totally soaked. Wearing a normal rain coat won't help much under these circumstances, you'll need proper gear. Again I thought it was pretty exciting and nothing scary. Guess I'm just a thrill seeker...

We also saw two deer at some point. That was absolutely amazing, very close to the boat. We tried to take pictures but it was hard because we couldn't use flash, it would scare them off. So instead I tried to capture it on video. I will edit the movie and upload it here. I also captured a video of lightning which is pretty cool. When we were on Vis island exploring the island, I ran into a snake: almost stepped on it, it was black and quite big. Lucky me it ran of and didn't bite me. That was actually the only thing that I thought was freaky. I don't really like snakes. The odd lizard or salamander is fine but no snakes. I saw two lizards.

Another exciting adventure was spending the night in a huge concrete cave. A building that was probably there during war time to hide the submarines. It was the perfect spot to have a nice BBQ. We went into some tunnels but they were a bit smelly and very dark, I didn't have a good torch on me unfortunately. The submarine base was quite an eerie place to be. It made me feel slightly uncomfortable because of the history and the fact that people had died there. It was spooky... Especially the network of tunnels, you didn't have a clue what to expect around each corner.

The locals seem to use the place to dump their garbage waste which is pretty sad. To be honest they seem to do that everywhere. I don't think they realise the value of these beautiful islands, the wildlife, nature etc. They just leave the stuff on beaches, in the forests, everywhere... Another thing that we noticed is all the nudists showing off their bits and pieces. I've seen enough bushes, caves and cracks this holiday. They were all over the place, I don't care as long as they mind their own business but in most cases they didn't which was a bit annoying at times.

The food we had was excellent. There's lovely goats cheese and sheep's cheese from the Island Pag. I had fish most of the time with a tomato salad, some olives, loads of vinegar and olive oil; plain delicious. I've been addicted to Ice Coffee those two weeks, jeez, thinking about it is mouth-watering!!! Ice Coffee and a Chocolate Croissant; the best combination in the morning. Another delicious thing I couldn't stop eating was figs. I've never had them like this before, so juicy and tasteful; an explosion of flavours. A lovely snack if you're too warm; you just chuck them in the fridge and eat them almost frozen. I bought a kilo for only 3 Kuna, which is about 10 Euro cent if I'm not mistaken. I've seen them over here for about a pound each...

Well I guess this covers pretty much our stay in Croatia. If I remember more stories I will write them in a different post. It's getting late and I still have to do a few things. I've sorted out a GP, got the information thru a website and a very nice lady who helped me out thru email.

[If you'd like to see more pictures of Croatia please send me an email]