The week in retrospect : Crash bang smashed in Croatia
The week has been one big blur not ending so crash hot, although crash is one word to remember. Our second night was spent at the port of Trstenik, which was a small island with just a few cafes and a small milkbar.
We got there in the afternoon and walked around just to get off the boat, some of the boys were swimming and I jumped in for a quick dip before we headed back to the boat for our BBQ and boat party, with three hours of free drinks from the bar. We drank the boat out of vodka and the keg was changed three times!
On Monday we stopped for a swim before lunch and the water was beautiful. I had bought an inflatable mattress for 30 kunas (3 pound) and we all jumped off the top of the boat and floated around for a bit. Half the boys swam to the closest island but us girls were watching the water below us for Croatian sharks, nah not really, but you could see all the fish swimming below our feet.
We docked in Dubrovnik during lunch and then went to explore the old town, which is surrounded by a massive wall. It took Lija and I an hour or so to walk the whole thing, well it felt like forever, but we got some great views of the ocean and surrounding islands, and the town inside. Croatia seems to have lots of stray cats. We were looking over into an empty backyard and saw about four cats and two kittens lazing around.
We had walked around the town earlier which is mostly souvenir shops, but Lija found some new bathers cos her old top had stretched out!
We had gelatis and the Croatian guy was mocking us by saying ‘Hey mate…cheers’. So when I walked out I gave him a grin and said ‘Catch ya!’ which he repeated back to me. After the wall we went to find some toilets, Lija pushed the door open to the public toilets and *surprise surprise* they were hole-in-the-floor toilets! We cracked up laughing and passed!
We went out on the town that night to a cool cocktail bar called Fresh, where you can literally order a huge tube of cocktail with its own tap, but I just stuck to the singles. I only had a couple, but I was talking to this American guy from New York who has a place in Dubrovnik – his twin sister’s name is Mara!
Vaughn, Jane and I caught the bus back to the boat at midnight when all the others went into the club nearby. We couldn’t be bothered.
Lots of sunbaking on Tuesday, which finished with over roasting and a sunburnt back and behind the knees. Spent most of the day reading and doing sudoku. We docked in Mljet, another island with not a lot. You can go to the national park but it costs 9 pounds just to walk around, so we all went to the beach. The others were content with baking, but I had a good swim and only surfaced after half an hour.
A big group of us had dinner together; most of us had seafood pizzas and then cake that Vaughn snuck over for Rob’s birthday. I hadn’t had a drink all day today, but when I got back to the boat I was oh so kindly invited to play ‘kings’, a drinking game where playing cards are given tasks and the aim is to get through the pack and use all the kings. Each king picked up, the person has to add their drink to a beer glass and the person with the final king has to skull the lot. Guess who? Yeah, none other than me. Ok, so it feels great when you can down it in 15 seconds when the boys are yelling ‘skull’ thinking you can’t do it and high five you after you prove them all wrong even though it was gross and I don’t drink beer and it went straight to my head.
To cut a long story short and savour some form of – no, I have no words, I was drunk. Plain punch drunk. We all got off the boat and someone suggested a swim but they all just stood there so I chucked my clothes off to my undies and bra and jumped in. It was beautiful but dark, the swimming area was netted off and I wasn’t in there for barely a minute before I realised the others had bailed. I stood around in my beach towel talking to some Kiwis from the Novi Dan boat for a while, then I think I went for another swim. Our boat was mixing with the other boats, so I decided to chill out on the top deck but some horrible person had put a bunch of grapes on the deck chair I sat on, which I didn’t realise because it was pitch black – I sat on them in my pyjama pants. I was a little over-unenthusiastically unhappy about that and went to climb down the stairs but slipped on the dew that had already settled. Slipped and fell, with a hell of a yell and a great big thud. People heard it but didn’t bother seeing what the noise was. I wasn’t the first one this trip. I thought that was time enough to put myself to bed.
I woke up on Wednesday and found I couldn’t get off the top bunk because I’d twisted my ankle badly, and I got spikes of sea urchin from my late night swimming expedition stuck in the front of that foot, and the underside of my other foot. Lija tried to dig them out but we only got one, the others are still there. I’m just glad there are so many rails on the boat, it made it easier to hop around. I spent the morning with my leg up in the dining room feeling sorry for myself, then pulled myself up to the top deck and lay with my foot up. The Captain had got me ice, as well as sea urchin cream (the best method is to pee on them but these were awkward places and I didn’t know any of the boys well enough to entrust them with that task)!
I missed out on a beautiful swim that day, but enjoyed the rolling scenery and blue skies; we even had some fairly decent music. We docked in Korcula which was a nice sized town. I let the others go off and explore while I hobbled around on my own. Marco Polo’s house is here, but it was already closed for the day (it was 4pm and it closed at 2pm) I did the usual, raided the supermarket, went on the net, and – because I really didn’t think anyone cared where I was, and I already told them I wasn’t able to go out for drinks – so I didn’t need to be back at the boat by 8 like the others – I went to find dinner.
There was a pokey looking restaurant close to the boat so I went and sat down, striking up a conversation with an older Australian couple who were waiting to pay their bill. A group of men came in and the waitress asked if I could move tables so she could join three together, but the men asked if I’d like to join them and I said Why not?! I ended up having dinner with these five crazy old Germans who had left their significant others and children at home for a boy’s week sailing around Croatia. And boy, were they delighted with my presence – ‘we haven’t ever had a lady sit with us for a meal’. I had the seafood platter which I’d already ordered, and by the time the men had their first courses and were well through their mains, I was just finishing.
My OJ wasn’t good enough, and I was poured a glass of red wine, of which we went through two bottles, and it mysteriously kept filling up. We were talking about my travels, their travels, and then they found I could understand bits of what they were saying, because if their comments were not directed to me they were talking in German, yet I would still chuckle or look amused, until they asked me to speak some German – ‘fair’s fair’ was their comment, but five against one and I had stage fright – it was very lame!
A tumbler of peach schnapps to cleanse the palate was toasted with my name and then the last of the red and another round of schnapps to go with a finishing cheese platter. The men had sneakily put my bill with theirs (the waitress spoke good German) and I was not allowed to pay. A night of good food and good conversation I wished them all safe travels and them me, hobbling back to the boat – through the other five we were moored up against – a little red faced and smiley, and I find Beth and Vaughn sighing with relief and scolding me because they didn’t know where I went and had got worried.
On Thursday I began to catch a cold from the enclosed cramped cabins and low immune system and slept most of the day in the cabin. I decided to drag myself out of bed to go out for a while that night in Hvar, because I had missed out on Korcula, and a good dose of alcohol should get rid of the pain in my ankle for a while. It worked, and I was able to dance around on one leg for a while until the music got bad and the heat from so many people combined with an already high temperature forced me outside. I sat with Stacey, Cathy, Rob and Josh until the first three ousted for bed, but Josh and I sat laughing at Mel’s birthday antics – she and Brendan had really long fancy cocktail straws in their hair, Kristy was running up telling me random things then bolting again, Bryce was capturing everyone on camera and it was only when the vodka was wearing off and we started walking back to the boat that I was reminded of the pain in my ankle.
Friday was literally a nightmare. I spent the entire day in bed with aches, shakes, fever and bad coughing, surfacing to attempt some lunch which just didn’t happen, and collapsing on the bottom front deck to get away from the boat fumes below and get some fresh air. Back in the cabin I didn’t surface again until we arrived back in Split for a final hurrah that night.
We went to the beach club, quite exclusive and overlooking the ocean. I had already pre-drunk the last of our vodka, a) because I was out of money and b) so I could walk to the club without hobbling, both of which worked in my favour (again the walking back sucks when you’re sobering up)! Another blast of a night celebrating a mostly awesome week. An hour in and the music turns off, the lights come on, and the place is infested with top calibre Croatian police. We think they were checking that locals had done their service in the army. They were gone soon enough and the club filled up even more because a local well-known VIP singer came at 1am. Because of that Daniella couldn’t get back in with the other boat so they had to make do with the other less cool clubs for a while. Most of us had had enough by 2am, so we all wandered back to the boat for several hours sleep. Half the boat was leaving Split on the 10am flight so they were gone by the time mama rang the bell for breakfast.
Tags: Travel
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