Emily: Full of anticipation we headed to the promenade in Split where we had spotted our boat the night before, and checked in at 11 o’clock. We had mixed expectations for our 7-day cruise after reading reviews on trip advisor, but booked still it as it was the most cost-effective and efficient way to see the Southern Dalmatian islands with a discount price during the ‘shoulder season’ and an upgrade to a cabin with an ensuite.
Our boat’s an old wooden ketch with about 12 rooms on three levels. Multiple areas to lounge in the sun. We managed to get a above deck room with an ensuite so pretty happy.
There are about 20 people on our cruise, a mixture of Aussies, kiwis, and a couple of French and English and one Canadian so quite a good mix. We left Split at 1pm after our first lunch which was average – overcooked soggy peas and potatoes and a meat patty, all of which were so salty it was physically hard to eat (felt sorry for the guy who had just told them he needed a low-salt diet). I’m glad to say the meals have improved since then! It was super hot on the boat so stopped for some diving off the boat – the water was about as warm as Lake Taupo in December but still so refreshing! Everyone was into their beers, cocktails and cool drinks that afternoon and we had a relaxed time socialising while lying round on the deck! We arrived at our first island Makarska around 6pm so didn’t get much time to explore. It was a cute port with other similar boats lined up side by side such that to get on land you had to cross each boat to get there. Down one end of the report was a huge bikers rally / festival, with hundreds of people in leathers and vests drinking beer around a portable bar and a HUGE cattle beast on a spit blaring loud music which lasted until the small hours – pretty cool with fire works later on as well. We managed a small walk out on peninsula to see the views and an old chapel, and found a ‘padlock fence’ with hundreds of padlocks attached – since then we’ve found heaps more on other island…I’m thinking we should contribute! That evening we splashed out on a nice seafood dinner with some of the others from the cruise, I had tuna steaks and Scott had calamari, both with fresh veges – it felt like the first normal dinner we had had in ages as had been eating either tagines, omelettes, pastas or pizzas until then.
Fist night in the boat – comfy enough beds, a bit hot and stuff but we’re on the upper deck so can open the door straight outside, paper thin walls ( can hear everything from our neighbours), broken light and shower head but all good in the hood!

We left at 7am the following day, but it was sweet as we could stay in bed and still travel! Again we chilled out on the deck, read books and admired the views as we made our way to Mljet island – one of the most stunning in Croatia. Inside the island are two lakes that look similar to the green lake in Rotorua, a beautiful green-aqua colour, and in one lake is a small island with an old monastery on it. We visited that by catching a taxi boat, then hired bikes and gave my knee a much needed work out by biking following the lake around to the sea where many years ago the monks had built s channel connecting the lakes and sea ( and apparently destroying the lakes). It was quite peaceful, and the scenery remind us of NZ with the green bush covering the rest of the island. We had a cold refreshing swim with some of the others and finished the day off with pizza and a gin and tonic.Happy hour on the boat that night with 12 people game of ‘asshole’ (card game) – our bar man comes up with some interesting cocktails and shots, he calls them ‘surprise’s’ -i think i’ll stick to my gin and tonics!

The following day was rainy with thunderstorms and quite cool so no swimming 😦 we arrived in Dubrovnik at lunch time and didn’t leave until 24 hours later so had plenty of time to explore the old beautiful town that has a large history of attacks and war, the most recent being caught in the former Yugoslav war in 1991-1992. It is such a stunning town, most impressive is the thick wall (6m in some parts) that surrounds the old town. The streets are marbles which looked amazing that night in the rain with the lights shimmering against it, and building in baroque style. We got half price ice creams ( deal with sail croatia) before slowly meandering along the top of the wall (2km) admiring the Adriatic sea and taking lots of photos (see below)! We spent a while on the wall as weather not too hot and not many people around at all ( the following day it was bright and sunny, accompanied by hundreds of people and long ques).
Dinner was a simple cheap hamburger with an awesome young couple from our boat. Dubrovnik is very expensive so we were watching our kuna’s carefully, a coffee is usually 8 kuna but in Dubrovnik jumps to 19 kuna’s (although we did get to use their wifi).
It was magic wondering the streets later that night, exploring alley ways, finding old marble arches and buildings – Scott didn’t take his camera in to town at dinner time so we took a bus ride back to the boat and headed straight back in to capture all the twinkling shimmering lights on the buildings and pavement.
There was a free photo exhibition on the 1991-2 war and on those who lost their lives defending the town, it was quite sobbing as most were our age or younger.
We got up earlier the following morning and climbed Mt Srd, a mountain directly behind the town, with the same couple we had tea with the night before. It only took an hour to get up and the views were incredible ( again, photos below). I caught the cable car down as didn’t trust my knee on the steep downhill, which the others later confirmed was a very good decision as they all were slipping at one point or another on the way down. I grabbed another gelato, tiramisu flavour yummy, and met the others before racing back to the boat which departed at 12pm, we got there in the nick of time!!!