Croatia, first installment

Three and a half hours after checking out of Montenegro we pulled up to the dock in Cavtat, Croatia to check into our next country.  There was already a boat in the spot you’re supposed to use while checking in, so we parked a bit behind it.  Mike disembarked to find the necessary officials and promptly walked off in the wrong direction–the sign with the arrow was right beside the boat so he didn’t see it.  I wasn’t too concerned, but then a guy in a uniform showed up to tell me that we were parked in the wrong spot for checking in (the aforementioned boat had left, of course).  I apologized and said that there was a boat in the spot when we pulled up, and that my husband had gone to check in but I thought he had gone the wrong way, yadda yadda.  I was prepared to be taken into custody, but then the official just wandered away.  Whew, thanks Croatia, I think we will get along just fine.

After checking into the country we popped around the corner and dropped the anchor in a bed of weeds.  Took a couple tries but we got there–I’m getting pretty good at hitting a tiny target of sand.  Mike says I missed my calling and should have been a bombardier.  (Fun fact: I told David Baird that I thought I’d have done well in the military and he responded that that showed a shocking lack of self-awareness!  He may have a point.)

That evening we dinghied back into Cavtat for dinner to celebrate our Croatian arrival.  The next morning we moved across the bay to a mooring ball in Srebrena so that we were positioned better to take a day trip to Dubrovnik, or as I prefer to call it–King’s Landing from Game of Thrones!!!!  The rest of the day was lazy–a seabath, a trip to the grocery store for supplies, and a new SIM card.  Get this–for 11 Euro we got a SIM card and one week of UNLIMITED data, renewable every week.  Have I mentioned that the Canadian cell phone providers are the devil incarnate?

The next morning Mike went for a walk to check out some abandoned resorts Chris and Sue told us about, casualties of the war in Yugoslavia

After Mike got back to the boat we set out on our pilgrimage to Dubrovnik/Kings Landing!  We decided to catch the local bus into the city, and after an hour waiting in the scorching sun it arrived.  We then missed our stop in Dubrovnik, but we hopped off a mile or so down the road near the marina, which of course Mike was pleased to check out.  No chance of taking Coral in there–very expensive!  We were quite happy with our free mooring ball in the suburbs.

We wandered along the waterfront/Blackwater Bay until we hit the old town.

We had lunch at the first restaurant that accosted us, and then we used our new data package to find GoT filming sites to visit.  Here is me on the steps of the Sept of Baelor where Cersei started her walk of shame.

After we finished our exploring we headed to find the bus stop that would take us back to Srebrena.  We walked up and up and up and up.  Here I am not even at the top of where we walked to.

Of course we got all the way up and waited a half hour for a bus only to be told that we were in the wrong spot and needed to go down.  As we approached the correct stop our bus pulled out, and since there wasn’t another one for over an hour we walked all the way back down the hill and caught a cab back to Coral.  Please note, I am NOT complaining.  These don’t even rate as problems, I know, but this blog is as much to remind me of my experience as it is to let y’all read about it.  (Seriously, who is reading this besides David Baird, Kevin Clark, Susan Ecclestone, Eric Schmidt, Cyril and Mimi?  No one else comments!)

The next morning we headed north, motoring by Dubrovnik as we headed out.

We stopped for the next two nights in Sudurad on Otok Sipan.  It’s a cute little town that gets lots of daytrippers from Dubrovnik.

The following day we decided to walk across the island to Sipanska Luka, the other town on Otok Sipan.  It was a bit of a hike, but hey, gotta get those steps in.  A shame I forgot the dongle for my FitBit in Canada.

We wandered around Sipanska Luka, checked out the choppy harbour, had a drink, and caught the bus back to Sudurad–luxury.

The next morning Mike went for a walk without me and captured these pretty posies.

I better post this while I’m still conscious.  I’m over a month behind and need to get my act together!  I’d say that I’m going to forget all my Croatian before I get the posts done, but we never got past Hvala, which means Thank You.  Seriously, that is all we know.  Spoiler alert–these days we’re using Grazie and Ciao a lot!