We set off early and, having spent a great deal of our Croatian Kuna already, headed to the ATMs to refresh our pocket wealth. This went well for all of us apart from Kevin who upon putting his card in and entering PIN and amount was then thrilled to find out that the town had been hit by a power cut (coincidentally at the same time as I yanked the power lead for the boat out of the dock). He now found himself with no card (and no spare card).
We set sail for Vis, previously a military only island and with fabulous vinyards, with a hangover and a lively Force 5 gusting Force 6 sea. We were all fairly stoic – Pete took the helm as he was feeling queasy and that helped him (good ploy), Andy threw up down in the cabin and very shortly afterwards I decided, in the absence of ginger teddy bears, to throw myself over the starboard winch and vomit all down the side of the yacht. Using the winch to hang onto the boat which was tipping every which way I managed to empty yellow bile all down the starboard deck, whilst listening to the skipper recounting his seasickness stories. It was during this point of hanging over the side that I spotted a fin – I shouted Shark! Shark! but it turned out to be friendly dolphins who had come along to play. Some people have always wanted to go swimming with dolphins and here was me vomiting with them.
The dolphins were remarkable leaping completely out fo the water – a substantial size and playing in front of the bow. That cheered us all up on the long long trip in the grey sea and howling wind to Vis.
Once we reached the island the wind dropped and the sun came out and we reached a small bay, anchored and the wet suited snorkellers jumped in and I gingerly made my way down the steps in my trunks and icebreaker merino top – the sea was about as cold as the North Sea although it was a gorgeous colour. Andy put on his swimming leg – a completely enclosed artificial leg and joined us in the cold. Croatia doesn’t have beaches as such (there are rare exceptions to this) – rocky limestone meets the turquoise water. A sea kayaker paddled past. This was a real holiday after all and hopefully armed with my ginger my sea legs had returned. Anchor up and we were off to the town of Vis itself.
Vis itself was a marvellous island and the town was a joy – we lazy lined into the town and then cleaned down the yellow dried vomit off the starboard side. Skipper and I went looking for the others who had gone for a walk. No where to be found we scoured one end of the town and had a marvellous walk through deserted streets to the other end of the bay. Delightful town. With no sign of them we enjoyed a delicious Croatian icecream and wandered back to find them outside a restaurant – we decided upon it as it looked fancy and reasonable and waded in amongst the huge candles to enjoy red scorpion fish and John Dory with some splendid wine and a recommendation from the waiter, in between football advice on the upcoming European Cup Final, of a Blue Cave, not the tourist one, but an isolated cave which was free and we could anchor and snorkel. All bills come with complementary grappa so you are not sure which is more painful – walnut and fig grappa is quite tasty though once you get past the smell.
Back to the boat, over that narrow gangplank again, and more gin forgetting the dreadful effect of the morning hangover.
