While it wasn’t possible to go to the blue cave, our captain Peter from Waterworld Croatia, offered a different itinerary. He could take us to six other islands/locations that he promised were incredible, claiming he’s never had an unhappy customer with this secondary plan, or he gave everyone the option to walk away from the trip, pay nothing and try again another day. Every single person in the group chose to remain and see what the day would bring, and every single person loved it.
Our trip started by climbing into the RIB (rigid-hulled inflatable boat) that Waterworld Croatia is known for. Instead of seats, this thing has what looked like saddles for us to climb onto. We knew then that people weren’t joking when they said this tour was a fast one. Peter warmed us up to the speed slowly, gently working his way out of the marina, then slowly building up speed. So much so that we got reprimanded by the harbor police shortly after! Whoops.
This sucker was FAST. Please note the “saddles” we had to sit in.
Our first stop was the mini island of Trogir, which was a destination we were toying with visiting anyway. I’m very happy we only had a partial day here as I think I full day would to way too much time.
Trogir was filled with windy streets and cute shutters.
Our next fairly long boat stretch was invigorating. We were flying across the water. This ride didn’t seem to help my hungover Australian seat neighbor, who mentioned later she gets quite motion sick. We arrived at an almost empty beach with some of the clearest water I have ever seen, and more importantly and unexpectedly – sand! Sandy beaches are not the norm at all for Croatia so it was a pleasant surprise.
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We spent a lovely couple of hours at this beach, first snorkeling with full face masks, a first for both me and Derek. There wasn’t much to see in the water aside from the ever present sea urchins. The lack of visual combined with the rather cold water made for a short time swimming, so the group quickly ditched the water for laying in the sun, which was beating down in wonderfully warm toasty rays. I had just closed my eyes and started to drift when Captain Peter stopped by and asked if we be interested in some red or white wine. It may have been before noon, but getting up at 7am makes 11:30am feel like 3pm. Close enough. White, please!
Yacht conga line
At this point, the group was warming up to each other, just in time for our next stop: lunch. We arrived at the next island with a few minutes to wander around until a van arrived to take us up to the top of the mountain for the best views. One thing that this specific boat tour is known for is getting all of the 10 members of the boat ride to come together over lunch and bond. Peter sat us all down and gave us his story, a heartwarming tale of figuring out what makes you happy and seizing it. He, in turn, gave us all a chance to give the group a glimpse into who we are as well. Lunch also seems to bring my seat buddy back to life, and she quickly became the life of the party.
Not a bad view for lunch!
After lunch was a special pit stop, Peter’s friend let him know that a certain snorkel area was empty and we headed straight over. It was a sunken ship in a fairly shallow area. While the water looked a little dark, Peter hadn’t led us wrong yet so Derek and I grabbed our masks and cameras and jumped in. It was so crazy to see the boat, I’m used to seeing large military boats that have been stripped to become artificial reefs. This was a fairly large private boat that had been accidentally sunk. The funniest part was the toilets that were fairly close to the surface and made excellent props for an impromptu photoshoot.
After snorkeling there was one last stop, a wine tasting on a different island a short trip away. After some interesting views in the form of a few nude captains, we arrived at Milna on the island of Brac. Our wine tasting was in a beautiful old cellar belonging to a family owned business. We tasted their various products, olive oil and many different types of wine. They also made various soaps and creams. We ended up taking home a bar of olive oil soap and bottle of wine that the owner bottled right in front of us. Talk about fresh! Other visitors to the shop had prepared ahead, they brought big empty 2-liter plastic bottles to fill.
This is a stone vat of olive oil that was remarkably tasty.
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Sadly this was our last stop. We all sat together at a restaurant and had a last glass of wine before we were on our way. Luckily we had an hour boat ride ahead of us Peter had warned us that the inclement weather that had affected the whole day’s plan would be now in the bay and to expect a bumpy ride. I think he was warning us, afraid that we would have scaredy-cats in the group. Instead, he had a group of 10 slightly intoxicated people who were beyond excited. The ride back was one of the most adrenaline filled experiences of my life. This time we didn’t just fly across the water, we hit waves and flew up and out of the water. It was amazing.
The day had a disappointing start, we still have yet to see the blue cave, but we ended up having an extraordinary experience anyway.
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