Tuesday, september 6

We never planned to spend much time in Split, as it was just a stopover point to get to the beautiful party island of Hvar.  So, we took the 9am ferry from Split and in about 45 minutes, we were there!  We had budgeted two nights in Hvar, knowing (from other travelers' blogs) that we wanted to spend one full day island hopping in our very own rental boat.  We didn't yet know which day that would be, but when we disembarked from the ferry in Hvar, the beautiful weather told us today was the day!  We hustled to the boat rental area and descended upon the latest victim of Hirsh's aggressive negotiating tactics.  Once he got the price down to something we could stomach, we threw our bags in the boat, loaded up on food and alcohol from the nearby market, and we were off!  We were a little anxious for a few reasons: we fibbed about having operated a boat before, it was an extraordinarily windy and somewhat dangerous day, and all our belongings were with us in that little boat - clothes, passports, copies of passports, cash, credit cards, medications, etc. If the boat sank, so did we.  Figuratively, if not also literally.

You have to admit, Hirsh does appear to be in his element driving this boat.  The island of Hvar is in the background.

We had been given a handy map of the surrounding Pakleni Islands by the man who rented the boat to us, so the first order of business was to circumnavigate the barrier islands so we could get to the south-facing side where the winds are much calmer.  We found a great spot in a beautiful cove, Stipanska, and dropped anchor to enjoy our lunch, a nap, and a swim in the azure blue water of the Adriatic.  You can't tell from these photos and the iPhone doesn't capture it, but the crystal clear water is full of bright blue Finding Dory fish. 😄

Croatia is well known for its nude beaches, and has been recently featured on the cover of some in-flight magazines for just that.  Finding one of these beaches was a top priority for us, and we found it right away.  We had pictured a beautiful white powder strand in a secluded cove where people are frolicking around the way God/Nature intended.  The reality was very different, with the nudists perched on the edges of low rocky cliffs and not a grain of sand in sight.  Bummer.  No matter, we created our own natural paradise for the afternoon on our private boat.  Photos tastefully cropped for the sake of our future political careers...

After a couple of hours, we cruised around to another cove, Palmizana.

In all, we were out on the water for a good seven hours.  It was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable days of our entire trip.  We understand now why people charter yachts with a group of friends to sail around the Caribbean or BVI for a week!  Friends...any takers?

After returning the boat at the latest permissible time, we checked into our Booking.com accommodations, Apartments Rogosic, where we cleaned up and headed back into town for dinner at a fun pizza joint, Alviz.  Hirsh had the expected pizza and beer while Sarah had unexpected Croatian beef stew.  Delish!