Last Swim in the Med

Thursday 23 August 2018

Our last day on the continent. Tomorrow we fly back to England to collect all Kate's gear. We have been advised by the locals to leave Dubrovnik today as there are four cruise ships expected. Luckily we had organised to go on a three islands cruise run by the father of our host. Apparently from next year the cruise ships will be restricted and this shouldn't happen. This decision means a loss of lots of revenue but the people of Dubrovnik have had enough.

Ivana collected us from the apartment and took us on the local bus to the local harbour where we boarded Bebe (Baby in Croatian). The boat took 50 people and it was full but didn't seem crowded, the crew were very friendly and we were served unlimited drinks for the whole trip. Choice of red or white wine,  soft drinks, water and the grappa appeared on the way home.

We stopped at the first island Lopud and spent 2.5 hours swimming  at one of the beaches and walking along the single pedestrian thoroughfare which ran around the bay. The water was idyllicly warm and very  salty. We had been told before we left the boat that lunch would be served on the boat on our return and we had chosen between fish, chicken and vegetarian  (pasta). When we returned to the boat we were presented with amazing grilled fish or chicken and potato salad and tomatoes.  We later learnt that the crew had barbecued the whole meal on the roof of the boat while we were swimming.

After lunch we moved on to a second island Sipan where we had a 45 minute stop. We settled in at a cafe by the water and Matilda and I had icecreams and Kate had a piece of cake. When the waiter (who was really nice) gave Kate her cake he said he had tried to make the cream look like a heart but unfortunately it looked more like a kidney!!!!!

We then went to Kolocep where we spent an hour and 15 mins swimming in the Mediterranean  (unfortunately our last swim in the Med) before heading back to Dubrovnik at 5pm.

Arrived back and went to our favourite bar on the  bay for pre dinner drinks. I then came home to eat the second half of last night's greek salad and chicken kebab take away which was huge and the girls went out for dinner at our local pizza place by the steps.