Three Island Cruise

We booked one of the cruises they sell at stands, which are set up right next to each other at the old port.  Young Croatians compete with each other for customers.  They hit on just about every passing tourist, waving brochures and yelling, "Glass bottom boat!"  It was interesting to watch who chose the good looking guy and who chose the attractive girl next to him.  We chose the guy.

The next day, when we came back at the appointed time for our cruise, they told us that we were going to be bused to the port outside the old city because the water was too choppy to sail around the city from the old port.  The water did not look that rough, so we wondered just what kind of boat we were on.  The salesman assured us that it was "a big boat.  It could hold 80 people.  You could sail to Florida in it."  The converted fishing boat didn't exactly fit that description but seemed reasonably seaworthy nonetheless.

The cruise took us to the three Elaphite islands, Kolocep, Sipan and Lopud, just off the coast from Dubrovnik.  We spent about 45 minutes on Kolocep where there were two choices of activity.  Walk around the port area or sit in the dockside cafe and have a drink.  Val walked about, wading in the water and gathering shells.  Guess what I did?  Here's a hint.

At Sipan we had lunch, which was included in the trip.  There was another boat there, so we alternated.  We had lunch first, then an hour on the island and vice versa.  After eating and walking a bit Val bought some shells from a little girl who was selling them by the seashore.  

Then we watched some kids fish a soccer ball out of the water.

The highlight of the cruise (for me) happened on the way to the last island, Lopud.  One of the crew came out with a basket of fish tails left over from lunch.  A flock of seagulls materialized.  The guy put the tails in his mouth and the gulls hovered right over him, grabbing the fish tails in their beaks and flying happily away.  I wonder if they had practiced this?

Lopud advertised "sandy" beaches.

Val gave a guy 40 Kunas to rent two lounge chairs.  It turned out that they were free.  The guy was just standing nearby and happy to take the money.  We passed a pleasant 2 hours lounging on the beach surrounded by French tourists before heading back to the boat for a farewell drink. 

Zivjeli!  To a pleasant day.