THE BOAT IS OURS!!!!!

September 7, 2013

Today is the day we take possession of the boat.  First I had to get all of the crew, minus one, from the apartments to the marina along with their luggage.  The rental was a very small Renault.  We thought about it and came up with a plan.  We got everything together and started executing the plan.  We got to the marina, but we could not enter the area at the boats where we could unload gear.  We managed to get a space where we could stay for a short period and we unloaded the gear and walked it to the charter office.

I returned to the apartment to get Dolly and the remaining luggage.  We made a stop to pickup the remaining crewmember.

We got a space and got settled somewhat.  We could not get the boat until shortly after noon.  We got the green light to head to the boat.  We were accompanied by one of the staff to our boat, Mediterraneo.  He gave the crew a quick but comprehensive orientation of the systems on the boat.  It had new sails!!  Everything appeared to operate perfectly.  We signed off on the paperwork and started to get settled.  

Folks were a little hungry so we went to the bistro on site and had lunch and talked about our float plan for the next morning.  We were to rendezvous with Capt. Rob Chichester and his crew who were departing from Kremik, about 25 nautical miles south of Sibenik at an island called Solta.  We figured out where it was and we arrived at a tentative float plan.

 



The crew scattered to take care of personal things and get settled in their respective cabins.  Some runs were made to the nearby grocery store to purchase some items and the provisioning company arrived with our provisions.  Sooner or later, everyone settled down to sleep so that we could make an early departure the next morning.

A Short Road Trip and Crew Arrival

September 6, 2013

A Short Road Trip and Crew Arrival

We decided to go to the Krka National Park.  It is a short drive from Sibenik, but getting lost made it a little longer drive.  We finally got there and the parking lot was really full.  We purchased our tickets to get in the park and we took a large tour bus to another area.  We decided to take the boat ride to the 500 year old working monastery located on an island in the middle of a river.  The ride took about 40 minutes and we went to the monastery.  It was quite idyllic and the tour was very short.

We boarded the boat and returned to our starting point.  We decided to walk some to find the different falls and sights to see.  We hiked through several beautiful areas with streams and waterfalls.  We did this for a while and then took the bus back to the parking area.  We had a small meal, found the car and headed back to the apartment.

While enroute to the apartment, we received a phone call.  Some of the crew had arrived.  They were at the apartment which was about five minutes away.  Two of the crew were walking toward the apartment when we were heading there and one was at the apartment.  Everyone got settled and we talked about our adventures.  Not long after that, we received another phone call from one more crew member.  She was staying in downtown Sibenik and we decided to meet at the bus station and then go to dinner.

There was a Medieval celebration occurring along the waterfront and parking was scarce, but we found a place close by.  We met our crewmember at the bus station and walked to dinner.

 

The crew minus one at a great bistro on the harbor





 

The Medieval Celebration

After dinner we walked around a bit.  People were dressed in costumes of the Medieval period and there were many vendors selling things from knives and swords to jewelry and scents.  We hung out there for about an hour and decided to head back to the apartment.  We walked our crewmember to her apartment, however, she could not remember exactly where it was.  She finally reached her host and he came out to show her where her flat was located.  The rest of us returned to the apartment. 

Road Trip

September 5, 2013

Road Trip!!!!!!

We awoke after a good night's sleep and had our usual European type breakfast.  It was good and satisfied my hunger.  We had decided to drive to Trogir, about 45 minutes south.  First, we decided that we wanted to go to the marina and look around.

We went to the marina and stopped at the first building.  It was a very modern and new office area for all types marine services.  There were outrageous megayachts at theis marina and not many sailboats.  We went in and asked for the office of the charter company.  We were directed further into the marina area and told where to go.  We followed her directions and found the office of the charter company, Dream Yachts.  We met Marina, the staff person in the office.  I had communicated with her via email regarding facilities and other important information such as the location of supermarkets and such.  Marina told us that we would be able to get the boat finished by noon on the day we were to have the boat.  That was great!!!!
!

We left the marina and headed south to Trogir.  The ride was quite scenic at time as we rode along the coast of the Adriatic Sea.  We stopped at an unofficial overlook just past the town of Premostin.  We could see the Adriatic in all of its splendor.  There was a marina below us at the area called Kremik.

While I was snapping pictures, Dolly visited a vendor who had setup shop out of the trunk of her car.  Dolly bought a bottle of wine.

Back on the road, we were in Trogir in short order.  We found the entrance to the historical site and parked the car.  We went inside after Dolly did some vendor shopping.  She saw a hat that she loved, but we left and went in.  The old part of Trogir was much like the Old City in Dubrovnik.  There were old buildings and churches with cafes, shops and restaurants throughout.  We walked through the area and headed to the harbor.  There were ferries and tour boats lined alond the quay.

We were a bit hungry and decided to have some lunch.  We picked a restaurant there on the quay and had a pizza for lunch while we "people watched".   After lunch, an American couple decided we were friendly Americans and the husband took our picture.

We toured around a little longer and decided to leave and head back to Sibenik.  This was not a very exciting place--an old fort, a church, and shops.

The drive back was pleasant and uneventful.  We went back to the apartment and relaxed for a while.  We later went into town to the harbor area and had a great dinner.  Full and happy we soon went to bed.







On To Sibenik

September 4, 2013

On To Sibenik

We awoke and  got some breakfast at a local restaurant.  We returned to the Villa Helena Glamour and told the person there, the owner's mother, that we were leaving.  She called her daughter and after Dolly told her what was wrong with the apartment, she said to pay the 600 kunas and be done.  We got a ride to the bus station and got a bus to Sibenik.  The ride was rather nice with a few stops and a stop in Trogir.  Two people got on the bus.  We proceeded on toward Sibenik and a neatly dressed man got on the bus at a roadside stop .  He appeared to be an inspector of some description.  He asked each passenger for a ticket.  The two that had gotten on the bus in Trogir had no tickets.  They were told to pay or get off the bus.  They got off.

We arrived in Sibenik and took a taxi to our next apartment.  It was a little way out of town, but it was quite nice.  We were taken to our apartment and got settled in.  It was a three bedroom apartment with a nice terrace in front with a great view of the Adriatic and a portion of the town.  We were ready to eat so we called our cab driver and went down into the heart of town.  I told our host, Silvio, before we left that we wanted a rental car.  He connected us with someone and the car would be delivered to us later.  We ate dinner down at the city harbor and returned to the apartment.  The car rental agent was waiting for us when we returned.  I completed the paperwork and we had a car.  We eventually went to bed after deciding what we would do the next day.

Return to Split

September 3, 2013

We thought we would be able to catch a 10:00 bus to Split, however, we were told that the earliest bus we could get was at 11:00.  We walked around the harbor in Dubrovnik and did a little shopping.  We were on the road promptly at 11:00 traveling to Split.

We arrived in Split and walked to the Bellevue Hotel to retrieve our luggage.  After retrieving our luggage we took a taxi to our next apartment, the Villa Helena Glamour.  Unlike the name, it was not glamourous!   We left and took the bus to the mall to look around.  After a couple of hours we returned to the apartment to get ready to go to dinner.  While were getting ready to go to dinner,  Dolly said that the bathroom was not clean and the room was quite tight.  We decided we were going to move out the next morning and relocate to Sibenik.

Dinner was great!  We returned to the apartment and I went online to reserve an apartment in Sibenik.  I booked the same apartment that we had for September 6, 2013.  It went through and we were set. 

Dubrovnik

September 2, 2013

We awoke today and had our usual Mediterranean breakfast of yogurt, bread or pastry and cheese.  We left the apartment and headed back to the Old City.  We arrived at the Old City and opted to take a ride on the tram up to a great vantage point on a mountain above Dubrovnik,  The view was incredible!!



There was a small museum commemorating the war and lots of great views.  There was a small restaurant and a gift shop at the summit.  We took the tram back down and walked to the Old City.

The Old City is magnificent.  There are shops, cafes and restaurants everywhere.  We climbed several sets of steps to a level about halfway to the top.  We wandered around sightseeing and looking for a place called the Booza Bar.  We found it and there were people jumping off of a cliff at the bar into the Adriatic.  We left there and looked for a place to have lunch.  We found a nice restaurant adjacent to a church.  While we were having lunch we noticed that a wedding was taking place.

After lunch we descended to the lowest level to start the climb to the top of the wall.  We had to purchase tickets to do so.  After purchasing the tickets, we started our ascent to the top of the wall.  It was quite a climb! 

We began the walk of the wall  with rest stops and photo stops along the way.  You could see for miles into the Adriatic and the view down into the city was incredible.

We walked further around the wall and we stopped at juice bar where we had a break and had a juice.  While there we met a couple and talked for a while and then we all departed to further walk the wall.  Our walk was shortened due to time.  We descended and caught the bus back to our area where we found a sandwich shop and had our dinner meal.  We returned to the apartment and packed to caatch the bus back to Split in the morning.   What a day!!!













Off to Dubrovnik

On September 1, 2013, we awoke early to get ready to catch a 10:30 bus to Dubrovnik.  I made arrangements for the hotel to store our luggage for two days.  Dolly was a bit skeptical about those arrangements, but we trusted the hotel to do the right thing.  We walked from the hotel to the bus station after having a buffet breakfast at the hotel that consisted of cheese, bread, fruit and yogurt.  Very Mediterranean!

We caught the 10:30 bus and headed to Dubrovnik.  The bus went through town and got on the new highway, a four lane divided freeway.  Not long after getting on this great new highway, we went off because it had not been completed.  After that we went through several small communities with narrow roads that were very close to the Adriatic.  Two buses could not have passed each other on some of these roads.

Shortly, the bus pulled into what appeared to be an immigration station.  It was!!!  An armed soldier got onboard and demanded to see each passenger's passport.  We were preparing to enter Bosnia-Herzegovina.  As it turned out, part of the settlement of the war was that Bosnia received 8 kilometers of coastline into the coastline of Croatia.  Below is a photograph of a part of that coastline.

There was a rest stop about 2 kilometers inside of Bosnia.  It had a restaurant and toilets.  It was time for a toilet break!  Downstairs was a small market and Dolly bought some items.

We proceeded on and quickly exited Bosnia.  We arrived in Dubrovnik in early afternoon.  As we got off of the bus and collected our bags, we were approached by a gentleman asking if we needed transportation.  We agreed and I gave him the address of the apartment.  We walked to his vehicle and it was not a taxi, but a relatively new Chevrolet Impala.  He knew exactly where the apartment was and on the way, he gave us many important tips on where to catch a bus and where the old city was in relation to where we were staying.  He rang the bell and our hostess came and told us to come inside the gate.  The driver gave us his phone number and left.

The hostess showed us to our apartment, a very comfortable one bedroom with a very nice terrace overlooking a playground.  The terrace was accessible to the living room and the bedroom.  She gave us the password for the Wi-fi, told us where to catch the bus to the old city and what number bus to catch and left.  We rested for a while and decided to go up to the Old City to eat and look around.

We got dressed and walked to the bus to head to the Old City.  We arrived and walked to a terrace adjacent to the walls of the Old City and the old fort.  We decided on an outdoor restaurant overlooking the fort and the Adriatic Sea.  Dinner was quite tasty and we left to explore the Old City.  We took the short walk to the bridge and gates to the site.  The place was teeming with tourists!  I was also surprised as we walked around at the amount "capitalism" there was.  There were shops, cafes and restaurants throughout.  The structure is quite old and the buildings were quite beautiful. We spent a couple of hours walking around and left and went to a restaurant to have dessert.  A long and beautiful day.  We took the bus and returned to our apartment.







Croatia Here We Come!

On August 30, 2013, Dolly and I were picked up by our Ubercab driver, David, in his luxurious black sedan and whisked to Dulles International Airport.  We were a little early so we had time to clear security, grab a bite to eat and relax before boarding the plane for our eight hour flight to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.  It was quite early in the morning when we arrived at 5:45 AM on August 31, 2013.  We had to change terminals for our next flight to Split, Croatia. Our flight was not until 11:35 AM and after a rather long bus ride we arrived at our terminal.  Charles de Gaulle airport is quite large.  We got a bite to eat and languished in the airport for quite some time until our flight began to accept passengers.  We arrived in Split, Croatia at 1:40 PM and after collecting our luggage, we were taken expeditiously to our hotel for the night, the Bellevue Hotel.  It was adjacent to the harbor and main promenade along the shore.  We were also within 500 meters of Diocletian's Palace, an extremely important tourist attraction.

After relaxing for a while, we ventured out to get dinner and ate at a very comfortable and casual  restaurant near the water.  The harbor was packed with people, some locals and many tourists.  We strolled along the promenade and stopped to get some gelato.  There are gelato stands all along the promenade and most were quite busy.   We realized our Croatian adventure had truly begun.  We sat on the promenade and watched the people strolling by and the boats that were at the quay.  We went to the bus station which was close to the harbor to obtain a bus schedule to Dubrovnik.  We walked toward the center of town  through a retail area where we encountered a "golden man".   After looking in some of the stores and boutiques, we returned to our hotel to get a good night's sleep after our long flight.  Tomorrow we would be in Dubrovnik, Croatia.



About Sojourner Travel Alliance

The Sojourner Travel Alliance is an organization with the aim of exposing adventurous people  to exotic and marvelous locations by sailboat.  Started by Dolly and Gary Dixon, both avid sailors, it was thought that others would enjoy the same excitement and adventure that was enjoyed by this couple sailing in foreign lands and waters.  The Alliance has promoted sailing adventures to the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, the various islands of the Andaman Sea and Indian Ocean in Thailand, along the barrier reef in Belize, Central America and the various islands in the Adriatic Sea along the coast of Croatia.  We have also chartered and sailed in the Sir Francis Drake Channel in the British Virgin Islands.  There is no end to the locations to experience this wonderful way to travel and explore.

Follow our blog and experience some of our adventures vicariously.  Better yet join us.  You will never regret having the experience!