Korcula - I thought I knew ya....

Finally I made breakfast! Sleepy headed Sarah was baffled when I clambered out of my bed at 8.30am and asked where I was headed but she decided to join me and Lucie at the breakfast table. It was a very continental breakfast - meats, cheese, yoghurts and bread. Not quite enough fruit for my liking but at least we got something into us. On Day 4/5 of the holiday, it felt like an achievement. The weather wasn't looking too great yet so we grabbed another hours nap before our daily jump into the sea to blow the mind and refresh the senses. I tried to jump onto a lilo and completely missed. Doug saw the whole thing and cracked up but luckily didn't catch me with his camera.

Then it was time for some editing on deck (Yes, I brought my first draft!) in the sunshine until we docked in Korcula. Even at first glance it was beautiful and resembled Dubrovnik. We all took off exploring the old town and churches, Lisa and I lighting candles and admiring the art within. Korcula was the home of Marco Polo but also seemed like a setting for Romeo and Juliet. I took more photo's here than anywhere else.

There was a cocktail bar recommended where you could get your cocktails by pulley which we really fancied, but it wasn't open so we stopped at the Fly-In near our port for drinks in the afternoon sunshine. After a few drinks and ice-creams Lisa, Pearse and myself took off to book a place for dinner which we all agreed on (Croatian tapas - sounds good to me!) and a look into some of the shops.  Tipsy shopping can go well or not - I ended up with new flip-flops, new sunnies and a hat! After another afternoon tipple some of us headed back to the boat but the boys continued enjoying their pints in the sunshine.

After the pre-requisite drinks on deck we strolled down one of the pretty alleyways to our restaurant for dinner. It was quite near the photo taken above and they set up our table out on the terrace (as they couldn't fit us inside!). Gary and I decided on a sharing platter to get in as much of the good stuff that we liked (Olives, cheese, meats, bread, anchovies...yum) after an eggplant starter. The wine was good, conversation was flowing and a guitarists melodies drifted over from a bar nearby. We didn't want to leave, however we had a street party to get to and some people were on a mission to score that night so we finally did, after sitting over dinner a few hours. Of course we started the street party with a Jaeger train and Lisa carrying men off down the street as well as a bit of pole dancing (I missed the pole until later when there was some greasy man on it!!). I got involved in shots with some others from our boat - Ashley, Josh etc and Lucie and Halvor joined in. We thought we had a few casualties and early sleepers but it turned out Gareth had broken his flip-flops and they had gotten delayed at another bar!

Pearce had stolen my hat and was being chatted up by men nearby. Katie dragged me over to give Elliot a talking to for misbehaving the previous night. It was all getting very messy by the time we reached the club. Jagers were going down like water, people were being pinned up against bars in suggestive dance moves, all of us were jumping on the couches dancing and singing our heads off. In restrospect it sounds messy. It was, but it was a lot of fun!

After getting involved in one too many love triangles and trying to play Mommy too much I decided to redeem the night and sought out Dave for a few drinks. Dave is always a solid man to have a good time with. He never moans, he'll listen to you have a moan but then he'll get you in the mood for a bit of craic anyway. Thus we ended up wandering the streets of Korcula looking for sustenance around 4.30am. He was missing his lovely wife Linda (who couldn't come with us on the cruise) and drunken texts seemed like a great idea at that moment. As it started to get bright I got tired and headed back to the boat. There was much running around as usual so I took to one of the decks with Katie and Andre to make innings into a bottle of vodka. This wasn't my brightest idea as the sun was coming up and eventually I ended up tearful and maudlin, sitting with Cahal, both of us wishing things were different.

It was a sad way to end Korcula, as it really is a spectacular place but I was sure after a few hours sleep the boat would look very different.

Rainy Day in Dubrovnik

Sarah and I were jolted awake by a strange loud noise....the anchor dropping. It was time to jump off the top deck into the sea to awaken the senses. Some were feeling better than others, some were worshipping the porcelain god. As we sailed towards Dubrovnik the skies darkened and drops of rain could be felt on the top deck. I still wanted to explore this UNESCO Heritage city and see it's historic walls but a few of our group cried off in order to nurse sore heads, tummies and bottoms!

So we headed by bus up to the old city. A tour guide met us to take us around. The city is listed as one of the ten best walled cities in the world and it has some really beautifully preserved buildings. Although the Yugoslav wars affected Dubrovnik as recently as the early '90's and results of damage from shelling can be seen in various places  - alot of restoration work has returned the place to splendour. I personally loved the little side streets and all the steps that looked like they lead to little hideaways. Lucie was snapping away and has over 300 photos of the place!

After some pizza and more exploring everyone decided they wanted to climb the city walls (by steps, not ropes and harnesses!) but after I slipped on the first few steps I decided I couldn't apply myself to the task and really I just wanted to go back to bed! I'm sorry I missed the views but it was lovely to get back to the boat and listen to the rain from the comfort of my bed.

We got up as the sun was setting and everyone was feeling recharged and ready for a night on the town. It was time for drinks on deck again to toast Lisa's actual birthday so we started on the cocktails and the banter was flying. No man or woman was safe tonight with us unleashed on the streets of Dubrovnik.

We had booked a recommended restaurant for dinner, Ragusa 2 (Ragusa is the Croatian word for Dubrovnik) and we ordered some local specialities and a bottle of Prosecco for birthday girl. Unfortunately the food wasn't that impressive - Lisa had to send hers back twice! But we had a few good giggles and got her some chocolate cake. After that it was time for Jagers, Tequilas and BUCKETS of drinks at Skybar. Sarah and I got all serious and emotional for a bit (constant drinking and late nights will do that to you!) but soon loosened up and started dancing in the laneways. I got chatting with Chloe, one of the lovely Kiwi girls from our boat, and we all headed off to Revel nightclub, in the city walls! Ever so cool location! Doug, our brilliant photographer captured us all on our way to Revel.

Chloe and I finished our buckets and hid them near the door of the club as we wanted to bring them back to the boat. Inside was cavernous and very cool with a light show and dominatrix styled dancers. It was Jager time at the bar again (When is it not?) and then we started drinking Vodka with Blueberry red bulls - not bad!!! Lots of dancing, posing and pulling funny faces at Doug as he snapped away. We managed to vandalise a poster and all pose with it. It was just good, clean fun really. After I was sweaty enough I decided to head back to the boat and Chloe said we should we should have a late night swim. In my sweatyness I thought this was a superb idea.

We took a bit of a detour home, not necessarily intentionally and we had to hide behind cars to relieve ourselves - not noticing that in fact there was a road above us where people had a great view of our backsides. Cue more giggling and trying to flag down taxi's to get us away from our viewers. I ended up doing the city wall tour by night in our quest to get to port!! By the time we got back to the boat I wasn't sure about getting in the freezing water and there was also the chance we'd be thrown off the boat and could be fined by Dubrovnik Port Police for swimming at port. A guy and a girl from one of our sister boats came over to chat and have a drink so I sat on the steps chatting to a lovely boy, Blair, as Chloe and Emma swam around the boat. Then there was mucking about at the front of the boat and balancing on the buoys. General mischief.

When Sarah got back I followed her to the room for late night catch-ups and a post-mortem on the night. We ended up chatting until 7am when I had to call time and go asleep!! Then one or the other of us would say one more thing but eventually drifted off at dawn....knowing we'd be awakened by Pitbull blasting in the corridors around 11am.