Dalmatian Islands, Days 3 & 4

 

On our day 3 in Croatia we left the nightlife of Hvar behind

Leaving the Hvar harbor wasn't so simple. Overnight anchoring in small harbors is a choreographed affair where the biggest boats enter first in the afternoon and leave first in the morning. Believe it or not, we were only the 3rd largest boat in Hvar that night. Big boats lay out their anchors and when we tried to raise ours, it hung up on a chain attached to something heavy down in Davy Jones's locker. Unlike on the Bravo TV Show Below Deck Mediterranean, where this problem would be high drama, our crew persevered and eventually freed the anchor  

We motored over to the island of Vis and anchored off a secluded bay

Vis (pronounced "vees") is the westernmost of the Dalmatian islands and has a long history going back to Greco-Roman times

We arranged for a private tour of the island, starting in the town of Vis, which our tour guide was proud to report had never been conquered by pirates

The island is known for its olives and wine

It is also known for its attachment to Marshal Tito, who famously hid out on the island in 1944 and directed the Yugoslav army against the Axis powers

This is the cave where Tito lived for 4 months. Afterwards he made the island a military stronghold with little accessibility and only in 1989, just before Croatian independence, was the island reopened

Since 1901 the island has lost 2/3 of its population due to emigration to the mainland, and all over the hillsides are abandoned terraced vineyards

Our tour guide and his family operate a vineyard and our final stop was a tasting in their cellar

The wines were delicious and we each bought a few bottles

That night was our formal dinner on the boat, which allowed me to sport my madras suit

This night, the tablescape theme was blue

with a bonsai centerpiece

The dishes were served with elegant platings

The next morning we headed over to the town on the north side of the island, which according to our guide, has terrible natural defenses and was preyed upon many times by pirates

We wandered around tiny Komiza and took in the sights

On our way back to the ship, the crew prepared a special expedition to one of Tito's secret submarine bases. During the cold war, military vessels were hidden in these tunnels. See video at the end

This one was empty except for graffiti

Over lunch we motored to another secluded bay

and played in the water

near the water

on the pool deck

and in the jacuzzi

Meanwhile the crew busily ferried supplies

over to the beach for dinner

This time they served American food - burgers and pulled pork tacos

The seating arrangement paired each kid with a non-parent and the adults were instructed to bestow one piece of life advice. Among the words of wisdom, "don't be afraid to take a risk", "buy your first horse for $500" and "always run away from pirates"

Back at the boat, we held a casino night. The best action was at the Texas hold'em table

 After donning the sunglasses, Tessie went on a run winning pot after pot. First she knocked out Andy

then she faced off against Ansel, who plays a lot of online poker

In the final hand, Ansel held ace-king as his hole cards and the board contained ace, king, nine, seven, three. Ansel went all-in with his chips. Tessie coolly called and flipped over her pair of sevens and took the pot