Boy oh boy, wowee.
I think that’s an appropriate opening line for our week of sailing from Split to Dubrovnik on our boat ‘IKA’, with 22 new friends.
Before I dive right into the week that was, I will mention that we arrived in Split a couple of days early so we could see the town a bit. I loved it. Perfect combo of beautiful water, national parks, urban-but-not-too-urban streets, and lots of shopping and places to eat. Also Game of Thrones stuff everywhere.
We spent our one full day in Split at Krka National Park. There were a lot of tourists but it actually didn’t matter, the views, the waterfalls and the lakes were absolutely incredible.
We booked our tour at a little info hub in Split, and it was about 25€ for bus transfers and park entry and no ragrets as it was a hassle free experience. Also, we got driven right down to the park entry- we saw so many poor folk who caught public transport walking down (and then back up) a massive mountain. So we paid more, but convenience and not doing unplanned hikes in the heat really beats saving some money AM I RIGHT?
The very next day, we jumped on our boat/home for the next week.
We booked our sail tour through Busabout, and booked an above deck cabin which was delightful for some breeze when trying to sleep. The rooms weren’t so glam, but you don’t expect much.
Full honesty- the bathrooms absolutely REEK as soon as you’ve had a shower, thanks to the shower just being your tiny little bathroom with a shower head, water going everywhere, not draining properly, and then leaving an awful mouldy water smell lingering all day and night. We eventually used our brains and propped the bathroom door open so it aired out. Just save your nostrils and do that from day one, not day four :)(:
So, our sail route was Split to Dubrovnik, with stops in Makarska, Stari Grad, Hvar, Korcula and finally, Dubrovnik.
Below is a quick but accurate rundown of our daily sail experience:
• Wake up with a headache/slight seasickness
• Eat some cereal, drink some coffee
• Swim stop in cold but refreshing AF ocean
• Lunch on board- we had the best chef ever and the food was always incredible and far better than expected
• Either nap, tan or drink in the afternoon, or combine all three as I did most days. Some days we went exploring in town
• Dinner- either on the boat or at a spot in town
• Happy hour on boat; aka your time to send it
• Head out to the most hip hop happening club of the town you’re in. Highlight for me was Kiva bar in Hvar, and the bucket bar in Dubrovnik where one strong bucket had me sorted for the whole night.
• Repeat every day, for 6 days.
We were so lucky with our boat staff, our guide El, and a bunch of genuine legends staying on our boat, and Sail proved to be an epic week that I’ll never forget- besides the blank spaces after a few too many bevvies.
My last tip from sail week is to maybe not fly out of Croatia the day after the tour ends, like we did.
Being super hungover, disgustingly sick with Croatian Cough, tired and irritable isn’t the best way to feel when going to the airport at 6.30am to catch two flights to Santorini, including a three hour stopover in Athens.
Just stay another night wherever your sail ends, recover slightly, then continue on with your travels. Trust me.
Love Kelly x
This will be you if flying out the next day.
