July 1, 2015

Boat Ride but No Gilligan

With some trepidation, we boarded a boat painted to like like the Disney character Nemo. The fish, not the Captain of the Nautilis. I briefly thought of checking water supplies and rations as we headed out to sea. There was more than one prospective passenger who boarded and looked around and left. I counted the old fashioned life savers and figured that there were sufficient numbers for the few passengers and our crew of one. 

   
           We left the dock in the old town after some delay. They may have been checking how water tight the plexiglass bottom was. The views were worth the journey. We toured a number of islands and inlets. People were swimming bathing with more or less clothing. It was very PG as we kept our distance for the most part. The theme song piped aboard was The Eagles playing Hotel California. Of course, the line about “you can check in but never check out” did acquire a new potential meaning.

   
         There are bunches of local islands and shoals that we got close to in order to take advantage of our glass bottom. Saw no sharks, whales or Dolphins. Saw plenty of little fish and a mostly rocky bottom. The water was clear and we could see the bottom which was great so long as we didn’t end up there. There are plenty of resorts on these islands. Many were built during the time that the Hapsburgs ruled this place. I couldn’t help but think that Captain Von Trapp sailed in these waters. I can’t quite place Lederhosen on these beaches.

After a enjoyable hour we returned dockside and walked back to our little studio. On the way we walked by a squadron of cute English convertible sports cars on a tour of Croatia and Slovenia. Of course, you need to travel here from England to be able to leave the top down for more than an occasional beak between downpours. It makes sense. Lunch is done so now we head back to the beach for a little swim now that I know that Jaws doesn’t swim in these waters.
   

 Returning from the beach with no obvious symptoms of sun burn. Time will tell. By the way, Crocs are not for swimming. They will never replace flippers. They do the job on the barnacles and jagged rocks. Always interesting at the beach. Different kinds of child rearing practices were obvious. Some exhibited here would get you arrested in California. Mostly things were relaxed. Even the water was the right temperature to stand and watch for minnows wanting to do the foot pedicure thing. Didn’t happen for me. After a couple hours we hiked back to the car and returned home for shower and a beer. This evening is still up in the air.

We have enough local currency, the Kuna, to pay for ice cream and a probable highway toll. I hate to get stuck with them since they are useless in the Euro countries. The Euro works here for larger purchases but the locals prefer the use of their own currency. It appears that the Greeks will soon have that option. Glad Greece is not on this trip. Actually, I prefer credit cards so I get my bank’s exchange rate. They work almost anywhere but be prepared.