Magic ingredients: One largish catamaran, sister, daughter and best friend, other halves, niece and friend, add in Croatia, blue seas and good winds and it becomes a month of pure joy.
Sharing our world with others and seeing them create fun around something we enjoy - we just love it.
This picture of Emma and Brent teaching my sister to sail is one of numerous moments that is astounding- Upto a month ago my sister did not like sailing one bit, three years ago Brent didn’t know how to sail. Now, here they are, Brent very patiently teaching my sister to sail and they are all loving it …. Just fabulous.
Before Croatia we spent a glorious week in Greece with Phoebe, my niece and her friend Josie, both who settled into boat life quickly, lapping up the sun and sea and keeping us entertained with new card games and John on his toes with some great banter.
Then we headed north with our friend Maggie for Croatia. Being a Game of Thrones fan I was really looking forward to a visit to Kings Landing ( Dubrovnik), and it did not disappoint. Quiet an extraordinary place…. it IS a film set. Unfortunately John and Maggie have yet to see the Game of Thrones and just didn’t get the relevance….John even went on strike after the set tour!
It was then time to check the plumbing, (yes another poo tank blockage – this time an ancient rag what had blocked a pump), and prepare the boat for 8 of us on board. Turns out 8 on Joline is really fun and there is loads of space.
Emma, Brent, Nicola and Chris joined us in Dubrovnik and it was fun from minute one. Boom jumping, paddleboard challenges, sundowners, great meals and A LOT of chat….., also an epic sail.
After only 12 hours on the boat, we were off on a mission – we had to get to Split (150miles away) to pick up my sister , which required a night sail. Emma and Brent brushed off their sailing cobwebs and took the first shift and it was a bit of a baptism of fire for Chris and Nicola. They were encircled by thunderstorms and that always keeps folk on their toes with constantly changing winds and lightening lighting up the island landscape – quite spectacular. Well done Nicola – you kept smiling.
My sister; ‘Sue’ and her hubby: ‘Simon’ joined us south of Split and our challenge was to ensure smooth blue water and sheltered anchorages. We were sooo lucky – the mission was accomplished and I have never seen my sister look so relaxed, enjoying every moment.
Emma and Nicola have been best buddies since they were born, and seeing them together creating fun with their lovely other halves it was like when they were five, ten, fifteen again. At the same time my sisters face reminded me of when she was five, ‘happy as larry’ with a broad grin on her face and off making the most of blue water, snorkeling, paddleboarding and swimming . She even enjoyed letting off the boat ropes – mainly due to us pulling her in!.
On board there was some healthy competition between John and Simon – bread making…( the bread varied from flat bricks to extraordinary light and fluffy loaves). John and Brent; who could get the boat to go faster! Sue and Nicola – who was going to do the washing up – they were both so efficient and loved the view. Simon and Sue – who could stand up on the paddleboard first! Emma certainly won the most daring stunt invention as she rigged up rope swing challenges that gave me the heeby geebies…(I wimped out!), but walking the plank was easy compared with the boom jump challenge. – Well done Brent, Chris, Nicola and Simon for their gutsy execution.
One highlight, has to be our visit to “Vis” the location where Mama Mia 2 was filmed. Emma & Brent had sailed here before and Emma become our very knowledgeable and charismatic tour guide. To our huge delight the night we arrive Mama Mia two was playing in the open air cinema – of course we had a hoot of a night as we sat under the stars just over from the wharf where the scenes were filmed.
The down side is: three weeks later one of us wakes up huming the tunes and good old ABBA is thriving on Joline.
It was great to get to know Chris, – Nicolas Hubby, – he defiantly got the thumbs up from us, looking after his new wife really well. Iam hoping John took note! Emma and Nicola were fabulous at keeping Aunty Susie well distracted during the longer sails with constant chit chat, while Brent really did shine in command of the boat while John and I took advantage of actually having competent crew on board.
We all took it in turns to cook, so the food was amazing, including a couple of expeditions ashore to isolated small Croatian family restaurants.
I don’t think you can top the last few weeks… it was brilliant because of some lovely family and friends. –
As we sadly waved good bye it was time for our next adventure –
Emma, Brent, John and I had a week to get to Venice and back.....
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