Fall Carbon County ATV ride

Day 12: Today was an all day sailing day. We were up again bright and early to grab some breakfast and find our boat at the wharf so we could check in and be ready for the 8:00 departure. It was a huge catamaran so tons of people including one dog were aboard (which I found interesting.. who brings their dog on one of these trips?) Anyways we quickly set sail for the all day adventure starting with a 2.5 hour ride just to get to the Island of Hvar. We had one swim stop just before the Island where it was hot enough I wanted to get in.. but then I didn't want to be sopping wet when we were going to be getting on a bus and touring an Island only 10 minutes later... so I postponed swimming for later and we just laid out enjoying the warm sun

Once we docked and boarded the bus, we took a quick detour out to the charming little town, Vrboska. It is known as a little Venice because of the long Sea channel that goes right down the middle and the numerous little bridges that cross it. We took a short walking tour there and got back on the bus to head to the Hvar fortress above Old Town.

The church that was fortified into a fortress (those dang Turks!) in Vrboska. 

Hvar Fortress

The view down into Hvar bay with the Pakleni Islands in the distance (seen from the Fort)

I tried to convince Braden to walk down through the town... but we hopped back on the bus to get driven down instead. The little town of Hvar is actually way charming and a lot less crowded that I anticipated. When I had been researching the difference between Hvar and the Island Brac, most reviews claimed Hvar was more of a "party" town which wasn't all that appealing. It was however a gorgeous town with a couple great little beaches and a WAY COOL old wall and fortress up above it. We had about an 1.5 hours to mill around the town so we got Lavender gelato (as lavender is one of the main products grown on the Island along with grapes and olives) and then headed to a beach to swim as this was probably during the hottest part of the day. 

The water was soo clear and felt amazing! 

 First swim spot

 Such amazing water! Seriously haven't seen more beautiful beaches, sandy or not. 

 Leaving Hvar in the distance. You can see the fort up on the hill above. OH and check out that Yacht! 

Once we met back on the boat we sailed out to the Pakleni Islands which are just off Hvar where we weighted anchor for another swim spot and a lunch of Caesar Salad. We could still see Hvar town off in the distance which was pretty cool, however unfortunately the wind had picked up and the air had started to cool off.. making it difficult for me to want to swim when I was sure I'd be cold the rest of the ride. Soooo we didn't ever actually swim off the catamaran as both of us were cold enough dry when moving and getting wet wasn't all that appealing. They did break up the long ride back with one more swim spot off Brac Island (not near any towns but the little cove was very beautiful) and we had dessert and watermelon which was nice. We got back into Split right about 8 about as exhausted as could be so we headed back to the apartment to eat left over pizza, catch a bit of a special about Edward Teach (Blackbeard) on the History channel that was cool, and head to bed. Overall a great day to relax and not worry about getting around on roads or dealing with crowds. It was a great way to split up our Croatia vacation.

Sailing back into Split at the end of the day.

Day 13: We slept in a bit and then headed to find some breakfast which amazingly enough we found a place that actually served us eggs and bacon! lol one of the few full breakfasts we had on this trip. We also had about an hour extra of time before check-out so we wandered around the palace again, found the giant statue of Diocletan so that I could rub his giant gold toe for luck, and explore a bit more of the historic center. Then it was back in the car for our 3 hour journey to Dubrovnik. Luckily we were getting out of the city just as it started to rain. Great timing for us! lol The drive down was very scenic as it was mostly coastal through more quaint little towns. We also drove the 15 km or so through Bosnia (as you have to since it splits up Croatia) and had no problems with Border Patrol there other than it slowing us down a little. We pulled into Dubrovnik around 2 and again had a free parking space which took the stress of that away greatly. This airbnb was the only really shared space we had on the whole trip as it was in this cute little old Lady, Ina's apartment. We had a nice bedroom with a big bed, mini fridge, and private AC. We could lock our door to the room but we shared the bathroom with another single guest and the landlord. She was so sweet and welcomed us with delicious lemonade as we relaxed and planned                                                           the rest of our day.  See next post for deets on Dubrovnik!