After a late breakfast we wondered towards the waterfront in Split and managed to stumble upon the Diocletian Palace and got slightly lost in the maze of narrow streets. Eventually found our way out and met Paul, Wendy and Trish at the Hotel Bellevue in time for a lunchtime beer before our minibus arrived to take us to the marina.

The boat wasn’t ready for us which left plenty of time to visit the supermarket and stock upon the essential provisions (pivo is Croatian for beer).

The marina was clearly party central. Literally hundreds of 20 something year olds with trolleys stacked high with booze waiting to board their boats. One guy told us they were to be part of a flotilla of 40 boats. We hoped we were not heading the same way as them.

After a long wait we finally boarded and were given a 17 second safety briefing. Now that we knew all that was required we cast off and Paul started to learn how to operate the bow thrusters. Luckily there was no major damage to us or the boats on either side.

By now it was almost 7 pm. We had briefly considered staying in the marina overnight but the noise of parties starting on the surrounding boats persuaded us to leave. With very little wind we had to motor at 9 knots while the sun was setting. So we arrived at Uval Lucice, Brac Island, our first nights anchorage, in pitch darkness and learned how to operate the anchor winch.

It was well worth the effort. The next morning we woke up in a beautiful little cove on Brac Island and started the day with a swim.