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Published: November 12th 2009
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I know it's only until June 16 that we're doing the free dinner on the first night, but it was a shame to miss out on the picnic in Hvar. Pax love it, it allows us to do something special for them, and it's a good money-maker for us. If it's possible to get some leeway on when the boat does the free dinner so that we can still do the picnic, that would be great.
But we made do anyway; we brought bottles of wine down to the beach and watched the sunset from there after dinner (both mine and Carlos' groups went together). So we didn't miss out entirely on a picnic-like experience.
And, once again, Kiva bar was a roaring success and Sasa was terrific to everyone (and the girls loooove Sasa).
Day 2; Mljet
Pax for dinner; 15 (at boat bbq)
I finally found the man who rents the canoes/kayaks to row out to the St. Mary's island; he was stationed outside of the national park, so he gave me the key to open the box with the paddles, and left me in charge of collecting the money and bringing it all back
to him. It costs 40kn per hour, and it's really worthwhile; the pax had a great time rowing around the lake and jumping off cliffs on the island. Maybe we could try to get the price down a bit if he knows we come every week... I'll make that my mission this week!
There was a bit of a dinner issue with the bbq. The Providnost hadn't planned to do one, so Carlos made his own (that boy loves his 'braai'). He charged pax 50kn, and provided wine too (and made great commission off it). My boat, on the other hand, had planned their own bbq, and wanted to charge 90kn, with no wine. I had to convince the crew to put the price down to 70kn, and to throw in some wine as well, because I didn't want a situation where my pax felt ripped off if they found out how much the others paid. It was a bit awkward because my captain was mad at the Providnost for not planning the same thing as us and therefore costing him some money, and everyone was shouting in Croatian and our poor skipper had to translate for me. But
I think it was all good in the end.
Day 3; Dubrovnik
Pax for dinner; 13 (at Kaptain's Konoba)
And this is where the rain began. It poured pretty much all day, and a few people sat in the salon to play cards, but most stayed in their rooms. Is it possible to stock the boats with a board game, like Monopoly or something? Because if I played one more card game of 'Shithead' I was going to jump ship!
We wrapped ourselves in rubbish bags and did the wall-walk in gale force winds and rain, and I was proud that my pax actually did the whole thing without ducking out halfway! I'll send you the photos, it was pretty funny.
Dinner was good, then drinks at Mirage worked a lot better when we paid one cocktail jug at a time. I think the bartenders might start giving the guides free drinks as they're starting to recognize us now.
Day 4; Korcula
Pax for dinner; 13 (at Caenazzo)
Still raining, and everyone, including me, was miserable. No one had energy, everyone was depressed and waterlogged and hating life. But by mid-afternoon, I directed some
to the Hotel Marco Polo to have a nice swim and a hot shower (50kn for the day), and the others I literally dragged to the salt-water swimming pool with me for a cold (but much-needed) swim, and then we went back to the boat for hot tea. Everyone felt alive again by the evening, Thank God!
Many pax rated Caenazzo as their favourite restaurant of the tour. Also, at Massimo, the waiter asked that the guide start to collect the money, as it's hard for him to settle bills one by one.
Day 5; Makarska
Pax for dinner; 15 (at Susvid)
Very good day in Makarska once again, as the rain finally stopped and everyone went straight to the beach. Dinner was good, drinks afterwards were fun (service at Marineta was a little better).
Day 6; Omis
Pax for dinner; 15 for Captain's dinner
All good in Omis, everyone got well into the pirate party. For Captain's dinner, it would be great if the captain actually had at least a drink with us, as pax expect that to be the whole point of the dinner.
While I'm on the topic of the captain,
I wasn't sure I should mention this or not, but one of the captains on the Victorija came on to one of the pax when they were alone in the salon one night. She was a tough girl who could fend for herself, but she said it made her uncomfortable enough to warrant a mention.
Day 7; Split
Pax for dinner; 15 at Vrata
Pax loved this restaurant, it was great for our final Night together.
All in all, this tour was an excellent one, despite the fact that we never had a swim stop due to the weather, and they couldn't even swim at all for the first few days. Our pax are so easygoing, they make the best of any situation!
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