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Published: July 18th 2015
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We booked an island hopping boat trip for our first full day at Paradiso. We went down to the quayside by the little Stikovica beach and waited for our ride to turn up. What looked like a converted fishing boat turned up, already quite full and by the time we'd climbed aboard there wasn't much space left. There were a number of people looking a bit green around the gills, although I think it had more to do with the previous night than feeling seasick. Another lady from our apartments looked instantly unhappy and went up to complain that the music was too loud. In reality I think it was being pllkayed at a sensible level, but you can't please everyone. You could see from her face that the trip was not what she had been expecting!
The trip was to take us to three of the Elaphite Islands; Lopud, Sipan and Kolocep.
We stopped at Lopud first and were told to be back at the boat in three hours. This little island has two monasteries, around thirty churches and a few palaces, yet there is barely any development inland, instead there is just lush vegetation. It was hit
in 1667 by a large earthquake and never really recovered. Lopud port is a great place to sit and watch the world go by, which we did for a while and then walked round the botanical gardens. There wasn't to much to see, but it was nice to be in the shade for a while. We then sat on the beach for a bit and I tried snorkelling whilst Simon had a swim, but the bit we were in didn't offer up much to see in terms of fish. Near to us on the front was yet another abandoned hotel - The Grand. We took some pictures and later discovered that it had originally been built in the 1930s, having been commissioned by a maritime captain, Antun Sesan and is considered to be the first hotel to be built entirely of reinforced concrete on the Dalmation Coast. It was built with electricity, heating, ventilation, a balcony and a telephone in each of the eighty rooms. Once again, it was sad to see a building of architectural merit having fallen by the wayside. There are apparently plans to renovate it, but at the moment it is just being used as a
builders yard.
At 3pm we went back on board the boat and received a surprisingly good lunch, considering it had been cooked on a small barbeque. It was washed down with some Croatian wine and the guide then asked if we preferred to miss out the second island and head to the sandy beach on the other side of Lopud, to clear deep water for more swimming and jumping off of the boat. When we got there the water was crystal clear. I even managed to spot some small place pootling across the bottom of the seabed, chasing some larger fish off an interesting spot.
Island three (now island two) was Kolocep. Here we only had an hour and so after a cocktail or two I couldn't resist slipping into the water again and boy am I glad I did. There are many rocks just in the harbour, which is home to lots of sea life including gurnards, wrasse, anemones, sea cucumbers, pen shells (like clams), crabs and urchins. There was a melon skin floating on the surface and there must have been twenty fish around it. At one point I stopped and held on to the side
of a big concrete block, watching everything go past me. I looked left and about a foot from my hand was a Stone Fish. He reminded me of a bulldog. All squat and ugly. I sat very quietly, careful not to move my hand, as they are venemous and some of them can give a nasty dose of poison. Not sure if that is the case with the ones in this area, but decided not to risk it. I'd never seen one so close up and I think I was just as fascinated with him as he was with me. Sad, but this was my favourite bit of the whole day.
We got back to Paradiso at about 6pm and then went to Lantera, one of the two restaurants on walking distance. Service was good, food so so.
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