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Published: November 12th 2009
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Check-in; pretty funny. I had 6 girls whom I expected to be total Princess pains in my neck because when they first saw the little Istok, they were appalled. I promised them during my welcome speech that they would love the boat by the end of the tour, but they didn't believe me. Sure enough, by the end of the week, they all wanted to chain themselves to a railing so they didn''t have to leave. The Istok is funny; the small size of it scares people at first, but between the amazing crew, the great food, and the wonderful experience of showering outside (because the bathrooms are far too small to shower inside), they wind up feeling fiercely loyal to it. It's physically the worst of all the boats, and yet it's the only one that people grow to love.
Day 1; Omis
Number of pax for dinner; 14 (bbq)
We did things a little differently this time; because it was stinking hot in the dining room, I asked if we could eat our bbq on the roof. And what a great job the Captain and Cookie did; they set up a really nice table with white cloths
and flowers and we all sat around eating the delicious food and drinking (and listening To Kings of Leon, which I think should be a bbq necessity). Everyone loved it, and considered it one of tbe best meals of the trip.
And then, to make the night even better, we were treated to a fireworks display pretty much directly overhead. I've never seen fireworks so close up (I actually ducked a few times, thinking they were about to hit me!). After the show, a few people headed out to the bars, and the rest of us jumped over to the Ika, where a pax had a guitar and we all had a singalong (I love when that happens!). Simon treated us to a little freestyle Croatia song that is hopefully captured on video somewhere.
Day 2; Makarska
Number of pax for dinner; 14 (Susvid)
I had a few little issues at dinner tonight. The bill was a tad mixed-up and Gogo wasn't the most helpful, or friendly. But I don't blame him, because he's probably really sick of serving our groups who, 80% of the time, leave bad tips. That night was no exception, and I ended
up leaving him all of my commission because I felt a little guilty. (He told me afterwards via sms that he really wasn't happy that I did that). I think that part of our responsibility as guides is to look after our suppliers/contacts, who always look after us so well. Yes, we are bringing them a lot of business, but that extra business goes into the pockets of the restaurant owners, not the waiters who we deal with every time. If we keep bringing them groups of pax who don't tip them, they might start begrudging us a bit and I feel terrible about it. There's only so many times that you can tell an Aussie to tip, and they still get irritated having to leave 5 kunas! I think we need to work something out; maybe the restaurants could add a gratuity to the bill (which is common for big groups), or add a small cover charge? We could still give pax the option to not pay it, but I think they'd be more likely to just pay 5 or 10 kunas if it was added to the bill. Otherwise, maybe we could officially split our commission with the
waiter? We are eating and drinking for free already, and it makes me uncomfortable to take 10% commission for doing absolutely nothing when the waiters who are busting their butts for us are not making 10% tips. Anyway, that's just my opinion and I know that not all of the guides agree ... Keep in mind that I'm a North American, and an ex-waitress at that, so tipping is always in my mind!
Interesting night at Deep... There had been a train crash a few days earlier and the whole country had a day of mourning, so they shut all the music off. It was kinda nice to be in Deep when it wasn't packed and we could chat, and I fell even more in love with Croatia than before because I thought that was such a beautiful thing to do for the 6 people who died.
Day 3; Bol
Number of pax for dinner; 14 (wine tasting and dinner)
Vinko outdid himself this week with an even nicer food platter than usual at the winery. Then a few of us (including a guy who had skulled at least 4 shots of rakija at the winery and
was feeling great) went for a few drinks at Topolino.
Day 4; Hvar
Number of pax for dinner; 14 (picnic)
The combination of the morning spent at Bol and the late afternoon/evening spent on Hvar makes for, in my opinion, the best possible way to spend a day. In the morning, we walked from the boat to Zlatni Rat, which was a lovely, refreshing 30-minute walk and one which everyone really enjoyed. On the beach we had a yoga class, played a bit of baci ball, I had some sardines and wine with Captain Tonci (far and away my favourite of any captain, apart from maybe Ante on the Javorak who is a sweetheart) and then Coops' boat arrived so I played with him for a while. I love Bol!
After lunch we headed for Hvar, and my girls and I were so excited that we nearly broke the roof of the poor little Istok by dancing on it! Tonci wouldn't take us to the Carpe Diem beach bar and I begged and harrassed and gave him a real earful about it... Found out two days later that his puppy had died that day and he just
wanted a little quiet time to himself. I felt terrible! Anyway, we went to another beach bar, Hula Hula,instead and had delicious iced coffees and watched all the funny Europeans in colourful Speedos and had a grand time.
Great night as always at Kiva, but once again I got too drunk and didn't make it past the sidewalk in front of Veneranda. One of these days...
Day 5; Korcula
Number of pax for dinner; 14 (Caenazzo)
As we were strolling around town after dinner, in the middle of the celebrations for Korcula's Saint Day Festival, one of my drunken girls said, very loudly for all the town to hear, "oh, I'm sooo over all this Jesus stuff!"
I wanted to die.
Day 6; Sipan
Number of pax for dinner; 14 (Captains Dinner)
We had a really good time in Sipan, although it could never compare to the cat birth from last week. We played all kinds of cheesy music, had an amazing dinner courtesy of the Talented Cookie and a few drinks at the bar.
Day 7; Dubrovnik
Number of pax for dinner; 14 (Aquarius)
Dinner was delish, Mirage was great, Fresh party
was good and Fuego was good. Quite frankly, I was so excited to have a week off starting the next day that I would've had fun no matter where we were!
That was a particularly good tour, and the girls were actually choked up when we all said goodbye. Until one of them dropped her handbag into the sea and we all laughed.
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