Our Final Celebration...

It took until our last night, but I finally had a nice photo taken with my sister.

The teens were happy to have one last feast together.

What a wonderful way to end an amazing week. Jimmy took the opportunity to tell some stories about me and got everyone else involved with making toasts in honor of my upcoming 50th birthday. I spent much of the night crying, mostly from laughing too hard but also tears of joy. One toast in particular was so touching that I asked John for a copy:

The White Light

“And in the beginning there was light.”

We saw the White light from afar, a welcoming glow that drew us in.
Dazzling, surprising it danced to a merry tune.
But our English reserve held us back
And we retreated to the safe shadows, still curious.

New young shafts of White light grew brighter by the day.
Like moths we emerged from the dark, mesmerized by the flickering flame.
And we followed the light far and wide: France, Spain, England, Croatia
And we bathed in its warm glow, and it united us.

We realized we did not need to follow the light but simply embrace it
And we started to glow and our own light shone.
For we are all rays of light in this wonderfully diverse world
And we are grateful to the White light for helping us shine!

Final Night on the Nikola...

Sunset in Dubrovnik

We hadn’t planned anything special for our final night, so were thrilled when the cook suggested that he prepare a BBQ dinner so we could dine together on the Nikola.

Bill and Nina opted to take Hagen and Carla to a restaurant, but everyone else joined us for a delicious dinner. Tom went all out to spruce up the tables.

Jimmy surprised me by bringing along our wedding ducks (a gift from Korea from my parents that is prominently displayed by the entrance of wherever we live).

One Happy Group...

When we pulled back into Dubrovnik, a few folks went ashore. The rest of us gathered together for our final group photos.

We even got the crew into some shots.

Sally and John gave me a shirt that could have been the motto of our cruise:

Keep Calm and Enjoy Croatia.

Last Swim Break...

For our last swim break, the captain pulled into a cove with a beach, but the kids wanted to swim over to a cave instead. Jimmy took these funky photos on the GoPro. That’s the Nikola on the right.

Luckily I was able to borrow Holly’s mask and snorkel so I could make the long swim.

Final Moments Underway...

Our journey back to Dubrovnik was bittersweet as it was as beautiful as usual, but we were sad that we were already heading back. It was the ultimate compliment when folks asked what holiday I was planning for the group next.

Pure Happiness...

These are a just few of the many photos depicting pure happiness. From the moment they stepped aboard the Nikola, there was never any doubt that Ashlynn and Veronica loved the cruise.

To be honest, I was a bit nervous about whether Sally would enjoy the cruise. She’s not a beach person and I suspect that her boys might have had to drag her along. So I was relieved to see that she was having a great time. And John was thrilled that they were able to have some time to themselves over dinners and even a late night listening to music.

Lunch on Board...

Our chef was definitely a miracle worker considering the delicious lunches he managed to concoct in that tiny kitchen. I think everyone would agree that he was especially talented at making fantastic desserts. We weren’t really sure how they’d handle our big split between carnivores and those who won’t eat any four-legged creatures, but we really appreciated how they managed to feed everyone the appropriate animals every day.

There was no doubt that everyone loved our waiter Tom. It was always a pleasure to see his smiling face. His English was good enough for him to tease us, which was great fun.

While everyone else moved around to sit with different people each day, the teens claimed the table closest to the kitchen for the entire cruise.

Game Time...

We also took along several travel games. It was great fun seeing the kids playing Bananagrams, which we first learned about on our last Croatian cruise.

 They also played a variety of card games.

Wreck This Journal...

Some months ago, our girls started working together on an art journal called Wreck This Journal. They had a blast trying new ways to be creative then sharing the outcomes on social media. I was just thrilled seeing them working together so nicely. We decided this would be a fun cruise activity and brought five of the journals and some art supplies along.

Andrew and Ariana had fun doing art alongside Veronica and Ashlynn.

Andrew took this page very literally.

Here’s Veronica’s interpretation of the word summer.

A Seafood Feast in Korcula...

As we’ve done on previous nights, we broke up into smaller groups and set off in search of the perfect place for dinner. Bob did his homework and chose Marinero, a seafood restaurant in a small alley. This awesome photo was taken by David Clapp, a very talented British travel photographer who was also exploring Korcula that evening.

David also took this photo. I had no idea how lucky we were to be photographed by him until I saw his fantastic portfolio on his website.

By comparison, our attempts at photography do look rather amateurish, but that clearly won’t stop us from continuing to snap away.

We all approved of Bob’s choice as this seafood feast was truly delicious.

Perfect Spot for Sunsets...

Medieval Zakerjan Tower was built between 1481 and 1483 while Korcula was under Venetian rule.

Nowadays, the top of the turret houses Cocktail Bar Massimo, which is accessed by a ladder. The drinks are brought up on the outside of the building in a basket by a rope-pulley.

Needless to say, the majority of our party animal passengers ended up there enjoying a few cocktails while watching the sun set.

Last Island Visit...

Although we still had two nights to sleep on board the Nikola, our final night would be back in Dubrovnik. Thus, this was our last night to explore somewhere new. The historic city of Korcula is thought to have been occupied since before 1000 BC and it is claimed that Marco Polo was born here in 1254 AD. 

The Nikola dropped us off then needed to move to a different position on the port, which is how Veronica managed to capture this great photo of our ship. The other kids had a good laugh when Max and Julius woke up from naps to find themselves alone on the ship.

Of course, they were all soon reunited and set off to explore the island, which had the largest yachts we’d seen yet.

When we returned that evening, we discovered them on the top terrace watching shooting stars.

Let’s Play...

Jimmy asked the chef to pick up a few watermelons. Instead of serving all of them as snacks, he had special plans for one of them: greased watermelon polo.

The watermelon was greased using butter and tossed into the water. The kids were split into two teams competing to push the watermelon into the opposite inner tube. They had a blast! David must have had possession the longest as he was covered the most in butter.