Hanging Out in Hvar...

We made it to Hvar City just as scheduled. We were very impressed with our captain after we heard that other ships were forced to go to the other side of the island and bus the passengers into Hvar City. While Jimmy went to meet Pero, a local agent from Elite Travel who made the arrangements for our dinner and party, the rest of us had about 1.5 hours to wander this port city.

I joined Jan and Bob for a walk and a glass of wine in the main square.

The kids went for an ice cream and Veronica met a new friend along the way.

Tony enjoyed taking photos of Vivynne in this historic and popular town.

Another Lovely Spot for a Swim...

The kids were quick to swim over to the rocky beach.

Holly and Carl brought along their snorkeling gear, which she happily shared with me after they had a look around. There really wasn’t much to see underwater, but I appreciated having the gear to help speed me up since I’m not a strong swimmer.

Beating the Wind...

The winds grew quite strong on Tuesday. Our captain knew how important it was for us to arrive in Hvar in time for our big party, so we started our journey early and he went full throttle north. He then pulled into this cove for our swim break.

Johanna was thrilled that two of their daughters could join us and that Frank could come along as he was still unsure just two weeks before we sailed. Olivia had just graduated from the BSN and was still debating whether to go to university in the US or the UK; she opted to go to Exeter in the UK to study biology. Grace had been living in Holland since January while waiting to get into nursing school; shortly after our trip she was accepted into a program in Galveston, Texas.

Underway on Tuesday...

The back deck was a great place to get some sun, hang with friends or do some reading.

WiFi had been installed since we viewed the Nikola the previous summer, but we told the crew not to give anyone the code so that we could all disconnect. As you can see, this teenager wasn’t suffering by being offline.

The kids also liked the very front of the ship. Veronica enjoyed several Titanic moments.

Ashlynn presented Jimmy with this captain’s hat that we bought in Dubrovnik.

Wonder if Jan was trying to distract Frank so someone could steal his pie?

Dinner Time...

We split up into several groups for dinner that evening. As expected, the group of seven teenagers wanted to eat together. We ran into this group of current and ex-residents of Holland on the way to our restaurant.

Five couples joined us for dinner that evening. It was funny sitting across the long table from Jimmy. While the restaurant was still owned by the same family, it wasn’t the bargain that it had been five years ago. Luckily the food was still good.

Mljet, National Park...

As Jimmy and I headed to make a reservation at a restaurant we’d visited back in 2008, many folks headed into the park in small groups.

Veronica and Ashlynn went swimming with Ariana, Max and Julius in one of the saltwater lakes.

We headed into the park with Andrew, Sally, David and John. Along the way, we ran into Bill and Nina who brought along their niece Carla and nephew Hagen. We all took a ferry to an island to visit a former Benedictine Monastery dating to the 12th century.

Bill was determined to take 10-year-old Carla and 13-year-old Hagen on a swim back from the island and managed to convince Jimmy to join them. The rest of us thought they were crazy, but they all seemed to love the one-mile swim. In the meantime, I stopped with Sally and John so that David and Andrew could have a swim in one of the lakes.

Juggling in Pomena...

When we arrived on the island of Mljet, home of a national park of the same name, Jimmy took some time to juggle with the kids.

The disadvantage of juggling near water was quickly demonstrated. Here the kids are helping Jimmy out of the water after he jumped in to retrieve a ball.

The Nikola (in the center) looked quite small next to our neighbors that night. Everyone agreed that they loved our quaint ship and were happy we weren’t on one of the more imposing larger ships.