Clubbing Time...

For some crazy reason, Jimmy had promised to take Veronica to the Deep, a nightclub in a cave in Makarska that we had gone to back in 2008.

Veronica really enjoyed getting to know Grace and was very excited to be going out dancing together. Grace gave Veronica lots of good advice on how to stay out of trouble during a night out on the town.

Late that night, a taxi drove Veronica (who wasn’t even 16 yet) with her Auntie Leigh and Uncle Mike along with Grace and her parents into Makarska to go clubbing. Unfortunately, they didn’t get the memo that it was pirate night, but they had a fun time anyways. Jimmy rented a scooter so he could pick up Veronica at 3 a.m! Good thing he wasn’t drinking, because he got stopped for taking a shortcut down a one-way street.

Enjoying Podgora...

Those of us who went canyoning ate a very late lunch back on board the Nikola, so we weren’t in the mood for a big dinner. It worked out great that there was a food festival that evening just in front of our ship. These grilled calamari were yummy and very cheap, as was the wine.

The Nikola was the only ship at this port. We were surprised how many people posed in front of it for photos.

This anchor was also a popular photo spot as Darlene and Mike demonstrated.

Change of Plans...

After canyoning, the bus drove us to meet the Nikola in Makarska, a city that Jimmy had requested to visit because of its nightclubs. He wasn’t pleased when the first mate informed us that we were heading further down the coast to avoid the party ships in Makarska. Turned out this change in plans worked in our favor as we all loved our new destination.

Jimmy, Jan and I took a long walk along the coast in time to watch the sun set.

Happy Canyoners!

There were lots of smiles during our adventure. Everyone was glad they came along.

Near the end of the route, we came across another gorgeous waterfall.

Jump!

Everyone was excited when we arrived at this beautiful waterfall. Most of the gang quickly scrambled up a few big rocks so they could jump in front of the falls.

Jan tried talking me into joining her. I contemplated making the climb, but my courage only lasted a few seconds.

 Instead we hopped off a small rock together.

Of course, Jimmy made the jump several times. Hopefully someday we may even see some of the video that he shot on the GoPro.

Narrow Passages...

We had no idea that we would be walking and then crawling through a dark man-made tunnel to allow us to hike around a waterfall.

The hiking portions were much more difficult than I’d anticipated as the website said that only a minimal level of fitness was required. The guides were very sweet about giving me an occasional hand when crossing the boulders in the river, but there were several portions of hiking around rapids where I wished I’d been secured by ropes. While Jimmy and the girls are like billy goats, I struggled (although it was on a fairly easy part that I actually fell). Luckily, the surroundings made the struggle worth it.



Let’s Get Wet!

Finally, it was time to get into the river. Our first entry was just a small drop into the chilly but refreshing water.

For the next 2.5 hours, we traveled about 1.5 miles down the river by combining scrambling over boulders and letting the rapids and current push us along.

Luckily Bob had a tough waterproof camera and was able to capture a lot of our adventure, including his happy wife Jan as she prepared to hop back into the water.