"Go Back to Your Seat. Sit Down, Sit Down, PLEASE"

He was on a mission, must've been late.  He was definitely in no mood for idle chit-chat. No-one was immune.

A certain camaraderie develops in a group when, one by one, each member is admonished for one misdemeanour or another. No standing up on the bus. No questions on the bus. No trying to get something from a bag in the top rack.  We all gave each other sympathetic grins when, yet again, someone made the mistake of trying to engage the bus driver.  

We'd missed an obvious and crucial detail on our small scale map of Croatia, and, having left the guide book at home, didn't have the travel advice that would have been helpful. And must have missed that bit on the news a few years ago. Namely that Bosnia owns a bit of beach real estate up the Dalmatian Coast. About 40km in fact. Just enough to fit in two border posts and a few guards with guns. The notice from the bus driver in Croatian and the hurried delving in handbags and down shirts gave me just enough information to realise, with a minor amount of panic, that for the first time ever, I'd forgotten the most basic travellers rule, "keep your passport on you at all times" and had left them locked away in our packs. Outside in the luggage compartment of the bus. I got up to check whether we could access them as the guard walked up to the bus. "Go Back to Your Seat. Sit Down, Sit Down, PLEASE!" Tried to explain our predicament. "Go Back to Your Seat. Sit Down, Sit Down, PLEASE!" Okie Dokie. We'll just play this one out. See what the border guards do. Luckily two girls in front of us had done the same, and were glad they weren't the only ones.  Simple - friendly wave from the guard and we could hop off and retrieve our passports. Whew.  Dunno what all the fuss was about.

Two girls across from us made a visit to the loo on one stop, asking us if we'd make sure the driver knew if they weren't back in time. No, he was leaving regardless. "Next bus, Next bus!" as he revved the engine and started to back out.  Luckily they squeezed in the door at that very moment.  No-one dared leave the bus after that.

Quite glad to be unceremoniously dumped beside the road above Drvinik on our way to Sucuraj on the island of Hvar.  Although every step we walked downhill came with it a realisation that we'd have to lug our packs back up the steep hill, in the heat, to the bus stop in a few days time. Great.

We'd really been looking forward to getting to Sucuraj, on the recommendation of Pauline in Rotorua, who has family connections there. Thank you Pauline! A small fishing village on the eastern tip of the island, it looked a lovely spot to relax for a few days. We stopped in at the Bistro of Pauline's cousin, Tony, for a beer (of course!) and to discover the whereabouts of our accommodation. I had no idea.  No address (not that it would have made the faintest difference) and no picture. Turned out to be across the road from the water and very comfortable. Perfect! Dinner back at Tony's topped it off. An excellent meal.   

The time we spent there was relaxing - several swims a day in the calm, crystal clear, azure water. We got around the pebble beaches and the necessity for crocs in and out of the water by diving in off the small pier.  And we discovered other important differences from beaches at home.  You need something more than a beach towel to lie on. Concrete, rocks and pebbles are hard. Kids take water pistols to the beach and everyone has a blow up air bed thingy for in and out of the water. Because there are no waves. No boogy boards, surf boards or skim boards. There are no waves. Buckets are used for water not sand. People float around on blow up chairs.  It's just like a great big ginormous swimming pool. We had greater bouyancy in the water. And we liked it. That's our accommodation across the bay - the big white house. We had a balcony on the side, just below the two windows under the roof.

No shops, no readily accessible internet; we'd saunter into the village for a cup of coffee in the morning, have a swim, have a sleep, back for either a swim or and iced coffee or beer in the village, and find somewhere to eat for the evening. There were many options - summer season in full swing - and we found a local winery with excellent wine. Still trying to work out how we can get a crate home. Definitely a good tonic after Athens.