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Korcula is an island off the coast of Croatia.
It's an island that is famous for wine, seafood and it's old town.
I arrived Saturday and was completely wiped out from my previous two days travels. I grabbed some food and headed straight to bed. After all, this was my relaxation stage.
The hostel was not a place to relax. The reception was a brilliant Turkish style bar with cushions all over the floor and sunken area. Every night the bar showed a film ( Point Break, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Twilight Eclipse. I walked out of Twilight Eclipse after 30 minutes. Cheer up you miserable mythical creature teenagers, life really isn't that complicated and certainly isn't as dull as your dialogue) and then served half litres of beer and buckets of cocktails. Music played till 1am and then people head to the club or beach.
Sleep was going to be difficult.
It was a good place to meet people though. I was told to not condescend a drunken 19 year old Oxbridge student because she wasn't stupid, she was at Oxford don't you know. Calmly, I pointed out that if she had, which she could have, been in my class last year she would have found out what the word condescending meant, distinguished it from sarcasm and that I had two bottles of Scotch older than her so she shouldn't get lofty ideas. Was that condescending? Possibly...
I did meet some pleasant people that could handle their drink. Emma shared my enthusiasm for trying sea kayaking. Nicola, her friend, was terrified of the water. After two beers and a bit of peer pressure Nicola cracked and I was sea kayaking the next day with the Irish.
Sea Kayaking is brilliant. Carving your way through the sea, avoiding the other traffic (two ferries which went every 30 mins, sea taxis and yachts) and heading to seemingly unexplored beaches.
We had been warned that the wind could pick up in the afternoon and the sea turns rough and difficult to paddle through.
We paddled to two islands and had some lunch, did some swimming and messed around getting pictures of paddling- Nicola wanted proof of her conquering her fear.
Nicola had done brilliantly but now was showing signs of having enough. It was tiring and you occasionally had to dodge on coming boats. We headed back towards the beach where we had to drop the kayaks back.
The wind had picked up, the sea was rough and we were paddling against the current. It was just as we had been warned.
The girls had a double kayak and were tired struggling with the size of the boat. I swapped into the double to try and power it against the current.
We eventually got the kayaks to the next beach along and stopped to have a rest. We only had to paddle around the corner but this was into the wind which we had had some protection from so far and the waves were higher than the kayaks.
The girls were too tired to take their kayak back so I paddled mine back to the beach. What a battle it was to get there! 400 metres in 20 minutes with the waves crashing over the top.
I walked back to the shop and they said they couldn't pick the second kayak up so asked that I bring the double kayak around myself. I walked back to where the girls were and told them the news.
Emma wanted to go along for the ride so we pushed on out.
This was a bigger kayak. The wind had picked up and the waves had gotten bigger. Both of us paddled while Nicola took action shots.
It turned out when the girls went out for dinner later that we had quite an audience. A couple commented to them about seeing these mad people out in the sea.
We managed to get a small purchase going forward then just avoided hitting the harbour wall. We cut between an oncoming Australian yacht and a catamaran. Waves broke over the front and sides of the boat soaking us in bitterly salty water. After a while, we were facing the beach and could surf the waves to the shore.
A moral victory over the sea.
Today was a lesson in conquering fear. Fair play to Nicola for overcoming her sea fear.
Now it is the end of Korcula and I get the ferry to Dubrovnik tomorrow. A few days left of the holiday and I'm in a winding down mood. Hopefully relaxation will be easier in Dubrovnik than it was in Korcula.
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