Another early wake up call, another sack lunch from our hotel, another Uber ride back to the car and then wham, off to the launch point! We hit the beach in time to see a lovely sunrise and then set to getting the kayaks loaded.

Josh tested his wet suit out immediately and after a quick dumping of the water in the boat, we were under way! We stayed in the harbor for a bit to let everyone get used to the kayaks before we made the first big open water crossing to the Island of Ciovo. When Steve told me we’d be sea kayaking again on this trip, I’m not going to lie and say I was excited. I was actually more than a little concerned! The last time in Vancouver, the waves were more than I bargained for and I didn’t relish doing that again with a torn shoulder labrum. Turns out, the Adriatic Sea is much calmer, and we landed some of the best weather the region has had for winter in a long time! We made the crossing over to the island with no issues and headed down the cliffs to our lunch spot. Most of the islands are cliffs or have a very jagged coastline, not a ton of spots to pull out the boats. Dejan had sent pins to the best spots, along with a pdf guidebook to the areas we’d be visiting.

The days are short during winter in this region, so we wanted to make camp before dark. Our site for the night was a primitive (called wild) campsite that was in a small cove. During the summer this entire area is packed with boats and yachts but luckily for us, not a single boat was moored there! Unluckily for Tserka though, he killed his phone with sea water and then tripped and stepped on an urchin! He managed to get all the spines out and didn’t suffer any ill effects. The phone though, it is a goner. A short walk down the beach allowed us to see the various creatures such as urchins, starfish, and sea cucumbers. The last one is more that a bit gross and is a treasure trove of “that’s what she said” jokes! In keeping the blog mostly PG, I’ll let you fill in with your imagination but the defense mechanism of a sea cucumber is to squirt when squeezed… When Steve brought one on the pier to get a picture, it activated and nearly sent Josh off the pier when he jumped out of range!

We’d kayaked 11.5 miles this day, and had an early morning the previous two, some once we’d had our bag of camp dinner we were pretty much toast! It was NYE and Tserka had brought the champagne and wine, so while it chilled we decided to take a nap until 11:30 pm.

We woke up in time to celebrate the new year in style! We even saw a few fireworks from towns over the hills. We heard a ton of them, it went on for hours! After toasting for all the good things, we headed back to bed for a peaceful nights rest.

The next morning dawned clear and sunny. We wouldn’t need our emergency chocolate in order to get into really cold and wet wetsuits since we let them dry in the sun while we packed up.

We hit the water and made our way leisurely around the islands, looking for a nice spot for a lunch break and a swim. We missed doing our Christmas cruise and polar plunge back in Indiana since the weather was too polar but we did a dip in the Adriatic on January 1st!

We finished the 7.72 mile kayak trip around 2 pm, ending in the harbor of Vinisce where Dejan picked us up and shuttled us back to the warehouse and our car. I think we were all a bit bummed that we had to cut the kayak part short due to the early delays we experienced with the airlines because this was an amazing way to see the area! If you are reading this and reside in a northern climate and are looking for a peaceful getaway for some winter paddling, you should hit up Dejan at RED adventures for sure!

Back at the car it took us about 45 mins to repack everything back in. Tserka has become quite the expert in putting all of our crap in the right place so that the door can actually shut! We had hopes of finding someplace in Split for dinner but seeing as it was both a Sunday and New Years Day, our hopes were quickly dashed. We had about a 5 hour drive to get to our hotel near Bled, so dinner was whatever we could find at the gas station. I’ll sign off saying that many bad decisions food wise were made, and not enough chocolate was purchased!