The Need for Speed...and new spark plugs!

clock tower

Our plan for today was to get up early, check and see if they were doing tours to Bisevo where the Blue Grotto or Blue Cave is located...weather and wind dependent...and rent some form of transportation to explore the island. We already eliminated renting a bike once we saw the mountainous terrain...it's not for the leisure biker for sure!

To our surprise they were doing tours of Bisevo...yesterday we were told they probably wouldn't go, so at 10:00am we boarder our zodiac along with a group of eight from Slovenia...they were hilarious; even though we couldn't understand a word they said. 

transportation to Bisevo

The trip to the island was about 15 minutes by speed boat or 45 minutes by pleasure boat...apparently we were in for a fast ride and Lisa and I were ready to go. 

back on the water

The views of the coast were gorgeous as we pulled out...mountains in the background, sunny skies, blue waters, boats all along the coast dotted with people and little shops and restaurants. 

the shoreline

Our trip out was not disappointing, lots of speed, views of the surrounding island, several attempts at taking pictures while being bumped around and of course lots of laughter. At the island we needed to change boats onto a smaller one...the cave entrance is very small  and has actually been artificially widened. We paid 40 kuna...it's 5 kuna per $1 Canadian...and off we were again.

our entrance ticket

The ride to the cave was just around the cove about 5 minutes. As you enter you are asked to duck down so not to hit your head and to keep your arms inside the boat...I told you it was small!  

duck!!

Once inside it was very calm, with a bit of a hollow sound. The cave was not that large inside, but fairly high and the water was the most electrifying colour blue I have ever seen...this is why we are here after all!  At first it was difficult to get a light setting on my camera to capture this incredible natural phenomena, but here are a few samples of what we saw.

inside the cave

electric blues

The aquamarine colour is caused by sunlight reflecting through the water coming from the white floor of the cave, while objects in the water appear to be silver.  The best time to view this is between 11:00am and noon..around the time were there. You spend about 10 minutes inside and then head back to the island to board our boat back to Vis. 

our little boat for entering the cave

We said goodbye to our friends from Slovenia who were spending the day exploring the island.  What a great hour on the water…something we both love.

relaxing

Back in Komiza we then head off in search of a rental place...we saw a cool 4-wheeler type of vehicle yesterday while walking and thought that might be nice to rent or maybe even rent a scooter. The first shop we went into wouldn't rent scooters to us....apparently we are too dangerous to be trusted on the road! That only left one other place. At this point we decided not to rent scooters and try something else. In our research we came across something called a cabrio. We weren't sure what that was so we asked the very nice girl where we bought our tickets to Bisevo to translate for us...she also spoke very good English...and she told us it was a four wheel vehicle with no top. So of course we thought it was what we saw the other day, we went ahead and rented it for 6 hours and to our surprise when we arrived at our vehicle it was this run down old red Fiat convertible!  Not exactly what we thought, but we took it all in stride. 

After we were shown how to put the top town...twice...and got the owner to come back and show us how to put the car in reverse...by this point she was positive we didn't know how to drive a standard... we were off. We had to laugh as she waited by the corner as we left...making sure we knew what we were doing. 

our hot rod!!

Off we went...not in our 4-wheeler, but in something much more "special"...to explore this rugged island along its extremely twisting roads. We soon realized the car was in bad need of a tune up.  In fact unless you were going a half decent speed you needed to stay in second gear otherwise it would sputter and chug along...it definitely needed some new spark plugs!  

So in second gear we travelled along the roads, up to the mountain to stop at our first destination...Hum. This is the highest point on the island at 587 meters...you can even get a stamp that indicates you've been there....and the view was not disappointing.

getting his stamp

proving you were here

at the top

The temperature at Hum was much cooler and you could even feel the low level clouds on your face...pretty cool effect.

view of Komiza

From here we headed back down the mountain along the main road towards Milna. We walked along the rugged beach...it's pretty early in the tourist season, but this area really fills up during the summer. 

beautiful colours and textures

look what I found...

Next destination, Stoncica...at the recommendation of the car rental lady. Unfortunately our car had a different idea.  While driving up the hill it decided to stall...and of course the spark plug light came on. Just another story to add to the blog I guess!  Fortunately it started back up, but the rest of our journey was plagued by the ominous light coming on and off...us wondering if we were going to make it back at all.

Where to next?

The trek to our next destination was beautiful as usual with olive groves everywhere, as well as vineyards. The roads are in excellent condition here...light years ahead of home...with some of the roads only wide enough for one lane, so thankfully there wasn't much traffic to worry about. 

We arrived in Stoncica right on time for our afternoon kava break.  To get the the restaurant we walked down the mountainous path where we ended up on a small beach, just as a sailboat was coming in to mourn. If you haven't guessed already, Croatia is well known as a sailing destination and I can see why. 

The views from this little area were unexpected and stunning...especially since the weather was so nice with the sun beaming down and the different coulours shinning through the water.

serenity

We stopped at this little restaurant along the beach, enjoyed some fresh air while reviewing our photos for the day and sipping our daily kava. 

perfect spot to relax

This little reataurant cooks it's meals outside in stone ovens, but we had already eaten along the way...I'm sure it would have been tasty meal (Lisa assured me it all smelled good!).

stone overn

Along our path back to the car, we saw some pretty flowers as well as people working in the vineyards...hard work for sure.

peak-a-boo

poppies

  

more beautiful flowers

I got so enthralled in taking photos I actually briefly lost the car keys...Lisa to the rescue!

look what I found!!

From here we headed toward Vis...apparently they only have one gas station on the island and we were told to fill up there.  Once again we saw lots of olive groves...I love seeing how they are planted and separated by the little stone walls. Of course we had to stop to take pictures...

olive groves and stone fences

Just outside Vis there was a look off where you can see the entire town from the mountain's edge...so lovely. 

smile Lisa!

We slowly made our way down to the town along the zig zag of a highway at a high speed of 20km. When we finally found our way into the city center we stopped to get gas...it's expensive here, over $2 a litre...and then decided to tour the outskirts of the town since we had a car. 

We drove along the road until we came to an old fortress where we walked around the outside looking at the views and the vegetation....I tell you they have some big plants in Croatia!

Where's Lisa???

lighthouse in the distance

our chariot awaits!

From here we venture out on the road again...until we could go no further. We saw the cutest vineyard tucked away by a small bay with a lone snorkeler exploring the crystal clear waters.  It felt like we were in another world it was so quiet and peaceful. 

magical little vineyard

We needed to get back soon, so we jumped in the car to travel the 10 km to Komiza...not before taking one last photo of Vis town.

Vis town

As you enter the village of Komiza, you come down the mountain on an extremely winding road...they even have signs to warn you of the serpentine road ahead.  

be careful

We easily navigated our way to where we needed to park the car...we are getting good at this...and arrived at the "car rental" place at exactly 5:30pm; the car filled with fuel, the top back up, doors locked and no new dents or scratches. 

goodbye little lady

I think you could say it was a successful venture. So successful the car rental lady even gave us a little gift of lavender...so sweet!

our lavender present

At this point I was famished...exploring Croatia requires a lot of energy!  Lisa and I headed for some seafood for dinner at Baco restaurant...apparently it is the best restaurant in town. After looking at some of the prices on the menu it better be good...lobster cost 760,00 kuna or about $152/kg! We both had the fish soup and then I also ordered risotto with shrimp, and of course some wine. It was a nice way to finish our day.  

top seafood restaurant

where the magic happens

By about 7:30pm we were back at our apartment, the weather was changing...there is a storm on the way for tonight and tomorrow...and we had a relaxing evening in.  We have been on the go non stop since we left, so it was nice to be able to catch up on a few things, veg and watch a little nighttime TV. 

locals enjoying the evening

Tomorrow's adventures are unknown, as the weather looks bad and we don't have any wheels.  I guess we will see what transpires...I'm sure it will be something interesting, as nothing has let us down at this point in Croatia. 

Until tomorrow...

Lisa