Saturday, June 23rd, 2012
Saturday was a water day. After 2 days of hiking around the lakes and 2 days in Split and my drive yesterday I got to stop looking at the water and get in it. Can’t lie…..it’s a little bit colder than the Red Sea….about 10 degrees colder……which is a lot. It meant wet suit diving and this time with a full hood.
My plan for today was to do some scuba diving. The hotel I chose had a dive shop there so it was easy to get all set up with everything. I had 2 dives planned for the day and I was excited to finally get to use my new underwater housing for my camera.
From the shore looking across at the same island I can see from my hotel room. It turns out that would be the same island we would be heading for my first dive of the day.
The little boat we took to the dive site.
Just a small dive group but here are 2 of the 4 of us.
A little of the underwater wildlife. You won't find all the colour fish and plant life in the Adriatic that you will find in the Red Sea. That's due to the way the sea was formed. Water levels rose and filled the area and then dropped back down trapping water there. So when diving here I had to be content with the interesting underwater geography (lots of little caves and tunnels) and some really good wrecks to check out.
My buoyancy not quite good enough to pull something like this off just yet but I'll work my way up to it.
In my full hooded wet suit. Super happy I had it.....the water was cold.
The wreck we checked out on our second dive. This wreck is almost 40 metres (130 feet) deep, which is the deepest I have ever been to before. I can't lie, I had a bit of a panic attack during the decent....partially due to the new depth and partially due to the 16 C (61 F) water temp. I tried very hard to remember my dive teachings (Don't Panic, Breath slow and constant) and once I calmed down a bit I just enjoyed the underwater sights.
A little video that I made. The visibility wasn't great but you get the idea. I look forward to getting my camera back in the clear blue waters of the Red Sea.
A picture of me taking a picture.
Once my diving was over, I relaxed poolside for a bit and then took a nap before heading into the Old City to check things out and have some food.
A little shot of the Dubrovnik walls at night. Inside the walls the city really is alive all night long.
The main street in the Old City.
One of the clock towers you will find in the Old City.
An example of the small streets you will find in Dubrovnik (very similar to Split). And once again they are filled with restaurants and wine bars and ice cream shops and everything you could want to find.
On this night I found a really nice little wine bar called Malvasija. I had heard about Croatian wines but never really had a chance to taste any. This little place certainly changed that and let me tell you Croatia makes some really good wines. The manager of the night, Mike, really knows his stuff and it wasn't long before I had found more than one that I really enjoyed. I spent the evening sipping some great wine and chatting with a couple fellow Canadians (who had found Malvasija the night before and had to return for a second night). We closed the place down (even helping to put away tables) and I must say was a great way to spent a night in Croatia. Eventually I made my way back to the hotel for a good night's sleep (relatively speaking).
Sunday would be for touring and history.
Julie
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