This story has a happy ending.
We stayed overnight in the town of Hvar on the Island of
Hvar. The accommodation was quite good, we slept well, and in the morning packed up our
stuff in preparation for a water-taxi ride to the Island of Korcula. The
correct pronunciation is to pronounce the "c" as "ch".
The weather forecast was for variable skies in the morning,
changing to rain by late afternoon. Breakfast was scheduled for the patio at
8:00 AM, the water-taxi for 9:15. During breakfast, it was quite windy which
seemed a little unusual for that time of day, but all seemed pleasant
otherwise. Our focus was on a young couple that we met that was going to be taking
our same taxi. We shared travel stories during breakfast, then made our way to
the dock for our pickup.
The taxi arrived with another couple already on board, and
the 4 of us added our bicycles and luggage to theirs. It was a nice sized boat,
with bucket seats for 6 plus the captain. They tied down the bicycles, packed
the isle with our suitcases and we were off.
The travel time was expected to be a little less than an
hour. A few minutes out of the calm harbour, the seas started to roll, and the
captain, turned water-cowboy, cranked up the music. Shortly, we were in 1 to 2 meter
high choppy seas, the friendly chatter had stopped, and we hung on for the ride.
This video is difficult to watch, but quite true to life. It
captured the choppiness but not the swells. The video is only a minute long,
but we rode her for an hour.
Eventually, we happily reached Vela Luka, a quiet port on the Island of
Korcula. Everyone had done pretty well, some better than others, but all had kept
their breakfast down. Our ride across would best be described as riding a wild
bronco in a bucket seat, and our water-cowboy captain had done a masterful job.
The rest of the day paled in comparison, though the scenery
was Adriatic beautiful, the temperature and breezes Croatian perfect for
cycling, and the rain held off.
The wild bronco ride to Korcula had been an unexpected experience
of a lifetime, and one we won't soon forget.
Click this link for the next story in this series: Riding in the Rain
Click this link for the next story in this series: Riding in the Rain
