As I mentioned before, we went to bed and woke up in Croatia. It was awesome, no flights, no border control, no hassle, no bags, no packing, no unpacking, just arriving. And it was another stunning day at around 25 degrees. We are finally getting the summer we never had!

Being the highly organised person that I am, we had another cruise supplied excursion booked. This time we were doing something a little more us, canoeing down the Cetina river.

The canoeing started about 30 minutes drive out of Split. The tour guide, a lovely young woman and highly entertaining, talked us through the history of Croatia and some highlights on the way out to meet the canoeing dudes. It is very rocky terrain, not overly green, apparently not a lot of rain had come that winter. So, good for grapes then, says I!

Whilst Split is one of the more beautiful cities in Croatia there is an issue with employment. During the tourism months it is not such an issue but during the off season it can be very difficult to find employment so many leave. This is a problem that we heard much about in Cinque Terre too.

We arrive at our destination next to a beautiful river. The water comes down from the mountains and is an amazing green colour, crystal clear to the bottom. This, of course, means it is cold.

We have to suit up, only swimsuits required, don’t take sunglasses or cameras because you will probably fall out – HOLD THE PHONE, no one mentioned that in the brochure. Too late now, we are committed.

So, we are all dressed up in these very flattering wet suits (said no one, ever). I had a great deal of trouble getting the girls into the wetsuit jacket and doing it up. It was like some sort of binding tradition. In the end the chap told me to put the jacket under the wetsuit. At least I could do it up then, but the girls were not happy.

They talked us through how to paddle, stop, turn, how not to panic (because being told not to panic always helps right). And then we were told we could play in the water for a while whilst they go the boats ready. I didn’t have to be told twice, I was in and swimming. Hell, it wasn’t that cold, kind of like the sea in Wellington in summer. Not warm, but you won’t die of hypothermia ha, ha.

Then it was time to get the paddles and get moving. I should note now that Jason can’t really swim, and is also not a fan of white water. Too late, we were there.

For the next 3.5 hours we traveled down this beautiful river, there were ducks, dragonflies, birds, and snakes. Lovely! The guides were wonderful and knew there sh!t. No one fell out and whilst there were a few mini incidents, crashes and going backwards etc, all in all we did a great job and really enjoyed ourselves. DAMN it was hard work.

Jason did an awesome job of steering us down the river. I yelled instructions and paddled like mad when I realised he just could not hear me. But we made it in the end. Who needs communication to succeed – not us evidently? We could have drowned – well not really.

The bus took us back to Split and we were all a lot more subdued. There may have been a few people snoring, I know I was ready for sleep.

But, with only a day in port, we could not waste any time. We got dropped off by the old town and our tour guide went above and beyond and took us through the Diocletian Palace which contains the old city. Jason and I climbed the clock tower (cause we hadn’t done enough that day), any Health and Safety department would have had a meltdown with the lack of barriers between you and the drop to the concrete below, but the view was lovely J there were a few people who got half way and decided no, f*ck that, and went back down.

We spent another hour wandering around, bought some local wine, and finally found some food – we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was now 230pm. If you hadn’t noticed this whole trip has revolved around food, so going without is a bit of a shock to the system. We found a lady with enough English and with our excellent sign language we had one of the best sandwiches we had ever eaten.

Then back to the ship.

If you are travelling to Croatia, stay and enjoy the location, the people, the food, and the wine. We will be back.

The cruise offers on board experiences you can book such as art and cooking classes. I had us booked on a cooking class, just what you need after a really tiring day.

The chef, Kellie Evans, took us through four dishes in two hours. We did not just stand there and watch we actually had to do the cooking (BUT NOT THE DISHES). Two of the dishes were shell fish so I could not eat them, but Jason was happy J and very full.

It was great! And delicious! And well worth the effort of staying awake.

All of that made for a very long day. But wow, it was fantastic. We are really loving this cruise experience so far. Everyone continues to be friendly and there is always something to do.

A quick dinner at the buffet, too full and too tired to bother with the specialty restaurants, then off to bed. This time we wake up in Montenegro!