28 August 2022
As we left Loviste we travelled along calm, flat water towards the main attraction of the island of Hvar. Hvar is one of the more popular islands and the town of Hvar is the jewel in the crown of the island.
The Pakleni islands just off Hvar are the main anchoring ground when visiting Hvar as the popularity of the place has made the harbour a very busy place to be. There is a regular changing parade of tour boats, personal craft, and the usual mega yachts that we have become slightly blasé about.
The bay we anchored in had three restaurants there so was popular during the day. We felt like someone from the lives of the Rich and Famous as we caught a water taxi into the city in the late afternoon. It is a beautiful town with the old buildings built from a golden coloured stone and in the setting sunlight they became even more golden.
We had an interesting night when we were all awoken by something running into our boat. As we scrambled up to the deck to see WTF had happened, we saw our very close neighbours in front returning to their boat. You may think it was unusual that we didn’t confront them (we believe it was their dinghy that hit us) but when confronted with screaming people fighting verbally and physically in German, we thought better of adding to the already escalated scene at 3am in the morning. After some time, things quietened down and we heard their boat start up and move away. Not long after that we heard someone paddling around and crying. We saw a girl on a SUP with a head torch looking for the boat that had left. Just as we were about to call out to her a neighbouring yacht called out to her in German and she boarded their boat. We can’t believe the events of the night and the type of people that would leave someone alone in a bay. On inspection in the morning, there was a slight mark on the front corner of our boat and nothing to be concerned about which made our decision to not confront the neighbours about it at the time, validated.
The next morning, we had booked a mooring ball from one of the restaurants in the bay. The mooring balls can be used for free if you eat at the restaurant during that day. We had booked dinner and then called another water taxi to take all of us into Hvar. This time we also climbed to the old fortress above the town to get the stunning views of the harbour and out towards the Pakleni islands.
The next morning, we left the mooring in the bay and moved to another bay which was where the “renowned” Carpe Diem Beach Bar was located. Grace and Sarah had decided to experience the bar and after some research the process was discovered.
The Carpe Diem Beach Bar is open to all during the day but at sunset the music begins. It then closes at 10pm and water taxi’s take everyone to Hvar and to the Carpe Diem Bar which is open until 2am when more water taxis take people back to the island to party until 5am. They also caught up with friends of Graces in town and lasted until 3am when the “Dad taxi” picked them up from the beach.
Grace was leaving us today so after a water taxi failed to arrive, we moved the boat closer to town and then dinghied her into the harbour to catch the ferry to Dubrovnik.