Croatia Day 9

 Day 9: Šipan

Up early yet again with the sun.  Now most of the crew (maybe not Carole, who likes to sleep in-until at most, 7) is getting up super early, and this morning we discovered the solitude of the upper deck for morning coffee.

We even added a crew member, Fred, a gorgeous scarab that befriended Jeri.

Luca wanted to refuel here on Mljet so we would not have to refill the diesel tanks when we got back to the marina tomorrow. He brought a 5 gallon can which he also was going to fill to use to top off back at the marina.  This would save us from a long line at the gas dock tomorrow.  On the way to the gas dock, we passed a sea bass fish farm that was situated between 2 small islands.

Because we were out so early, there was no one ahead of us at the gas dock, so we were in and out in no time.

We were then off to Suđurađ on Šipan Island with a swimming stop on the way.

The water temperature was a bit warmer here, making it an ideal spot for Jeri to partake!

We docked at a beautiful small hotel where we had access to their pool, lounge chairs, beach and showers.  By having dinner at all these places that we docked, we had free dock space with electricity (no need to run the generator for AC at night) and water. They also were pretty beautiful place to dock.

After securing the boat, we decided to stretch our legs a bit and take a short hike into the town of Suđurađ.

Molly and David's fixer upper.

There appeared to be a cottage indutry of olive oils, wines, and liqueurs.  We found this older man selling his wears off the beaten path, and after tasting his walnut liqueur, decided to buy a small bottle. We tated and passed on the carob liqueur.

When we got back to the dock, we decided to investigate the hotel. 

 It is built on the side of a cliff, requiring us to negotiate a ton of stairs  to get to the pool and restaurant. I decided to jump in the pool to cool off as well as rinse out my shirt.  It felt great! A shower and fresh clothes later we had our sundowners on the stern deck, then back up the stairs for dinner.  We all tried to eat less, but didn't seem to have much success.  Oh well, our last night at sea, what the heck.