Boats and Blue Sea

We were extremely lucky to have some fantastic weather while we were in Croatia, with only a couple of exceptions. Mostly it was warm and sunny and as such the views we had across the sea were quite lovely. We were also lucky with our apartment, which had a fantastic balcony looking straight out to sea.

Several small islands dotted the view. The nearest was called 'Supetar' Island and is inhabited - albeit rather sparsely.

From our apartment, it was just a short walk down to the beach although the paths were fairly steep and there was no shortage of steps to negotiate. Once there however, we had the place to ourselves and with the sound of lapping waves and clear blue waters, it was quite idyllic.

Looking down through the water, it was amazing how clear it was, not something you get much of around the coastline of Britain.

Rocky coves and pebbly beaches were great for clambering about on.

We were not the only ones to appreciate the area. A couple of Kingfishers were busy trying to spot tiddlers among the shallows and allowed us to get quite close before flying off.

When we flew in to Dubrovnik airport on the Sunday, we could see from the plane, a large and very impressive yacht, moored in the bay just off shore from Plat. Two large helipads with 'H's painted on the decks gave away the size of the thing even from the air. When we reached our apartment, we were soon informed that the super-yacht in question belonged to Roman Abramovich and was the second largest, privately owned yacht in the world. It is called 'Eclipse'.

Launched in 2009, it supposedly cost over half a billion US dollars and is just over 533ft long. It is equipped with two helipads (as seen from the air), two swimming pools, a disco hall and several hot tubs. It also has three small launch boats and a mini submarine as well as its own missile defence system. All of which needs a crew of around 70 to keep it going! Not your usual little 'run-around'. At night, it was lit up like a Christmas tree, making quite a sight from our balcony.

On our trip by boat into Dubrovnik, we passed a cruise liner called the Star Breeze. Even with a passenger capacity of 208 and a crew of 164, it was still almost 100ft shorter than the Eclipse!

With a west facing balcony of course, you get the chance to see some lovely sunsets and we were not disappointed on this score either.

Its amazing how quickly the sun sets and in a few minutes it had nearly gone...

... leaving behind a beautiful sky and the promise of another lovely day tomorrow.