A-Broad in Education: The Yacht Week~ A Croatian Adventure

Http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/europe/croatia

I've finally made it home after being away for six months. I've spent this entire week recovering from my long adventure of "fun in the sun" sprinkled with a small serving of jet-lag. I've finally escaped hibernation so I'm well rested and ready to share my latest adventure with you all. I went to The Yacht Week in Croatiaaaaa!! I know a few of you all are wondering... "Where the heck is Croatia?"

Well here is a map... Croatia is in Europe... right next door to Italy.

Toward the end of the school year, I was invited to join a group of people who were planning to go to Yacht Week. The Yacht Week is sponsored by a company that organizes yacht tours in different countries throughout the year. There's yacht tours in Thailand, Greece, Italy, the British Virgin Islands, and Croatia. I was eventually gonna go to Croatia but I didn't have a time... date... year... so I figured what the heck... why not jump on it now? I had never been on a yacht... I had never been to Croatia... what did I have to lose? I called myself getting prepared by taking a few swim lessons and I went on my merry way!

I arrived in Split, Croatia two days before our actual tour started. It was perfect because I was able to settle down from my previous adventure and indulge in some serious R&R. We decided to squeeze in a short trip to do some sight seeing and ended up going to Krka National Park. We were super excited.

After an hour drive and a long boat ride, we were finally there. People were in the water... people were walking around..people were taking pictures... everyone was enjoying the moment. We were so anxious to get in the water and take our pictures that we didn't realize how cold it was. We took our clothes off and dang near froze to death as soon our feet touched the water. It was like an iceberg had melted and was getting ready to freeze over again. I'm shivering now just thinking about it. It was muddy... the rocks were slippery... we were bucking and jirating trying to catch our balance... yea, it was that bad. At a certain point, I stopped trying and got down on all four and started crawling on the rocks. That was much safer than slipping and busting my head or losing a limb! After winning the battle of what felt like World War lll, we finally got our picture. I must say, we made misery look great!

It was finally time to head to the marina and get set up for Yacht Week. Our theme song for the week was Lil John's, Turn Down for What and we showed up bobbing our heads silently. There were sixteen of us so we were looking like a street gang... ready to battle.

We were on two yachts, eight of us on each. My crew was called The Bacchanal Bombshells and the other crew was The United Freaks of America. We were going for a Caribbean/bacchanal theme. For those of you who have never been to one of those Caribbean festivals... don't worry... I had to google the definition for bacchanal too.

We were one of a few all girls crews on the route. I was a little skeptical because most of us know that eight women in close proximity for seven days is a recipe for disaster... I could already imagine... $#%ch I'mma kick yo a$#...hair pulling and name calling... and eventually somebody getting pushed in the water that couldn't swim... wait... that would be me...!

The size of the boat and the living quarters made us even closer. We had no choice but to get to know each other up close and personal. There were days when we were all sitting on top of the yacht watching the water and talking about life and there were nights when we were praying on street corners for young people to make better choices in life.

There were days we were drinking and grooving to reggae and soca music and nights when I was sick as a dog listening to everyone's excitement about how beautiful the stars were. There were days full of flirting and mingling with guys from all over the world and nights when we partied till the sun came up. We truly had a good time. One night we climbed over about ten yachts and walked boat to boat in order to ride in a dingy to go and cheer for America during the World Cup. Of course we lost but it was all worth it! There were ups and downs, boredom and fun, health and nausea. A well rounded trip...

Let's go back for a sec...
Remember I told you that I had taken a few swim lessons before going to Croatia... well... I had an incident.

This day we were on our way to the next town and decided to stop in the middle of the sea for lunch and a swim. After lunch, I was ready to put my skills into action. Honestly, I've never been afraid water, I've just never learned to swim. Of course I put a life jacket on before I slowly climbed down the ladder to get into the water. It took me a while to let go... but I finally did!

I got very cocky during my breast stroke because everyone was applauding my progress from my initial three lessons. I got back on the boat for something and I put on my Captain Brave uniform. I remember telling everybody... "look at me, I"m gonna jump in!"

The crazy thing was I never imagined myself going under water... because I had my life jacket on, I thought I was invincible. I went off impulse and jumped.... next thing I knew I was under water... panicking!! I opened up my eyes and could see the surface. I started swimming upward. As I came closer, I remember trying to grasp for air but... I did it too quick. I ended up swallowing what felt like a liter of the saltiest water I had ever tasted in my life. I'm sure you all know... I was SICK... for two days actually. When I finally vomited, it tasted like my stomach was full of salt. The smell and sight of food made me even sicker. To top things off, that night was the rockiest night being on the boat. We kept rocking from side to side...side to side... side to side... I'm feeling sick just thinking of it. Don't worry.... I'll be registering for a few more swim lessons when I get back to Abu Dhabi!

After two days of being sea sick, we finally docked at Hvar. Valencia and I decided to get off of the boat to check into a hotel room. I was still sick from the boat rocking so I didn't need much convincing to get out of dodge. When Valencia and I walked into that hotel room, I knew there was a God and for $200 a night, we were finally saved!! We were AMAZED with the simplest things.... the toilet... the bath tub...the beds... it even had a TV... but most of all the room stood still! The last day we dressed up in our themed costumes and sailed back to Split. We shared mixed emotions about the end of the seven day adventure... some of us were making plans to meet up at a later date, while some of us were were making plans to never to see each other again!

Overall, I had a wonderful Croatian adventure. I will definitely be keeping in contact with the person who was responsible for organizing this trip... the same woman who had random strangers chanting her name in restaurants... "Claire Bear.... Claire Bear... Claire Bear." Thanks for a wonderful trip!