Blue Cave

Despite still being in awe and disbelief about the previous night, we had an island and Blue Cave tour booked, so we had to drag ourselves out of bed and make it on time. Somehow, despite drinking hundreds of dollars' worth of liquor the night before, we woke up feeling surprisingly okay. Perhaps our bodies were still in shock from the yacht lifestyle we had experienced for a night, or maybe we were simply still drunk. Whatever it was, we weren't going to let it stop us. We jumped on our boat and headed towards a small island off the coast of Vis. On the way, we passed the Agape Rose, and Jack and I marvelled at its beauty one last time, once again questioning how the fuck we had ended up there the night before. We knew the family were heading back to Split that day, so we wouldn't be seeing it again. Nonetheless, we had a great night and a great day ahead of us.

Our first stop was a fantastic beach, which gave us a perfect opportunity to relax and recover a little more from the big night. While snorkelling, Jack spotted an octopus that attracted quite a bit of attention from the other tourists. It would have been cool to get a photo, but unfortunately, my underwater phone case was back at the apartment. I had been moving pretty slowly that morning and had completely forgotten it.

We then headed to the Green Cave, which, once again, I couldn't take photos of because we had to swim into it. It was still really cool, though. Entry cost €12, and a small hole in the roof allowed a little bit of sunlight to shine through, giving the cave a subtle green glow. It was nowhere near as impressive as the Blue Cave, but at least you could actually swim inside it.

The Blue Cave was our next stop, and this was phenomenal. The cave creates a spectacular natural light show through a combination of several natural coincidences. Firstly, it faces the perfect direction to receive sunlight throughout the day, meaning the colour can even change between morning and afternoon. Secondly, the sand beneath the cave is white, allowing it to reflect sunlight back through the water and amplify the blue colour. Finally, the shape of the cave means that, although it is completely enclosed above the water, there is enough space under the water for sunlight to pass through. The tiny entrance that the boats use was actually made larger to allow tourists to enter, but it was deliberately kept small so it wouldn't interfere with the bright blue colour inside. The original entrance was apparently nothing more than a tiny crevice on a random island in the middle of the Adriatic Sea. Why someone ever decided to crawl through that hole is beyond me, but the view they would have discovered on the other side must have felt completely other-worldly.

After the Blue Cave, we made our way to the final stop of the tour, Parmizana. It was a really cool place to park up, grab a beer, get some food and relax. Despite the huge night before, I hadn't eaten a single thing all day, and it was now approaching 3 p.m. As a result, we stopped for a quick feed before having another snorkel. When we went back to the boat to collect the snorkelling equipment, we started chatting with the two guys running the tour. Eventually, a few other captains from nearby boats had congregated on ours, and before we knew it, they were all smoking a joint despite the tour not technically being over.

Our captain, of all people, rolled the largest joint I've ever seen and proceeded to absolutely destroy the whole thing. They were super chill and explained that they spent around nine months of the year working in Bosnia, doing random jobs, before coming to Croatia each summer to captain boats and party. Honestly, it didn't sound like a bad setup at all. Eventually, everyone climbed back onto the boat, and we began the short journey back to Hvar.
When we got back to Hvar, Jack and I were itching to tell the guys at the hostel that their recommendation to go to Hula Hula the night before had paid off and then some. They were completely in disbelief that, after just one night in Hvar, we had somehow managed to end up on a private yacht. We then proceeded to mention it as often as possible to pretty much everyone in the hostel. A couple of Canadian girls and I we had met decided to turn it into a drinking game. Every time Jack mentioned the word "yacht," we had to drink. Safe to say, we were absolutely plastered by the time we decided to head into town.

It wasn't anywhere near as exciting as the previous night, but we still had a great time drinking and hanging out with the Canadian girls. After the madness of the night before, though, a slightly quieter night was probably exactly what we needed.Read more