Sailing Croatia - Day One - leaving Dubrovnik

The ACI Marina where we have to meet our G Adventures skipper and crew mates is quite a way out of the city so rather than risk being late or lost, we leave the sheltering walls after a leisurely breakfast and some interesting people watching. Leaving through the nearby Ploče Gate we find a convenient taxi rank. 

While we are waiting for the others to arrive we go through some minor anxiety about the group we will be sailing with. After all we are going to be in very close quarters for eight days.Will we all get along? Will there be one of "those" people, you know the kind that you occasionally meet who spoil it for everyone else with endless complaining or other annoying habits? Or will we be considered "those" people that the others will be happy to abandon on a lonely island? But we needn't have worried. By the time our skipper Damir arrives to welcome us, the group has assembled and we are already exchanging stories and getting to know each other.

Before going to meet our boat, "Arta", Damir is all business as he gives us our first briefing and then we set off to the marina store to buy supplies for our first few meals aboard. The way it works is that we pool our money and shop together, making sure that everyone has a say in the type of food we choose. This is one of the times when team work and collaboration are essential and as a group it is obvious from the start that this is not going to be difficult. We are an amenable bunch. We push shopping carts full of supplies along the dock to Arta and load food into the tiny but efficient galley. Next we are assigned our cabins and given the all important bathroom protocol lecture. Peter and I have been assigned one of the two double bed rear cabins and taking turns, we each find a way to stow our stuff in the compact space.

There is nothing to hang around for at the marina, so Damir takes the helm and we head out to sea, under the Franjo Tudjman Bridge, for our first night aboard on the nearby island of Šipan.

Before we set out on this trip one of my daughters was curious as to why I would sign up for a sailing trip, reminding me that I get sea sick. She had a point there, so I have come armed with lots of ginger and acupressure wrist bands. But despite some choppy water, I feel fine on this first short leg of the journey. It is only when we dock at Šipan  and I am on dry land again, that I start to feel queasy. Uh oh. Have I made a big mistake?

 
We are tied up right beside a restaurant where we are served platters of grilled fish. It is delicious but I take it easy, just nibbling my dinner. Later we clamber into our cosy bed and despite a slight swell, which makes a load slapping noise at the stern, I sleep surprisingly well and when I get up in the morning, my stomach seems to have found its equilibrium.