Sail Croatia // My Journey From Dubrovnik - Split

Wow - Wow - Wow! Croatia is now on the top of my list of favorite countries. Before visiting I had never even heard of someone going there nor did I know anything about it. I was lucky enough to get an 8-day 7-night cruise FREE through the Sail Croatia 'Bring a Mate' promotion. Some Aussie sisters I met last summer in New Zealand had posted on Facebook that they had booked their cruise and could bring a few people for free. I jumped on the opportunity immediately and lucky enough it fit perfect with my travel schedule. I booked my flight from Amsterdam to Split and the adventure began! After a 6-hour bus ride from Split to Dubrovnik I met up with my group in a beautiful apartment provided by Airbnb. We spent two days wandering the city before the cruise really began (on my birthday!). The boat was a lot smaller than I expected but it was absolutely perfect! There were 36 of us in total including 6 Kiwis, 29 Aussies, and 1 American (me).

The cruise covered 7 different location including Dubrovnik, Mljet, Korcula, Hvar, Stari Grad, Makarska, and finally, Split. Each island and location was absolutely breathtaking and had unique things about them. Between national parks, private beaches, amazing food, and some of the craziest clubs in Europe (we went to 'rave cave' for real) it was hard to have a bad experience. The crew was absolutely fantastic providing us with breakfast and lunch included as well as bar service on the boat from 7am-12am. Before lunch we would have swim spots in beautiful locations that had caves, snorkeling, and lots of jumping (rocks, cliffs, boat, etc.) Once lunch was over and we were all docked up it was time to go out exploring in the island or city in which we had our stopover in. The landscape in each area boomed with rich Croatian culture whether it be through the architecture, food, beaches, or even the people. This experience for me was so unique in the way that I got to share it with a small but great group of people. We all really clicked and everyone was on the same page of adventure and travel! It truly was one of the best weeks of my life and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a one-of-a-kind experience. Thank you Croatia, our boat Penelopa, and all the crazy Australians//Kiwi's for looking out for me.