Today was probably the best day ever.

First off I was able to sleep in today because I did not need to be at my island cruise until 10:45. So I had a leisurely morning and laid in bed and watched a movie for awhile. I'm not really able to sleep in a whole lot anymore unless I'm not supposed to sleep in. (I think it’s a psychological problem) Eventually I decided to get out of bed and get ready for the day. All that included was putting my swimsuit on and getting my camera ready.

I worked my way back into the old city by bus. I stopped at this little place that serves sandwiches, pizza, and ice cream and got myself a slice of pizza since I missed breakfast this morning. It ended up being the best pizza I have had in my entire life. It had thin, extremely dense crust, but was not hard, light sauce, and lots of cheese. I must reiterate, the BEST pizza EVER!  I could really be happy just eating that pizza for the rest of my life. In fact my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Anyways, I walked through the city (enjoying my pizza slice) and made it to the old harbor. Just as I was checking in with the boat people, a group of 10 SAS girls showed up at the boat as well.

There is no way to ever escape SAS students on this trip. Basically we take over whatever town we are in. No matter where you are, if you spin around in a circle you are guaranteed to see at least one other SAS student.

It turned out that 2 of the girls were people that I know and like on the trip so that worked out well. We got on to the boat and most of the girls decided to sit downstairs in the shade, but I worked my way up to the top deck and got a prime seat to enjoy the breeze and sun and view all the islands and city walls.

We began our journey to the Elafiti Islands! First the ship "sailed" around the city walls and it was pretty cool to be able to see the city in that way. I of course got my fair share of pictures in. (I have been averaging about 150 pictures per day, if I keep that up I will have a total of at least 9,900 photos of this trip by the time its over)

We cruised along the sea for about 45 minutes before getting to the first island, Kolocep. It had an old church and a small botanical garden on it. We only had about 25 minutes to explore, so I raced off the boat and made my way to the church. As I was walking up the hill, I took numerous pictures and thoroughly enjoyed all the flowers and butterflies flying around. There were so many I almost felt like I was in a butterfly greenhouse!

After wandering for about 20 minutes, I found a gift shop near the ship and picked up my shot glass and post card. I boarded the ship to find bread waiting for me on the table. They were getting ready to serve lunch. While I waited for the ship to leave, I threw bread into the water and watched thousands of crazy fish attack it. It was quite a sight to see because there were so many fish, and they were fighting and jumping out of the water trying to get the bread.

The boat then began its journey to the next island. They brought out lunch, which was fish and coleslaw. Now when I say fish, I really mean a whole fish. There it was, sitting on my plate, an entire fish, head and all. They had thrown them on the grill to cook, they didn’t even debone them. It was good fish and was quite an experience eating it. It reminded me of the fish that I caught, cooked, and ate while backpacking.

 When I finished it was time to feed the sea-gulls that were following our ship. The birds must have known that it was lunch time for us so they decided to follow in hopes that it would be an easy lunch for them. So we held out the entire fish skeleton, over the side of the boat, and the gulls would swoop in an take the body straight from your hand. That was new for me and was really fun to do.

We then made it to the next island, Loupd, where we had 2 hours to enjoy. Now most people went straight to the beach to lay out in the sun, but not me. I found the arboretum that they had and walked through it. There was some really pretty flowers, including sunflowers, and a lot of old ruins as well. Then I walked to the monastery and took pictures, went down to the water and caught a crab with my bear hands, and then realized that I still had quite awhile left on the island. I then found a map and decided to take a hike, literally.

I trekked up the mountain all the way to the top where the ruins of a fortress remained. It had the most amazing views I have ever seen. First off you could see the entire island from up there including the beaches on the other side of the island. You could also see all of the Elafiti islands, and what seemed like the entire country of Croatia. You could see Dubrovnik clearly and it looked so small from being up that high! Words really can not describe the beauty and peacefulness of it. Everything was lush and green and it was not too hot out either.

I then made my way back down the hill with just enough time to get my shot glass and postcard, as well as some ice cream. I worked my way back to the ship and got ready for the short journey to our final island.

We made it to the last island, Sipan, where we had 50 minutes to relax. I decided to stay with some of the girls from SAS on this island. We walked around for a short while before deciding to swim out to a small cluster of rocks. Only me and one other girl were brave enough to do it. The water felt freezing when I first got in, but it did not take long for it to feel extremely refreshing. I could have stayed in it all day. It took us about 15 minutes to swim out to the rocks and about 5 minutes to stand on the rocks because there were so many sea urchins around. We stayed on the rocks for a short while and then made the swim back. By the time we got back to shore, it was time to head back to the ship to make our voyage back to Dubrovnik.

When we got back to Dubrovnik, all I wanted was so pizza and a shower. The water in the Mediterranean is the saltiest water I have ever been in my entire life. It feels fine to swim in, as long as it doesn’t get in your mouth, but when you get out of the water a layer of salt dries on your body. You can literally see the salt on your skin with your bare eyes.

I worked my way back to the port with 2 of the girls, first stopping at my favorite pizza place to get a slice. We got back to the ship and decided to go straight to dinner. After dinner I went back to my room, took a shower, and picked out a movie to watch in bed.

I was exhausted after being out in the sun all day so I decided to go to bed early, besides tomorrow is a full day activities as well!