Yugoslavia, Ferry Boats

For our second visit to Yugoslavia, we sailed across the Adraitic Sea from Pescara, Italy, to Split, Yugoslavia. We were the last vehicle to drive on the ship in Italy, and had to be the first off in Yugoslavia. The other passengers didn’t believe that, so we had to “fight” our way to the vehicle deck. It was after dark when we found the very crowded campsite in Split, and the next morning we decided it would be a great place, if only half the people went home.

A couple of days later we drove past Mali Ston, and Ston, and on to the end of Peljesac Peninsula, to the town of Orebic. We bought boat tickets (about 25¢ each) to the island and town of Korcula, the onetime home of Marco Polo, and a “who can imagine this exists” kind of city, founded by the Greeks, many centuries BC. After a couple of hours (should have been a couple of days), we caught the ferry back to Orebic, then drove across the width of the peninsula, to Trpanj. This peninsula extends in a northerly direction, somewhat parallel to the coast, so the ferryboat ride to the mainland was much shorter than the drive would be.

About 20 miles north of Budva, the city of Kotor sits on a huge cloverleaf-shaped bay with towns along the shore. A ferry crosses the bay near the coast if we were in a hurry, but the drive over the mountain, then around the bay was beautiful.

Another year we rode a ferry to Sucuraj, and spent a day or two visiting Jelsa, Starigard, and Hvar, on the Island of Hvar. When we were to leave this fascinating island, we were the first vehicle onboard the boat at the harbor in the town of Hvar. Our ferryboat went past several other islands, and we arrived in Split on time. The problem was, several boats were coming and going at the same time, so as we entered the harbor of Split, two other ferries, plus ours, jockeyed dangerously for the only two docking spaces available.

After a wild rapid turn-around in the harbor, we headed to the shore, toward a place that was not a regular boat-dock. I told Emmy to sit down, put on the seat belt, and hold on. We will be the first vehicle off the ferryboat, whether we are ready or not. I would rather we “fly” off the boat, into downtown Split, on our own, rather than be pushed off by the vehicles behind us. They managed to get the ferryboat stopped in time, but the crew members were unhappy with the whole situation. Rather than stop the engine and tie the boat to the shore, the engine was kept running, to keep us in place. We had a 10 inch drop as we drove off the boat.

It appeared as if the three Captains were playing “chicken,” and our Captain lost!