Day 5: 29th August

“The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.”

Or so it does seem. As we paddle onwards, the sea appears constant in the distance and yet all around you it is moving and buffeting your kayak. It is always changing in reality. And yet, when you look at it from above, it appears to be just a great blue carpet shaking in the wind. You have to journey down and into it to sea its full complexity and untouched aura.

Take this afternoon for example. We parked our fifteen kayaks on a hotel beach for lunch (much to the annoyance of the management I suspect). Looking down into the sea with goggles, there are fish all around you. Swim out a few metres and the can be a good few inches long. This came as an annoyance to Ollie, Dan and Tim who despite this fact had been unable to catch any using James London’s fishing line and their kayaks. Tim and Dan even tried diving down and grabbing them with their hands. However, fish are fast: one second they are there and the next they are not.

The journey was only about fourteen kilometres today (only!). Our campsite is in the town of Trsteno. Once again, it is on the mainland (It is illegal to camp on the islands due to the fact you cannot get fire engines out there). The killer bit though is getting to it though. You have to climb about 150 metres of steps with your luggage from the journey to get there.

However, the night time round here is lovely. I am sitting here writing this at 9:30 in the evening. I am only wearing trunks and yet it is still warm. The only sound to be heard nearby is gentle whistle of the grasshoppers and the crickets. They do indeed take the lead in summer’s luxury and are never done with their delights as Keats would say. And yet now I too must rest my head beneath some gentle weed (a tent canopy actually). I would quite happily not return to the tent and instead sleep out underneath the stars if it were not for those damn ants and mosquitoes!