Vis is Croatian for Amazing
When the cafe is literally out the front door and the bakery is 20m away you know you’ve arrived in heaven. The balcony was perfectly situated such that it was in shade during morning and early afternoon.
By 10am everyone was up and enjoying the breakfast and the quiet view of boats setting off for their day of sailing. After some discussions we decided to explore town and do an afternoon boat cruise followed by some scuba diving the next day. Conveniently there was a super helpful tour agency 15m from our place. After some calls, a captain was found for our island cruise at 3pm and scuba was arranged for the next morning at 9am.
We explored the main Vis Town a short 20 min walk and stopped for excellent pizza on the way back to our place. By 3pm we were on our zodiac boat with our friendly captain Nikolai.
Our first stop was the green cave, a large water facing cave with a small hole in the top which lets a beam of light into the cave that at the right conditions creates a green hue throughout the cave. Unlike the more famous and more spectacular Blue Cave you can swim in this cave. The kids overcame their fears and we all dove off our boat and swam into the cave. The green light was underwhelming as we had missed the best conditions but it was still cool to swim in a large cave.
Our next destination was the famous beach called Stiniva. Thousands of years ago it also was a cave but the roof collapsed creating a unique beach. We read that the access was best from a boat and watching people navigate the 500m down the steep rocky path validated our decision. It was cool that you has to swim 100m to get to the rocky beach.
After about 45 minutes of relaxing on the beach and the kids jumping off a short ledge we decided to go for the real cliff jumping. We swam back to the boat and Tom and the kids made there way up the steep cliffs that block the entrance to the beach. Up a good 5-6m above the water we attracted the attention of a 45ft catamaran that was moored nearby. They were encouraging to Evie who needed a few minutes before getting up her nerve to make the leap.
Once again, like we had jumping off the smaller cliffs into the Soca river near Bovec, Slovenia, we inspired a group to jump. 3 of the 10 passengers decided to jump and Tyler decided they might like drone footage of their jumping. All three of them were obviously terrified but they did manage to jump.
“Hey, do you want us to airdrop the footage to you” asked Tyler and ‘boom’ we achieved our goal of being invited on to a yacht! They were a welcoming group living in Dubai but from all over (Canada, Lebanon, Israel, and France). We hung out drinking wine and discussing photography while Tyler directed them for a series of awesome group pictures. After a fun hour, it was time to get back In our zodiac and head to our last destination ‘sandy beach.’
Buzzing around the coastline the kids enjoyed the bouncing and breeze and Nikolai generously said ‘no problem’ to the fact that our 4 hour tour was clearly going to stretch well beyond that. At the next cove, which did indeed have a short stretch of sand, the kids splashed in the water while Sue and Tom shared a $3 50cl beer. It is so refreshing to be at a place where even at the remotest location prices remain reasonable. Compare that to Paris where the Eiffel Tower drink sellers try to sell a 25cl water for 5€!
We got back to port around 8pm, just as the sun was setting turning Vis Town into a 360 degree postcard. After some quick showers we went to another local restaurant where we had the only disappointing meal of our trip. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great.
The next day we need to be up early to make our way across the island to Komiza for some scuba diving. By 10 we were snug in our beds. And you know a place is warm when there are no blankets on the beds, just sheets and the temperature is just right.
Vis is home now.