Zadar, Croatia

Our next port was Zadar, Croatia.  The city itself didn't seem that interesting (from a historic and architectural perspective), so I researched the option of booking a boat tour.  I found someone well-reviewed on TripAdvisor and ended up just booking with him privately, via email, since we had one too many people to book on TripAdvisor, but he assured me his boat was licensed for 8 (the 7 of us plus him).  It was a little bit odd to book with a private person, but we wouldn't pay until the end of the tour, so I thought it was ok.  

Our boat driver/guide was Tomislav and we met him at the harbor.  His boat was nice and he had refreshments on board, as well as snorkeling equipment and noodles to help us float.  Our first stop was the island of Ošljak, about 30 minutes from Zadar.  It was idyllic with gorgeous turquoise water.  Our guide said he used to go there as a child with his friends and spend the day swimming and in the woods.  We snorkeled and saw lots of fish. 

    

The only downside of this excursion was when Derek on the way to the shore (I think of the island in this picture) stepped on a sea urchin.  One of its spines broke off and was a nasty thorn in Derek's toe, and we think a splinter of it was still stuck in his toe days later (he fought too hard against us trying to take it out).

I was struck by how beautiful Croatia is.  I joked to my parents that if they were going to sell their house in Norway, they should buy something in Croatia.  The weather was perfect, with beautiful water.  Tomislav told us how much the 'mansions' on the water cost, and based on his estimates they were all cheap, to us at least.  I would love to go back and explore some of the national parks on the Adriatic Sea in Croatia.  We also stopped at the idyllic village of Preko.  I enjoyed seeing locals going about their lives-- in so many places we went to over the summer, we were surrounded by tourists.  We stopped at a little cafe and it was incredibly cheap - another reason to come back in the future.  

Then Tomislav took us to another little beach for more snorkeling.  

I also enjoyed just driving around in the boat and enjoying the views and the sun.  We could also sit at the front of the boat and lay down while the boat was driving.  It was relaxing and a very nice way to spend the day. 

We were lucky enough that Tomislav offered to take us directly to the cruise port at the end of the tour instead of the harbor where we started.  This was perfect for us since we didn't need to pay for another taxi or wait for it to come to get back.  On our approach to the port, we saw both our ship (the large one) and another in the harbor.  

The kids really enjoyed that day.  They would rather spend time swimming, snorkeling, boating, and playing the sand, than visiting historic sites:-)  I'm glad we were able to break up our days and vary our activities.  And despite booking a tour via private email, everything worked out and was well worth the $200 in my opinion.