Mljet Island Nationaal park Jachtexcursie vanaf het eiland Korcula

I loved so much about this tour: 1. The yacht --Beautiful, luxurious and spotless --Plenty of room for 8 or 10 passengers, but groups are kept small (ours was a couple plus a family of 4) --Choose sun or shade on the flydeck, or cushioned seats on the main deck --Large enough to handle windy days --Having a clean, comfortable head (bathroom) on board was a great luxury for this 6-hour trip 2. The tour --Mljet Island is a national park with beautiful scenery and one of the oldest monasteries in the Adriatic (12th Century!). There are wild deer and pretty parks. --Highlight of the tour HANDS DOWN was when we stopped to snorkel, explore a cave in the sea wall, and climb the rocks where you can jump off a 20-50 foot cliff! --The snorkeling is in the clearest, bluest water imaginable. Really. There's cool underwater topography with sheer walls and a step-off into deep water where you can STILL see the bottom. The fish aren't huge or particularly plentiful, but there were big orange and black sea stars edging their way around the walls. --NOTE: there is no nearby hospital, so I decided not to climb and cliff-jump. But many people did it, including kids. I didn't see anyone get hurt. : ) --The cave in the sea wall is worth a swim. After a short tunnel, it's open to the sky on the other side. 3. The food --Aboard the yacht, we were served a multi-course lunch of fresh salads, different potato and vegetable dishes, octopus, lemon-marinated sardines, anchovies, different cheeses, olives, crusty bread with local olive oil, wine and fresh fruit. --With advance notice, they accommodated the vegetarian in the group. --It was all homemade and typical of the wonderful food in this region. 4. The hospitality & service Captain Zoran and his family run the business and treated us like royalty--if royalty were members of his own family! The tour guide and crew were knowledgeable professionals even though all were relatives of the owner or his lifelong friends. Special thanks to Capt. Ivan and guide Rocco who made sure everyone was secure and comfortable. 5. About Croatia travel during COVID --I felt safe throughout this tour. It's outside on a big breezy boat with plenty of room for as much distance as desired. Everyone was respected, but there was no intrusive "policing" to ruin the relaxed, fun atmosphere aboard. --Because Croatia (especially Korcula Island) have done such a good job reopening without a big surge, we chose it for our first European trip from the U.S. since the pandemic started. (Since reopening, Croatia has less than a third of the daily COVID cases per equal population compared with the U.S.) --There was a doctor on our trip who shared these opinions.