Split,
Croatia
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
We arrived in Split, Croatia, today at 7 am and dropped anchor. However, the swells were enormous and the winds were at about 45 knots, so the Captain decided it was too rough to go ashore. One tender went out to drop off disembarking passengers and to pick up passengers who had gone overland from another port. We were all glad not to be in that tender as it was bounced around on the waves and blown away from the ship by the high winds. The ship had to move out of the bay and turn to the lee side, blocking the wind for a few minutes, in order to give the tender a chance to make a run at the ship and get hooked up. It took a good hour of hard work by those on the tender and those on the ship to get the vessel hooked onto the ship and back on board. With passengers and crew still on the tender, the lifts had to be cranked by hand-and it was slow going getting the craft raised to the level of the Promenade Deck in the wind. The tenders are our lifeboats, so we were all very interested to see how they behaved in rough seas. Suffice it to say, that a roller coaster ride would be a relatively mild imitation of the ride taken today by the folks in Tender #10.
So, we have had our excitement for the day. Split is very picturesque-and is supposed to be in the perfect spot, in terms of climate-but we'll have to wait until another time to enjoy its beaches.
We are now sailing on a southerly course, along the Dalmatian Coast in the Adriatic Sea, on our way to Malta. We had a perfect day yesterday, with exquisitely beautiful weather, which makes it easier to accept a stormy sea today.
