Island hopping off the coast of Croatia

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Next stop on my big honeymoon adventure was a big boat tour, 10 hours hopping from island to island off the coast of Croatia. Croatia is famous for its crystal blue water, sailing and coast line. There are literally thousands of islands that belong to Croatia, and in today's blog we'll explore only five - but what a beautiful five they were!

We started off our tour from the city of Split at 7.30am, where we got on our speedboat with about 6 other tourists. It was great fun sitting on the speed boat with the wind in our hair, music blaring, but also impossible to take any photos of the boat or our surroundings during that time! So we only have some photos of each island we visited.

First stop was the island of Hvar which is one of the most famous of the Croatian islands. Reportedly the most expensive place in Croatia, it was gorgeous. Full of beautiful old buildings, an amazing old castle up on the hill, and some wonderful coffee shops on the harbour front.

Down by the marina just after having a coffee in the hot sunshine

After a coffee we headed up to the top of the mountain overlooking the harbour and Hvar's Old Town. It was absolutely gorgeous up the top with views of the surrounding ocean and down to the town itself. You can see why it's so expensive to stay on the island because it's completely un-spoilt and idyllic.

Seemingly much greener than the mainland, we only had about an hour to explore the lovely forest and hillsides surrounding the town before we had to head back to the boat, ready for the next adventure!

On the way down over-looking the town, the colours were stunning

Next a stop for some swimming and then off for some food!

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I don't remember the name of this island but we stopped here for around an hour for a swim. Didn't get many photos here because we were a little busy swimming in the beautiful clear ocean. As you can see, no-one else was there swimming with us but there were a few boats set up to perhaps relax, have some food, or explore the rest of the island on foot. I've never seen as many boats as I saw in Croatia!

Next stop was for some food. On this island we had two hours but it was mostly a lunch stop. The food was absolutely beautiful - incredibly fresh. I had muscles for a starter, caught fresh that day, and then fish for main. It's so easy to eat healthily on holiday, if you eat at the right places!

This is how fresh the sea food was. We watched the sword fish being taken off the boat while we ate, and taken up to the restaurant. When I went to the toilet before getting back on our boat, after lunch, they sword fish was being cut up and displayed in a chiller cabinet in the front of the restaurant, ready to be eaten by their next visitors! Can you imagine having fish that was that fresh? We need more of that around where I live!

The Blue Cave and more swimming

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After lunch we went to the Blue Cave - an extremely famous tourist attraction in Croatia. They have millions of visitors every single year, but the island itself only has 9 inhabitants. Everyone else just comes to visit the cave and then leave again! A small boat, like the one here, takes you into the very small cave entrance (less than 1.5m high) and into the sea cave. Once inside my breath was taken away by the beauty of the sight. The entire cave was lit blue by the water below us.

Our guide explained that the cave's bottom was actually open (you could swim in from the outside, under water) which allowed sunlight to bounce in, through the water, and up onto the roof of the cave. I thought that it couldn't be as good as the photos, before we visited, but after visiting I realised I was wrong - it was more special that I could imagine.

Finally after the Blue Cave, we went to one final bay for some more swimming. I hope you've enjoyed exploring these five islands with Amy and I. It is so lovely to be able to re-live them and I look forwards to chatting with you all more about your favourite spots from the places I've shown you here! Has anyone ever been to any of these places?

Many thanks for your follow and like and I can't wait to start writing my next blog because I love looking through these honeymoon photos again and being able to share them with you,

Yours in health,
Coach Ben