new & different

"We said we wanted new.  We said we wanted different"

I can't count how many times that phrase was said during the week, and even daily.  So yes, we went somewhere new & different.  That's the deal - somewhere new every year, push the boundaries, see the world, yada yada yada. 

Well, this time it landed us in the Eastern Hemisphere. We ditched our beloved Caribbean for a European adventure.   We had plenty of options to choose from - Croatia, Greece, Italy and Spain, most with more than one base location.  So where did we end up?  Croatia.  I'll be honest it's probably the one location I knew the least about - thank goodness for the internet and Google - but it looked gorgeous and seemed to have a lot of history. So off we went planning this adventure to somewhere new & different.

Any time you go somewhere new, you know you're going to have some learning curves.  It's more about how many there are or if they'll ruin your vacation.  Spoiler alert: Nothing happened that ruined our vacation.  But sometimes were weren't sure what exactly we had gotten ourselves into.

First, unlike the Caribbean, there was no cruising guide or countless blogs on sailing Croatia.  So we went in a little more blind than normal.
Second, besides maybe 2 or 3 things we had read about online, there was no clear route we knew to take - which is where the chart briefing comes in. The Moorings Agana Base gave us an awesome book with all the places they recommend and tidbits of info about each one- like if they have ATMs, moorings, marinas, etc. There were so many options of places to go, and you had to choose if you wanted to go North or South.  Mirna thankfully helped us decide we should try the Southern route.
Third, med-mooring.  Oh the joy of trying something new. It's not that it's the most complicated thing in the world but when there's only 2 of you on board and the wind is pushing you one way and you're trying to fit in this tiny space - it's a bit of a rodeo.  I do have to give us a pat on the back as I think that our first time doing it went fairly well as well as the other few times we did it.
Fourth, the wind.  While this sounds a little crazy - it definitely drove us a little crazy.  All the winds are frontal instead of tradewinds like in the Caribbean.  So it's not nearly as predictable and literally would disappear/change direction very suddenly.  We did have a few good sails but there was a fair amount of motoring as well.

But, when I look back on that week - we had some amazing experiences.  The crazy that we felt because we were in somewhere new didn't ruin our vacation.  Yes, we seem to have racked our brains a little more than we usually do. Yes, sometimes it felt like we were total newbies. Yes, there was a lot of guessing and I don't knows.  But we learned, we survived and actually have some really cool memories.  Croatia has some amazing natural wonders and great history.  Added bonus, they have AMAZING wine!

So the moral of it all (and I think we all need this reminder every once in a while) - it's okay to feel crazy or uncomfortable when you are somewhere new and different or doing something new and different, that's how we grow and sometimes the best memories are made that way.