May 5 2025, Vela Luka, Croatia

 Thhe captain made a wise choice changing our itinerary.  Last night we sailed to the island of Korcula and docked in the town of Vela Luka.  It turned out to be a cool and windy day (23 mph sustained) but we were able to avoid the rain.  Our ride was about 30 miles and the route was figure 8 shaped so we could see the most scenic towns on the island.  The city of Blato (translates to Mud) had many farms with olive trees and grape vines.  Our only food break was in the town of Brna.  It is a port with many small boats and a nice downtown on the waterfront.  Along the way we saw Salsify plants (also referred to as Oyster plants) which look like large dandelions.  It is an edible plant in the daisy family.  The root is eaten as a vegetable.  One other stop worth noting was at our highest elevation where we came upon a war memorial dedicated to Croatian soldiers that were killed over the last 400 years.  There was a small chapel and cement cross overlooking Blato.

We arrived at the YOLO later than planned and had a 3:00 lunch.  Our meals are professionally prepared and presented.  Today was no exception.  The appetizer was a combination of fried shrimp, sardines, anchovies, ceviche, tuna with a cucumber yogurt salad.  The entree was baked sea bass and prawns complemented with onion rings, tomato salsa and red cabbage.  Dessert was a homemade chocolate cake with crushed pistacheos.