Here's the harbor at Vis town, the main village on Vis.

Sunset on the Adriatic is sublime

Vis (#4) was an overnight cruise from Korcula.

Click here for video of the Blue Grotto

You really have to wonder who first thought of squeezing a tiny boat through a small hole in the rocks next to the sea on Bisevo, a little island off Vis in the Adriatic. The grotto, or cave, beyond the entry opens into a fairly large space where the water is an eerie blue color from sunlight that shines through the rock and water into the grotto.
Several of my well-traveled Romanca shipmates thought it was similar to the famed Blue Grotto on the island of Capri, near Sorrento in Italy. Personally I thought the other Blue Grotto is vastly overrated and a true tourist trap, mobbed with people who paid way too much for the “pleasure” of squeezing into boats that in turn squeezed into a tiny opening to see a cave filled with a blue light.
Vis, itself, is among the more remote of the Adriatic islands off Croatia. It was an overnight cruise for us to reach it. Believed settled in Neolithic times, the island was the home of the Greek Dionysis the Elder four centuries before Christ. It was from Vis that he ruled the other Adriatic islands claimed by Greece. Most of its people, fleeing pirates, left in the 1400s. Because remote Vis was a headquarters for Tito and a base for the Yugoslav army from the 1950s to 1989, it was off-limits and its isolation preserved it from development. Today people come because it is one of the sleepiest and less populated Adriatic islands.
The Blue Grotto on Bisevo, a 20-minute cruise from the harbor at Komiza on Vis’s west coast, is still not exploited as is its counterpart in Italy. Because the eerie light only shines into the grotto between 10 a.m. and noon and the sea is calm enough for entry only in the summer months, those who want to go inside must go then. Since we were on a charter organized by Row Adventures, our host Peter Grubb paid the fee for the small boat we boarded and the admission to the grotto.  That’s one of the great advantages to being on a charter — you’re not nickled and dimed to death since most things are included when you pay upfront. But that means I can’t tell you what the admission cost to the Blue Grotto is. My guess is that it was included with the boat ride since those of us from the Romanca were the only ones on our small boat. A young man standing in another boat near the grotto entrance was collecting the price of grotto admission from those arriving in dinghies from other, smaller yachts. I’ll email this blog to Peter and perhaps he’ll reply with an answer.
If you click on the blue line at the beginning of this entry you’ll be able to view the video I shot. It shows how unearthly the light in the grotto really is but it also shows that it was pretty crowded and noisy inside, even though we visited in mid-September, at the end of the high season. It’s one of those amazing things in nature that I hope doesn’t become so popular it’s spoiled.  I think wonderful experiences like this are best enjoyed with reverence.

“Do you need someone to carry your bags?” is the most common version of the question I hear when friends and other readers learn I’m headed out on a trip to gather information, photos and video for The News-Herald. Usually that’s not an option since writers are invited on press trips by those hosting them and the trips are not open to the public.
Usually they’re so quick and busy that no one would really want to spend their vacation that way.
Exceptions don’t happen often, but my upcoming culinary voyage among Adriatic islands off Croatia is one of them.
And you’re invited.
This is not a traditional press trip.
ROW International has chartered the four-masted, 110-foot sailing yacht Romanca for the Sept. 15 to 26 voyage. We meet in Dubrovnik and end in Split with guided tours and hotel nights in each city. Overnights in between are on the yacht in shared accommodations. I don’t yet know who my roommate will be, but I’m assured she will be female.
Days will be spent visiting oyster beds and the people who tend them, seeing cheese, olive oil and wine being made and partaking of freshly harvested foods prepared as the folks on each island have made them for centuries. It's said to be some of the finest cuisine in the world, often flavored with the thyme, sage and capers growing in the dark red soil. We’ll hike among ancient ruins and lavender fields from our port to many of our destinations, enjoying the scenery and sights along the way with native guides. One of them will even give us Croatian lessons.

We’ll visit ancient villages, such as Korcula, which is shown here. It’s famous for being the birthplace of Marco Polo and is highly regarded both for its olive oil and a luscious white wine called Grk.
It’s prime time in September along the Dalmatian Coast, with sea temperatures in the 70s and daytime highs in the 80s. ROW founder Peter Grub, who has nurtured relationships on these islands since 1988, will be along this time to show us his favorite swimming spots.
These coastlines are across the sea from Italy and have experienced years of both Venetian and Ottoman occupation which has influenced everything from cuisine to dialects.
We’ll be following an itinerary, which you can see at http://www.rowadventures.com/Yacht-Croatia-Culinary, so we’ll be motoring much of the time. Those who sail know that it’s difficult to keep to a schedule when following the wind.

If you haven’t sailed before you need to know that the experience is more like luxury camping than any cruise. The packing list sent to those who book is telling. It recommends ear plugs, (which I always pack anyway) saying “helpful at night in cities or aboard yacht if your neighbor snores.”
If you’re aboard you’ll be a part of my stories, which will run in the November travel section. The website has details about prices and booking.
See you there!