We woke up on Saturday morning and got dressed in a flurry of excitement. We could not wait to get the bus to Nerezine to see the raison d'etre of our visit to this northern most Island of Croatia. The view from the bus window was breath-takingly beautiful- flat calm blue sea against a rugged coastline, lushly green right down to the endless shingle beaches. Cove after cove got us closer to our much anticipated pretty lady.
We alighted in Nerezine and started winding our way towards the yacht yard. The scent of Rosemary was exhilarating until finally it started to fade and gave way to the more overpowering and easily recognisable smells that could only mean one thing - we had arrived at the yard. We found Aigle D'or tied alongside the quay, long and beautiful but a mere shadow of the presence she once commanded. We sprung aboard in a mixture of excitement and awe, both at the thrill of the realisation of a long awaited dream actualising but also the fear that the reality of that dream presented - lots and lots of hard work! We stood in the saloon dumbfounded but were soon snapped back to reality as we saw and heard the excitement in the boy's faces and voices! At that point we knew it was worth it. We were exactly where we wanted to be and the fact that Tom and Seb had fallen for her as madly as us simply confirmed our decision. After that we needed some time off. The adrenaline of of getting to Croatia had drained us and besides it was Sunday so we decided to take the day off. We climbed up 'enough' steps to the church in Mali and heard Mass. After that we decided to trek through the 100 year old Aleppo pine trees which make up the Cikat forest and spent the afternoon swimming in the emerald water in Cikat Bay.