Croatian Skinny Diping

by Roberto Louback (Brazil)

I didn't expect to find Croatia

Back in 2016 I was spending carnival in warm and sunny Rio de Janeiro when I instantly fell in love for Eduardo. He had his face painted David Bowie Style (with blue & red glitter) and when I spotted him in the middle of thousands of people he retributed me with a smile, which turned into a kiss, a date, a second date, a dinner... and we started a lovely relationship that lasted close to one year. Although we had our differences which eventually led to an end, I dare to say he is one of my favorite ex boyfriends and we share one of my favorite life memories, back when we travelled to Croatia for a summer break. He was planning to visit Europe (we both lived in São Paulo/Brazil) and I knew he would start and finish his trip in Rome. I then booked a flight for the same days and told him: "Surprise! I booked a flight for the same dates! If you want my company, I would love to join you, if not, I can also visit other places and spend some time with my friends". He then decided we should be separated for the first two weeks and we should meet in Croatia for two more weeks together. He would go to Greece himself first, while I visited Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I remember after a few days we finally met at the airport in Dubrovnik (and I could spend some time describing the marble stone walls that surrounds Dubrovnik's old town, which are just as they look in Game of Thrones, but I'm more interested in telling you about the beautiful Pakleni Islands!) After spending some days in Dubrovnik, we took a speedboat to Hvar and decided we would rent a small boat ourselves and explore the nearby islands. This might sound very fancy but indeed the boat rentals are not expensive at all. It costed us around 25 EUR per person for a full day (from 10am to 6pm). To make it even better, we went to the grocery shop and bought some local wine, mix of cheese, fruits, bread, nuts and some other snacks that would last the whole day at the sea. I also had my Boose speaker and my playlist included The XX amongst some other indie artists. We finally set sail looking very chic. We were both wearing our RayBans matching two beautiful shirts, we would accelerate against the wind, bumping up and down against the waves without losing a big smile while appreciating the breeze and the amazing surroundings. After 30 minutes driving we reached the Pakleni Islands and the water was absolutely transparent. We could see quite some meters deep without any effort. We could see different types of fishes and the white sand forming a giant carpet under the sea. You know when the sun rays become almost solid while touching the sea? As most of the islands were clothing optional, we decided to give it a try. We had our boat anchored a bit far from the beach shore, so we would have some privacy until we got comfortable enough to approach the other visitors. It felt so good! It's something everyone should try at least once. There were not so many people in that time of the year and we even had some time by ourselves depending on the part of the island we were at. I will never forget how beautiful that blue transparent water was. The breeze, the olives, the cheese, the cold white wine, the playlist, the meditation... not to mention all the love promises every 5 minutes. We just had a perfect romantic day together. When the sun started to set we drove back to Hvar and even saw the stars show up in the sky, followed by a full moon which enlightened the city. For the next days we rented a car and even drove to Krka National Park (the one with amazing waterfalls), but I will have to leave that story for another time...