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There is something interesting that I have noticed while travelling. I first noticed it the second time I went to Croatia. People from the commonwealth seem to be attracted to each other. No matter where I seem to be in the world I always see people from commonwealth countries immediately hitting it off. They often end up hanging out and travelling together or meeting up in different countries. I find myself in this pattern as well being from Canada and all. It’s how I ended up spending a day at the Blue Lagoon with the commonwealth boys. Niall the Bieber and beer-loving Irishman, Alex the Aussie who has mastered the Instagram story, and me, the heavily tattooed Canadian.
How We Met Was a Weird Story Itself.
Niall and Alex arrived at Hurricane Hostel after I had already lost my voice. They were the first two to not ask any questions about the weird combination of sign language and shitty charades. Nor did they judge or question it. Neither at the time nor when I was able to talk again. True mensches among men.
The first night Niall and I actually talked was all thanks to the commonwealth classic. Lots and lots o’ alcohol. Like most nights the hostel pregamed together before I took them all out on the town. That night I hit the liquor hard. By the time I took them out to Shotgun Shooters Bar, I was sufficiently buzzed and primed for a good night.
We arrived at Shotgun and immediately everyone dived into doing shots. Shotgun has these challenges where you take a bunch of shots, either alone or with a team, but you have to beat a certain time. You either have to beat 12 seconds or whatever the fastest time accomplished that year was.
I ended up doing two or three of these challenges with guests before everyone decided to split off and go to the clubs. I sat back down at the bar, sipping a beer and talking with the bartender when a young Albertan lady walked in. Full accent and everything. For someone like me whose accent is all but gone alcohol and a fellow Albertan is a bad combo.
While Loaded On Way Too Much Alcohol and With a Voice That Could Gallop I Went Full Canadian
The young Albertan lady and I started chatting. As we chatted away we decided to talk a few more shots. Before I knew it my Canadian accent that had almost completely disappeared had slowly crept back. Hearing that Albertan accent I knew I was quite inebriated so I decided to head back to the hostel. On my way, I ran into my friend Ante who hadn’t heard me talk in over a week. He was shocked. Not only to hear me talking, but also due to the accent that he hadn’t heard before.
I finally make it back to the hostel to find Niall out front smoking. In my drunken stupor, I decided to join him. Am I ever glad I did too. Although the more the alcohol hit me the worse the accent got, I still managed to have great conversations with him. I’m sure I sounded like an old Albertan lady who had been smoking for 60 years. The raspy hoarseness of my voice was apparent. Yet the two of us stood out there talking and chain-smoking for hours.
We did our best to be as quiet as possible. Even though it was a weekend and we were at a hostel it was still important for us to be respectful. Despite all that, after a while of chatting one of the people in the places above the hostel opened their windows and started yelling at us and throwing things. So we finished up our conversations and cigarettes and packed it in for the night. After all, Niall was supposed to leave for a day trip to Mostar at around 6 in the morning.
But He Forgot His Passport.
I woke up around 10 or 11 still a bit drunk. So I got up, drank some water and headed outside for my morning coffee and cigarette. On my way to the front steps I ran into Niall and Alex. Still not all there I kinda gave him a weird look and stepped outside. I was confused as to why he was still there.
It wasn’t long before Niall popped out and told me the story. In his words:
“I got up to go to the meeting place. Still drunk, but ready to go so I grabbed my bag and walked down there. When I got to the bus the guy asked me if I had my passport. I was like ‘Who, meeee?! of course I do. So he asked me to show it to him. I opened my bag to find I had nothing but my swimsuit and towel. No passport. I asked him if I would be able to run back to the hostel to get it, but he told me there wasn’t time. I should have just done it.
There was more than enough time, but that’s how I missed my bus to Mostar. I forgot my passport at the hostel. So I sat on a bench at 6:30 in the fucking morning smoking my last cigarette and thinking about what I should do. I ended up going swimming for a while then heading back here.”
So there we were. I’m still a tad drunk and Niall and Alex are trying to figure out what they should do.
The Decision Was Made
As I head back to my room to probably sleep more the boys accosted me in the hallway.
“We decided to go out to the Blue Lagoon. Do you want to come with us?”
“ Uhhhhhhh. Nah I don’t think so”
“C’mon the boys need a day out”
“I’ll think about it”
Five minutes later I am talking to Gita and booking my trip at the front desk. Hurricane Hostel works with the company Flarent so that guests can book and put down a deposit for any of their many tours directly through the hostel. They have some incredible tours that range in price, but from my experience, Flarent is one of, if not the absolute, best tour companies in Split. Their prices are reasonable and the tour guides are amazing.
The Blue Lagoon trip was 60 Euros (~63 USD) and included a speedboat trip to the Blue Lagoon where you stay for a few hours before taking the boat to the town of Trogir where you stay for another couple of hours. Seriously one of my favourite trip experiences in a while.
The trip didn’t start until 2:30 in the afternoon so we all just messed around until we headed down to the meeting spot at 2. Once there we paid for our trip and hung around until it was time to go.
The Blue Lagoon
When 2:30 hit we were guided from in front of the Flarent office to the docks about a minute away. We hopped on the speedboat and started heading out. It was us three guys, an American lady and her mom, a sweet Asian couple, and the two guides.
We chatted as the city of Split slowly shrunk into the background before fully disappearing as the speedboat sped up. The salty sea breeze surrounded us as the wind whipped through my hair and the sparkling water lightly splashed us.
Despite the distance from the shore the imposing demeanour of the towering cliffs brought about a sense of mortality that inspired awe. I looked on in wonder as the cliffs flew past and we zoomed across the open water.
A short time later we pulled in between two small islands and the water changed from deep, dark blue to shimmering turquoise as we pulled into the docks. The guides gave us some information about the two small islands and the small bay before telling us to be back by 5 to go to the next place.
Beaches in Croatia are not normally sand beaches. Instead, they are full of pebbles and stone. Not the most pleasant to walk across, but absolutely stunning. The beach we walked across to get to a small seating area, restaurant and bar was filled with gorgeous white rocks.
We were lucky to come at a time when this beachfront property was completely empty. No more than a handful of people lounging around. It was pristine.
Something About Waiting 30 Minutes Between Eating and Swimming
The boys and I immediately walked up to the bar and ordered a drink and some food. Niall and I ordered coconut shrimp tacos (130 Kuna/17.30 Euro/18.16 USD) with a bao bun while Alex ordered jerk chicken tacos (90 kuna/12 Euro/12.60 USD). We sat around and sipped our beers while waiting for the food. They brought the tacos out on these cute little wooden holders. For the price, they were quite small and not overly filling, but the explosion of flavour as I bit into mine made it worth it. The coconut shrimp melted perfectly with the sauce, the lime, and the taste of the bao bun. 10/10 would order again.
After our short respite to eat we immediately got ready to swim. The three of us walked back to the dock and dove in. Unfortunately for me, diving knocked my goggles off my face and one of my plugs from my ear without me noticing.
The interesting thing about swimming in salt water is that you can’t help but float. Every time I dived down I had to hold onto a rock on the bottom so that I didn’t float up like a helium-filled balloon. As we swam to the larger of the two islands I came across a sea cucumber and a hermit crab.
We stood around in the shallows with Simone, the young American lady, and took turns letting the hermit crab walk across our hands. Niall claimed that the little guy pinched him, but I doubt it.
After that, he made a lot of comments about “having crabs” and “pretending to be Aquaman”. I think he was just sad that the hermit crab didn’t like him.
Trogir
After swimming back, drying off, and changing we headed back to the boat for 5:00. Our departure caused the bow of the boat to carve through the waves as the shimmering turquoise melted away to the deep blue of the open sea. We were once again off, the coast zipping by us as we commented on the houses built into the steep hillsides.
Before long the boat was slowing down again and the tour guide was giving us the history of Trogir and the fort at the tip of the city. An island with a mountain on either side of the sea held the old town of Trogir.
We pulled up and immediately the boys and I headed to the old fort. We were determined to go to the top. The fort was fairly bare on the inside with only a toilet in the corner and some stairs leading to the second level.
The three of us went up to the second level and walked around the castle walls. Most of the wall was stone, but parts were made of old wooden planks. As we approached the main tower I stepped across one of the wooden plank sections and my foot went straight through it! Both a terrifying and exhilarating experience. We continued in and up some of the steepest stairs I’ve ever encountered just for me to hit my head off the ceiling before climbing out onto the roof.
The three of us marvelled at the sight. You could see everything from up there and it was breathtaking. The old town stretched out in front, the soccer stadium to the side, the houses covering the mountains on either side of the sea, and the sea surrounding everything.
A Stolen Beer Mug
After taking some pictures of the area and some handsome pictures together we headed back down. The steep stairs were more ladder-like than stair-like and almost caused me to fall as I walked down them. We made our way down to the courtyard where Alex and Niall stopped for a bathroom break.
Once they relieved their bladders we headed back to the old town. A maze of alleys and shops that has stood there for hundreds of years. We passed our tour guides who were eating ice cream before venturing out into the main square. There stood a timeless white church and some smaller areas with gorgeous statue and stonework. While Alex and Niall sat down in one of the bar’s outside areas I ran to go grab some tobacco and get some nice pictures.
As I walked further through the alleys it became apparent that the hour and a half we would be here would never be enough. I grabbed my tobacco and headed back to the boys. We sat and talked while Niall pounded back the beers like the true Irishman he is.
When the time came that we had to start heading back to the boat Niall decided he wanted to keep the beer mug he had been drinking from. The Pan crest on the side was just something he couldn’t live without. So he paid, finished his beer, and grabbed the glass as we walked in the opposite direction of the bar… and the way we came.
Alex cut in between the church and some old building while Niall and I just went around the corner. We tried to call out to him as he walked away from us with no luck. So Niall and I headed back toward the boat.
An Ice Cream and a Hidden Speedboat
When Niall and I rounded back around the front of the old town we started to wonder where Alex went. Almost simultaneously we turned to each other to ask the rhetorical, “Where the hell is Alex?” and as we did he came down the way we had just arrived from. Just trodding along with a silly smile on his face. A smile that said he had gotten three or more Insta stories.
As he approached Niall insisted I hold his stolen beer mug while he went to the bathroom. I took it and stood around with Alex in front of where the boat had dropped us off.
“Where is the boat?”
“No clue, but it should be here by now.”
At that moment I saw a boat kind of hiding behind another much larger wooden boat and wondered if that was it. I walked over to the wooden boat and there was our boat attached to the other side. An old man sat on the wooden boat and nodded his permission when I asked to walk through.
All Alex got to see was me hop on this large wooden boat and disappear. I had just quickly waddled across the deck to hop on our boat. A few minutes later Alex clambers on as well totally confused by what was going on.
“We couldn’t park where we dropped you off because that is the spot where the local ferry drops people off since the bridge is currently being renovated,” the tour guide pipes up.
So we sit and laugh about the weird situation for a minute before Niall hops on.
“I was right confused when I saw Jenson hop on this big wooden boat. I thought for a second he found another route home since he couldn’t find our guys so I went and got ice cream,” he laughed as he just devoured this bright pink ice cream he had in his hand.
Shortly after the rest of the people joined us on the boat and we were off.
Back To Split
The boat ride back was the best of the rides that day. There is no debate. We headed under the two bridges before hitting top speed. The second we did the mountains, houses, cliffs, and sea were all set ablaze.
The timing was absolutely perfect because as we exited from under the second bridge the sun hit the horizon just right to set the whole world on fire. Every amazing sight we had seen so far was instantly so much better.
Although everything appeared as if it were on fire the sun gave this warmth that paired together just created this feeling of peace and happiness. Maybe it was the sun, maybe it was the sheer camaraderie I felt with the commonwealth boys, but I knew at that moment I would never forget that day or those guys.
As we pulled into the Split docks and disembarked I felt truly satisfied. It had been an amazing day. The three of us headed back to the hostel where we met a young South African lady. Immediately we all hit it off. Like I said commonwealth people just gravitate to each other. Luckily they are normally awesome travelling companions and not complete nightmares.
After chatting for a couple more hours we all split off to go to different places for dinner. That was my day at the Blue Lagoon with the commonwealth boys.
