Vis had been on the Croatian bucket list for a while before this year, but finally sorted a combination that would allow five nights on Vis before taking the one direct connection a week to Hvar for the final eight. One night in Split, and then the car ferry Petar Hektoric which life's work involved chugging a groove in the sea up and down its one route out to Vis took us out the next day. I expected Vis to be tranquil, especially after Jonny's report on it last year on here (thank you for that) and it certainly was. The towns and the island was really beautiful. It's history as a closed military zone has enabled it to be still relatively undeveloped in Croatian islands and anybody wanting a good contrast to Hvar will find it here. Vis Town is two towns in one with the 18th century part Luka and a half mile walk around the bay takes you to Kut, a 16th century quarter of crumbling mansions built by medieval nobility from Hvar. Tourists were thin on the ground aside from those visiting on yachts who were predominately British and American, although on the last couple of days there was certainly quite a few backpackers arriving on the ferries. Sunday was the busiest day with dozens of yachts providing a spectacular panorama off the beach after we collapsed there after the Military Tour of the Yugoslav army sites in the morning.

That Military Tour by car/jeep for four and a half hours by Vis Special is well worth doing, not only seeing a James Bondish submarine pen, a rocket launching site and machine gun positions among other things, but also a large part of Vis which would be difficult if not impossible to get to yourself. A huge amount of concrete bunker and buildings underground built by Bosnians and it all seemed so important then....now just corroding away.

So now you are saying, yes Brigitte, we know you are a boring history geek but get on with it about sodding beaches. Seeing as that tour was the best part of one day, and Komiza was accessible by bus for a day, we didn't bother with hiring transport, although to easily get from one end of Vis Town to another a scooter would be a good idea if staying for longer, also to get out to other beaches like Rukavac, which unfortunately we didn't have time for and for which you do need transport. However, the two Vis Town options, either side of the bay did us fine, the one at the newer end of Vis Town past the Hotel Issa was about 15 minutes from the ferry landing, and was rocks. No FKK sign but it couldn't be anywhere else. There was an area to paddle but swimming I ducked out of as too many urchins around. Fabulous widescreen view of boats in and out of the bay. The other was past Grandovac beach on the other side past Kut, again rocks, I assumed the Grandovac beach itself was textile but in fact there was a few nuds on that day. That early in the season it woudn't matter I expect but I preferred the rocks, as the locals had not yet cleaned up the beaches and there was a lot of flotsam washed up on that main stretch.

Komiza which had been a day trip some years back and which is a lovely old fishing port with houses and beaches right on the shoreline had a beach which as it happened turned into an epic of getting wet, swearing, scrambling and more swearing, scrambling and.... Followed the given direction on the tourist map to the textile stretch with a beach bar and next to the beach bar was a sign pointing up a cliff top path saying FKK Nudi. The first sign we had actually seen. Whether the textile bar guy had an interest in keeping us on the beach I couldn't say but according to him it was dangerous and we had to wade around the shoreline. Hmmm. Which wasn't exactly safe either, being a 10 minute trek around on very slippery rocks, wading through occasionally knee deep water and occasionally muffled cursing, nearly overbalancing with the damn back pack, finally arriving at a decent pebble stretch that I could swim off. 10 minutes later two couples turned up coming down the cliff top. So, my pre-planned comedy epic for here lost a little something.

On to Hvar and that was busier than ever, with an unexpected contingent of South Koreans. Jerolim is still the best naturist place by far in probably all the Dalmatian islands with the wonderful hippy vibe of the Kordovan beach bar with weird wooden constructs and a rather tense stand off with the textile Amo beach bar at the landing stage. The Amo keeps being expected to fold every season but keeps coming back, and the upshot of that is, FKK is no longer on the boats going over. Be assured however, that the Kordovan who owns most of the island is trying it's best to preserve the naturist tradition which it does barring the Italian designer beachwear invasion in August.

As for Hvar, despite a couple of unfortunate tacky tourist attractions (a mini submarine trip, I ask you), the town never loses its charm or atmosphere, and there really is nowhere else like it. I can add on this occasion, also in spite of rain. Our luck ran out in a way for the last 4 days and it was storm system after storm system coming over with no respite. Hvar, like any resort, notwithstanding the gorgeous core that has Venetian architecture to enchant, if you have been there so many times, is a bit of a one horse town when it rains. However, how fortunate on this occasion to have an open invite onto a British yacht charter that escaped from Jerolim on the last good day of weather into Hvar harbour. It was the Kordovan who warned us ominously of 'South wind, not good, not good, they should move somewhere else', and me yelling the same instruction on the jetty to the boat with the winds starting to blow and which kind of put me in the mind of Jack Hawkins in the Cruel Sea, being 'not the same war'. The bloody taxi boat didn't come back for us either so we had to evacuate the island by the Kordovan speed boat. Still, the sun did come out a bit on those four days, and although Jerolim was a write off, there are worse places to be than in millionaires row, Hvar harbour, drinking a lot and learning about boats. Well, sort of learning about boats. It all became a bit of a blur by the end.

Finally.

No hi viz jackets to be seen anywhere.

A huge hole being dug in a Split main road with a rope around,no cones anywhere, and traffic going around it.

Waiters remembering you from two years ago and landladies gifts of home made cherry liquer in Vis, and trifle cakes in Hvar.

Waiters leaping up and down at the Croatian goal against Italy.

Central Park Jazz Club, Hvar.

Dalmatino restaurant.

Ricky the boatman and Jerry his dog remembering us as well. (He wasn't the one leaving us stranded).

Zhiveli!!