Hoist the sails, we're headed south!

Well, we've just been 'cruising', as it is called in sailing circles, going where the wind takes us, dropping anchor in whichever bay is prettiest and most sheltered, stopping in towns when we start to run low on water, food and tolerance for our dirty clothes and each others' smell.

This picture is for you, Chelle and Steve. I think you'd really like all the big ships we are seeing.

For our last week together, Nelson and I got dropped off on the island of Hvar, which we had heard about from a climber in Italy.

The doorway of a church in the town of Hvar, through which many people have obviously gone.

After stocking up on food, we took a bus part way then hiked along a winding trail along the ocean towards a little town called Sveta Nedjelja.

Along the way were all these beautiful little bays.

We stopped in this one for so long, it took us almost the entire day to get 5km.

Just past Sveta Nedjelja are the most amazing limestone cliffs, with a little shelter for boats and swimming at its base.

At the cliff's base lives this guy Miro, who has put up all the routes on it and runs a little B&B there.

You'll never guess what we did there.

It was pretty hot, so we would climb in the morning, swim and sleep all afternoon, then return to the cliffs in the evening.

Okay, even I'm getting a bit bored of all the climbing photos!

It was really beautiful, though, and the favourite climbing place of our entire summer.

While we were there, a forest fire started not too far from the top of the cliffs. Water bombers and helicopters with buckets were picking up water from the ocean right in front of us and dropping it on the fire.

The town was spared but the fire burned several kilometers along the coast before stopping. This is the trail we had hiked along just a few days before. For two nights afterward, we could see hotspots still burning in the hills above us.

The trail and the road back to the town of Hvar were closed, so our trusty crew came directly to the cliffs to pick us up. Elaine, Celia's sister who had come for a short visit, masterfully handled the dinghy in big seas to come to our rescue. We headed for Split to drop her and Nelson off at the airport and to pick up Graeme, our final crewmember for the crossing.

Graeme has only been here for a few days but has already won all of our hearts with his friendly kiwi nature and, of course, presents!

He brought peanut butter which has been impossible to find

here. So far I have managed to fill the void of Nelson's leaving with peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches! Despite his vast knowledge of boats and sailing, Graeme has also happily agreed to call me 'Lady Yachtmaster', especially while I am wearing my big floppy hat and drinking Earl Grey tea. I think we will get along just fine.

We leave Split today and head south. We are still waiting to hear about where we can get some important work done on the rigging on our way to South America, and we have some little jobs to do before we start crossing the Mediterranean but the journey has officially begun!