With Kaitlyn’s August 11 arrival came an instant upgrade in both crew size and energy levels. Within hours, she’d ticked off a trifecta of firsts: her inaugural swim in the Med off Kora’s stern, her first jet ski blast across turquoise water, and a ride in the Williams tender as she and Doug took Rebin out wakeboarding. Then straight into boat chores – paddleboarding with me to drop off recycling before starting to “work” on her tan. No easing into boat life here – she dove straight in, literally and figuratively.
That night she and Doug hit the Old Town for nostalgia (we visited Hvar during a family cruise back in 2017), while the rest of us enjoyed chicken fried rice, cards, books, and a quiet night under the stars.
The next morning, we moved Kora to the Paklini Islands – Rebin’s warning ringing in our ears: get there early. We did… getting up early around 7 am and relocating such that we had set anchor again by 8 am. There we settled into a nice and very popular anchorage at Mlin Beach on Otok Marinkovac.
And for a while, it was bliss. Paddleboarding, jet skiing, Kaitlyn and I nearly circumnavigating Marinkovac on the jet ski, Cam & Khali revisiting a few swim spots on Sveti Klement, and even a little wakeboarding. Khali, once representing Australia in synchronized trampolining, proved that her aerial skills translate just fine to the water – doing flips off the bow and popping up on the wakeboard like she’d been doing it for years and even adding a few style points. The rest of us agreed it was deeply unfair that she could make that look effortless while we were still trying to keep our balance just standing on deck. Needless to say, so much fun was had by all!!!
Nachos for lunch. Then came The Incident.
Around 3pm, a boat dropped anchor a little too close for comfort. So close that Khali later reported that “I could have handed them a glass of wine or a beer”. We politely asked them to move (anchoring etiquette 101), but the skipper shrugged – “No problem, we stay the night, you relax.” So we instead chose to relocate ourselves… and entered Anchor Drama 2.0.
While I was mid afternoon nap … Kora’s crew discovered we’d hooked another boat’s anchor chain. Within minutes, we were pulling their entire boat toward us. Cam – clearly part man, part action hero – grabbed a paddleboard, dove between Kora’s hulls, and with pure brute force and grunts worthy of a super CrossFit competition, separated two 85 lb each (39 kg) anchors (plus chains almost equal in weight to the anchors). Khali handled the anchor remote and quietly said a Hail Mary for no lost fingers, toes, or crew members. No one thought to grab a camera – sorry, no videos exist of Cam’s heroics. But fortunately… No injuries. No damage. Skipper on the boat we had accidentally connected to? Remained calm. His words … “no harm, no foul”. Love you, man! Us? Shaky, grateful, and ready for a drink.
After all that, we set our first stern-to-land Med mooring … anchor dropped out front, then two long lines run ashore and tied to rocks or trees to hold the boat steady. It’s the nautical version of parallel parking… but with more swimming, shouting, and the occasional scraped knee! Lines were run ashore, Cam and Doug in perfect tag-team style, Rebin popping by to offer guidance. A huge success!
More swimming. More laughs. Then another twist: a message arrived via Facebook Messenger saying that Karen’s driver’s license and some cards had been found in 7 m of water right where we’d been anchored the first night. Apparently, Doug had lost his wallet overboard when using the dinghy. Doug hopped on Rebin’s jet ski, zipped back to Mustačo, and came back with some of the loot. Actual wallet and a few other things still missing, but we’ll call that a win! Meanwhile, I was teaching Khali and Cam our family’s card game, Golf – first introduced to my niece and nephew, Oscar and Chelsea, earlier this season aboard Kora, who became instant fans – and now we’ve added two more converts to the club. All while soaking up the last hours together.
Our final night with Rebin (and Cam & Khali’s last aboard Kora) called for something special: a water taxi into Old Town Hvar for dinner under olive trees at Konoba Ero. Perfect food, perfect company, perfect ending to a wonderful few days in Hvar!
If Part I was the warm-up, Part II was the whole show – and we have one man to thank for it: Rebin. From mooring ball hookups to high-speed rides, from secret cove tours to organizing private water taxis, he turned our Hvar stop into something truly unforgettable. Without him, we might have had a nice time. With him, we had the time!!! Here’s to you, Rebin – may our wakes cross again soon!
