The Hannahlogues

A few words on the reality of life on an island whose food and drink establishments haven’t opened for the season yet.

It’s a 30 minute ferry ride to/from Dubrovnik, and a lot of people go back-and-forth on a daily basis with no problems. It’s a small passenger ferry since this island doesn’t have cars, there’s no need for the larger car ferry. This all sounds very quaint, which it is, until the weather gets bad and the seas are too rough for the smaller boat to safely travel. A smaller boat being more susceptible to rough seas is logical, but it truly didn’t occur to me as I sat at the ferry pier on Tuesday afternoon, looking around in confusion for a boat that never arrived (it’s been really windy and rainy most of this week).

Well Hannah, surely there are other places on the island you can get food? Yes and no. Given that it’s still April, the few restaurants and shops in the village haven’t opened yet. The “market” that is open (apparently her hours are also vibe-based)… well let’s just say it would not pass any sort of health inspection. Instead of cute bodega cat, imagine a litterbox that also carries foodstuffs. I have been warned in no uncertain terms that the only acceptable items to purchase there are non-perishables sealed in aluminum cans or paper goods.

Other than that, it’s true that there is an abundance of citrus here – grapefruits, oranges, lemons, of which we can pick almost an unending supply… so while I’m safe from scurvy, with my average of 15,000 steps a day so far, I need something a little more substantial to keep me going.

Given that rough seas is not something I think about on a regular basis, I did not buy enough food on my first shop last Friday (it was supermarket sweep – the ferry got in at 12:40 and left at 2 – the grocery store is a 15 minute round trip, at a sprint).

The seas have been rough since Tuesday. It is now Friday. I woke up early to catch the 6:45 ferry because there’s (allegedly – I may never know) a cute farmers market at the port that’s only open in the morning. I confirmed when I woke up that the ferry was still running, and yet 20 minutes later when I went to purchase my tickets before leaving the apartment, I saw that it had been rescheduled to 8am – getting in at 8:30 (but I couldn’t take that one because the return one is at 9 which is impossible timing).

Here’s a picture of my sad, empty little granny grocery cart not getting to go on the ferry ride I promised it this morning (thank goodness the weather cleared up today at least!).

But Hannah, the sky is so blue! The water looks so calm! How could the sea be too rough for the ferry today? That’s a great question – in fact, the seas are just fine today. The passenger ferry was broken this morning, which is why it did not run on time (really fun fact: that too-tight turnaround I mentioned earlier? Well, turns out the 9am ferry didn’t leave Dubrovnik until 10am – because technical issues – so I would have had plenty of time to do my shop!).

The other fun little trick about the ferry it only runs four times a day (a day when there are no rough seas and no technical issues, a day which I have yet to experience) and it only runs back four times a day. As mentioned, you have to select the correct round-trip schedule to accommodate your perishables. Which I did. That’s why I got up at 6:15am and am now writing this blog via voice memo as I sit on the dock watching the sun finish rising.

I’ve booked a ticket on the 2:05 ferry, getting me to the Dubrovnik port by 2:35 and taking the 4:30 ferry back – giving me almost two full hours to have a nice leisurely grocery shop where I can use the google translate app to read every single label in the store if the mood strikes me.

3:22pm update:

Well, the 2:05 ferry did not arrive, despite the small crowd of people who started to gather. I had been tracking the boat on the app, like you can do with a subway or bus, and it pulled in around 2:40. Unfortunately, this ferry was only starting its circuit of the three islands it services; it was outward-bound. Big sigh. I had been chatting with a couple from Edmonton, Canada who had cut short their hike on the island to catch the 2:05, which was now not the 2:40, but would in fact be the 3:00.

In the scheme of things, having to hang around with a view like this a punishment I can get on board with, but I had been weakened by the hunger strike that had been foisted upon me, and was in no mood for another delay. It turns out the problem with the passenger ferry was still a problem, so they were sending a replacement ferry. However, since the replacement ferry is a car ferry, it takes almost twice as long to get to Dubrovnik, so I would have gotten into the port with less than 40 minutes to complete my shop if I was going to catch the 4:30 ferry back. But the next ferry to leave the port isn’t until 8pm! Allegedly. And it’s not like I’m in the cute Old Town part of the city where I can do quick a Game of Thrones tour and get a nice dinner before heading back. The ferry terminal is wedged between the bus station and the cruise ship dock. Plus, I’ll be laden down with a granny cart full of perishables, which I won’t imagine will last too long in the Adriatic sun!

[If the math of all of these trip options is making your eyes cross, then you’re doing it right. I did not anticipate so much of my brain space being taken up by ferry timetables.]

Natalia and Yoshka are just giggling every time I come back from a thwarted attempt to leave the island. At this point, I’m just doing it for the bit. They’ve told me that I’m cursed and that the island won’t let me leave. Natalia loaded me up with last night’s dinner leftovers to tide me over for another couple meals and we went on a walk instead.

Tomorrow will be my final chance to get food before everything shuts down for the Easter holiday on Sunday and Monday – so here’s hoping I’m not adding a P.P.S. tomorrow at 7am because the 6:30 didn’t come 😭

Here are some pictures from the 5 mile walk we took instead of playing a game of chicken with the ferry (and a bonus sunset photo from when I realized I left my kindle somewhere over by the ferry pier and ran to try to find it and failed so now I don’t have a kindle to help me get through the interminable wait.

April 23 Update:

My sincere apologies for not letting you all know that Saturday’s shopping trip was a success! I caught the 6:45am ferry along with a dozen other islanders and suffered the humiliation of having to unpack and repack my shopping cart on the ground outside the supermarket because I couldn’t play packing tetris with the items as quickly as they were being scanned – I felt like Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory!

Since there are very few shops and restaurants on the island – and even those that are open have to get their food and supplies from somewhere – the back area of the boat where we exit and enter becomes a staging area, of sorts, where everyone leaves their shopping carts, suitcases, furniture deliveries and cases of beer. When I first arrived a couple of weeks ago (two weeks today!!) I followed the locals’ lead and left my suitcase in back with all of the other luggage, but Natalia says all too often they watch tourists haul their luggage around the boat with them, up the stairs to the top deck, terrified to leave it out of their sight.

On the 10am ferry back to the island, every seat was packed with tourists headed out for day trips – the ferry loops between three islands, so if you time it right, you can catch them all in one day. I won’t lie – I relished the thrill of superiority I felt as I made my way off the ferry, shopping cart in tow, and strode confidently in the direction of my home, leaving a gaggle of disoriented tourists behind as they puzzled over their island map.