Split the difference
We made our way to Split, one of the larger cities in Croatia. At this point we decided that we needed a vacation from our vacation. It's a hard knock life. We found a decent room in Split and left about 3/4 of Sara's stuff in a luggage depot, which was an excellent move. After a night in Split where we hiked to the top of a bluff and checked out the town, we went to bed early to get up early and catch a ferry, which we, both well-educated individuals, thought we'd have no problem making.
After asking everyone at the terminal which boat was the right one to get to Korcula, the island we were heading to, we finally figured out that it was the giant one at the end of the dock. After hustling there, we thought there would be a ticket window. There was no such thing. So we asked a guy on the boat if we could buy a ticket on board. (The boat was 2 minutes to departure at this point.) He said no, but if we gave him our passports, he would let us on and we could take care of it when we got off. He had a uniform, it was early, and I'm not terribly bright, so we did just that. After 3.5 hours on the ferry (and some dolphin watching to boot), we started to get off when we heard one announcement in Croatia and "Mr. Hendrix to the xlsjlkcsldkj." So we went down to where I thought the crew offices were, and sure enough, after asking an older guy in a uniform, he ducks into an office and comes back with the passports. We try to ask how to pay, etc., but he gives us the universal sign for "Don't worry about it. It's taken care of." We quickly sprinted off the boat and onto a van to get to the other side of the island.
Korcula is a beautiful little island and Korcula town is a pretty mellow little town with the requisite old city and lots of crazy stairways and alleys. We found a really sweet apartment for more than we should have paid and set up camp. We hit a wrap stand for lunch because after days and days of italian and seafood, we were at the end of the rope. We also set up wind surfing lessons with a kid who could have easily passed for a California surfer dude stoner. Turns out he speaks 4 languages, went to the UN school in NYC, and is going to school in Vermont (Marlboro, I think) next year. Appearences and all that...
For the next couple days we chilled out, hung at the pebbly beaches, rented a scooter and explored the island a bit, I went biking, and we learned (a little bit) how to windsurf. It's actually a lot easier to get going than I thought. There's some decent night life in Korcula, most of which occurs around Fresh, the wrap stand. Those guys are geniuses.
We cut out of Korcula after another near ferry miss and headed for Hvar, island of the jet setters...