Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me
As I gaze upon the sea!
All the old romantic legends,
All my dreams, come back to me.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Secret of the Sea”
Our first morning on Sea Cloud and we were eager to see the sails set just after breakfast. We gathered on the spanker deck to hear the blow-by-blow description of all the action unfolding just above our heads. Up, up, up – the crew went – right to the royals – making us dizzy just watching them out on the footropes at the ends of the yards loosening the gaskets. After the square sails were all set, we followed Tom O’Brien, our expedition leader, forward to the area in front of the bridge while we watched the foremast team set the inner and outer jibs. We finished out on the starboard side of the fo’c’sle learning how all the lines and sails on the bow of the ship worked. Although there was little wind in the sails today, drifting along at just one knot was a perfect way to get over the lingering effects of trans-Atlantic travel by relaxing in a deck chair with a good book, or learning about photography from our National Geographic photographer, Jonathan Aguas.
During our buffet lunch on the lido deck the Captain brought the ship in through a narrow channel between the island of Hvar and the Pakleni Islands to drop anchor just in front of the old Venetian harbor of the town of Hvar. We tendered into the pier mid-afternoon for an orientation walking tour of this delightful town full of small, Venetian-style Renaissance palaces with pointed trefoil windows and ground floor loggias. The quayside is lined with cafes, bars and lavender stands on one side and amazing yachts on the other. Our guides took us around the seawall and out to the Franciscan Monastery to see the garden and the impressive painting of “The Last Supper” that dominates the monk’s refectory. Painted by Venetian Matteo Ingoli, who was shipwrecked on the island and nursed back to health in the monastery, it is stunning masterpiece.
We wound our way through the narrow alleyways of the walled city, stopping at the Benedictine convent where we learned about the nuns making lace from Agave fibers, a unique art form that is now protected by UNESCO. Some of our group broke off from the tour at this point to hike up the trail to the Spanjola fortress that protects the city and bay. Large sculpted panels of the winged Lion of St Mark, the symbol of Venice, grace each of the round bastions of the citadel, leaving no question of who was in command of the island.
Many people chose to take a quick swim or enjoy of cold drink under the umbrellas that surround the main square before returning to the ship for the Captain’s Welcome Dinner.
All this and it is only the first day of our magical cruise aboard the legendary Sea Cloud!
