Hey everyone! It's me! Luke! Jacob is letting me write this week's post so we'll see how it goes...
There was only one outing this week but I'll touch up on that later.
Monday started off with Nate getting to meet his mentor Fran. He described himself as one of the most experienced people in the office and we believe him. He's made many boat structures in his time. Nate got started up on a structures tutorial and when asked about it he said "I build da boat, y'all do nothing." (If you didn't know, Nate's from Texas. He's been trying to "culture" me by playing country music constantly in the car). Jacob and I have been sharing the same software license and I have also been holding onto our only license for NavCad in the form of a flash drive. This was the first big debacle we have experienced since our travel. I lost the cap to the flash drive. It was awful. I was ready to resign but I persevered. So the week went on with Jacob and I swapping who gets to do work while we try to compile a user manual for the office while lamenting our predicament of learning from an awkwardly translated help document that's thousands of pages long.
The week carried on like this and I've been trying my best to teach my friends how to cook so I can be lazier. On Friday, we were brought into a meeting to review all of the projects that Metal Shark Croatia has taken a part in. It was amazing to hear that every single project presented was a "first" in some way or another and just how much the people in that room took pride in their work. They also played this video to showcase the purely awesome design concept of their boat for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (the volume is needed to fully appreciate it).
Of course, my project was the coolest one because it's the first sailboat for them, the largest passenger sailboat in the world, and they're actually trusting me to do calculations for some reason!
The office people are very nice and on Friday, we were welcomed into the family with Metal Shark face masks. Maximum aesthetic with optimal comfort.
On Friday night, we watched a movie and had a pillow fight, overall a great experience. We have been disappointed since we got here by the lack of fresh produce in the stores but, on Saturday morning, I woke up and found a market in the street with the most bountiful and fresh fruits and vegetables I have ever seen. It was incredible. Oh, and I found this excellent ship design while walking too.
Unfortunately, I almost fell in the Port of Rijeka while distracted and I really didn't want to get wet (you'll see the irony in this later).
After this, we had some soup and headed off to the island of Krk which is the only one nearby that's accessible by car. The bridge was long and only allowed one-way traffic so we were waiting for a bit (maybe more than a bit) but the view was spectacular from the bridge.
Our first stop on Krk was Krk! A city named after the island (or was the island named after the city? I guess we'll always be asking what came first). It was a bit like a spooky ghost town since a lot of its infrastructure was tourist-based and we were there not only offseason but during large travel restrictions. I was still kind of expecting some ominous howling wind though.
Nate and Jacob here walking down the quiet streets of Krk to the marina.
After this, it was off to the pebble beach of Baška to achieve my long-planned dream. Before we could get there, we had to go up a mountain which our tiny car was not the biggest fan of. Nate was flooring it and we were losing speed. Quite the precarious situation but we made it and I'm here typing this blog. Walking through Baška was much like walking through Krk, most things were closed but there were still people walking on the pier by the beach. It was here I began my journey. As you can see from the photos of us above, it's winter in Croatia and a pretty cold one at that. When I had the idea to swim in the Adriatic Sea, I didn't know the climate but I felt I had to commit. With the love and support from my friends onshore and the disappointed looks from the locals, I hopped into the sea and quickly lost feeling to my body. The short story of it is, the rest of the day was very cold for me.
Once I was clothed again, we walked along the coast for a bit and Nate struck some power poses while Jacob looked charming as always before we journeyed back up the mountain into the sunset.
Sunset over the mountains was pretty incredible and we stopped by a monument of what was most likely a trident. We couldn't read the inscription so it could've been a fork...
After this, we drove back, consumed a pretty ok paella with half the ingredients needed and the rest of the weekend was just relaxing.
Week 3 is full of potential. Maybe there'll be trips out of the country, maybe we'll ski, maybe we'll find another fun and cold place to walk around! Who knows? We certainly don't!
"Until next time friends" -Luke
"See ya later alligator" -Jacob
"Peace out girl scout!" -Nate
(Pictured is Nate looking for sea urchins to eat)