Tuesday, July 5th, SKABE – Istria
After two weeks of intense sightseeing in Italy, we are finally on vacation and I sleep until 9:00 A.M. After I wake I sit quietly outside on our bedroom’s terrace and write this journal allowing Art and John to continue to sleep. At 11:00 A.M. I urge my family to get moving and we all go downstairs for coffee off the kitchen terrace and meet Anjani, Robert’s wife. Surprisingly, Anjani is not only half Okinawa (as is my husband Art) but gracious, stunningly beautiful and was the vocalist and partner of Leonard Cohen for many years. Leonard Cohen is one of my all time favorite musicians and I feel tongue tied in Anjani’s presence. It is obvious that she does not want to talk about her past life and she busies herself in the kitchen and sweeping the patio.
John is anxious to return to the beach Safari Bar and we leave at 2:00 P.M.to drive the 45 minutes to the national park beach. We find a secluded table along the cliffside pathway of the bar, buy a bowl of Sangria and nibble on some snacks we packed. There is no sand at this beach but steep cliffs allow for good diving into the pristine ocean below. John immediately heads down to the cliffs, jumps into a deep pool and scrambles back up to do it all over again. He takes a dive and then does a back flip and his confidence and fearlessness frighten me, but I know cautioning him will only make him push the limits further. His athleticism surpasses most of the other swimmers and I see eyes watching this lean and muscled young man as he gets silently ranked and qualified to join the other alpha males swimming and diving.
 |
| John at the Safari Bar Cliffs |
 |
| John at the Safari Bar Cliffs |
 |
| Safari Bar Beach |
 |
| Safari Bar Sangrias |
Art and I wade cautiously into the ocean careful not to slip on the slabs of wet rock that form a gentle sloped ramp into the water. I swim parallel to the beach and watch the young people dive and jump into the water above me.
 |
| Sloped rocks into the ocean |
We stay until nearly 8:00 P.M. pack up and drive into the nearby town. Friends of Kate’s have recently opened a new restaurant and we enjoy a fabulous dinner of truffle pasta, Mediterranean salad, Chautebrian in mushroom sauce and a filet of fish. We share our tastes of our various plates and all is exceptional including the bottle of local white wine. Dinner is extremely reasonable.