Yacht Week started off with my friend Song asking if I wanted to join her boat after we finished a crazy Vegas trip. My group of friends all got super excited, and we ended up forming 3~ boats. By the end of the week we were at 8 boats… and by the end of 2018 we were at 10 boats (!!)
Traveling with 100+ friends was such a special experience. You basically wake up in some of the most beautiful water in the world, dock and spend the day exploring and end the night drinking with friends. I would honestly recommend Yacht Week to friends who can pull together a fun crew. It was such a “once in a lifetime” experience, and I cannot have been more grateful to my group of friends who are so down. I almost never get “vacation withdrawals”, but even months later I find myself thinking back to how special and amazing Yacht Week was, and all the great memories that came from this trip.
Edit: I have finished writing this and can’t stop writing “SO FUN” on everything. At the risk of sounding repetitive… everything really is “SO FUN” but I truly think what made it so was all the people that I got to share this magical experience with !!!
Planning Tips
Your crew matters. I am beyond thankful for my crew. I originally was going to switch boats when one of my college GFs wanted to join and we didn’t have any more space in our boat, but after she decided not to go I stuck with my original boat. The people in your boat is what you’ll end up doing 80% of the activities with. Go with people you want to spend time with and have similar traveling style as you. (This includes drinking, spending, and swimming level). If a random group of people asked me to go (even if its for free!!!) I don’t think I would go. It’s just not worth it and the group you travel with 100% makes your experience.
Get a boat with AC. Trust me, it is SO hot you will appreciate it when it is on at night.
Get a hostess. The hostess basically cooks all meals for you everyday. And its not crap food (!!) Some packed salads for friends to go, ours made salmon / pasta, and really good French toast. All the food was actually SUPER GOOD and it saves money!
Debating between Pre vs Post Trip? I recommend a small pre trip and then a big post trip! We did a 1.5~ pre trip and honestly so many of us were SO TIRED and had bed bugs and food poisoning… It just was overwhelming.
Things to Pack Tips
Clothes
Waterproof Birkenstocks will be your best friend. Great for traveling between boat, taking showers, and heading to the beach.
At least 5 swimsuits. You’ll be in swimsuits almost everyday. Pack a lot!
At least 1 cloth shorts. I had two than I switched on and off. Most of the activities in the day you can wear a swimsuit and then shorts or a sarong. I wouldn’t even bother packing that many other tops because chances are you probably won’t wear them for most of the day.
Themed attire. Peep the itinerary and make sure you pack accordingly. We had a Rivera Chic , Tropical Retro, and Sailing Gala ala Captain America Party.
Medicine / Recovery Items
Dramamine and seasickness patches. Both worked will be essential to your happiness. Ditch the acupuncture wristbands. I get severe sea sickness and the seasickness never got so bad on the trip!
Liquid IV. Never got a hangover even though I was severely drinking everyday. Was it the Liquid IV? Was it by body being in denial? Who knows?! But drinking one bottle of water with Liquid IV is 4x the hydration of a normal water bottle. Passionfruit is my favorite flavor!
Melatonin. Some nights you’ll want to pass out, or you’ll be jet lagged. It is really good to have a few on hand!
Ear plugs / Bose headphones / Eyemask. Pack what you need to pack to be able to fall asleep. I ended up sleeping in the living room with Shaun and Morris which meant for crowded beds and laud people. Not a big deal but when you want a good nights rest plan ahead!
Others
Flags. Bring flags (college, we bought one for California) to put up.
Sunscreen. Lots and lots of sunscreen. It is so worth it to not get sunburnt.
Hand wipes. Stay clean friends!
Floaties. Bring your own floaties! Trust me it will be such a hit. The one that was the most popular during our week was the pizza slices. It was cool because you could link them all together and that made it a nice communal area of everyone to hangout.
Boat lights! Solar powered lights are the best. They light the boat up at night and makes it easy for you to spot your boat when coming home from a late night out.
Itinerary
July 2019 - 4 days @ Dubrovnik, Croatia
July 2019 - 7 days @ Yacht Week
Saturday Night 6/29 Day 1 — Trogir
Spent the day checking in. Spend some down time drinking and hanging out with friends (Or if you’re Chris & I, you’ll be passed out in the luggage room with AC because of food poisoning #life)
Dinner with DK / Kevin / Ed’s boat to catch up with them
TYW Opening Party at Padres (I skipped this because #food poisoning)
Sunday 6/30 Day 2 — Trogir to Vis
Morning sailing to Vis
Spend the day in Vis either on motorcycles and swimming (or if you’re me at Chris Best’ airbnb passed out taking a nap because of food poisoning but… all okay because I was well rested for the rest of the week!)
Dinner at Fort George and catching amazing views at Champagne Bar.
Tropical Retro Party at Fort George. Option to book a table (or barrel hahaha) and in my opinion, it’s worth to do either! Amazing being able to catch the beautiful sunset here!
I loved the Retro Party. It was probably my second favorite night party, and was really well organized. It was such a cool dinner where our whole party rented out a Fort, culminating in catching a bomb ass sunset. At night, the fort turned into a club, and we all got to dance and party around until early morning.
Monday 7/1 Day 3 — Vis to Hvar
CIRCLE RAFT CIRCLE RAFT
Holy this is 100% one of the most fun days of Yacht Week. They tie all the boats together into a huge circle, bring a DJ boat into the middle and everybody throws their floats in the middle to hang and chill.
This is the picturesque photos you’ll see on IG, and honestly it actually looks just like that. It is so pretty, the weather is great, the water is super clear, and you can easily pass by a few hours just floating on a floatie drinking.
Clean up and explore Hvar
Laganini (cute lounge restaurant bar) with bomb views but can get really crowded
Hula Hula (catch sunset views here)
Kiva Bar (small ass bar that legit fit the 50 of us)
Seven
Ending the night eating pizza with Will Cai’s boat, spending quality time with Branden
Tuesday 7/2 Day 4 — Stay in Hvar
Morning HIIT Cross Class. Woke up early and did a light work out with Song’s boat, then went over to do water aerobics with Yurika and Pearl. Spend some extra time swimming in the water and tanning before getting ready for the Riveria Chic Party.
Rivera Chic Party (ala, politically correct White Party) at Carpe Diem Beach. Spent the night with Song’s boat being girly and taking pictures, drinking. Everything is amazingly picturesque, you can order pizza, hookah to your table, and just trolling around with friends. Also you can be really dumb and get in the water and take pictures on the swing (like me) bahaha You will be totally soaked but I got some cute IG photos that I never posted from it.
Ending the night at Kiva Bar! Stop by for a head banging drink (seriously only do this if you’re drunk) haha
Wednesday 7/3 Day 5 — Hvar to Bol [RENTED AIRBNB TO NOT STAY ON BOAT]
Really long sail to Bol….
Explore Bol! Most people rented ATV’s, our group chose to opt out of ATVs and we went water rafting instead! Was super fun to go flying off the boat. Shaun and I stayed later and hung out with Kevin / Sherri / Brian at Auto Beach Bar.
Regrouped back at the Airbnb, drew straws on who was going to stay where, pregamed but only Shaun and I ended up wanting to go out…Pregamed more at DK’s airbnb with Derek, Ed, Kevin, Christy and friends and head to Club 585. Venue is bomb (have to take a train there) but music was questionable (how much house is too much? The answer is even a little is too much)
Thursday 7/4 Day 6 — Bol to Starigrad
Morning was brutal. Little to now sleep from the club and Paul’s snoring…waking up at 6am to drag ourselves back to the boat, looking everyone to buy more water and ice… This was the literally the most death morning ever
Yacht Week Regatta!!! It really is such a sight to behold: over 20+ ships sailing with all these really tan good looking people on yachts dressed up in costumes. Our costume was very low effort (Captain America) and most of us were passed out tired.
Strarigrad Bay Raft Party: All the boat parties are probably the highlight of Yacht Week, and the main reason why you should go with Yacht Week vs rent your own boat or just do Croatia. This party was amazing: everybody is lined up in two rows, people throw in more floaties, people jump in the water to drink and chill, and at night you can lie on the roof of the boat looking at the stars in the sky and see fish swimming underneath the boat (from the boats fluorescent lights and Croatia’s clear water).
Ended the night dancing on one of the largest boats in the raft party (two stories!!!)
Friday 7/5 Day 7 — Starigard to Marinas
Ended the day sailing and swimming more in the harbor. It’s a good way to get one last final dip in the clear blue waters!
Get back to the marina and checked out early from the Yacht. Recommend not staying overnight in the Yacht as checkout is at 8am!
Stayed in a hotel with Ed, DK, Kevin and headed to Vanilla Nightclub. (So passed out tired we didn’t do much, but it was nice to chill with everyone before we all departed)
Spent some time in the car ride back to Trogir and hung out with everyone and swam in the pool at our Airbnb before my flight home with the boys!
Dubrovnik highlights
Really great food! In my opinion, Croatia has some of the best seafood / bars in Europe. The food isn’t too heavy (like Rome), or crazy expensive (like Paris), and they have such selection of seafood and drinks it makes going out to eat really fun. Some favorite restaurants…
Gradska Kavana Arsenal Restaurant: Another amazing waterfront view. Recommend getting the octopus salad, calamari (so good grilled), truffle mushroom pasta, and fish al forno.
Koroba Mandrac: One hour away from Dubrovnik (on the the way to Split) and one of the best seafood restaurants I’ve had with so much fresh food and fish. Recommend octopus salad, chocolate cake, grilled oysters, fresh oysters, fish, and seafood risotto. By far the best meal I had in Croatia. **After this meal, Chris & I got really sick and it is unclear if we got sick because of this restaurant or something else but tbh if I was back in Croatia I would still go here. haha
Queen Tueta: Another amazing seafood restaurant. They do an excellent selection of great seafood plates (so you don’t need to overthink the menu) and the garlic bread is bomb. Ask for the marzipan drink!
Dinner & sunset views at Nautika: This was by far one of the most expensive meals I’ve had (both in Croatia and ever haha) coming in at around $180~ a person, but I feel confident when I say it was 100% worth it. We had a set menu and because we came in such a large party was able to have a corner balcony room all to ourselves. It really did have the most amazing view. At sunset you can see the birds flying, people kayaking, and ships sailing. It’s one of my favorite memories from Croatia: being able to enjoy great food with my amazing friends while drinking good wine along the beach at sunset. If this isn’t utopia, I’m not quite sure what is.
Fun beach side bars! I love the bars in Croatia. A lot of them are built right along the side of a cliff so you can easily jump in the water after without having to deal with the mess of sand.
Cave Bar More: Fun oceanside bar, great drinks and a roped off area to swim. Great for a "bougie" beach day.
Banje Beach: Kind of a brunch meets dayclub experience. You can grab a cabana and swim in the water after brunch. Warning, this place is cash only!
Dodo Bar: Another cool beach bar, kind of tucked in a corner that has really great views of the beach.
Catching a ferry ride to Lokrum Island. Right across from Old Town, you can catch a ferry from Old Town Pier for $150 KN. Completely uninhabited by humans, Lokrum has so many bunnies and peacocks! Inside the monastery is the GoT Throne (I don't watch it and found the chair to look like plastic). Skip the botanical garden, but the view from the fort is unforgettable. It shows a whole view of Dubrovnik (red roofs, blue water, boats) which is hard to see when you're actually in the city of Dubrovnik.
Renting a boat and island hopping. Okay, so we were already going to be on a boat for a week but I still found this to be one of my favorite parts of Dubrovnik. We rented a boat for our group for $450 for 5 hours, we went cave snorkeling and hopped to two islands. Lopud has a famous beach people golf cart through, where you can order food and shisha.
YACHT WEEK Highlights
This is honestly just paragraphs about me rambling about how much I love my friends, heh. Most of the Yacht Week highlights was posted in the itinerary. Don’t need to think about much if you do decide to do Yacht Week, just relax and make sure to pack the right things!
Wow first things first: thanks to Cat’s Meow for an unforgettable two weeks. I love you guys so much and couldn’t imagine a better group of friends to experience the highs (swimming in clear blue ocean waters) and the lows (passed out from food poisoning and lack of sleep) with! Shoutout to crew goes to: Captain Chris, Jennifer, Sue Ann, Yurika, Stefan, Leon, Shaun, Morris, & Vishnu.
Spending a whole week with some of my best friends. Legit every club, bar, beach, etc we went on took over. It was so cool being in a foreign place but everywhere you turn you see one of your friends. I am sooo so grateful to have shared Yacht Week with each and everyone one of them. :’)
Bahaha I love my college friends and spending quality time with them. They are always so fun to be around and derping / invading their personal life is the best. I remember spying on Branden with Ed, watching Branden hit on a girl while she was sitting on a floating pizza.
Taking water taxi’s back from a night out is oddly really fun. Maybe it’s just because I’m a fan of the ocean breeze, but getting to take a taxi to and from clubs to catch sunsets / sunrises / staring at stars is absolutely amazing and refreshing! Just don’t get too drunk so you can make it back on the boat. Ahaha
After party of French Rivera was a blast. Legit having 50+ of our friends storm a club, go dancing is probably one of those “back when I was in my 20s and was crazy” moments I will always remember.
Going tubing in Bol. Feeling like you’re about to fall off a tube and holding off for dear life is so freaking thrilling.
Too many crazy fun memories with Shaun, and our trolly af pictures at the end of the trip really made for a hilarious wrap up. Thanks Shaun for putting up with me, I am lucky to have you as a friend! :’) #sappy #yulashaunship
LOWLIGHTS
Boys, be careful of wearing thin flip-flops at clubs! I had a friend accidentally step on glass at a club and it went straight through his foot. :/
Croatia is not built for boys… Some how at least 10 boys on the trip got injured from diving into the water weird, stepping on sea urchins, stepping on glass…
Sea urchins! Be careful when standing up in the ocean or near any side area. We had at least 10+ friends get hurt because of the sea urchin life.
Lugging around two suitcases worth of floaties for 1.5 weeks just to lose them in the first two days. Eh, it’s okay! We used other people’s floaties haha
Dubrovnik
Yacht Week
Photos by Rory Court below
