Kotor Bay by Speedboat

In looking at the various things to do around Kotor, speedboat tours seemed to be really highly recommended, so I booked a 3-hour tour for us today with Sea Stars.

The girls were the first ones aboard and snagged primo seats at the bow

Our tour left around noon, and after picking up a couple more passengers in different spots around Kotor, we sped off across Kotor Bay toward the submarine tunnels. These tunnels were built by the Yugoslav army to hide submarines - there are 3 of them - we were able to go into one of them with our boat and it was really neat to see. One of the other speedboats was playing the James Bond soundtrack, which felt a propos (and some of you may have heard it on my insta story). 

Really neat submarine tunnels

Feels like a James Bond movie

Hard to tell from the photo, but there is a rock camouflage half wall

Following that, we continued zipping across the bay and had a quick stop to look at Mamula Island, which was used as a concentration camp in WW2 but is now a luxury resort. Yikes.

Mamula Island 

After taking a peek at the island, we continued along the Adriatic coast toward the famous Blue Cave (so named, like all the other blue caves in this area, because the light reflects on the water and makes it look quite blue). It was cool - it's a pretty popular spot, but our boat was the only one in there for a couple minutes. After the cave visit visit, we got to go swimming for a little bit, which felt super refreshing (although the speed of the boat kept us nice and cool with a stiff breeze, so we weren't super hot beforehand). Brad and the girls jumped off the boat a few times too.

Brad in the blue cave

So blue!

Swimming in warm turquoise water does not get old

Once we were all back in the boat, we toured along the coast back toward Kotor, stopping at Our Lady of the Rocks, a man-made island in the middle of the Bay, which houses a church that dates and just barely pokes above sea level (wikipedia tells me that part of the island was made by sinking ships filled with rocks). We checked out the church and took a few photos, and then it was off back toward Kotor. We got a good look at the historic town of Perast along the way too. There are tons of really beautiful little towns along the bay - we've really enjoyed visiting Kotor but it would be great to see some of the others as well.

Lady of the Rocks

The girls loooove boat trips

On our walk back to the apartment we grabbed some quick slices of pizza (super fresh and yummy) and the girls branched out from their usual gelato and tried some rolled ice cream from a little stand.

Zoe and I were pretty done in from the heat, but Brad and Rosie rallied to hike the fortified walls above the town to reach the fortress. They hiked about 3k, with 350m of elevation and caught some pretty fantastic views of the town from up high. And of course Rosie found a few more cats to pet (I'm checking her bag before we leave).  Zoe continued her people watching from our apartment and I had a nap. Never underestimate the importance of napping on vacation.

They made it! In 35C heat. 😬

Never not petting cats

We finished up the evening with another dinner on the terrace along the city walls and the girls had a little fun in a local park that had a pretty fun zipline for them to play with (okay, maybe not quite as fun as ziplining 1km over Europe's deepest canyon, but judging by the giggles and squeals of joy, I think they had a lot of fun).

Tomorrow, we pack up and head up the coast to Split, Croatia. Fingers crossed the border crossing isn't too too crazy (Montenegro is not part of the EU, so the lineup at the Croatian border can be pretty epic).