That time I lost my phone in Croatia

So I recently did some kayaking in the island of Hvar. It was hands down one of the most incredible experiences I’ve had on this trip thus far. I had never done sea kayaking before and was slightly apprehensive about whether or not I would be swept away by the ocean current.

Well it couldn’t have been any better. The morning of our endeavour the current was smooth, the sun was shining and the water was calling my name. It was gearing up to be a perfect day. We got into our kayaks and we were off!

I kept my cellphone near my chest underneath my lifejacket, I had never kayaked somewhere this breath-taking so of course I wanted to send a snapchat at some point to my friends back home to rub it in their faces (just kidding, but notttt really 🙂 ). About 20 minutes in all was well, the view was incredible and we were slowly but surely making our way to a secluded pebble beach where we would be having lunch. Then in the blink of an eye, while paddling, my cellphone slipped out of it’s not so secure location and sank quickly into the Adriatic ocean….

I was mid paddle and saw it happen so fast that there was nothing I could do. I tried to grab it but almost tipped my kayak in doing so. Feeling helpless I called out to my girlfriend but realistically, what the hell could she possibly do. Aside from consoling me while I dealt with stage 5 shock. My kayaking instructor was calling out to us that we needed to keep moving as there were boats coming and I was torn. Yes there was not one thing I could do, but I couldn’t just leave my phone in its watery final resting place, but I had to.

At first I was baffled that I could have made such a rookie mistake when there were at least three safer places I could have left it. I kept replaying what I did wrong over and over again. But then, I looked around. To my right was the gorgeous port city of Hvar, to my left an island covered in lush greenery. I had to move on from this mistake and take in the moment that was surrounding me.

After our kayaking excursion was over one of our instructors told us that if we wanted to try and retrieve the phone there was a diver we could contact and go tomorrow. But here was the thing, we already had our return tickets back to Split booked later that day. Not to mention our accommodations and all our stuff was back in Split. It was then and there that I embraced my spontaneous backpacking lifestyle and made the decision to stay an extra night in Hvar to try and go diving the next day.

So here we were, in Hvar, no accommodations, no phone, just a set of spare clothes and the few things I had on my back. We ended up finding a safe haven in Dink’s Place. The owner, named, you guessed it, Dink was kind and welcoming and was so funny that I quickly forgot about the stupid mistake I had made just a few hours before. He took pity on us and gave us an incredible room in a lovely location for practically nothing. Then he proceeded to tell us about a tiny secluded beach that was a short walk away.

Laying on that spectacular beach, my phone was becoming a distant memory. It is hard to worry about such silly things when you have a view that looks better than most postcards. Waking up the next day I felt refreshed and hopeful but when our diver did not come through I was starting to feel defeated again. BUT I turned this unfortunate situation into something positive and decided that WE SHALL GO SNORKELING FOR IT AND WE WILL FIND IT! So, my girlfriend and I bought a cheap snorkeling set from the grocery store and went on the hunt to find my phone. Obviously I never found my phone and who knows, right now there could be fishes making long distance calls on it underwater.

But since I lost it I was able to lay on an unbelievable beach that otherwise I would have never found. I was able to go snorkeling and get up close and personal with some gorgeous marine life. I was also able to enjoy the adventurous spirit of just winging it and completely turning the plan upside down. Life is all about surprises both good and bad, it’s up to you to see the beauty in those surprises.

[Update]

Losing my phone sucked. It really did. Having to rely on an awful Blackberry for a month and a half traveling throughout Europe was awful in every sense of the word. The worst was when people would say “Wow, it must be so refreshing not to have your phone on you.” HELL NO. I want to take a damn panoramic picture and I want to be able to get to my hostel in 10 minutes rather than an hour because I went in the wrong direction.

BUT alas, not having this device to suck my attention all the time did make me do something different. Look up. I looked up outside of the train windows and was left speechless by spectacular landscapes. I looked up and took in the different literature that people read on the metro. I looked up and saw a smile from the woman sitting at the table across from me. A lot happens all around you, my advice to you is to simply look up.