DISPATCH 8, open water: Hvar to Vis 06/12/05 We never expected our crossing from the island of Hvar to the island of Vis to be a breeze. There’s nothing whimsical about a 10-mile open ocean crossing, ever. It’s not like a river where if something goes pear-shaped, as I always like to say, in other words “bad,” there’s no shoreline within easy reach. Upside down in the middle of the ocean would

DISPATCH 6, Kornati 06/08/05 Paddling yesterday on the outside of a tall Kornati island, 15 miles off the mainland, what we desired more than anything was a respite from the blazing sun. Temperatures were in the high 90s, the Adriatic Sea was perfectly flat, and we were cooking in our own juices, snugged into the cockpits of our sea kayaks. Rasip Island in Kornati National Park. To check out