Among the excusrions and boat trips to various gorgeous islands offered by Stari Grad's taxi-boat service is the opportunity to attend a "Fish picnic". I had never thought of such a thing before and the concept was amusing as I imagined a group of fish getting together on a stretch of green grass to pinic in the sun together...a bit Alice-in-Wonderland eh?

Well, I'd recommend the experience to anyone. Our taxi boat was captained by a hyperactive man whom we named 'Captain Jack Sparrow' for his long hair and slightly crazed, yet happy, demeanour.

We were taken to a small, secluded bay on the island of Brac where we were met by a hilariously dressed man in a chef's hat and apron, decorated with a woman's bikini-clad body. We were all in stitches as our chef and 'Captain Jack Sparrow' hauled the boat up to the shore.

We hopped off the boat down a dubious plank of wood and were invited a short way up the sloping hillside to a little shack with a massive barbeque set up and two tables laden with cutlery, wine, rakije brandy, salad, fresh bread and a huge pot of bioled meat and soup.

Chef's son was already barbequing the fish and our co-picnicers were keen for us to try the local spirits and food. Our plates were soon piled high with mouthwatering food and we tucked in.

Once we had devoured the boiled meat, the fish was served and, much to my delight, we were instructed to eat the fish with our fingers. Traditionally, the fish is doused in olive oil and eaten with bread. We were also given a red vegetable sauce to try with it which was tangy and tasty.

Being very hospitable, our hosts kept piling fish onto our plates until I had to beg for them to stop as I was literally about to burst! It was truly lip-smackingly good, fresh food.

When the food was done, our "sexy" chef, a jovial and energetic man, got a couple of guitars out of the kitchen and his friend retreived an accordion. Soon several of the men around the table had launched into full song, their booming voices filling the air with harmony.

They sang all sorts of Croatian ballads, intertwined some Western riffs like 'Hotel California', a few Italian numbers, and even blasted out a rendition of 'O Solo Mio'! It was crazy, moving and such a lot of fun to be a part of.

After a couple of hours or so of songs, we all got into our swimers and headed down to the little cove. The Adriatic sea is so, so beautiful: so, so blue. We dove in and swam for a while, the cool water clearing the haze of alcohol from my head, before being told it was almost time to go. I got out and dried off and got into conversation with a man who'd been surprised at how unsquemish I'd been of eating a fish's head! We ended up talking about Croatian maritime heritage until we ran out of prosek wine and were ushered towards the boat by our Captain Jack Sparrow who had appeared in a pair of green speedos.

That's one of the things I noticed while trying to descriminate who was local and who not on the beach - all the locals wear speedos!

Even when we were on the boat, waves splashing the boat so hard that we were all soaked within minutes, the music carried on, people singing out over the loud rumble of the engine and crashing waves against the bow.

This was by far one of the best days out I had on Hvar - the price was good (I forget how much as we went with a whole group of writers from the festival), the food was even better, the singing was a good laugh and you get the chance to swim and sunbathe in a quite, free-from-tourists cove.

What more could one want?! Apart from maybe the REAL Jonny Depp to enjoy it all with ;)