In Korcula, we decided a great way to see the island would be to rent a scooter! We came prepared with a map of the island, but that’s about it. We had no real direction except to explore and find a small beach where we could spend a few hours.
About 25 minutes into our journey, I looked down at the gas tank and noticed it had suddenly dropped to empty. We both checked before we started out and were sure it read a half tank full at that time, so this was slightly perplexing.
Gas stations are not exactly everywhere in Korcula. So we spent the next 5 to 10 minutes desperately searching for any sort of gas station sign until we heard the engine putter and our scooter stop. Here’s a visual of where we were. As you can see there is a town in the distance. Unfortunately there was no gas station in that town…
We made it to that town in the distance – Cara (population, 700) about thirty minutes later and there we saw a Croatian man stopped on his scooter across the street. We yelled to him and asked if he could help us. We managed to communicate that we were out of gas. He walked us up the road to a small cafe, where he parked and went inside to call our scooter rental company. He appeared to be frustrated with the response he received from the scooter company but all we figured out is that they weren’t going to help us at that point. So next, he siphoned some gas from his scooter tank to provide to us. We tried to offer him cash but he wouldn’t accept any. Another lady at the cafe translated into English for him and told us that he wanted nothing – only that we stop back later for a drink at his cafe.
Off on our way again with a half tank of gas, we headed towards the nearest gas station a few miles away. Unfortunately we didn’t make it there before we ran out of gas again.
2 miles of walking later we made it to this gas station below, somewhere between Smokvika and Brna.
We filled up our tank, filled up an empty water bottle with gas as a backup, and started up the scooter, only to find the source of the problem – A broken pipe that was leaking out gas on the side of the scooter. We showed this to the gas station owner and asked if we could use his phone while we called our scooter company. The gas station owner had to get on the phone with the scooter company and help us, as we had no idea where we even were on a map at this point. Then it was just another long wait at the gas station until someone came to help. An hour later, another man pulled up on a scooter, repaired the tube and we were back on our way again.
We bought a beer for the gas station owner in another town, dropped that off for him to thank him, and then stopped at the cafe, giving the man back a water bottle full of gas and we had a beer at his cafe. Needless to say, there were no other tourists here! Here’s the sign of the cafe. If you’re ever in Korcula and pass by the town of Cara, please stop in this cafe.
Crazy day – but that experience couldn’t have went better considering our dilemma. Broken down, at least 20 miles from where we started, and lost in the middle of a a Croatian island.. In other circumstances this may have been a scarier experience.
Everyone who we asked for help gave us help in return. They wouldn’t accept anything for it. They did it only out of the goodness of their hearts. With people like this, it proved to me what a truly wonderful country I was seeing!
Visited August 2012
December 10, 2012
Croatia, Travel