Day 24: Good things come to those who wait

Apatin to Marker 1348 (54km)

When I planned this trip, I had a quick scan across the route, excitedly marking out all the places that I’d like to visit and spend time. The small Serbian town of Apatin certainly didn’t feature on this list. But here I was, spending a whole Sunday in the run down border town. The day was actually quite fun, it would’ve undoubtedly been less fun on my own. Apatin is not blessed with great natural beauty and it is not rich in cultural or historical significance. In fact, we were joking that they probably introduced the water tax rule just so that people would be forced to stay and spend money in the town. We ended up having a decent day, we had some beers, went to one of the filthiest beaches in Serbia, did some shopping and a lot of relaxing. We also had a nice chat with Johan, the security guard for the marina, who spoke with real honesty about Serbia, both its current and past situation.

When Sunday became Monday, we sensed that our time in Apatin was coming to an end. We rose early, eager to see the captain and acquire the all allusive papers. We were told that first we must visit the post office, pay the 60 Euros, then return to the marina and visit the captain. This is what we did. The captain was a slender man with grey hair, he didn’t give off an immediate illusion of leadership, but he did give the unwavering impression that this was someone you didn’t want to annoy. He was a man of very few words, probably uttering around 5 words in total as he painstakingly typed our information into the computer, the process slowed further due to the fact that he was only able to type with the two fingers not holding his cigarette. Eventually, we received the papers and we were on our way.

It was a very nice day of kayaking, we stopped for lunch at a great spot on a beach. The afternoon proved to be nice as well, still with Croatia on one side of the river and Serbia on the other. The river glistened in the sun all day long, the river lined with trees, interspersed briefly by the occasional section of beach. The only blotch on the landscape were the sporadic decrepit buildings, that had been left for what seemed like generations to rot and decay.

Our plan was to kayak for 50km and then begin searching for a good camping spot. The late start this morning meant that it was early evening by the time we had travelled 50km and once we had, the Serbian side was lined with thick forest for as far as the eye could see. The Croatian side looked much more suitable for camping, but we still hadn’t ‘checked in’ to Croatia, so we were reluctant to camp on that side. We continued on for another few kilometres and eventually came to a beautiful spot right on the river. It was an amazing spot, making the mornings delays, the long day of hot kayaking and the frustrating search for a camping sight completely worth it. We cooked dinner, toasted some marshmallows and then retreated to bed when the mosquitos became overpowering. A good feeling to make it out of Apatin, we had asked Johan why we needed the papers, he explained that 99 times out of 100, we won’t be checked and wouldn’t need the papers, but if we did get stopped and didn’t have the papers, then we’d be in trouble. Normally, with odds like that, I’d have continued on, but that would’ve been a shame, it would have meant not spending the day exploring the wonderful town of Apatin and of course, it would have eliminated our meeting with the charismatic captain.