Adventurers and friends Damjan Vukicevic from Herceg Novi and Bojan Aleksic from Belgrade sailed into Herceg-Novi City Port yesterday evening with their catamaran "Dedalus Adventures" after a full circle around the world, which lasted almost two years.
The welcoming event in the harbour and the truly deserved recognition for this kind of accomplishment by the two adventurers were made by Damjan's family, while the port of Škver featured the City Music of Herceg Novi, the highest representatives of local authorities and citizens. They followed Vukicevic’s and Aleksic's first steps on the Herceg Novi mall 715 days after the "Dedalus Adventures" sailed off from Skver with applause.
"I knew they had prepared a welcome, but I have never dreamed that they would it in such a way," said Damjan after he got off the boat and greeted his family and friends. Speaking about their way journey from the Adriatic, through the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, until their return to the Mediterranean and back to the starting point – Herceg Novi Škver, Damjan and Bojan emphasized that it was an experience you can only have once and the one that completely changes you, not only because you remember it, but because it leaves an indelible mark.
"We planned to go a little longer, to sail around Sri Lanka, but when we arrived there we saw that there were some 200 ships going to the Red Sea with no fear of pirates, so I decided not to be a coward and then we went upwards and shortened the way. That part was somehow the most critical for us because there were pirates, but we got away. We did not have other big problems; several times we broke a sail and there were some minor failures, but that was all resolved and we were able to see how true sailors are solidary. Whoever we met on our way would give us support, everybody would help us out, as well as we would help them," Damjan says. He points out that it was impressive to get to know all these areas through which they were passing, but that the greatest impression has been left by the people they met on their way.
"First of all, people you meet on this path could never be forgotten and they leave the biggest impression. Somehow, the most beautiful thing to me was over the Pacific, and all the islands there. The truth is that it takes time to sail because you need a minimum of five days for each island, but people are so hospitable and they accept you incredibly well, they call you to their house to eat, ask where you are from and they want to hear more and more, which is really impressive," Damjan explains.
And while Damjan and Bojan sailed and met new areas and people, the family in Herceg Novi was not so good as they kept waiting for news from these two adventurers.
“I counted the months and days when he would come back. He would let us know where and how he was, and he would sometimes say what he had experienced, and then there would be no sleep for me until his next call, but now that he came back I'm happy and I can sleep peacefully," says Branka, Damjan's mother.
The president of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, Stevan Katic was also at the welcoming event to "Dedalus Adventures" catamaran at Skver. He said that the undertaking made by Damjan and Bojan is quite rare, and that it makes everyone proud. He concluded that it is nice to be a citizen of the city whose flag flew around the whole planet.
The two friends - adventurers Damjan and Bojan, as they said, will now take a rest and connect with the soil, so that they can definitely sum up the impressions, and maybe in ten years, they will repeat their feat.
