CATAMARAN AROUND SANTORINI
Today I took a day off and sat here in our beautiful Airbnb and ate leftover food from our amazing restaurant meals and attended an on line ARTE Mozart concert on my iPad and enjoyed just sitting still on the island of Santorini. In the meantime my granddaughter Caroline and son Tom had a marvelous boat ride around Santorini on a catamaran which I’ll let Caroline describe with photographs that they took. I am good for one adventure a day and at 3 p.m. we are about to head out for a evening on the town of Oia.
CAROLINE’S ACCOUNT
We started our journey with getting on the boat dock in Amoudi Bay below Oia, then set sail on a 40 ft Catamaran with 10 others tourists like ourselves.
First stop was the volcanic hot springs at the base of the volcano that sits in the middle of the Caldera – the volcano basin off of Santorini. Contrary to our belief, the water was not very warm, though there were pockets of warm water. The water was very buoyant and smelled of sulfur, but was a wonderful first stop.
Next, we headed to the Red Beach, tucked below cliffs of ancient volcanic rock. The beach gets it name from the magma rock that was oxidized over time to a copper red color. We happily accepted snorkels and jumped right in, the water a more pleasant temperature now that we were used to the cooler water. The water was crystal, crystal, crystal clear, with the boat captain throwing pieces of bread in the water so we could see tons of fish clustered in the clear water. We spent forever with our faces in the water, dad even going down to touch the coral reefs beneath – though I happily stayed at the surface.
Third stop was the White Beach, only accessible by boat, barely visible tucked behind steep cliffs of limestone. Here, we feasted on a buffet of wonderful Greek food, with entrees of pork for dad, and vegetables for me, grilled by the boat staff on the back of the boat as we floated through the water. Neither of us could finish our meal but it was spectacular. We were given a lovely dessert of Greek yogurt and tart cherries… nothing like the Greek yogurt from the states, and 10 times better. The meal was accompanied by bottomless Greek beer and wine, water and soda, with friendly staff and conversations with lovely visitors from around the world.
The rest of the journey was spent lounging on the front of the boat in hammocks and lounges, complete with slightly cheesy tourist music and warm sun that was a pleasant contrast to the crisp weather in Asheville.
The pictures do not do the view any justice, though we tried to capture it’s beauty the best we could while still appreciating the moment. A wonderful and magical father-daughter date to be remembered. Happy early birthday dad!
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 