Santorini, Greece : Sept.12 - 16

Santorini, Greece : Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2005

The boys were up early today to do their dives. They had to cross the island and arrive at the dive shop by 9:30. Sierra and I took it much slower. She wasn’t feeling very well, so it turned out to be a good day to slow down and catch up on things.

We tried the pool in the morning but Sierra wasn’t really enjoying it. I think that she is getting a cold. With her asthma, the first day or two of a cold tends to knock her out. She was dragging a bit yesterday too. At the moment, she is fast asleep and I am getting caught up on lots of journaling. Hopefully the extra sleep will make her feel better.

Hi, Brennan here, to tell you about our diving trip. After an uneventful drive down to the dive shop, dad and I met up with our two diving companions, a fairly experienced diver from England and a portly guy from Michigan. We were supposed to have more but for one reason or another they didn’t show up. After waiting for around half an hour, we were all getting very hot and very bored. So when the dive master announced that we would be heading to the boat we were all very, VERY happy. Until we saw what we were driving in; that car that had about as much seat space as a V.W. bug and it already had some dive stuff in the back. I thought he was joking when he said to pile in, but sadly, he was not.

One leg crunching ride later, we pulled up to the dock. Walking past big boat after big boat, we finally came to our ride… a little Zodiac. For those of you unfamiliar with the boat, it is about 14 ft. long and has a smaller wood portion topped with an inflatable rubber one. It rides about a half foot above the water. After shuffling into the Zodiac we headed off to our first dive site. One thing I can say about the zodiac is, it was FUN. Because it’s such a small boat it bounces along on the top of the water, we even got some air.

Our first dive was a wall dive just off the base of a mountain. The original plan was for me to stick with one instructor at a shallower depth, while dad and the rest of the divers went with the second down deeper. After getting geared up and into the water however it was clear that this plan had some serious flaws. I got down no problem, but the American guy was having a panic attack. So I ended up going with the adults and the man from Michigan went with the dive master.

The dive wasn’t an incredible one. The main attractions were the octopus that we saw and the seemingly endless supply of nudibranches, an underwater slug. Another cool thing was that you could look up and see that past the surf line the land kept going. All in all it wasn’t a bad dive but it wasn’t a great one either.

After a long hot surface interval, it was on to the next dive. This one was the one I was really looking forward to, The Caves. It’s actually in a place called the inside of the well. From the boat it was very easy to see where the name came from. We were inside a huge semi-circle with walls extending way above us, but the coolest stuff came under the water. There wasn’t a lot of aquatic life; in fact all we saw were nudibranches and fireworms. The fire worms were long under water centipedes with tufts of what looked like hair sticking out. We later learned that the hair was actually thousands of incredibly sharp needles, that when touched caused symptom similar to a burn. (From a book not personal experience). However the life was not what we were there to see, the caves were amazing long dark stretches of blackness only broken where our flashlights were pointed. Also amazing were the crevices we had to dive through, some were so small you could bump your shoulders on both sides simultaneously. At some points we had to swim underneath large boulders or walls to get to our next destination.

Basically the first dive was ok but the second dive was awesome.

Santorini: September 15, 2005

Today was a true “tourist” day. We decided to book tickets for the local boat tour out to three nearby islands.

For some reason Brian wanted to walk to Amoudi Bay at the base of Oia. It was the small port from which the boat would leave. We grumbled but tagged along after him. Going down was difficult enough as the steps were angled, often broken and very rough in spots. I wasn’t looking forward to the return trip back up all those stairs; especially in the heat of the day.

The boat wasn’t crowded and we took off on time. Our first stop was actually at another port that was smaller and closer to our hotel in Oia. We never knew that it was even there because we couldn’t see it from the road. Brennan’s eyes lit up when he realized that there might be a way to escape all those stairs from Amoudi Bay. The hill at the second port had lots of steps as well but it didn’t look quite as high and it wouldn’t be so far to our hotel.

From here we puttered over to the National Geological Park of Nea Kameni, the youngest volcanic landform in the eastern Mediterranean. An active volcano with its oldest rocks being just 430 years old and its newest ones only 50 years old, it was created by 6 eruptions with each one adding to the island’s size. At one point there were actually two islands and they merged into one with some of the eruptions.

After some masterful docking maneuvers, we all passed through one boat and jumped onto the dock. It was so hot already and it was soon going to get A LOT HOTTER! The island was essentially a giant pile of black sharp rocks. We had to walk about 2km straight uphill in the broiling sun to get to the highest crater. It was definitely a challenging hike. However the view was worth it. We saw how the main island of Thira (which makes up the Santorini group and is often referred to by that name), used to be one large circle with just a tiny opening in one part. After the last major eruption 3600 years ago, some parts were submerged and now it is really three main islands sort of in a ring shape and three small ones in the center. We also saw several craters, steam vents and sulphur deposits on our walk.

Our next stop was the tiny island of Palia Kameni, inhabited only by two men and their flocks of goats. The reason for visiting was to go swimming in the hot springs. Brennan was the first one to jump off the side of the boat. He was surprised at how cold the ocean was and we all heard that. As we swam closer to the end of the bay, the water got much warmer. We saw all the little bubbles rising to the surface from the hot water springs. The odd thing was the colour of the water. It was ferrous red and totally opaque. I guess the iron from the surrounding volcanic rock leached into the bay water and its muddy bottom. It felt weird walking through brown water. However everyone enjoyed the refreshing effect of the water and no one was complaining about being cooled off.

Next on the agenda was the island of Thirasia. It was similar in appearance to Thira (or Santorini), in that there were high rough volcanic cliff faces with white washed villages perched on the top. I think that the towns looked like snow on the top of a mountain. We had two hours to spend on Thirasia before the boat returned to Oia. Our choices were to hang out at the port at the seaside or walk up to the small town at the top of the cliff. Taking a donkey was also available for those who didn’t want to walk. We just wanted to spend more time in the ocean. So we elected to stay at the beach and go snorkeling. It was a different type of snorkeling experience for me. Usually we go into the water at remote places, not in front of a bunch of restaurants and people sitting on their patios watching us. However it was an enjoyable time and we saw many fish, eels, hermit crabs etc. The one thing that I noticed immediately was the intense blue of the water. It was also very clear as there wasn’t much sand off these islands. During our stay in Thirasia, the sky became very overcast and we thought we might get rain. It would have been nice to have had the reduced temperatures on the volcano instead. We warmed ourselves up at a cheap little taverna on the beach. We had four gyros, fries and drinks for 12 euros! They were big too. Brennan was in heaven. I think they might have been the best ones yet. After that we were stuffed and tired so we wandered back to the boat.

Soon it was time to head back to Oia on the island of Thira, part of the group of islands called Santorini. (Confused yet?) Brennan quickly commented that the boat was heading to Amoudi Bay, not to the second port of the morning. His hopes of climbing the “easy” stairs were being dashed. Brian on the other hand, could not contain his glee. We were going to have to do the “BIG” stairs. At least it was only about 24C. We counted steps as we made our way up….and up……and up……! There was a total of 242 stairs but each one was so long that it took 2 or 3 strides to cross it. It was near a kilometer in length and took us 15 minutes to climb. Exhausted and proud to have accomplished this feat after the volcano climb, swimming and snorkeling, we then walked another 2 km to get back to the hotel. This walk was not an easy suburban stroll either. We walked single file for a lot of it, on the edge of narrow roads and constantly watching for speeding motorbikes and large tour buses. I found the roads to be always busy and we were here during the shoulder season. I can’t imagine how busy it would be during the peak period.

We were all too full for a restaurant meal. So I went to the closest mini-market and found enough basic supplies for a simple pasta meal. I cooked for the first time since leaving home and discovered that I haven’t missed it. ( NEXT PAGE )