It was a pretty wild ride last night with the ship churning through the heavy seas.  We awoke in the morning in the port of on the island of Crete.  The winds were still blowing about 25 mph although it was sunny and warm.  We never got off in Crete as no one had the energy to do so.  After breakfast we packed up our suitcases preparing for our disembarkation in Santorini.  Place your packed luggage outside your cabin by 2:00 p.m. and prepare to exit your cabin by 4 p.m.  Those were our instructions and you know us, we followed those to the T.  We now simply have to wait for our arrival in Santorini and our call over the loudspeaker to board our tender boat to take us off the ship and onto Santorini.  We said goodbye to Evelyn, a 27-year-old cruise ship worker from Brazil, who always seemed to be ready and available to assist us in our endeavors and sometimes just to chat.

Getting on or off the cruise ship was only by tender boat in Santorini.  Those are the small boats that come alongside the ship and passengers are loaded onto or off of the tenders, departing whether they’re coming or going.   It was pretty much hurry up and wait for us.  Passengers who were actually departing the cruise ship for good had to wait until EVERYONE else who even thought they might want to get off to see Santorini had already gotten off.  When there was no one else left, then they finally let those leaving the cruise to get off.  We joked that “You are dead to us now” was the official stance toward those no longer wishing to stay on the ship.

Santorini is beautiful.  Seems like all civilization is way high up on the cliffs.  A 20-minute tender boat ride and we were on land.  We were picked up by our hotel and whisked upwards on a switch back road to our hotel, the Volcano View Hotel.  What we found when we arrived were absolutely breathtaking views from here.

After a pleasant dinner at the hotel with live Greek music, it was off to bed for some much needed rest.