Sailing the Aegean Sea

The Greeks are people of the sea. With thousands of miles of coastline and 6000 islands within its borders, it made sense that we spend as much time as possible on the water.

We have spent time touring Greece on small boats: a snorkel and island cruise out of Chania, the boat ride over to Spinalonga, and our last day on Thira (Santorina), a 6 hour boat cruise around the caldera.
Santorini is made up of 5 islands that are the remnants of an ancient volcano. We boarded a 2 masted schooner in the morning and spent the day with about 80 other passengers and our tour guide Ingemar, who was fluent in at least 5 languages. First stop was Nea Kameni, a small volcanic island that was made entirely of chunky black volcanic rock. It was quite anexperience getting off our boat as there were a number of boats moored side by side at the same dock. we had to walk on and over the decks of 4 other boats before reaching the dock. We hiked (in the heat) a couple of kilometres to a  number of view points and to a natural crater where Ingemar gave an excellent talk about volcanism and the geological history of Santorini. Anyone who knows my love of geology, and all things to do with rocks, knows that this was a great day for me.
Next stop was to Palea Kameni, where  there is a hot spring that comes up through the ocean floor. Our boat anchored and we were able to swim into the hot spring cove to warm water. Our last island stop was to Thirasia, where there is a traditional village perched up on the cliff. At the shore were a number of tavernas where we could take some lunch before exploring the island a little. Large swells made our return trip to Thira very exciting as there was lots of rocking and rolling of the ship and great sprays of water for those of us sitting on the forward deck. The last portion of the cruise was spent motoring from the tip of Thira (directly below the town of Oia) all the way back to the main port. The high cliffs with their layers of rock and small caves and outcroppings made for a very scenic voyage. A fantastic day! (Susan)

We also spent time on big  boats. We rode ferries from Piraeus to Chania, from Iraklio to Thira and, as a grande finale, from Santorini to Ios to Sikinos to Folegandros to Kimolos to Sifnos to Piraeus (what we called our "poor man's cruise on the Aegean"). We were struck by the sight of so many working boats coming and going from harbours large and small, loading and unloading people, bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, cars and trucks and goods of every description. Chaos reigned on the docks! While BCFerries would have been shocked at the lack of protocol, the crews were adept, the crowds were relaxed and the captains jockeyed their boats as they would a car on the streets of Athens. As we rode a heavy swell to our final destination, I realized something in the end: the deep blue and the stark white of the Greek flag echoes the troughs and the tips of these waves. From now on, whenever I see that flag flying in the wind, I will think of these waters. (Murray)