When we arrived at the NW entrance of Santorini it was still very windy from the evening before and it stayed windy when we sailed into the crater. From the old crater cone, three parts come above water. That is Nissos Thira which has the main town of Fira on it, Nidisha Nea Kameni which is the centre island and the Vulcano cone and Nissos Thirasia, which is the western side.

Our first stop was at O’Athinios to disembark our overland tour. From there we sailed very slowly to our anchorage below the town of Fira which is perched high upon the crater rim. It is very deep water where we sailed except at one spot where the bottom rises up from 1000 ft to a 100 ft. Just nice for us to drop the anchor for the day. The distance is only about a mile but we had to go very slow as we had to make sure that we did not disturb the oil boom of the Sea Diamond.

The Sea Diamond was a Greek/Cypriot cruise ship that hit the rocks upon leaving the anchorage at Fira recently. It started to take on water and then slowly drifted to the South to sink just outside O’Athionios. It is currently laying on the edge of a shelf in 220 meter deep water and slowly seeping oil. Hence the oil boom to keep the leaking oil from reaching the beach. There where several salvage vessels present, busy with scooping up traces of surfacing oil. The local authorities are trying to get a salvage effort going before the wreck slides off the shelf into deeper water. The first task is to get the oil out otherwise it will continue to pollute the shore line for years to come. We do not know yet how this tragedy happened exactly but they have retrieved the ship’s black box with all the navigational records so we will find out sometime in the future.

While at Santorini, the guests are transported to and from the ship by tenders/boats that belong to local operators. We are not allowed to use our own ships tenders. It is quite often the case that this is the very first contact that our guests have with Greek people and they can find them very direct or even rude. That is not really the case but it needs some explanation.

The Greek language has a “formal” and an “informal” version. The formal version is with the Thee’s and Thou’s as in the plays of Shakespeare. It is used when a Greek addresses his/her Grand parents, the local priest, or an important burocrat . For day to day life there is the informal version, used when going to the butcher, meeting friends, or talking to strangers. So that version is also used when meeting Tourists. When speaking in English, especially when the command of the English language is limited, this form of Greek is directly translated into English and as a result it can sound very direct and rude. So if we would say, “can I help you” the Greek translation would be “what do you want”, with a strong and rather abrupt accent. It can sound a bit aggressive but it is not. I always found the Greek people very open and hospitable, it is just they can talk that way. It is the same when Greek pilots are coming on the bridge. For the junior officers it sometimes sounds as if the captain has a raging argument with the pilot, while the pilot is just emphasizing his plans or asking a question.

By lunch time the wind died down and later on the sun came out. The sun setting on the houses of Santorini is an impressive sight so after departure I decided to sail around the whole crater area, to give all the guests a good panoramic view. This scenic cruising was not part of the official cruise schedule but I had some time left so why not. Both the guests in the crow nest and the Dining room got a very good view while enjoying a cocktail or dinner, so hopefully it was appreciated. Once outside we set sail for our next port of call Rhodos.