After another great breakfast in the hotel, we caught a shuttle down to the marina in Oia. Today we would be cruising out to the volcano.
Our ship arrives in Oia to pick up its passengers.
The boat ride to the volcano offered amazing views of the towns along the caldera. This view is of Oia.
Another view of Oia
Brandon took this cool photo of the reflection in Katina's lens.
Brandon enjoys the view as we motor out to the volcano.
Approaching the volcano.
Volcanic rock in an area from the last eruption in 1950.
Once we docked at the volcano, we began a warm hike up to the new crater. The island is pretty much volcanic rock debris. There is some small plant life, but not much.
View back down toward the boats at the dock
A 'fresh' area of volcanic rock, just beyond an older section that has some plant life (the reddish colored area)
At the top, looking back towards Fira on the rim of the Caldera.
At the top there were several vents emitting sulfur gases and steam.
Looking west from the volcano. The next island has hot springs.
We wandered around the top of the volcano for about an hour then headed back down to the boat. Our next destination would be the hot springs. On the boat ride Brandon met a teenager from France who also had a Nintendo, so the two of them played each other with the wireless connection. I thought that was cool....two boys, one American and one French, playing Nintendo together while on vacation in Greece. Who says that gaming is not educational?!
Brandon plays Super Mario Bros with his new friend.
Another boats anchors near us while visiting the hot springs. The hot springs were located about 100 meters from the boat. Those who wanted to check out the hot springs had to jump into the frigid waters and swim. We chose to pass this time and hung out on the boat. We later heard that the hot springs were only just warm and that they were very muddy.
We had one more stop on this cruise, the island of Thirasia. This island was once part of the large crater rim when Santorini was one big volcano, thousands of years ago. About the only thing to do on this island was to get lunch, so we ate. We enjoyed some fantastic BBQ'd chicken and Greek Salad.
Katrina enjoys the sun after a great lunch. Thats our boat in the background.
From Thirasia we headed back to the marina in Oia.
Brandon plays Nintendo with another French boy, the cousin of the first kid.
Once back on Santorini, we headed back to the hotel. Brandon wanted to swim, so he persuaded me to join him, what a mistake. The water was frigid. It must have been one degree above frozen ice. The pools apparently needed more time to warm up before tourist season.
Brandon came out of the pool absolutely frozen, but he had fun.
We spent the rest of the late afternoon relaxing, taking a nap (me), reading (Katrina) and playing Nintendo and doing homework (Brandon). Late in the afternoon we visited the bar and enjoyed a drink.
Brandon plays Nintendo at the bar.
Katrina checks email on her Ipod.
I enjoy at Greek beer - Mythos, not bad.
This evening we had dinner at the hotel before turning in for the night. Tomorrow we will catch the bus to check out the town of Fira.
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