Day 62 & 63 ~ Santorini and Crete…Not so much

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
~ Martin Buber

I’m sure Mr. Buber has a metaphysical destination in mind, but for us, our real and not-so-secret destinations have changed. This morning at 7 AM, Captain Slight came over the intercom in our stateroom to announce that we would not be making a stop at Santorini, Greece, after all. The sea conditions were just too rough for tendering in to port, and the weather was expected to deteriorate further during the day. He was right. As we sailed away, we could see a rain storm gathering and then drenching the island.

If we’d arrived as scheduled, we’d have been required to use local tenders instead of the ones on the Pacific Princess. The Greek Longshoremen’s union is strong enough to demand that they be given the opportunity to ferry passengers back and forth when a cruise ship enters the ancient caldera that serves as their port. When the locals said the conditions were too rough for tendering, our captain had to take their word.

Had we reached Santorini (named for St. Irene), we’d intended to take the funicular (Read: steep tram like the one in Juneau) up to the rim of the island. There we would have strolled about seeing what we could see. It might not have been much because it’s Sunday (Palm Sunday at home, but not here. The Greek Orthodox calendar puts Easter a week later than ours. Still, it would have been fun to slip into a service and seen how our Christian brothers and sisters worship on this island.) March 25^th is also Greek Independence Day. Lots of shops and all of the museums would be closed in honor of the day.

Even so, the natural beauty of Santorini would have been laid before us.  About 1650 BC, the volcano that formed the island blew its top off, leaving the remains of the island with steep 700+ foot cliffs dropping down to the brilliant blue of the flooded caldera. Side note: Some historians posit that Santorini and the other islands in the Cyclades archipelago may have been the fabled Atlantis.

While we were having breakfast with Vicki and Craig, and coming to terms with our change of plans, Captain Slight came back on the ship’s intercom. Our stop at Aghios Nicolaus, (pronounced “eye-yoss nikor-lowse”) on the island of Crete, another tender port, was also being cancelled. All ports on the Aegean Sea were experiencing the same storm system.

So, we’ll have two more sea days on our way to an unexpected stop in Corfu, Greece. It’s on the western side of the Grecian peninsula—closer to the Adriatic Sea than the Aegean and out of this foul weather system. Fingers crossed that we’ll be able to dock instead of ride a tender in.

A gentle warning here to all would-be cruisers…itineraries may change without warning. Tender ports (places without a dock for ships to tie up to) are at more risk of being skipped because the weather can render them impossible. We almost had to cancel Bay of Islands in New Zealand, but conditions suddenly took a turn for the better as we drew near. But even ports with a well-designed dock and passenger terminal can be by-passed if there is political upheaval, terrorist activity, or a natural disaster (like the earthquake in Christchurch, NZ a few years ago). Princess puts our safety first and I’m glad of it. Of course, I’m disappointed to miss Santorini and Crete, but I’m more interested in arriving alive back home in late April.

So today is a good day for the DH to catch up on his afternoon napping. Tomorrow, too, but he’ll have to nap early. The Harmony Choir concert has been moved to tomorrow afternoon because that will be our last sea day in this segment, which ends in Venice.   

As for me, it’s time to start my walk around deck 7 and see if I can hit my slightly loftier step count goal of 6000. I only managed a bit over 4500 yesterday due to the pitching deck, but on the plus side, my phone did think I’d climbed 27 floors.

More once we reach Corfu on the 27^th …