SeaEO of Santorini
Shabbat Shalom from Santorini!
WOW what a day. The weather here has honestly been kind of meh which normally would be devastating on a Greek island vacation, but thankfully we really only need perfect weather tomorrow because we move to our next hotel & apparently THAT is the hotel of the trip. So everyone please manifest sun for me specifically.
I woke up at 6 AM today & sat on the balcony for a while just taking in the view. Santorini mornings are super foggy which honestly makes the whole island feel very mysterious & cinematic. Like the island is slowly buffering into existence.
You can still see the cliffs through the fog though & all the little white buildings scattered across them. Even cloudy Santorini is still Santorini. Very annoying of them honestly.
I showered, sat on the balcony some more because apparently that is now my full-time occupation, & then we ran down to breakfast before heading to the marina.
Now why exactly were we going to the marina? Because I convinced Evan to let me become a captain for the day.
Yes. A literal captain.
We rented this tiny little orange boat & before anybody says ANYTHING:
Yes, I know how to drive a boat.
No, I did not crash.
No, I did not even remotely almost crash.
Yes, I am actually very good at driving things.
The anti-Maya-driving propaganda campaign needs to end immediately.
So off we went with me confidently operating our little orange marine vehicle around Santorini while Evan held on for dear life next to me. We drove all around the west side of the island through the caldera, past the cliffs of Fira, over the volcano, & around the lava islands of Palaia Kameni & Nea Kameni. Which, by the way, are black because they were formed by lava after the volcanic eruption that basically shaped modern Santorini. So if you’re keeping track, today I not only became a captain but also briefly a geology influencer.
The craziest part is that the volcano itself is underwater, so technically we were DRIVING OVER AN ACTIVE VOLCANO??? Casual. You can apparently dock there & walk around the islands but we mostly just boated around them while I continued my maritime career.
We also passed Thirasia & made our way toward Oia which, reminder, is pronounced “EE-yah.” Educational blog.
Seeing Santorini from the water honestly feels completely different than seeing it from land. The cliffs look impossibly tall & all the white buildings stacked into the mountainside genuinely look fake. Like someone carved a luxury wedding cake into the side of a volcano.
Because I was busy actively operating a boat, I didn’t really take many photos during this part of the day. Which honestly ended up being kind of nice. Usually I feel like I’m trying to document every single second of a trip, but this time I just got to sit there & exist in the moment while pretending I worked for the Greek coast guard.
I fear “Captain Maya” may now officially replace all previous versions of myself:
Meteora Maya
Monk Maya
Travel Agent Maya
Professional Souvlaki Consumer Maya
This is who I am now.
I drive boats. I fly drones. I drive suspicious vehicles around Greek islands. I aggressively parallel park Fiats in foreign countries.
Meanwhile Evan, a man who does NOT enjoy boats, was having a very different emotional experience than I was. This excursion was VERY much for me & significantly less for him, so thank you to Evan for supporting my dreams even while the waves were actively trying to rearrange your spine.
Speaking of identities, Evan thinks they should rename souvlaki after me because apparently it is the only thing I eat here.
To be fair . . . yes. BUT I would like everyone to know I am doing important culinary journalism because at the end of this trip I WILL be providing a full ranking of every souvlaki consumed in Greece. Somebody has to do the research.
After boating around for a few hours, we hung out on the black sand beach while waiting for our hotel pickup. Although “sand” honestly feels like a generous term because it was mostly tiny black rocks.
Still very cool though. The beaches here are so different from anywhere else because of the volcano. The cliffs are black, red, & white depending on the minerals in the rock & the whole island kind of feels like another planet in certain places.
Eventually we got picked up & dropped near our hotel where we found this tiny taverna right nearby that was SO cute. Like aggressively adorable. String lights, flowers everywhere, little painted tables, the whole thing.
The only issue? We were literally the only people there. Which immediately makes any dining experience feel slightly concerning. But they clearly put so much effort into the place that we had to stay.
Apparently lunch is not really a major meal here because they barely had food available, so we mostly just pointed at random menu items & hoped for the best. I got chicken. Shocking absolutely nobody. Evan got lamb.
We still had another boat excursion later in the afternoon so naturally we prepared by eating mystery meats alone in an empty restaurant. Totally normal behavior.
THEN it was time for Boat Excursion #2. Important correction from earlier: This one was technically a catamaran. As a captain, I feel I should probably learn the distinction.
We boarded with our crew: Captain Alquis, Ellie our hostess, & Billy our guide who honestly had the energy of somebody born at sea & referred to himself as “spiderman”.
We were joined by a French couple, a Brazilian couple, a family from Philly, & a family from Jersey which honestly feels like the exact demographic makeup of every vacation activity ever created.
The vibes though? Immaculate.
We spent the next few hours sailing around the same areas from earlier but this time much closer to the cliffs & beaches since we had an ACTUAL professional captain instead of just me confidently freestyling maritime law.
At one point we stopped near the hot springs where the water smelled aggressively like sulfur. Parts of the water were warm but only in random patches, so people were basically floating around trying to locate heat like human pool thermometers. There were also opportunities to swim throughout the trip but honestly the water was freezing & I was perfectly content sitting on the boat dramatically staring into the distance like I was filming an expensive perfume commercial.
The weather actually ended up being kind of perfect for boating because the clouds made everything feel moodier & softer instead of blindingly bright. Santorini almost looked more dramatic this way. Then Ellie & Billy cooked dinner onboard which honestly had no business being as good as it was. Like genuinely shockingly solid food for a moving boat kitchen.
We ate dinner while sailing along the cliffs as the sun started setting over the island & it was one of those moments where everything suddenly gets very quiet because everyone is just watching.
Santorini sunsets are obviously hyped up constantly online but honestly? The hype exists for a reason.
The entire sky turned pink & orange & gold while all the white buildings on the cliffs started glowing from the sunset light. Cruise ships were scattered across the water, people were standing on balconies all along the cliffs watching the sunset together, & the whole island just felt very calm for a little while.
I think that was my favorite part of today honestly. Not even the boating or being Captain Maya. Just sitting there for a second realizing how insane it is that we get to experience places like this.
After a week of moving nonstop, ferrying around, waking up early, driving everywhere, & trying to see everything possible, it was nice to just exist somewhere beautiful for a minute.
Then naturally we came back to the hotel, got into the hot tub, & watched cruise ships drift through the water while discussing whether I should continue pursuing my boating career.
Tomorrow we move to our final Santorini hotel & I’m genuinely SO excited because everyone keeps hyping it up to us. So hopefully tomorrow brings sunshine, fewer waves for Evan, & probably another souvlaki. See you tomorrow.