We may or may not have fallen asleep at 9pm the previous night, so a 6:30am start to Sophie’s birthday was an unusual start for us both! Opened a couple of cards, Glen made breakfast and we sat outside whilst watching the sunrise strike the nearby island cliff faces. Soph read her book whilst Glen explored a nearby deserted church in the middle of nowhere.
My birthday present to Soph was a “semi-private sunset cruise around the island” but that didn’t start until the afternoon, so we had the morning to explore further. We headed back into Oia but went a different way along the clifftop and found a whole new set of cute shops, tiny laneways and of course, more amazing views! In fact, some of these were the best yet, particularly as on this side of the island, the accommodation snaked its way down the cliff deeper down than what we’d seen eariler. Just amazing architecture and skill to build houses on such incredible slopes. 
But the highlight of the trip thus far was the sailing. We had booked a Santorini Sailing tour where we got picked up from our accommodation and taken back to the other end of the island to the port where our catermaran was awaiting us. It was a maximum of 12 people which made it quite intimiate and a great opportunity to chat. Tony, our skipper, was an expat Englishman who had sailed the Greek Islands for 20 years and was an outstanding host. Super funny, quick-witted and knew his stuff. The tour was for 4hrs, included an incredible dinner onboard consisting of some of the best prawns, chicken, steak and sides we’ve eaten as well as drinks.
We toured up the side of Santorini, being shown where one of Brad Pitt’s Santorini houses adorned the cliff top (he has 2 on the island). We learnt the whole island arrangement is because this is the top of an enormous volcano – and it’s 23 years past its erruption due date. But – given it’s a submerged volcano, all it does is push the island up higher out of the water. As it’s been doing this for hundreds of years, there’s a distinctive layering of the sides of the cliff as what used to be submerged now sits above the waterline.
After an hour or so sitting on the bow of the boat, drinking beer and wine and chatting to the other travelers, we stopped and had a swim in the super salty but quite warm waters near a recently formed island. Back on board, we ate our delicious dinner and really got to know the other people on board. Some super nice people, all of whom turned out to be American – a couple from LA, another from Washington DC and a couple with his parents from New Orleans. By the end of the trip we were all besties and swapped contact details so we now have a few places in the US we’d love to go and stay, and more than happy to be hosts to any of them who are keen for a trip to Adelaide.
All in all, one of the best things we’ve done we decided. It was super well organised, good value and was a pretty unique experience that won’t be soon forgotten!
