It's Wednesday morning and we're leaving Santorini after a delightful two-day visit. Santorini is one of the most popular and hyped up of the Greek islands, which usually means it's not our kind of place. But in this case the hype was well deserved and we thoroughly enjoyed our time here.

Santorini is actually the rim of an active volcano, with several islands jutting above sea level and 3 navigable passages through the rim and into the caldera. The largest island is Thira, which is a horseshoe shaped landmass that wraps along the northern, eastern and southern edge and rises to over 1800 feet high. Fira and Oia are the two largest towns on the island, both of which are perched precariously along the inside upper rim and packed tight with cubical white structures. Tourists flock to both places before sunset, attracted by the spectacular views overlooking the caldera, which spans 6 nautical miles wide from N to S. We spent one evening in each town and much preferred the smaller, slightly less accessible Oia to the more commercialized and crowded Fira. But both are spectacular places to enjoy one of the most unique sunset views anywhere in the world and even neophyte photographers are bound to leave with a few postcard-quality shots.

We rented a car yesterday and toured much of the island. We visited a winery, had lunch in the fabulous traditional Greek village of Megalonghi (we could have easily spent several days there) and then drove to Kalamari Beach, famous for it's black volcanic sand. Then it was up to Oia for a sunset stroll along the rim with a few thousand of our closest camera-toting friends. The crowds were actually quite tolerable at this time of year but I can't imagine being here in July and August when it's considerably more crowded.

We're enroute now to the island of Ios for a 1-day stopover before continuing N to Naxos for a day or two. There is just a whisper of a breeze and the sea is nearly flat so we're motoring along contentedly with just 25nm to cover today. We had a tricky, almost sideways exit maneuver to execute when leaving the marina this morning but we pulled it off without a hitch and everyone has been relaxed and comfortable since then. Tyler is perched in his usual spot up on the bow and Chris is reading in the cockpit. I've got the watermaker running while we're out here in the deep stuff and intend to get out a bucket to wash some clothes shortly. In short, it's a beautiful day and we're very fortunate to be out here.