Floating in the warm sun

It’s February, pretty typically chilly for Llama’s home in Texas. Periodic cold, dustings of snow, and unfortunately ice are here. Though not unbearable, weather that Llama’s travel companion, Karol, grins and toughs out and waits for summer. Needless to say, living where there is constant snow is out of the question.

This chilly weather got Llama dreaming of summer to come and summers past. Warm days of hiking, swimming, and being outside. Llama and his travel companions really enjoy the more temperate climates and being able to be outside as much as possible.

While putting on another layer of clothes, Llama began day dreaming of this past summer and floating on a catamaran in the caldera of Santorini, Greece.

This past summer was Karol and Michael’s second trip to Santorini. The first time they did not have time to take the evening caldera cruise. It was definitely on the itinerary for this time, they weren’t going to miss it. And boy was it worth the wait.

As luck would have it, the weather that day was perfect for being on the water. A bit of fog and strong winds from the previous day had gone away, so the sailing was perfect.

Llama was travelling as part of Karol’s group with Go Ahead Tours. Go Ahead had arranged this wonderful caldera sunset cruise. A van picked up the group from our hotel and took us to the far side of the island to take to await our cruise. While hanging out there we saw a few unusual sights.

This dog looked very comfortable paddling around the caldera

More common than unusual are these fishing boats lined up. Take note the crystal clear water.

We finally boarded the catamaran at 3 pm and headed out for a 5 hour cruise.

The cruise included sightseeing, swimming and snorkeling, singing and dancing, enjoying a the day.

We pulled up very close to these majestic cliffs.

We had lots of swimming and snorkeling time, stopping in 3 different spots to enjoy the water. The first stop had little hot springs sulphur jets shooting up in the water. We were warned that the water could ruin our suits but everyone got lucky and didn’t have a problem at all.

The warm water and fun nature of the group made us all into big kids and we really enjoyed the day.

Thanks Katie, www.wifewithwanderlust.com, for the footage of Bush’s and my “Olympic” gold metal 🏅 dive.🤪

Greek kebabs were grilled on the catamaran for dinner.
Definitely 💯

After dinner we floated and relaxed while we waited for the sun to set.

Heading around the curve of the island as the sun begins to sink.

Colors change by the minute as the sun sinks lower. You can see the gold glow start at the horizon.

Masted cruise boats anchoring to watch the sunset.

This day was way beyond spectacular. Llama and companions never wanted it to end. They could have floated there the whole night.

Nobody could have planned such a picture perfect end to the day.

As the chilly winter weather hangs around, the memories of floating on the warm Greek waters transport Llama back to this special summer in Santorini.