Santorini Honeymoon – Day 6

We woke up excited for this day. Like, DISNEYLAND EXCITED! Today we were going sailing. You can tell we’re stupid happy about this trip!

I want to show you every photo from this incredible day, but I’ll try to keep it to a minimum.

To begin with, when the Greek-Canadian who picked us up from the airport the first day told us to charter a boat with Captain Ted. Ignore anyone who tells you to pick another charter, Ted is the guy to go with. Ted is apparently from New Jersey, and fell in love with Santorini. He now owns three or four catamaran sailboats and takes people – like FAMOUS people – out on them around the island. He was featured on TV when he took Giada DeLaurentiis out on his boat. He’s a big deal.

The shuttle picked us up at the hotel and had two people inside. Two Australian girls meeting for a holiday (one of them lived in Amsterdam currently). Lauren and Alexandra were super nice people and we could tell we were going to have fun. When we got to the port, we followed the guy (Aristotle) to the boat and he introduced us to Ted and his crew – Chris and Mike (or Miccccchhh-al-eyyy, as Ted liked to say). He told us the rules (there aren’t many) of the boat and how to use the toilet. He chatted us up as he drove us out to sea.

This is Captain Ted.

Life was immediately perfect. Beautiful wife. Beautiful weather. Slight breeze. Open bar. And… we’re on a boat.

He sailed us past the Red Beach we saw the previous day.

Then he sailed us past the White Beach, which we opted NOT to swim out to, due to the “refreshing” temperature of the water.

Then we sailed back behind the volcano. There’s a small cove behind the volcano where the sulphur hot springs are. Ted backed up the boat and told us to head for the springs. Oh yeah, into the frigid water and swim for your life.

10000000% worth it. The springs were glorious. All kinds of orange iron in the water (so don’t wear a white swimsuit, as we found out), and bubbles everywhere. There was an old abandoned snack stand set up years ago that shut down. Why? Because normal people don’t swim with a wallet. Dur.

We played in the water for 40-45 minutes before it dawned on us that we had to swim back out through the ice water to get to the boat. Hilarious, when the people are on the boat are pointing and laughing at you while you’re treading water in 50 degree water.

Once back on board, Ted sailed us to a small cove he rents, and Chris and Mike made us one of the best meals we had in Santorini, utilizing the grill and kitchen on board. Calamari, giant prawns, grilled vegetables, Santorini salad, fish Roe dip, grilled pork, grilled turkey breast, and lots of wine and beer.

Alexandra commented about how racist it was to have the Aussie working the barbeque, and we all got a laugh. Then Chris told us how you can find anything you want in Greece EXCEPT for BBQ tongs. Immediately after saying that, they slipped out of his hands and into the water. Soooo hilarious. Here is everyone watching them sink to the bottom of the cove.

We then climbed into the netting at the front of the catamaran and enjoyed the most beautiful day ever.

Best money we ever spent – and for the record, it’s ridiculously inexpensive. Food, drinks, and shuttle are included and D.Rough and I spent more than that for some meals. If we had known how incredible this sailing thing was, we would have done it every day. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. We have tons of photos from this 5-hour adventure, if you’re interested…

Ted drove us back to our hotel and D.Rough and I took a nap. But when we woke up, we weren’t done with the water. It was pool time. It didn’t matter how cold it was! The day was perfect.

We had picked up a few bottles of local Santorini wine the day before, so we decided to have our own little self-guided wine tour while watching the sunset. We had some bread and some snacks and got all set up on our upstairs patio at our hotel. The wine we had chosen was NOT good. None of them. But we powered through as much of it as we could.

We chatted with Mike at the reception desk for a bit about the moonshine we kept getting served all over the island. He explained it is called Tsikoudia or Raki if you're in Crete. He told us everyone in the smaller towns has a friend or relative that makes it. We told him we thougt it was moonshine. Mike then asked us what the name of the movie with the orange car was - D.Rough said, "Dukes of Hazzard?" Bingo. Mike told us everyone has an Uncle Jesse and makes their own hooch. Hilarious!!! Some places get enough of it, that they serve it with food. Apparently, Mike and his family have a little Raki operation going back in Crete, as well. And since he was headed back for a family wedding the weekend we were there, he'd be doing some sampling with the family. I'm beginning to think my Alabama relatives with family stills int he woods might be part Greek, after all.

We took a cab to Firostephani to have dinner. Captain Ted, aside from his sailing chartering business, also owns the only sushi restaurant on the island – Ginger Sushi. It had gotten fantastic reviews, so we wanted give Ted even more of our money.

Thankfully, this was money well spent. The prices were extremely reasonable and the sushi was top notch. Ted was there and we sat near him, which was the right thing to do, since he could recommend the best things on the menu – which he did – AND he was right. We had Snapper prepared two different ways, Teriyaki Salmon, and a Rainbow Roll. Then a spicy tuna roll. He also recommended we finish with the black sesame seed crème brulee. An excellent choice!!! We had a fantastic dinner and enjoyed the only cocktails in town with actual ice cubes!!! Ted knows what he’s doing. If Ted had any other businesses in Santorini, I would have gladly donated even more money to them.

A fantastic end to the absolutely best day we had on the island. Today was the “Day of Ted”.