LOUIS AURA (ex-ORIENT QUEEN) Part 7

Thursday 19th September 2013 (continued)
We approached the volcanic island of Santorini about 4 p.m. under clear blue skies, and had our first view of the caldera soon after. It is such an amazing sight to approach by sea, with sheer rock faces showing the various solidified strata.

Santorini island (Thira)

Heading into the caldera

Rock strata

Astonishing view

Santorini island (Thira in Greek) was formed long ago by volcanic explosions, which continued infrequently, although the last one was in 1950. In 1956 however there was an earthquake which affected the island yet again. The capital of the island is Fira, which is built right on the top of the island, with white-painted buildings appearing to perch precariously in their location 300 metres (980 feet) up. The inhabited island on the port side as we approached showed the volcanic rock thrown up,

Volcanic lava

and the water was clear and deep all around us. Ships do not anchor here, but must keep moving at a very gentle engine speed, to counteract the water depth and currents. The caldera is 400 metres deep (about 1300 feet).

The ferry port

The ferry port

The tender port

The tender port

There are two ports here – one for the ferries at Athinios, as traffic can ascend and descend the road from here up through seven hairpin bends to the island road at the top. The tenders from visiting cruise ships can come alongside at the other small quayside below the town of Fira, and visitors can then walk up the zig-zag road to the top, take a donkey ride up there, or choose to use the cable car. I once walked up the path, but now consider the price of 4 Euros well spent!

The tender port

Another view

Excursion passengers

Our ship was soon in position and the first local tenders appeared alongside. Passengers going on excursions had to disembark first and take the tender to the ferry port, giving access to the coaches waiting on the small quayside. My friend set off in the tender, so I could photograph him photographing me; he was doing a visit along the mountain road to the small town of Oia.

Photographer photographed

On the Bridge

View from the excursion tender

I waited for non-excursion passengers to be allowed ashore and we all went in another local tender. The water is not tranquil and one can only guess at the vast depths below.

Non-excursion passengers

Our tender took us to the other quayside for cruise ship passengers, and from there we could queue for the cable cars. Each car holds eight people so we were soon at the top and able to view the bay below. It is the most incredible sight, with various cruise ships looking quite small as they maintain their positions in the water. The tenders keep transporting passengers to and from their ships, the occasional ferry arrives or departs, the sea glitters in the sunshine, and the white-painted buildings along the top of the island all gleam and hide their secrets. The buildings here in the capital Fira are all built so closely together that people cannot be seen at a distance, and then they appear from a cobbled lane or small turning to face the sea and enjoy the views. The cafes and restaurants were all full, but many of us simply walked along the lanes to enjoy the air and scenery from the heights.

A ferry approaching the port

And another one left

View across the island

I hadn’t visited the beaches on the south coast, nor many of the other sights on the island, but what a good reason to plan a return visit one day.

By early evening I was ready to take the cable car down from Fira and get a local tender back home.

Waiting to get on a local tender

Nearly home

The air and light had been wonderful but watching the moon rise over the island of Santorini behind Fira was lovely too, and I enjoyed seeing the lights of other ships in the vicinity as we sailed away before 9 p.m.

Moon over Santorini

View from the Bridge


Ships seen: Wind Star, Blue Star vessel, Louis Olympia, Master Jet, green ferry, Celebrity Equinox, Garbis tender, local tender 28 and tender 27


To be continued….

LOUIS AURA (ex-ORIENT QUEEN) Part 6

Thursday 19th September 2013
We have two ports of call today, and the first one at Heraklion, on the island of Crete, meant we were up on the Bridge before sunrise. I see that my first photograph was taken at 6.28 a.m. as we approached our berth; we are to be back on board by 11 a.m. ready to sail for our next port visit in Santorini this afternoon and evening.


Louis Olympia and Louis Aura

On the front of our ship

After sunrise and breakfast we had an appointment to keep at a nearby berth: we had an 8.30 a.m. visit to LOUIS OLYMPIA (built in 1982). We were made welcome as we boarded the ship, and I remembered sailing on her for a long weekend when she was THOMSON DESTINY. (See blog entry for THOMSON DESTINY in December 2011)

Festos Palace

We were given a rapid tour of the ship, and I noticed that nothing major had seemed to change.

Pool & Sky Bar

View from the Sky Bar

Can-Can Lounge

Clipper Bar

Murals in the Oklahoma Bar

Seven Seas Restaurant

The Sky Bar was popular and well used, and we were given coffee in the attractive Clipper Bar whilst Crew Lifeboat Drill was held. I remembered the beautiful jewel-coloured original door handles remaining on the ship, and the wonderful piece of glass artwork in the Reception area, all of which I could happily have lived with!

Ruby-coloured glass

Wonderful glass artwork in Reception

Another angle and colour

Sapphire glass

Our visit ended and we were then free to walk along the harbour quaysides to photograph the ferries that were nearby. I saw them only on 1st September with my ferry friends but I enjoyed seeing High Speed 5 embark her last passengers and sail from Heraklion with a great whoosh of churning water.

Blue Star 1

High Speed 5

Golden Blaze

Masterjet

High Speed 5 leaving

English Channel Hoverspeed sisters together

Laid up and faded Golden Prince

Starward bell (1968)

Louis Aura in Heraklion, taken from Louis Olympia

Soon we were back on board and up to the Bridge for departure, this time heading for the volcanic island of Santorini and the caldera.

Ships seen: Louis Olympia, Festos Palace, High Speed 5, Golden Blaze, Masterjets, Blue Star 1, and the faded oldie ‘Golden Prince’


To be continued….

LOUIS AURA (ex-ORIENT QUEEN) Part 3

Monday 16th September 2013
Our good ship LOUIS AURA has been here in Mykonos overnight, so all the passengers can enjoy another day exploring the ship or the island before we sail just before midnight tonight. After enjoying breakfast on the aft deck I watched the activity around the ship and local harbour nearby, before going up to my favourite table in Venus Deck 2 for coffee and water. That is where the Guest Relations Manager found me and my friend, to issue a personal invitation from the Master of the ship (Captain Goumas) to visit the Bridge tomorrow morning when we leave Patmos. How wonderful: it seems we are VIPs on board (thanks to a certain American friend) and this is one of the treats. I already had fruit and wine put in my cabin, so thought that was good, but a Bridge visit will be special. We accepted immediately and with thanks of course.

Super Jet of Sea Jets

Celebrity Reflection arrived and stayed for a few hours

Tere Moana arrived

Ekaterina P arrived

and reversed in. She left 20 minutes later.

Superferry II arrived

Blue Star Ithaki arrived

That afternoon we left the ship and headed for the little local harbour nearby and took the water bus along the short route to the main town, enjoying the slight sea breeze and the views from the water. It was two Euros well spent.

Local harbour

Margarita Ch. - our water bus

Our little beauty

Highspeed 5 left

We could look at the shops, buildings, architecture, winding alleys, heading for the famous windmills. The maritime museum was closed so we had tea in a nearby café instead, which had a very soporific effect in the heat, but we overcame that and walked up the last incline to the windmills.

Restaurant Row

Louis Aura just visible through windmill sails

4 of the windmills

Two of the windmills under a suddenly threatening sky

Blue and white

The pelican

We also saw the famous pelican and recited the limerick about its beak:

A wonderful bird is the pelican;
His beak can hold more than his belican.
He can hold in his beak
Enough food for a week,
Though I’m damned if I know how the helican!
—Dixon Lanier Merritt (often incorrectly ascribed to Ogden Nash)

The sky had become overcast and it was not worth staying in town to watch the famous sunset over the sea, so we took the water bus back from the little town harbour to the quayside near our ship. By this time the sky had darkened, and the wind had increased so we were glad to get back on board.

It was decided to go out for dinner that evening at the nearby Taverna Matthew, which is a favourite restaurant with my ferry friends when in Mykonos, so the story of my meal there only last month will have to be told another time.

On our way out

On the way we could see passengers returning to the LOUIS OLYMPIA which had arrived to spend the afternoon and evening here in Mykonos.

Louis Olympia through the light rain

We set out to walk to the Taverna and discovered it was beginning to rain slightly, and there was a strong wind. Our ship was beginning to rise and fall with the increasing size of the waves slapping against the hull, and we noticed that nearby was a Jetoil vessel doing the same, even as the tankers reversed onto the vessel to collect their fuel. The thought of the meal on shore plus the weather quickened our steps and as we arrived at the Taverna we found the owners were putting up strong screens to protect the diners on the terrace. The food was ordered and cooked whilst we waited, and we tried to ignore the strengthening wind outside.

When we left the Taverna there was lots of spray to be seen on the quayside and lots of noise from the wind which was turning into a gale. The walk back to the ship was quite difficult and we had to run behind the last little buildings for shelter to avoid the spray and waves astern and near the LOUIS AURA.

EKO 1 being buffeted by the weather and sea

The Jetoil ship hurriedly decided to leave port, which we considered a good move, as she was parallel with us and fairly close. At least she would be less of a hazard when it was our turn to leave harbour. She had some difficulty in getting away but finally had enough speed and the right heading by 10.00 p.m. to get into the middle of the bay before turning and leaving Mykonos.

We stood on our aft deck for a few minutes to watch the sea conditions, but the movement of the ship and the strong winds made it almost impossible to take steady photographs; it was certainly interesting to watch.

I went home to bed wondering if I would wake up in the morning to find we were still in Mykonos…

Ships seen: Superjet of Seajets, Margarita Ch., Tere Moana, Celebrity Reflection, Ekaterina P, Superferry II, Blue Star Ithaki, Highspeed 5, EKO 1 (the Jetoil tanker ship), Ifestos 1 the tug, Louis Olympia


To be continued….