ATV's in santorini

image courtesy of http://roymarvelous.com/ a fellow ITV manager and blogger

Last week in Santorini a few of us rented ATV's

We were able to get a good deal as it is near the end of the season. So we each got one for 15euros.

My original plan was to go to Oia, a town in the north of the island. But we ended up heading south, with a friend who has been to the island the least amount of times leading the way.

The area we stopped for lunch was an area I had been to before but it was still nice.

After that we heading out and just drove without much of a direction of plan, a little while later we saw a sign pointing to a ancient town at the top of a long hill. There were many swichbacks and it was a narrow road that was used by taxi's and other ATV's that were coming down, but thankfully no close calls or anything like that.

The top of the hill gave great views over a lot of the island. And it was somewhere I haven't been on my favorite island. So well worth the drive.

After that we headed back to the main town as it was getting close to the time we had to get the tender back to the ship.

But there is always time for a Gyro from Lucky's.

While there we saw a sign for a Park-our competition in town that was starting in a few minutes.

It was a short walk away and was quite busy when we got there, but we were able to see a few people doing some really cool tricks jumping off and between the roofs of the santorini houses.

After that it was back to the ship. Another great day in Santorini.

Corinth Canal

In Athens I did a tour to Ancient Corinth, and the Corinth Canal.

The Corinth Canal was built in 1881-1893 by the same people who did the Suez canal.

The canal is 4 km long, and at one point cuts through cliffs 300ft tall.

There were earlier attempts to build a canal in 7th century BC, by the then ruler of the city of Corinth. Who abandoned the idea in favor of a overland road.

Then in 67AD, the Roman Emperor Nero began work on the canal, but only about 1/10 of the distance was dug before it was abandoned.

The current canal is to small for a cruise ship our size to pass through, although some smaller cruise ships still use it.

In WW2 the Germans when retreating from Greece used explosives to block the canal.

Sailing through the canal takes about 20 minutes, and gives some interesting views.

Also there is a place that you can bungee jump from one of the bridges.

We saw a group getting ready to jump, but they did not while we were sailing past.

Lindos, Rhodes

I went on my first tour of the contract.

The tour went to Lindos, a town on the island of Rhodes.

At the site is the ruins of the old Acropolis of Lindos, and also the walls, of the castle of the Knights St. John

To get up to the top of the hill was a big of a hike, and the rocks, having been walked on for hundreds of years were pretty slippery.

There isn't much left of the temple, as recently as 1999 there was more of the original but it was damaged by attempted restoration by the Italians. It has now been rebuilt using new materials. But built similar to the old temple.

Also a lot of the relics were removed in the first excavation in 1900-1914, and they were split between the Danish who did the excavation, and the Turks who owned the island at the time.

It was good to get out of the main town and see something different.

And a good way to start my tours for this contract.

Below are a few pics from the old town in Rhodes

Back on my own

So my handover is done, and I am on my own for another t months.

I signed up for a few tours this cruise so I will hopefully have some pictures of some cool sites soon.

Other then that not too much to say.

We are about to sail away from Istanbul heading south.

Another cruise begun.

Hello all

Hello all,

I am back and writing.

When we last checked in I was leaving the Caribbean and sailing up through the Bermuda Triangle.
Despite my lack of posting since then. Our ship didn't disappear like the ships of old.

Now I am back on a new ship and I am sailing the Mediterranean again. Right now we are in Turkey.

Stay tuned for more updates, hopefully in a somewhat consistant pace.

British Virgin Islands

Our last stop before leaving the Caribbean was the island of Tortola.

We took a ferry to Virgin Gorda a nearby island that had a beach and cave formation.

There are huge boulders that had caves carved out by the tides.

There is a path through the boulders that can be followed to access other beaches and areas of the formations that can be climbed to get to the tops of rocks.

Parts of the part is through water that can vary in height based on the tides. There are signs warning not to enter after 4:30pm.

We couldn't stay as long as we would have liked as the all abord time was earlier then normal because we had to cruise up to Bermuda and needed every hour to arrive on time.

But it was a amazing place and somewhere I would like to return to.

Barbados Submarine and island tour

Almost every time on the island of Barbados the place to go is the Boatyard. A beach and bar that a lot of the crew will be at.

For the first time I did something different and it was really fun.

I have wanted to go on a submarine for a while, having been on hovercrafts and helicopters, the submarine was one more on the list.

The sub is electric powered and can dive up to 150ft. It is built by a company in Vancouver.

On the dive we went past a shipwreck and a coral reef. It was an interesting way to see some things that normally would only be seen if I was scuba diving.

View from the pilots seat

After the submarine we went on a tour of the island.

One stop was at an old plantation site, at the top of a hill that gave a good view towards the Pacific side of the island.

Big waves but dangerous undertow

It was nice to actually se something of the island other then just the one beach I have been to many times.

But next time its back to the Boatyard

Dominica crew tour

Here are a few pictures from a crew tour I went on in Dominica.

The tours first stop was at the emerald waterfalls and pool.

We went swimming for a while then headed to another area down river. Where we went river tubing.

I haven't been river tubing in a while and it was really fun, good rapids and nice warm water.

Ziolining in St. Lucia

Here are a few images of the Zip-lining tour I went on in St. Lucia.

Not as good as some tours I have been on but it was still fun.

Snorkeling in St. Thomas

This cruise a friend from a previous contract came to the ship to cruise for a week.

We were able to go on a few tour together.

The first was a snorkeling tour

The ride out to the island was on a nice catamaran, and the day and nice and sunny, which was a lot better then my previous snorkeling trip that began with a lot of rain.

The area we went was an island about an hour from St. Thomas.

we anchored right next to a shipwreck, a modern one, from a previous hurricane.

There wasn't as much sea life as previous places I have been but it was an interesting area.

One thing that was cool was another tour that was in the area was a underwater mini scooter tour. They looked like they would be a lot of fun to have as a personal mini sub on a sailboat. But as a tour it looked like it was kinda boring as everyone was just in a line.

Back and touring

Hello all,

I am going to try and get through a backlog of posts I have been meaning to do.

The first is a tour in Grenada. The rum and beach tour.

This tour took us to 2 rum distillery's on the island. Both used to use the islands sugar cane for the rum manking process but have since stopped as the island doesnt grow much sugar cane anymore.

But there is a lot of the leftover equipment on the sites.

This is the remains of a old aqueduct and waterwheel that ran the grinders for extracting sugar.

A gecko is looking at the fermentation barrel.

After our tour and free rum tastings at each stop we headed to the beach on the other side of the island.

The beach was really nice, great sand, and almost completely empty, as it was far from the ship and any towns. Just a small restaurant and hotel in the area.

After a while at the beach it was back to the ship.

Despite my lack of updates I am still around.

My plan to start doing more tours has only resulted in one tour so far.

A snorkeling tour in St. Kitts last week.

Not really many pictures to show from this one as most interesting things I saw were under the water, and despite my thoughts about buying a underwater camera that hasn't happened yet.

But I did see a lot of interesting things, including spotted eagle rays, turtles, and 2 cannons from a 1800's shipwreck.

Hopefully more tours are in my future