Ferries

It's almost four in the morning and I can't sleep.

I suppose it's my own fault, really; I took those short, quick cat naps on the ferry ride over here and, uncomfortable though they were, it was enough to recharge my batteries. I hardly slept last night so I was pretty sure I'd be able to knock right out. It doesn't help that my room feels like a sauna -- I hadn't realized how hot it was in there until I opened the door to my balcony and stepped out into the night, breathing deeply into the cool, dark air.

I'm on Santorini Island now, having got here just before 2am. It was a 5-hour ferry ride from Kos, during which I spent most of it on the observation deck just staring into the inky pot of sea stewing in our wake. The sight was so familiar to me -- water turning a bright, airy blue from the turning screws, the ship leaving it's fanned-out trail behind it -- that I was hit hard with memories of being aboard the Enterprise, of spending so much time on the fantail watching our own propellers move her forward. Unlike all those times, though, this ride was going to end in just 5 hours, not 5 weeks or 5 months or "time to be determined"! And I could still see plenty of islands to my right and left. I do love the way the sea stretches out for forever, though, the way that everything ends with her. I love how the water is the only thing that can hold all the heavens and the stars and the sky, even as it holds in the sun and the clouds during the day. I could have stared for many more hours into the waving sea, not even thinking of anything, just staring...

Not that I miss the Navy or anything close to that!

I didn't have a room booked for tonight because I wasn't sure what time the ferry would actually get here and if anyone's reception would even be open for me to check in. I had initially planned on just hiking up to somewhere unexposed and camping it out for the night. But, as the ferry unloaded, there were masses of Greek hotel and hostel drivers, each waving their own sign, each trying to claim us passengers. My room for the next few nights is in a town on the southern part of the island, Perissa, and I saw a hostel offering free shuttle service there as well as a private room for a decent price so here I am, at Youth Hostel Anna. The shuttle driver was this old man who spoke broken English; I rode with two Hong Kong boys spending a week traveling after having spent a semester as transfer students in Eindhoven, Holland. The drive was about 20 minutes and I had good conversations with all three of them.

Now I'm in the balcony of my room, looking out into the pool, waiting for sunrise.

Location:Perissa, Santorini, Greece