Καλημέρα, to all our friends and family! Part 2

Day 5, Santorini (continued): As we were pulling in to the harbor at Santorini we started to realize that something was wrong. Another cruise ship that we had seen many times on our trip--it shared our itinerary--was sitting the in the bay and listing badly to starboard. This is what we could see:

At about this time we were told over the ship's intercom that there was a serious emergency with the Sea Diamond--the other ship--and that our disembarkation at Santorini would be delayed as we were to assist with the situation. As we watched, all of the passengers filled the upper decks, their orange life preservers lining the rails as local boats swarmed around the ship to see what they could do to help. The evacuation lasted hours, and at one point the ship had to be towed off the rocks as seen here:

We ended up spending the entire afternoon and early evening sitting in the harbor under orders from the port authority. We took on hundreds of people who filled empty cabins and who slept in our lounges that night. We were scheduled to return to Athens the next day so the effect on our trip was minimal, we just missed our final stop. Everyone on our ship just felt thankful that we were weren't on the other ship as it was a striking reminder of the risks we take on a daily basis. If we ever go on a cruise again we will take the evacuation drill on the first day very seriously.

Our final views of the ship were not very encouraging, and as it turned out the Sea Diamond sank early the next morning. While we were having our last breakfast on the boat we heard some of the rescued passengers talking about when they were going to be able to retrieve their things; within an hour they would have heard the everyhting was lost. Unfortunately, it looks as though two French tourists who have been missing for days may have been trapped somewhere on the ship, though they haven't confirmed anything yet. The explanation at this point seems to be that even with all the latest navegational systems on the ship, human error or inattention were still responsible for allowing the ship to scrape alongside a reef and open a gash that instantly flooded numerous decks and began the hours-long ordeal of its sinking.

Finally, here is a picture of beautiful Santorini that we would love to visit someday, if we ever again have the chance.