Once again we had a fabulous trip aboard the Santorini II with Graham! As it was our second trip, we wanted to travel longer and further to a new destination. Graham created an itinerary to our requested destination and adapted it along the way. It was great to reconnect with him and pick up where we left off last year.
As an overview, this boat is safe, clean, comfortable, and a great adventure! Of note is the very comfortable and private bedroom we stayed in, especially the bed which offers an awesome night's sleep thanks to the gentle rocking of the boat at night. Graham is also a great cook (you're in for a treat if you get his spaghetti sauce!) and he took care of as much or as little of the cooking as we wanted. Since we were curious, we learned even more about sailing, boat types, and boat ownership from Graham during our trip.
Once again, we happened across a lot of wildlife along our journeys. Of note was the awesome encounter we had with two humpback whales we spotted. First they were far ahead of us and we cut the engine to keep a safe distance but then they surfaced alongside the boat! We sat in silence witnessing these huge animals taking big breaths before going for a deep dive, it was amazing and completely unplanned. Unlike anything you'd get from a whale watching tour. And this was the third pair of humpbacks we saw on our trip!
We also really loved swimming (Graham knows of some great beaches), watching meteor showers and kayaking through bioluminescent waters at night when we stayed in Hariet Bay on Quadra Island. The marina resort in Gorge Harbour was also beautiful and offered live music at night and yoga on shore in the mornings. Tip: if you're going this far north, book at least 10 days so you can explore many of these lovely harbours, Graham has a great knowledge of them. We had some really amazing days of wind at the end and got to enjoy new points of sail and much stronger winds than our last trip which was great sailing experience for us.
We had an excellent time and cannot wait to return next year!