All Aboard the Aquamarine

---

A hearty Mediterranean breakfast buffet in our hotel was the start of a beautiful Greek day : )) Soon after, the shuttle bus to the port picked us up along with few other American tourists from different hotels. A chinki couple; a pair of honeymooners who were all over each other hugging, fondling, kissing….eeek!; a 70 year old lady from NJ, an elderly expensive looking couple, the man had an attitude about him and the women wore expensive jewelry; 6 African American girl friends in their 20s; a mid aged couple from Oregon and best of all Krazy Ken with his wife and special needs son, Clarence consisted of our group. Dimos, who welcomed us aboard the shuttle bus gave an amusing commentary that entertained us during the half hour ride. At the port, he handed us over to Panos, who was going to be our host on the ship, for us duffer Americans with the weird queries, I guess. Panos was gay, wore colorful clothes, with a lady like gait and a perpetual smile and a true darling!

We handed in our passports, got receipts for that and boarding passes that looked like credit cards. Of course we could charge that card to anything we bought on the ship. Rajesh bought vodka in duty free and we boarded the Aquamarine. Our picture was taken, boarding cards were swiped and a Goan boy led us to our cabins. The ship was 3-star; the narrow cabin and the tiny toilet was clean with big windows and there was a swan shaped towel waiting on our bed along with the ship’s newsletter that gave us information on the weather, the meals, the various activities on the ship and the timings of departure and arrival on various islands. There was a mandatory drill and we found a friendly Kashmiri staff member conducting the drill. In our drill group, there were so many malayalis that the Kashmiri guy remarked - “I think they sent all the Indians to my group”. Picking up a conversation with the mallus, the lady named Anna told us that they were in a tour group of 70 people doing a religious stint, following the path of some Saint.

After the drill, we went on up to the deck by the pool, enjoyed some drinks while watching Athens disappear behind us. We went on to lunch, preferring the buffet and found lots of Indian waiters (Goan + Mumbai). There was also an Indian chef from Delhi making fresh pasta at the Pasta counter, whom I immediately be-friended and he made me some spicy pasta…: ) The waiters told us that in winter, the ship docked in Cochin and cruised to the Andaman & Nicobar islands. That explained the numerous Indian staff on board. They were really nice and friendly. We browsed thru the duty free shop and found a Goan girl smiling at us…Jeez, was I in India? Off we went to take a nap in our cabin before the ship docked in Mykonos, our first island. I couldn’t wait to sample the Greek islands!!

---