MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE WINDING DOWN
By Bob Van Leer

  (KYTHERA, Greece, May 30, 1996) - We made a short stop today at a tiny fishing village on a Greek Aegean island. The harbor was much too small for our ship to enter, so we anchored off shore and entered the harbor in lifeboats. here was a lump running in the ocean and getting passengers loaded in small boat was an exercise in coordination. Only one person could be loaded at a time and this with the assistance of two crew members. But nobody missed and fell.

  The loading on small boats was made more difficult because a sister ship to ours, the Costa Riviera, anchored first and took the best anchoring spot. The little harbor was like a picture postcard with a small beach and little village opposite the entrance. And, the weather was perfect. This is to be the last landfall for most of us until we reach Genoa. Our cruise is rapidly winding down and we are making preparations for disembarking. It has been a good cruise. The personnel taking care of us do an excellent job. The crew is from all over.

  Our stewardess, Katalin, is from Hungary. Our waiter and assistant waiter, Enrique and Benjamin, are from Honduras. Our English-speaking host is from Florida. The captain and most of the senior officers appear to be Italian. The ship will stop tomorrow at Sorrento, Italy, to disembark passengers from south Italy. The rest of us stay aboard. Tonight we get back one of the hours we lost going east. There will be nine more to go before we arrive home. Sorrento is 551 nautical miles from Kythera and Genoa is another 337 miles. So far this trip, the only thing I have seen in the sea that was live was a half-dozen dolphins. Near land there is a considerable amount of litter in the water.