We awoke early this morning with the hope of a ride over to Crete.  There was a plane scheduled to depart at 9:00am but there was no word from the crew as to whether they could take us along.  It is “Space Available” after all, meaning that cargo and duty passengers come first.  We waited around in the terminal and the loadmaster came in and spoke with us and the passenger terminal folks.  After exhaustive calculations on the weight of the cargo, baggage and we hopeful passengers, (I sucked in my gut) she said “I can do it.”  “You guys can come along.”

Waiting in the terminal in Sicily for the news on our ride.

We rode the short bus out to the aircraft and met our pilot and copilot.  Great guys.  They make this run across the Mediterranean several times a week.  The plane is a small Navy C-24.  A twin engine, turbine powered, constant speed, variable pitch airplane with 8 seats and no bathroom.  We have been on this plane before and we have learned to make one last bathroom visit before take-off.  Less than two hours later we made our final approach and landed to a cooler, drizzlier (is that a word?) Greece.

We were still undecided on our next move so we booked a suite at the Visiting Officer Quarters (VOQ), dropped off our bags in the room and made our way to the Galley for Sunday Brunch.  That means they had grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and French fries in case you didn’t want scrambled eggs.  We went with the eggs.  Ham and cheese omelets to be exact and the food was actually very good.  I temper that statement with the fact that were both starved and this was pretty much the only game in town on a Sunday morning.

Tomorrow morning we plan meet with a travel agent to book passage to Athens.  We’re not sure whether we want to fly or take the overnight ferry.  Both have advantages.  Flying is quick and cheap but, if we sail, we’ll book a cabin, get some sleep and arrive in the morning.  We will see what the local professionals have to say.

Till tomorrow………………stay tuned.