SPOILER ALERT! This post has nothing to do with music! Scroll on if you aren’t interested!

Already I have written about my decades-long hiatus from going to the beach, wearing or even owning a bathing suit. I am not a strong swimmer but the fact remains that I hate the hot sun and the sand which gets into everything.

However, when I first read the itinerary for this trip to Greece, I noticed several references to going swimming so I figured I should break down and buy a swimming suit.

We boarded the Sunset Oia catamaran after our driver backed a half mile down the hill of a winding, coastal lane.

We saw some absolutely spectacular scenery on our six hour cruise, stopping three times: at a point where you could see the jagged, rocky “a’a” formations; at a red beach, and at a white beach—where the rock (not the sand) on the cliff is red or white—but we were not permitted to go ashore.

At the first stop, everyone in my group went into the water except me. I did ask someone to take my picture, as proof I put the suit on. Eat your heart out!

It was at the second stop, the Red Beach that my fellow tour participants egged me on to jump into the water, which was estimated at 15-20 feet deep. When they started a chant of “Ka-thy! Ka-thy! Ka-thy!” I succumbed to peer pressure and jumped into the chilly water of the Aegean Sea, throwing all caution to the winds. I DID IT! Ooh, it was cold!

I was wearing sunglasses and hadn’t counted on going all the way under, but as it turned out, my head went completely under.

I survived! and I didn’t lose my sunglasses.

On our return to shore, we witnessed a spectacular sunset.

My record has been broken!