Yamas!

Although we flew in and out of Athens, most of our time in Greece was spent on the island of Aegina (pronounced "egg-eena" with the emphasis on the first syllable), which is about 45 minutes away from the mainland by ferry. We had a little trouble getting there due to non-running bus and metro systems, which meant everyone at the airport was queuing for taxis. After we made it through the line and the 45 euro taxi ride we found ourselves at Athens' port city, the dreary, deserted and industrial Pireas, ten minutes after our intended ferry had left.

Luckily, we were still able to catch the last ferry out two hours later. Here is our first view of Aegina, whose port seemed all the more picturesque after our two hours of purgatory in Pireas. It was almost worth missing the first ferry to see the full moon rise over the island.
Our hotel, the family-run Kavos Bay, was at Agia Marina on the quieter Western side of the island
Due to our early, non-peak season arrival and the recent economic crises, we were the only tourists at our hotel (and almost on our side of the island). The result was that the island's many bars, restaurants and hotels were open but oddly empty--and exclusively ours! This is the patio of our hotel.
We also had the beach all to ourselves. The water was a bit cold yet, but definitely swimmable with a good dose of sunbathing before and after.
The coastline was pretty rocky. On our first morning we clambered around the rocks and across little coves to check out the tidal pools. The rest of the time we just found sunny rocks to lay on.

There were a lot of fossils in the rocks:
The only shot I got of myself was of my feet:
Look how clear that water is!
The little glimpses I got of corals, urchins and aquarium-worthy fish are making me really consider taking a scuba class.

We got VIP treatment in the town, where we were among the only clients. We ate out every night--"Greek salads" (cucumbers and tomatoes topped with a huge square of feta), fried feta, feta and peppers (seeing a pattern yet?), fresh fish, stuffed vine leaves and Greek variations on kebabs. We also spent a long evening with Mike at Mike's bar, a chill South African-Greek who gave us free shots of "rako", the island moonshine, and brought us fruit cocktails with sparklers in them. Yamas! ("cheers," in Greek)
Our hostel was about a mile's walk along coastline and through pine forest trails from the Agia Marina town center.

Watching the ferries and the fishermen made our St. Mary's spirits long for sailing
We woke up on our last morning to watch the sunrise...
...though we all agreed that the full moon over the water was more beautiful.