Day Two: Athens

SUNDAY:

This morning, around 9am, a man named Radu met us at our hostel to take us to the marina. We got there and waited on the boat for about 45 minutes until two fellow travelers got on as well. All six were accounted for, so our guides, Adriana and Radu fired up the engines and we were on our way

The ride to Aegina from Athens was about 2.5 hours, but it went by quickly with the beautiful scenery and great conversation. Unfortunately, the German woman got really seasick and was puking for the past half hour. I guess she'd only been on large ferry-type boats before, so she didn't know that the sailboat would have that effect on her. We got off the boat, glad to be away from the barfing lady, and climbed to the highest point of the island to see what remained of an ancient Greek temple. It was really cool and practically nobody was there, so we had the site to ourselves.

We were told to be back at the boat by 2 and when we got there, we were informed that the German couple had taken a ferry back because the woman was too dehydrated to walk around or swim or anything like that. We were sorry to hear that she wasn't feeling well, but them leaving meant that we had a private tour for the rest of the day. Adriana and Radu anchored the boat in some gorgeously blue water and got us the appropriately sized flippers and snorkel equipment. They led us on a snorkeling tour through a pretty reef with tons of sea urchins and other cool things.

After that, we got back on the boat and ate the lunch they'd prepared for us, which was a sumptuous "cheese pie"- puff pastry filled with creamy cheese. For dessert, we had Greek yogurt with honey, which was also very tasty. Our guides suggested that we sail to a different part of the island and walk around for a bit, so we did just that. After about an hour of exploring, we went back to the boat, where Adriana and Radu asked if it would be alright with us if they extend our day by a couple of hours so we could watch the sun set while sailing back... Is that a serious question!? Of course it's alright with us!!

We sailed back and it took a few hours, but once again, it went by quickly. We were sailing against the waves so we got splashed quite a bit, but we didn't mind too much. We chatted the whole time with Adriana and Radu, who are a young couple from Romania who came to Athens for "the sun, the sea, and the city". They did the same type of tours for a company for a few years and realized that they could do it on their own, so they bought their own boat and started a business. While talking to them, we couldn't get over how happy they seemed. These were two people who are working for themselves, doing what they are passionate about. They were such great company and made good conversation with lots of laughs. It really felt like we were hanging out with friends for the day instead of being schlepped on a tour. While the sun set, Adriana offered everyone Ouzo, a Greek alcohol. I declined and was glad I did, because the others took one sip and their faces said it all- the drink was disgusting. Adriana described it like "vodka mixed with toothpaste". Yum...

We mentioned to them that we were going to head to Santorini the next day, so they offered to drive us to the ticket office and help us get tickets, then offered to drive us home from there. They were such nice people that truly made the day exponentially better. We couldn't believe how much we got to do for the reasonable price of 60 euros per person for more than a 12 hour day.

Radu and Adriana took tons of pictures (both on the boat and underwater while we were snorkeling), and they were going to write them on a DVD, but their computer was acting up. They told us they'd put them on a photo sharing website for us and email the link to us- I can't wait to see them!

στοργικά,
Katie