Blue Cruise, Olympos-Fethiye
So at 9.00, I boarded my dolmuş that would take us to the yacht, which was really docked in a port about 2 hours from Olympos. Also on the boat were 6 Flemish Belgians- three 35-40-something women, one man, and two 6 year old girls, three Quebecer 22 year old guys, a 40-something Texan couple, two upper 30’s Turkish sisters, a father-son Turkish pair, and two other 30-something Turkish guys, along with our crew of about four. So it wasn’t looking like this would be the huge party with heaps of Aussie girls that the other boats had. Probably one of the results of going “backwards”. Naturally, I fell in with the Quebecois. They were a cool bunch, and heading the same direction in Turkey as I, and heading to Amsterdam the same time I was going back as well. It was nice having the Belgians with the kids, because I was able to understand whenever they talked to them, and I could talk to the girls… which shows that I have the vocabulary and Dutch language skills of a 6 year old… We were a little worried about the Texans, especially when we found out they were preachers… but it turns out they were some of the most liberal and democratic people I’ve met, and even smoked nirgile with us the last night. She was from So-Cal and both of them originally engineers, not preachers, so that explained a bit. The Turkish sisters didn’t speak much English, but I still found myself talking to them… or at least trying… quite a bit. The father-son Turks lived in Switzerland, so it was easier to communicate with the father in German, though the son spoke decent English. The father whooped us in poker one night… I didn’t talk at all the with the other two Turkish guys, and they got off the boat on the third day because of sickness. Of our crew, only the captain really spoke English, but did so well, when he actually talked. We were worried at first that we’d have no clue where we were going or what we were seeing, as I’d heard complaints from others that had taken the cruise, but he did keep us informed.
Along the way we stopped at Pirate’s Cave and swam a bit, Pirate’s Cove, drank at the water-access only Smuggler’s Bar with the passengers of some other boats, saw Kekova, the sunken city… though you don’t really see much. Mostly rock formations and steps that lead into the water, but it was certainly no Atlantis, and since swimming, snorkeling, and scuba are prohibited, we got the best we could. We stopped in Kaş for a couple hours, just a little tourist town, but at least we could grab a couple cheap beers from the market and down ‘em before getting back on the boat. We also stopped in Butterfly Valley, where we had the option to go in and hike, but I opted out and just swam in the beautiful beach instead. There was a lot of sitting around reading, or playing cards or chess, stopping for swims… chillin. Our last night we docked in a large, more populated bay. There were speedboat owners pulling rafts you could pay to ride, or rent a jetski. I gave both a go, splitting the jetski with one of the Canadian guys. There was also the ruins of a city on a little island mountain across the bay that a few of us headed over to.
So it wasn’t a huge party, but cool nonetheless. A party boat would have gotten real expensive, real quick. But it was a nice couple days of swimming, eating delicious food, including fish that the Turkish father caught, sitting in the sun and just enjoying the beautiful Mediterranean. When we docked in Fethiye at 14.00, the Canadians and I headed to an internet café to figure out plans. They were heading to Bodrum and me to Selçuk. We got to the otogar and there was a bus leaving right then to Bodrum, so they jumped on. I wanted to take a night bus so I could check out the cliff tombs in Fethiye, so I left at 23.00 (22YTL).
After seeing the tombs and getting some food, I wandered around the town and then went to the otogar to sit and wait for my bus. I laid down in the grass for a bit, and at some point I hear a rustling by my head. A dog, must have only been a year old, had laid down right next to me. He was incredibly affectionate, just wanting me to pet him, and crawling into my lap. He even came right back to me when I whistled, and followed me to get my bags and to my bus. But we both knew the score, and as soon as I got on the bus, he was off to do whatever dogs do.
Tags: Asia, Travel, Turkey
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