Sailing the Sapphire Seas

A few years ago, I came across a piece of travel porn. It was a gorgeous catalog full of beautiful photos of amazing customized trips that the company organized. The only one that ever really appealed to me was called "Sailing the Sapphire Seas" and involved traveling along Turkey's Mediterranean coast in a gullet, which is a traditional Turkish sailboat. The whole point was to hug the coast, popping into the numerous small bays and coves that are only accessible by sea, hang out on the boat, and eat. Doesn't it sound great?



Happily, I can report that it is great. Starting from Fethiye, I boarded the Baba Velis, along with 15 other passengers and 3 crew, including our Captain Itzak. We were going to spend 4 days heading east along the coast to Damre. As I said to myself dozens, perhaps hundreds of times, over the trip, "this is living." The Turkish Mediterranean is absolutely gorgeous. When you can't see the bottom, it's this dark, deep blue, very much like a sapphire. In shallower depths, it can be turquoise, or even a pure, light aqua. Because this is the very start of the season, we had it all to ourselves too. Most of the time, we were the only boat around, which made it even better. Certainly, the water gets a lot warmer later in the year, but you also have to put up with all other people and boats. It's so much nicer to find a deserted little cove to anchor in that's nothing more than a rocky island with sheer cliffs popping out of the water, to jump off the side of the boat into the fresh Med, "fresh" being our euphemism for "so cold it takes your lungs a minute to fully expand again," and then to swim or snorkel in a sea that's so salty you'd have to work really hard to sink. When you feel a little too fresh, up you go back on deck to let the hot sun warm you up again. By the time the boat anchors in another cove, you're probably hot enough to get back in the water.

I got pretty used to the hardest decisions of my days being: should I reapply sunscreen? should I have another biscuit at tea time? should I bring the snorkel and fins in the water with me? should I have seconds of the very delicious food?

You can understand why I needed to ease gently back into the rigors of travel. After that wonderful and wonderfully relaxing boat trip, I made my way to Olympos, which is also on the coast. Originally a Lycian settlement, the Greeks, Romans, Genovese and Turks all left their mark. Now, it's a backpacker haven where you can do three things: lounge at the beach, explore the ruins, or lounge at the guesthouse. All the guesthouses include breakfast and dinner because there aren't really any standalone restaurants. It's possibly more relaxing than the boat since you never have rough seas on land. But tomorrow, I move on. It's probably time for me to stop being a lazy beach bum anyway. Not forever, just for a week or so until I get to Indonesia.

I have a few announcements to share. Firstly, to my delighted surprise, I did not get seasick once over 4 days on a boat. And the seas were not always smooth - we had one day stuck in harbor due to 2 meter swells and very strong winds. When we finally left harbor, it was a rather rough ride into the sunset, and I actually enjoyed myself! Much better than hanging over the side of the gullet, I think you'll agree. Secondly, after a few peaceful weeks, Hotel California has invaded my life twice in Turkey. The first time, I was serenaded it on acoustic guitar. There could be no worse song to woo me with, but how was the young Turk to know? The second time was here in Olympos, so I believe we are now at 5 occurrences of that overplayed tune. Lastly, I have been messing with my photo settings, not to make your lives more frustrating, but because I wanted to have a bit more control over who sees them. Please be patient while I decide how to resolve this issue with a minimum of hassle for both you and me and with maximum thwarting of my facebook stalker. I bet he likes Hotel California too!