Michelle, Vicki and I arrived in Dalaman late on Thursday and spent a few hours at the airport waiting from Franziska to arrive from Munich. From there, we got a transfer to Fethiye and arrived at our hostel around 3am. The accommodation was cheap and basic but perfect for us - it even included a great breakfast on a balcony overlooking the beautiful harbour. After breakfast we walked down to the harbour to meet our boat - and already at 9.30am it had to be 30 degrees! At the harbour in Fethiye -
Our boat company was 'Before Lunch' - Michelle had been on the same boat earlier in the season (when the weather was cooler) so we were lucky to have her knowledge and personal recommendation. We joined our boat and 'checked in', then picked up some supplies for the trip, met our Captain, Ahmet, and First Mate/Cook, Sunny, then cruised out of the harbour.
Heading out to sea -
There were 11 people on the trip - 4 from South Africa (an older couple, their son and his wife), and a group of 3 travelling together (an Australia teacher living in Ankora and her two friends from Canada), plus the 4 of us. Everyone made their introductions and immediately got in to the spirit of the trip - finding a spot on the boat and relaxing. Michelle and Vicki on the roof of the cabin -
The boat stopped in a small cove and we all jumped into the sea for our first swim. The water was amazing - very deep (even close to the islands), clear and warm. After a long swim, some lunch (we had delicious food every meal), we headed off again, and a while later anchored in a protected spot near some ruins. There were a few other boats around, but none close enough to feel crowded. A few people headed off to check out the ruins (left by Romans long, long ago) -
- but we took the lazy option of another swim and an early cocktail hour. The sunset -
Me and the sunset -
It was still very warm in the evening so a few of us took our pillows and quilts and slept on the deck. Apart from a few mosquitoes, and the very warm sun in the morning, it was lovely and cool.
The previous day there had been a number of local boats coming by our boat selling ice creams or pancakes ('borek', cooked fresh on the boat - we had a delicious banana and chocolate version). The next morning we had a boat come by offering water-skiing. Although I hadn't skied in about 15 years, for 20 Turkish lira (about $20 AUD), I was definitely up for it! Amazingly, I got up first time and did a 10 minute lap around the area without falling off - awesome!! Our boat is the last one -
After some breakfast and more swimming we were off to Butterfly Island, famous for a waterfall usually surrounded by butterflies. I actually left the boat this time, but didn't get near the waterfall (it was apparently not at its best anyway with low rainfall) and probably should have stayed on the boat - this holiday was all about relaxing, not sight-seeing! Our boat from the island -
Everyone relaxing in the late afternoon at the front of the boat -
The standard view (a couple of the '12 Islands' we spent the 4 days cruising around) -
Sunday was more of the same - swimming, eating, relaxing, a brief stop to re-fuel, reading, eating, swimming etc. On Monday after breakfast we hit the water for our last swim. We knew our time on the boat was almost over and reluctantly got back aboard to head back to Fethiye. We were very sad to leave - we had had 4 days of perfect weather, fantastic swimming, delicious food and great company - it is the ultimate in relaxing holidays as you simply can't do anything else! (Although I'm not sure Nick would cope without internet access!) I couldn't recommend it more highly - it really was brilliant.
Fortunately we still had an afternoon to enjoy the sunshine so with the aid of Ahmet, we hired scooters and took off for a beach out of Fethiye. We headed up into the mountains around the winding roads - did I mention Turkey is infamous for bad drivers, I was in shorts and thongs (or flip flops, as we know them here) and I think the last time I was on a scooter was even more than 15 years ago? This (and my two broken wrists from crashing a motorbike when I was 7) started to occur to me as the roads became steeper and more winding, but fortunately our journey was incident free. We stopped en route at a small place for some lunch (more delicious borek) and then kept going for the beach. Michelle and Ahmet at lunch -
Going up the mountain had been scary but there had been little traffic and few towns. More scary was coming down the other side where the roads were much bigger and my squeaky breaks struggled to cope with the descent! Finally we made it to the beach for a much needed swim. After that it was back on the scooters and back to Fethiye. Me on my bike, Vicki and Franziska behind and the sea where we had been swimming -
Half way down the mountain on the other side we stopped to take a picture of Fethiye harbour -
We returned the scooters and then it was time to make our way back to Dalaman to catch our flights back home.
