We arrived at Olympos from Antayla, for a few days we thought.. We really wanted to do the Blue Cruise, but due to being early in the ‘tourist’ season timing was crucial. We had hoped to travel along the coast to Fethiye. Turns out there were no trips that way and the only option was to bus to Fethiye and return by boat to Olympos. So we had decisions to make – and in 20 minutes it turned out!! There were two cruises – one leaving on the 6th – (the following day) or one on the 9th. We looked at the weather forecast, and decided on the 6th option (thank goodness we did!) But it did mean a rush to pack and catch a mini bus to the main road and continue our journey of 200km which took six hours!! They stop and collect locals at every opportunity. But we made it to Fethiye and then had to buy beach towels and sunscreen in anticipation..
Little did we know of the adventures to follow …
We arrived at the yachting company office at 10.00am on Friday. This was followed by a lot of sitting around waiting in the office, before we finally got the call up to head to the boat around 12:15. Alas! We thought we were on our way, so we changed into our togs and assumed sunbathing positions on top of the boat. Twenty minutes into our journey we heard the rumbling of the coastguard boat approaching. After what sounded like a bit of heated talk between them and our crew, our captain informed us that we didn’t have the right stamp to exit the harbour and would be going back to port for the time being. So we cruised back and anchored just out from the marina and ate our first scrumptious lunch while our crew headed to land to sort out the next step. We waited around 2 hours until we left port again, this time with no problems. It turns out that there was a new government office opened and you were required to get a certain stamp, but our boat was let off.
So we embarked on our slightly altered journey. Our first stop, and the place we were staying at for the first night, was St Nicholas Island, where St Nick (Santa Claus) lived for some time. We took a walk around some very impressive ruins, before taking a hike to the top of the island to watch the sunset. We went back to the boat for dinner, which, like every meal, was homecooked, Turkish and delicious!! We settled down to bed and were gently rocked to sleep by the ocean.
The next day we hit the road (ocean??) early to catch up on what we missed the day before. We cruised past the Blue Lagoon and Oludeniz (the nicest beach in Europe?), before stopping and disembarking the boat to go for a wander up Butterfly Valley, where many types of butterflies flutter around in summer. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite the right time for them so we only saw a couple of species. Georgia and Richard then went for a swim in the cool waters, while everyone else sunbathed. The boat trip that day was a long one from Butterfly Valley to Kas. While on the journey, a coastguard helicopter decided to fly overhead, which got everyone a bit nervous, but it didn’t stop – so all was well. Kas was a lovely, pleasant harbour town. We visited the customary ruins.
The next day, as we were cruising out of the harbour we came across a dolphin and what looked to be a ginormous, dead turtle!! Georgia thought it looked like something out of Finding Nemo. To our relief it woke up and swam away as we went past. That day we went to the sunken city of Kekova. This was once an ancient Lycian city but due to an earthquake half of it fell underwater. Now you can see some creepyish stairs just leading off the island into the sea below.
That night we pulled into a sheltered harbour. It was still light for a while, so everyone apart from Georgia and the Canadian Denny decided to take a walk on the mainland. While we were walking, we saw a coastguard boat but didn’t really think much of it. It was quite a story when we got back to the vessel!! The coastguard boat came up to our ship to check the stamps and whatnot. The message mustn’t have got through from Fethiye about them, so our captain got fined. Apparently they fibbed and said there were no tourists on board, as Georgia and Denny were below deck sleeping. If there were tourists, the fines would have been much heftier. Our captain has good contacts though, so he should get off them easily enough
After our drama-filled voyage, our last day was spent relaxing on deck in the peaceful harbour, before having lunch, disembarking at Demre, saying our goodbyes and hopping onto a minivan destined for Olympos.
Our gullot (traditional Turkish wooden sailing boat) had three crew members and only eight tourists on board. Sam and Michael from London, Denny from Canada and Stella and Lillyana from Argentina, and three kiwis.
By Karen and Georgia
The end.
