Saturday: Whole fish and big winds.
We guides temporarily adopted another cat while lounging poolside after a breakfast that included bright purple olives. Things were looking good at around 11am, the wind was calm, we had a plan for meeting up with our yacht fixer Gamze, then getting to the yacht in a dinghy, then greeting guests there around 3pm. Simon and I even cracked a beer in celebration, and as a sign of confidence. What fools.
Out on the horizon, the white caps we could barely see moments ago suddenly got closer and closer. A poolside umbrella blew over. Uh-oh. Gamze texted us some new plans. We guides would take a dinghy out to the Gulet, which was anchored in a relatively calm harbor about a mile from the marina, then sail up to Kekova, where the wind was calmer, where we’d meet the guests, who would be driven there. We met her at a restaurant near the marina, and plans changed yet again. The wind was now too strong for the Gulet to leave the harbor, so we’d have to take a bigger boat out to the Gulet with the guests. The wind got stronger. Waves were smashing into the jetty and throwing spray 30 feet into the air.
Hopper’s cistern. Always time for a little archeology with this guy.
Our guests arrived, a bit hungry and bedraggled from the curvy hilly ride. We found some snacks, including some fresh almonds that the street vendor put on ice, and ushered them to the bathroom behind the restaurant, which happened to be right next to a 5th century cistern which I had to check out. We gathered on this tubby little open boat and waited for the last of the provisions. Heather and I had a quick conference with Gamze, and I was very close to calling the whole thing off for the day and finding a bunch of hotel rooms for us all. But our fishing boat transfer captain and his mate looked confident. So we set out for the open sea. It was big. After 2 minutes of getting pounded, the captain turned the boat around, and we thought that the seas were just too big for this boat. Nope. We had left Simon behind. He was waiting near the restaurant to usher all the guests back to the boat when they had all already returned. Whoops. We collected him, apologized (Really, Swigs, sorry again!!!), laughed a lot and back out to sea we went. 8 foot confused seas with breaking waves. We got wet. Our stuff got wet. Our driver still looked calm and focused, so I felt more like that, too. It took us about 20 minutes to arrive at our Gulet, La Mia Stella. The transfer from fishing boat to gulet was tricky but we all arrived on board safe, including a few bags of whole, fresh fish.
Thanks to Samantha and Kevin who caught video of our exciting boat ride to La Mia Stella.
Snack time, just after arrival featured cheese cake (Pasta = Cake in Turkish) and assorted amazing nibbles.
This Gulet is run by a family. Captain Seyfir, his father Örzot, Seyfir’s wife Phyllis, her son Mustafa, their niece Beyza, and family friend Ali the chef. They greeted us warmly, and we settled our guests into their rooms. This is the biggest and most luxurious yacht we have ever been on, by a long shot. As we sat down for dinner, those fish that had arrived with us earlier were now on our plates, whole and cooked to perfection, along with some fried cheesy vegetable rolls, salad, creamy beet dip, potatoes, and tiny shrimp in olive oil. White wine to wash it down. I always forget how much drier wines are when you leave the U.S., which I much prefer. Fresh fruit for dessert. The wind calms a little, but the boat is still rocking enough to put us to sleep.
Dinner was a table of Turkish delights.
We don’t love unpredictable, touch and go arrivals on SwimVacation, but as the sea is our hostess, we often find ourselves reaching for even more flexibility and gameness than we originally came with. We are so grateful to this incredible group of guests who were able to roll (and rock and roll) with the twists and turns that a very windy Med has given us today. They never complained or batted an eye. They got wet and tossed and laughed and filmed it when Heather could not (because she was holding down baggage in the swell). Having weathered this arrival, there’s nothing they won’t be able to enjoy on this week, our first week of Turkish coast adventures.
- Hopper