The second best sound I heard all day was that of the anchor chain rumbling back into the boat, allowing us to leave this harbor that has protected us from some really fierce winds for almost 2 days. A bittersweet farewell.

Heather and I first scouted this trip almost a decade ago. It was a wild adventure, and we were greatly helped by a “fixer” that Heather had found through her contacts at National Geographic. His local name was Don Bey (translated roughly as Mr. Don, a term of respect). Don Bey had been part of the archaeological team that dug the famous Bronze Age shipwreck from a stretch of the coast that we sailed past this morning. He took us into his home in Bodrum, fed us, sheltered us, and gave us a lot of advice about how to operate in this country. One thing that he told us that stuck with me was “If at all possible, start your swimming trip in Kekova. You’ll have this long, difficult journey to get there, and when you do, you’ll think you died and went to heaven”.

We weren’t able to follow his advice to the letter, but in many ways, we started this trip in Kekova this morning. First, we sailed east, downwind, past islands and outcroppings covered in scraggly shrubs and eroding rocks, wild and undeveloped. As we pulled into the harbor in Kekova, we sailed past ancient ruins and tiny islands flying the Turkish flag. The water turned turquoise, and the waves disappeared into a flat calm. Dozens of Gulets lined the shores of the islands, and our captain expertly parked us in what I call a Happy Spot. There was generally a feeling of “we made it”.

What a convenience to have a totally undeveloped island near your yacht that is a perfect two-mile swim. Better yet, one that has a cave. The best sound I heard all day was the chirping of bats in that cave. We swam, explored, baked in the sun, made friends with some very friendly goats on our way around Aşirli Adasi. Every one of our guests did the entire swim: Jeff, Amy, Jane, Kendra, Dana, Samantha, Natalie, and special props to siblings Fiona and Kevin, for whom this was their longest swim ever. The crossing back to our Gulet was a little hairy, as the channel that separated the island from our yacht had gotten quite busy. Everyone got back safely, and we celebrated over lunch that was basically 20 different yummy Turkish dishes.

Naps Naps Naps. Then 5:00 tea. It comes with lots of cookies and pastries. A quick swim around the little island right next to our gulet revealed a local freshwater spring that makes the top two inches of water here very chilly, but also a few spots that are bathtub warm. What’s going on here? All in all it was a double island circumnavigation day. A SwimVacation first.

I mixed up some Negronis, which seemed to fit the scene here. We spread out on the cushions placed all over the deck and watched the sun set and the moon rise over the Turkish flag on the little island we’d just swum around.

The star of the show at dinner was the hummus. Sure, the steaks and broccoli and yogurt sauce were fantastic, but the hummus, my god the hummus. I’ll dream of it. I might brush my teeth with it. We sleep.

Hopper

Monday: Heaven, hummus and a dozen goats.

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