Every once in a while, the ocean smiles upon us, and gives us perfect swimming conditions. This morning was one of those times. After a quick yoga and pilates session led by yours truly, we planned an A to B swim, with La Mia Stella moving to a cove somewhere down the coast for us to find. Not too difficult, as her masts are taller than most of the coastal hills. The water was flat calm, and we had the whole place to ourselves. And when I say the whole place, I mean 4 bays, 7 islands, and the ruins of a 6th? century church.

The channel was so flat and calm this morning that we found swim throughs we’d missed last week, including this one with a light beam coming down through a stone skylight, Kendra, we missed you! xx

Turkiye has so many historic sites that some of them don’t even get mentioned. I beg you to find any information about the ruins on Kişneli Island. It’s in Gokkaya Bay in the Kekova region. Anywho, we poked around the ruins a bit, and surmised that all of the number plates nailed to the olive trees were agriculturally related.

*I managed to catch our gulet, La Mia Stella as it passed through the channel from the doorway of this ancient ruin! - HP*

As soon as the sun or the sea feels too warm here in the Kekova region, we run into a chilly spot in the water. This is caused by the multiple springs that pump lots of fresh water into the sea every day around here, a place that seems pretty dry most of the time. I wonder if these springs allowed for the Lycians to flourish here. I wonder how they harnessed this fresh water, as most of it seems to bubble up just under the surface of the sea. They must have dug wells.

More glassy conditions as we swam to our yacht, now anchored near a Byzantine-era fort. Breakfast was still out, so we nibbled on that. More yoga for Kerry and Susie, who had missed my morning session.

Later in the afternoon, we were longing on the bog cushions on the stern when we saw something splashing in the water about 100 yards from our Gulet. It was a Mediterranean Monk Seal, one of the most endangered animals on the planet. It had caught a fish, and proceeded to play with it for about 20 minutes, throwing it in the air with its mouth, then flipping it back with its tail, doing somersaults, generally looking adorable. A very rare and special sighting.

Tea time around here is at 4pm, with fresh cakes, cookies, and other yums. It set us up nicely today for our evening swim, which brought us directly into the sun for the first 20 minutes, but the way back gave us great views to the hills in the east. Simon continues to do stroke analysis with the guests, and they work on tweaks in the water during our swims.

Guide antics: Hopper, Simon and I broke out our matching suits, and Simon started our afternoon swim with a spectacular artistic swimming routine. That toe point!!

Marianne and I enjoyed one of our special swims, where we swim and chat and generally unburden ourselves of hard things we carry. We’ve been doing this for almost 15 years. - HP

Captain Seyfi was grilling lamb chops on the bow when we returned. Needing a fresh garnish for the limoncello cocktails I planned to make, I swam to shore in search of sage, which I saw a lot of during yesterday’s hike. Alas, no sage, but I did find some basil thyme, which worked quite nicely. We do special.