Wednesday: Ballast, Toga, Tequila.

Kerry took this lovely photo just after sunrise this morning.

It’s so rare when you can swim in the ocean and see the bottom at 70 feet and the surface is like glass and there are interesting things to see both underwater and on land.  Yet here we find ourselves at 2 little islands, Topak Adasi and Kara Ada, with those exact conditions. I swam out fellow Mainers Kathy and Katie around the bigger of the 2 islands with Heather, Kerry, Susie, and Cynthia following. Deep blue water, schools of blue fish, soaring cliffs, and a Turkish Navy boat doing patrols. As we rounded the island, I spied a pile of stones on the sandy bottom in about 20 feet of water in the shape of a boat hull. The stones were much darker than any others in the area. I think they might be ballast from a shipwreck. I wish I took a photo. This is a VERY heavily traveled area, with swimmers and boats cruising through here over hundreds of years, so I’m sure I’m not the first to see this by any stretch. I’ll bookmark it for the next trip and try to do some research. For those of you playing at home, it’s on the west side of Topak Island, near Kekova, Turkiye.  See what you can find. By the way, I also found what I believe could be a signal cannon in the BVIs off Virgin Gorda. The coordinates are 8°29'1.4474" N 64°24'58.3672" W. Go nuts. 

We re-grouped, then swam around the next island, Kara Ada. The long stretch on the mainland side was breathtaking, just the perfect swim. We rounded the west end to get a glimpse of some Lycian ruins, dropped Lexi off to hike across, then kept swimming to the opposite side where we could climb up to walk around and meet her. We joked that Lexi was walking through a portal that would bring her back to 400 B.C. as she walked under a doorway in the ruin, and told her she’d look great in a toga. There’s a flat spot in the center of this part of the island where columns lay on the ground next to their decorative tops, olive trees providing shade. Architectural features are strewn about, but you really can get a sense of the importance of this place. Was it a temple? A formal entrance to the region?  Was all of this stuff dumped here in 1983 to make some B movie? I need answers!!

Kathy & Katie got their play on after our morning swim.

Kathy could not wait to get back in the water this afternoon, and bobbed around in the bay while we all had tea.

The little schools of silversides did not disappoint on our afternoon swim in the bay.

The bay created by these islands had filled up with day boat tourist gulets while we were exploring, and we snaked our way through those back to La Mia Stella to eat some watermelon. We moved to a bay on the mainland and settled in for naps, lunch with ridiculously delicious stuffed eggplant, more naps, tea and cakes, a yoga session, and another swim. Simon manned the bar and made some fantastic margaritas with lemon rather than lime juice (it seems limes aren’t very popular in  southern Turkiye?!!). A hearty seafood dinner filled our bellies, but not too much for a dance party complete with conga line. There may have been some skinny dipping. Oh, tequila.

Hopper