Friday: Once more, Tea, Sugar, A Dream.
One way to remember Teşekkür ederim, the words for thank you Turkish, is to say, appropriately, Tea, Sugar, A Dream.
Örzot is Kaptan Seyfi’s Dad with a 40 year history as a charter Gulet Kaptan himself.. I took to calling him Papa for two weeks. It’s possible he even came to like it. :) - HP
With an eye on our intended destination, and working backwards, we weighed anchor around 6am and steamed west, away from Kekova and all the memories we’ve made here. We passed the partially sunken ancient city of Aperlai, then the site of the bronze age shipwreck, both places Heather and I scouted 9 years ago. We anchored at a couple of little islands that form the outer bay of Kas, before the dozens of dive boats and noodler boats arrive. Glassy waters, a slight current. Simon takes the Maine contingent for a swim, Heather the rest, but for Marianne, who needs a little extra attention this morning, worried about her home on the west coast of Florida, where Hurricane Helene has passed through the previous evening. There’s a wishing tree on the island here, a piece of driftwood with bits of stone, shell, and other things tied to it, each one a wish. I had Marianne get something we could tie on, a sock it turned out, and I climbed up onto the island and tied it to the wishing tree. She later learned that neither her home nor her daughter Lexie’s were damaged. Success.
The wishing tree on Kovan Adasi.
These two adasi (islands) off Kaş feature the wishing tree, the remnants of a ship wreck, swim throughs (my pod did GREAT following me through!) and of course, the Crevasse.
There’s a deep canyon between 2 of the islands here, so deep that the gin-clear water changes color in dramatic ways, a hundred blues. Back aboard, I watch another swimming vacation company cross a part of the bay in very open water, led by a guide in a dinghy, then their day-gulet, then another guide in a dinghy. A different kind of operation.
Left: I photograph up at Kerry, Cynthia and Susie from deep within the crevasse. When Simon took Kathy and Katie through there were divers at the bottom. He got this outstanding photograph of them swimming through the divers’ bubbles. Way to go Swigs!
Another move, this time to the mainland shore, where we once again try to find a military tank that had been sunk here a few years ago. No luck, once again, but Heather got a chance to take some of her famous swimmer portraits. After two weeks of coaxing, she got Mustafa to jump in for a swim and having his underwater portrait made.
So much fun to get Mustafa in the water with us!
Lunch rolled out, always just the right stuff from Chef Ali. We lounged around, and I noticed that the sun has definitely gotten lower on the horizon during our 2 weeks here, and the light has changed. The days and nights are a degree or 2 cooler, and the ocean has cooled perhaps a degree.
Our third and final move of the day brought us to the eastern corner of the bay, a well protected spot. Tea with cakes. We try to soak in the last drops of the Mediterranean, the gulet, the sun, Turkiye. A mixed bag of cocktails, some champagne-based, some Campari based, some whiskey based with the cherries I had purchased from an old woman on the hill leading to Simena Castle. Another outstanding Turkish dinner, and there was a round of applause for chef Ali. We have a little ritual at our final dinner where we all shore our favorite swims from the week. Many chose the one where we swam around 2 islands and walked through ancient Hellenistic ruins, but this week I chose the swim n hike I did with Kathy and Katie early in the week.
Heather’s slide show was a hit. I like that she used some Turkish pop music as a backdrop once again. Lots of gratitude gets shared on these last evenings, and I know I and my fellow guides bask in it after 2 weeks of work here. Heather and Simon put everything they have into these trips, and put up with some less than ideal flights, accommodations, and sleep. Our crew on La Mia Stella worked their tails off over the 2 weeks, they’ll steam 12 hours back to their home port of Marmaris tomorrow, then work on the boat all winter to get it in shape for next season.
I’m very grateful for all of these people, including our guests, who put so much trust in us. I’m also grateful for this opportunity we’ve had to learn more about Turkiye and the Turkish people. This country has a perfect blend of pride and humility, organization and flexibility. It has mind blowing history, a well established culinary tradition, clean new airports, solid public transportation, Istanbul is just wow, and I don’t even know why I’m trying to describe this huge and complex place that I’ve barely scratched the surface of. We’ll be back, Turkiye, have some eggplant ready.
Hopper
PS by Heather: I’ll add that we are ALL very grateful for Hopper and his Big Idea, his lighthearted compassion and sense of adventure. His gift is setting people up for the time of their lives, and I feel so lucky to be a part of it. Without Hopper, I’d have only read about this magical, amazing, vivid place that has given me such gifts for the last two weeks. Teşekkürlar, Partner.
A little video of Friday below, along with a pesky little remora on whom I turned the table…..!