I went on a dive trip with a great group. Gokhan was leading the trip, and I was roomed with Frank. The others on the trip were Pavel, Anel, Lata, zSofia, Cheryl, Jose, Diana, and Romana.
We got to Gatwick, with most of us taking the same flight that Gokhan recommended. He was already in Turkey, so we met him when we got into the airport there.
We were diving in Fethiye for the first two days, and staying at an all inclusive resort. I was tempted to join in on the karaoke, but decided against it as I was really tired from the travel.
The first day of diving was really chill. The experienced divers were paired with newer divers, and I got paired with Pavel, as both of us are intermediate. The dive had us go through some tight canyon swim throughs. They were neat, but there wasn’t as much life as we’d hoped. The two fish that were surprisingly abundant were the puffer fish and lion fish from the Red Sea. We relaxed in a small cove in between the dives and had a really nice lunch. The second dive then was around that cove with a small wreck in the outer part of the cove.
In the afternoon we went to a famous lagoon and had drinks while relaxing near the beach. A few people rented paddle boards and went around the lagoon. The whole day paragliders were coming down from the nearby mountain that had a cable car running up it. They were coming down almost one a minute the whole day. Many were tandem as well for tourists I assume. We got to watch them landing on the beach and on the boardwalk.
We had a relaxed evening at the hotel, with an amazing sunset. The next day we did an absolutely amazing first dive called Aladdin’s Cavern. It was a huge cavern with a large skylight and archway entrance on the surface. We took the underwater entrance, and it was amazing to come up into the air dome to see the light coming down from above. There was also a large school of fish playing in the light rays that really accentuated the space.
I chose to not do the second dive, as did Jose. Anel was also hanging out on the boat as she wasn’t a diver.
Once we got back to shore we headed straight to Kas. We got a large AirBnB that was rustic, but really nice at the same time. It had a huge balcony and garden. We picked a dozen or so lemons and made lemonade our second night there. They had a nice cat that reminded me a lot of Kanga there. She wanted into the house so badly, but the notes in the AirBnB said to not let in any of the cats. While in Kas we went out to dinner each night. The first night it was at a decently fancy place, and it was tasty. I got a traditional Turkish dish and it was unique. I wouldn’t say I liked it, but it wasn’t bad.
The next day we went out for a few basic dives, but the life near Kas was better than near Fethiye.
That afternoon I got a really nice massage that really helped on some pent up tension I had. Lata organised the outing to the spa and she got the full Hammam experience, plus a coffee peel. It sounded like a lot more than what I was looking for.
That evening we stayed in at the AirBnB and had a lovely night just hanging out and talking.
Gokhan really wanted to play some Backgammon, and it had been at least two decades since I last played. I picked it back up pretty quickly. The first game Gokhan threw really hard as I was figuring it out again. The second game He took more seriously, but still had some silly moves to make it more interesting. He ended up regretting that as I was able to pull out a win.
The second day of diving in Kas was the best, besides Aladdin’s Cavern. We started with the Canyon then went to the the Tank. It was interesting dives. We then had a lovely evening at the Kas amphitheatre. I really enjoyed the time to just relax and talk with everyone there. I learned a lot about each of them and feel like we all got closer from the time just relaxing together. I grabbed a neat snack of a steamed bun filled with Turkish barbecue meat. It was tasty.
After that we went to dinner along the coast in another nice restaurant. We met Gokhan’s friends at the end of dinner as they just came down. A few of us were really tired and headed out. I also had a few kitty friends that were happy with the bits of meat I was sneaking them under the table.
The next morning we headed to the start of the trail for a small section of the Lycian Way. We did a 16 km section of the trail, and it was pretty tough. The whole way had lots of loose rocks that made it precarious for rolling my ankle. When we got closer to the end of the trail it was a lot of climbing as well. We took a break for snorkelling but the water was muddy and people couldn’t really see well. The one highlight on that snorkel was the turtle that came right up to everyone in the water.
We also had a nice lunch halfway through at a small restaurant that was really in the middle of nowhere, and just for people hiking along the trail it seamed.
At the end of the trail we got to a really nice hotel in the little village Ucagiz. There were some really friendly cats, my favourite called the Manager. He let me carry him around and pet him, and was so friendly. I missed dinner because I needed to make some calls that evening.
The next day we did a snorkelling trip to the sunken cities. We also went to a seemingly random cover that had so much more life than anywhere else we’d been. I really enjoyed seeing the large groups of fish that would part as we swam through. We also got out of the water and walked around the ruins some. It is amazing how many ruins are spread around the area.
The food on the boat was amazing, just like the previous time. It was a lovely dinner and everyone ended up stuffed.
We then went to the nearby castle, and did a quick hike up to it and back down. The castle was overgrown, and I found two hedgehogs in the underbrush, which is the first time I’ve seen hedgehogs in the wild. I stopped to cuddle another kitty, who was just as friendly as the Manager.
That evening we had a dinner out as a group, despite everyone already being amazingly full already.
We headed to the airport the next day, with a stop for stuffed Turkish pancakes.
This would have been week 124 in London.
It's an Exciting World 