It's an Exciting World

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.

We got the Egypt and it was pretty easy with the e-Visa. We were in the wrong line for a little bit, of people buying the visa on arrival.  Once we got through customs we called an Uber, and as expected they told a story of fees that we had to pay. Fortunately I saw the actual fee sign and we only paid the real fee, which I think made the Uber driver disappointed.

The hotel we stayed at, Jaz Amara, was really nice and had about 30 pools. Unfortunately the pools closed down at 5:00 p.m. so there wasn’t any evening pool activities for when we got there. We had a nice dinner and then walked along the beach out to the pier. The hotel seemed about half capacity and I’m guessing it was the offseason. The next morning we slept in a little bit, and then went to have breakfast. Shortly after breakfast we got into the ocean and we’re able to pretty quickly find the dugong. This bay, Marsa Mubarak, has a resident dugong named Dennis.

Dennis the Dugong Song

Dennis clearly has a big fan base because it was easy to spot where he would be based on the number of snorkelers. So we were easily able to find him I just following the largest group of snorkelers. This day he was just munching on the seagrass and eventually ran off when one of the photographers got too close with their giant camera. We also saw a good number of sea turtles both Dennis and the sea turtles had remora friends, and some of the sea turtles had small yellow and black fish that were hoping for things to be kicked up from the sand when the sea turtle pulled out the grass.

We came back in for lunch and relaxed a little bit before going out for another snorkel we didn’t find Dennis this time but still had a good snorkel and spent more time at the coral bomes. We did get to see some cleaner wrasse stations as well as some batfish and triggerfish Steph even saw a school of squid go by her rapidly.

We set the pools for a bit and swam up to the swim up bar. I don’t know why but I really love the idea of a swim up bar and so having it at that hotel was nice. 

We worked out for a bit and then took a walk down to the ocean right about sunset. I was trying to make a call to Michael just to talk so Steph went out to one of the points on her own. I saw her running back which is so out of character for stuff I decided I had to go meet her to see if something was wrong. Nothing was wrong she just felt like running and wanted to be back before it really got dark because the sunset made it dark really quickly.

Paul in Yutong showed up pretty late and we greeted them as they arrived. We did another walk along the beach and then they went to bed because they were exhausted from their long travel from California. 

We got up early the next morning and met them for breakfast, unsurprisingly they had already been up for hours due to the jet lag. Shortly after breakfast we went to go search for Dennis the dugong again but we weren’t able to find him for a long time. Eventually one of the snorkeling boats showed up and they took a zodiac around to try to find Dennis. The managed to find him and the people the doc pointed out that that’s was where Dennis was. We swam out to him as he snorkelers were getting in the water. Dennis decided it was time to move and he was going pretty fast despite not looking like he was trying at all. He was more animated than the day before rolling along the grass sea sandy bottom and looking like he was having a good time playing. I was the only one really able to keep up with Dennis as he was swimming quickly, and eventually I stopped to join back up with Yutong and Paul and Steph. Steph wasn’t far behind, Paul and Yutong where further behind, and the tourist snorkeling group was way back.

We spent a little bit more time looking at the coral and then hit it in to clean up before checking out. We had a long lunch waiting for the van to arrive, it picked us up to take us to the boat. 

Our group was one of the first arrive on the boat and we got to settle in for the evening in harbor. Who walked around in the harbor of it but it was still under construction in large parts and the small trinket shops weren’t all that interesting. 

The next morning we went north a bit to one of the nearby reefs for our checkout dive. The reef was doing well and Steph mentioned that it was much better than when was in the Red Sea in September. On one dive Steph found a dive computer, but it was from one of the other boats, so they gave it back.

After two checkout dives the boat moved to the brother Islands. Once we left for the Brother Islands we were out of contact until we got back from Daedalus Reef three days later. We started at little brother and did a few dives there where Steph saw a thresher shark, which he pointed out to me. Unfortunately not many others were able to see it as they were further ahead, and Steph had the macro lens on so we didn’t get good video. We then moved to the Big brother Island where the lighthouse is. The current was pretty strong around the Big brother Island but we got to see a couple large fish being cleaned. One of our divers lost a weight pouch as they jumped in the water but then Steph managed to find it at the bottom. Steph started referring to her finds as her treasure, and she was hoping to find another dive computer that was not claimed.

That evening we had a long journey to Daedalus reef which took about 10 hours, there was a lot of rolling and I got a sea sickness prevention patch from Yutong, which made a huge difference. Amusingly it also made me not able to see well up close as a side effect.

Next morning we woke up to the Daedalus reef lighthouse in view, and the reef itself which is really pretty. Three has some pretty steep drop offs on all sides to go down to maybe 100m. The guides focused on blue dives which means we were away from the reef trying to find some of the more pelagic creatures like hammerhead sharks, silky sharks, manta rays, and longimanus sharks. We managed to see pretty much everything on the list although many of them were just shadows in the distance. Like we could tell it was a hammerhead shark, but it was 40m down and moving pretty quickly away from us. The one major exception to this was the longimanus shark also known as the white tip oceanic shark. We found one that was very curious about us and came quite close almost close enough for me to reach out and touch it, but since I value my hands I did not actually do that. We also got to see some clown fish in anemones and large Napoleon wrasse.

We were able to go to the lighthouse for sunset and I got a silly hat for mystery prize for dive club.

The evening we spent on the reef let us see a large school of cornet fish or needlefish it was hard for me to tell which one. They were attracted to a large spotlight on the boat and it was fun covering up the spotlight and then revealing it to see them move away and move back real quick.

In our downtime on board we were able to do some yoga and have great conversations with Paul and Yutong learning a lot more about them and their past and we had known before. 

The second day diving Daedalus reef I skipped the first morning dive. On the second dive we got to go to the anemone city which had many clownfish.

The final dive was just right under the boat. I was hoping to find some of Steph’s leggings that were blown off our drying line the previous night, but no luck.

We then had a long boat ride back to the coast. We got into range in the morning and found out that a diving live-aboard by the name of Sea Story had sunk just a little to the south of us the previous day. I had a number of messages to respond to assuring people I wasn’t dead yet. There were four confirmed dead, and another 7 missing presumed dead, including two British tourists.

The final dives were really nice, especially the dives with just the four of us. Steph led us well, and we got to take our time on some of the smaller things. I was also slapped by a turtle on one of our last dives, which was hilarious.

Once back at the port we had a short walk around, but nothing much is there and most of it is still under construction. We got picked up the next day to head to Luxor, which is a 6 hour drive away. I was surprised by the number of checkpoints we had to go through to get to Luxor.

The hotel in Luxor was amazing, Steigenberger Nile Palace. We checked in then immediately headed out to the sunset camel ride. We took a boat and a motor-cart to the camels at the edge of the desert. In Egypt, the landscape is either the fertile area by the Nile, or desert. There isn’t even a transition zone, just an immediate transformation to bone dry desert. The sunset ride was gorgeous and we had a good ride back to the hotel. We had dinner at the Lebanese restaurant, and a few of the dishes were absolutely amazing.

The next day I stayed in as Steph, Yutong, and Paul went to two of the better preserved temples outside the city. The first was amazing, and they had great pictures of it. The second still sounded great, but not as amazing.

The next day Steph went sailing and had a spa treatment, while Paul, Yutong, and I went to the local Temples. Karnak is the largest and most complex temple. It was started about 4000 years ago, and was built over 1900 years. There are still many parts of it that have nicely preserved paint and carvings, due to the roof on some sections not having fully collapsed. A large portion of it was also covered in mud, and those sections are distinct in color, with little remaining paint. The large display room and the entry pylons were the most impressive parts. We then went to Luxor temple, or the south temple which was smaller and built over a shorter period. However it was converted to a Greek temple, then a church, then a mosque. The remains of each period are left over the older periods, and it was interesting to see how they differed.

We just relaxed by the Nile after the trips, and Yutong got a spa treatment like Steph’s. We watched the sunset over the Nile, the headed to the Lebanese restaurant again for a lighter dinner this time. We had a great last meal. In the morning Steph and I had to get up extremely early to catch out flight to London via Cairo. The rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful to get back to some kitties that were happy to see us.

Some thoughts on Egypt travel:

1. The way the tipping works in Egypt is annoying and at times hard to handle.
   • In many cases it is implied that the tour or boat ride is paid to the company and then the tip is the only payment the guide or driver receives.
   • There are many cases of people desperate to provide small services, like bellhops being insistent on taking your bags.
   • The worst in my opinion are the bathroom attendants. They rarely clean the bathroom, and instead stand by the sink with the soap dispenser so you must ask them for soap, then they stand in front of the paper towel dispenser so you must ask for paper towels. It is really obnoxious, and then you have to tip.
   • Having approximately right denominations of currency was difficult, as the ATMs gave out mostly 200’s which is what was recommended for a full day’s tour guide, not a bellhop.
   • Very rarely will you be able to find out ahead of time what the right range of tips are.
   • At restaurants there is a ‘service fee’ it isn’t the tip, and goes to the restaurant.
2. Some of the people trying to sell things or get tips will tell you to do things instead of offer or suggest. It will be along the lines of “Come down to these tables to have a drink.” Or “Come this way, it has the best decorations.” Some of the people acting in this way are security guards at the temples, which makes it hard to know when they are telling you rules or just trying to get tips. We just said “no thank you” and were left alone in most cases. We have heard that they will offer to take pictures of your group, and then not give the phone back until they get a tip, so we just didn’t give them the phones.
3. There is a lot of security theater.
   • Entering buildings, airports, and driving along the main roads. If you don’t have a guide or driver to deal with this it would be very difficult.
   • At the airport we had an instance where I was planning to check in and get boarding passes at the airport, but to get into the airport we needed boarding passes. The person checking for boarding passes at the security stop wouldn’t let us go to the check in desk inside the airport without the boarding passes. Then once I had checked in online, gotten the digital boarding passes, gone through two levels of security just to get into the airport, the checkin desk printed us boarding passes anyway.
4. Guide quality varies massively, even at the same companies. Look at the google, trippit, and trip advisor reviews to know which guides to request from which companies.
5. Overall, just have a good guide with you, and google translate with Arabic downloaded and ready to go.

This was week 102 and 103 for living in London.

Steph and I left the flat at 3:10am to take the Thameslink train, but it was canceled. We tried to call a Lyft, but the driver didn’t want to go to Gatwick. We ended up in a cab that had an aggressive driver and I almost got sick in the backseat from the driving and the windows being fogged so I couldn’t look out. 

We made it to the airport on time and got through security. We went to the lounge and had a decent breakfast. We met the others at the gate; Gokhan, Jose, Diana, and Costa. The plane delayed a bit, then sat on the runway for an hour. They eventually took the plane back to the gate and we had a second breakfast in the terminal while they swapped out crew. After another mild delay we were on the way to Turkey.  We got near the airport and we’re circling for a while, and the captain got on the speaker to say they had closed the runway, luckily it was just another 20 minute delay and not a diversion. The bus was ready for us and we had the 2 hour drive to Kaş. 

We met Pavel at the dive mannequin  we called Jonny Depth and Keaunu Reefs. Everyone was really tired but we still made it out for a very late dinner at a nice restaurant. We loved the cats that were everywhere and many were friendly. 

The next morning we made it to the boat with no issues and started our diving.  I was having ear issues and wasn’t able to go deeper than 23m. Luckily the water was clear enough that I could see everyone down at 30m perfectly well and I could see the wreck too. After the dive the guide said he liked my style, just sitting still in the water column with perfect trim. 

The second dive was at an underwater museum where they had replicas of famous Turkish statues. The real ones can be seen at the British Museum, so we plan to stop by and see thos next week. Despite everything being a replica, I really enjoyed the dive and seeing the statues and amphora underwater. 

After diving we went to another boat for an amazing dinner cruise. This had to be the best food of the trip, and we were able to see sunken ruins from the boat, and then swin in a cove with some ruins. I did some free diving and made it down about 10 meters with no fins or line. We then went to a castle on a hill with a small town that was like a maze. Steph spotted a decently large octopus just chilling in the water next to one of the docks. 

We saw a gorgeous sunset and made it back to Kaş for a dinner at a local place Gokhan knew. 

The next day we did a dive over ancient anchors and amphora. There were also a ton of nudibranchs and lionfish. I had ear issues again, this time at 10m, and I went with Costa and Gokhan on a slightly shallower dive. 

I stayed with the same group on the second dive where we went inside a sunken plane. It was purposefully sunk, and set up for divers to easily access. On the way back to the dock we saw some flying fish and at the dock a sea turtle came by the boat. 

After the dives we had a great lunch of Turkish dumplings and a Turkish coffee. We gathered our stuff from the boat and took a short breather before heading to the Roman amphitheater for sunset. The sunset was gorgeous, then we had the fancy dinner to close out the major part of the trip in Kaş. Gokhan got a anise seed flavored Turkish drink that was very similar to absinthe, even turning cloudy when adding water. We watered it down and finished the bottle between the 7 of us. The view from the restaurant was also great as it was partway up the hill, and was effectively a massive balcony. 

The next morning we got a bus to a nice beach where turtles come up to lay their eggs, and we relaxed for a few hours, then finished the drive back with another stop for what became lunch.  

Thankfully there weren’t the same kind of issues on the flight back as there were on the way out. 

I enjoyed talking to all the people on the trip. Pavel and his wife are really into visiting castles in the UK so we will have to set up a trip together. Then Costa wors at the same company as me and has been getting into sailing. Jose is really into anime, especially One Piece. Diana is getting back into writing, and doing more of her writing in English instead of Spanish. Gokhan wants to retire to the Kaş area, but needs to find a wife and fortune first. 

(Link to the full google album so I can find it later)