Lunching and swimming and lounging are all in a hard day’s work.
Day Four
We woke up bright and early to take off to Butterfly Valley, but some of our group decided to take an early morning walk, making us late, so we had to breakfast at Fethiye. We arrived in Butterfly Valley at noon. The cove was beautiful. The water around the boat was a deep sapphire blue, the edges along the cliffs that surrounded the cove were a bright turquoise blue. We frolicked in the crystal water, jumped off the cliffs and relaxed until we were sufficiently cooled off to make our hike up to the waterfall.
By the time we were ready for our hike, three ferryboats full of Turkish tourists had pulled in to do the same. We quickly darted up the trail, looking for butterflies along the way (It is a nice hike but we suggest an early morning hike to avoid the crowds). Flocks of butterflies pass through the semi-tropical environment made lush by the waterfalls. We reached the waterfall and cooled off in the ice cold water. On the way down we chatted with a young Australian couple resting in a huge tiki hut surrounded by 20 mattresses with backpacks strewn about.
The hut roof was made of grapevines with fresh green grapes hanging from the ceiling. The couple told us that they had found the place from the website. They took the ferry out from Fethiye, found a vacant mattress, paid their 1.5 million lira ($2.25) and were “chilling out” with other young people from all over the world strewn around in the dozen Tiki huts in the valley of the butterflies.
Meanwhile those who couldn’t be convinced to take the hike stayed frolicking in the water while the captain and crew caught octopus and tenderized them by beating them for hours on the rocks.
We left our turquoise cove for “Oludeniz” or the Dead Sea. Our captain told us the story of why it was called the Dead Sea. ‘A fisherman and his son had been out fishing when the weather turned fierce. The son told the father to enter the unknown harbor which he had heard other sailors tell of, but the father refused. The father and son argued boisterously until the son fell into the sea and drowned. Subsequently the father went into the area and found that the son was right – it was a harbor. Thus they named the harbor the “Dead Sea” ‘. Our captain then advised us that “if the fisherman who told me this story was lying, I don’t know.”
The Dead Sea area is a very popular Turkish vacation spot and almost every inch of sand is covered by either an umbrella or a beach chair. Needless to say, we left after only an hour for more unpopulated seas. We sailed onto Gemiler but decided that we had too many neighbors and took off for a quiet, private cove. It took only five minutes to find a beautiful spot where we were all alone in our paradise. We watched the sunset reflect off the mountains and jetties that jutted out into the sea in silence. It was so quiet you could only hear the waves splashing against the rocks and the cacophony of locusts in the pine trees along the shore. To speak would have ruined the moment.
We were wined and dined and our meal was topped off with a sculpture of fruit topped with sparklers. Most of us preferred to sleep out on deck this evening because we were so alone and the sky was so full of stars – and of course the Persoid meteor shower was making its display. Unfortunately we only had time to see one shooting star before the rocking of the boat lulled us to sleep.
Day Five
We woke in the morning to a sea that was as smooth as glass. It’s hard to imagine the Mediterranean so calm and peaceful, a sea that carried sailors for over 4,000 years to their underwater deaths. In fact, not very far from Kas the oldest shipwreck ever known, Uluburun, has been excavated by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. They’ve found beautiful glass vessels with octopus decorations. Many of the artifacts can be seen at the Bodrum Museum.
We took our first morning swim, had breakfast and rested while the Gundogan took off for Kalkan. As we sailed along on our voyage we saw a beautiful cove and could not resist stopping for a swim. We stayed and floated in the water for hours until we were called for lunch. After lunch and another swim and another nap, we pushed off again, this time more seriously, for Kalkan.
Entering the harbor we all knew we were going to like it here. A small fishing village that had been destroyed in the 1950’s by an earthquake. The government decided not to rebuild it, but some private investors could not let this picturesque spot remain abandoned. A few hotels and, according to all reports, 127 restaurants are scattered along the San Francisco-like vertical streets. Restaurants and carpet shops made of white stucco and wood, one right next to the other, going up the hillside. At the top of the village we found “Terrace” bar that had a fabulous view of the entire harbor. We sat for a few beers and headed back down the hill. We didn’t get very far before a few of our group got happy feet and stopped to dance at a miniature disco. They finally showed up back at the yacht about 3am, which is when the music blasting in the harbor finally quieted down so that we could sleep.