The Blue Cruise

We enjoyed Greece so much we almost didn’t want to leave Rhodes.  It was the first time in our trip that we felt we weren’t ready to move on.  But we purchased the tickets back to Turkey the day before already so we reluctantly hopped onto the fast ferry from Rhodes to Fethiye.  However once we arrived on Turkish soil we were glad to be back as the familiarity was comforting.

As soon as we checked into our guest house in Fethiye, the owner Omar kindly made us cai (delicious Turkish tea which we’re quite accustomed to having) and helped us book a Blue Cruise.  The Blue Cruise is a 4-day 3-night cruise on a gullet (traditional wooden yacht) between Fethiye and Olympos.  It’s a very popular cruise apparently, as we found out they were all fully booked and the next available one was 4 days later.  Since we spent a few extra days in Greece already, we couldn’t wait for that long.  Omar was very helpful and suggested for us to join the Olympos to Fethiye (going in the reverse direction) one instead as there was an opening for the cruise starting the next day.  We agreed.

The first morning we took a 3 hour bus from Fethiye to Demre (close to Olympos where the boats docked) where we joined 7 other travelers and began our sailing adventure on the Mediterranean Sea.  Our captain was a cool looking 25 year old boy, our cook was his childhood best friend, and the other crew member was the captain’s dad.  The passengers were a good mix of people from all 6 continents of the world (if Eug and I did double duty of representing Asia and North America); one British couple, one Brazilian couple, one Australian lady, two South African ladies, and us.  Our first stop was a small secluded bay where we jumped into the beautiful turquoise waters for a swim.  It was our first time ever swimming in the Mediterranean Sea!  We then visited a cave and cruised over the Sunken City of Kekova.  At the end of the day, we docked by a small fishing village Kalekoy where we stayed for the rest of the night. 

Our captain told us there would be a ‘typhoon’ approaching the second day so we wouldn’t be able to sail very far.  It did get pretty windy but it was nothing like the typhoons in Asia.  He did his best to sail against the winds for an hour towards the next town Kas, but the journey turned into a major rollercoaster ride against the big waves.  All of a sudden, the front sail unravelled (though we were on a sailboat the sails were never raised) due to the heavy wind and the boat started to veer towards the rocks.  Our captain quickly ran out to grab the cord of the sail but as he was trying to keep it from unravelling anymore he was being thrown around like a rag doll, for a moment it looked like he was going to be blown off the boat.  Eug was having a great time and wanted to video tape the ride until that point, when everyone actually started to get nervous.  The captain was frantically shouting orders at the 2 other crew (his BFF and dad) while the rest of us didn’t know if we should help, stare, or abandon ship.  After about 3 intense minutes (2 guys trying to tie up a sail in strong winds, one deckhand being yelled at to steer the boat between large rocks on either side) the captain grabbed a knife and cut the rope that was holding up the sail and the entire sail came loose, ending the tension.  We ended up turning back towards the fishing village and spent another night there.  One of the passengers was in tears while another one said she saw her life flash before her eyes.  After we docked back in the harbour and people calmed down, our cook made a delicious barbeque dinner which we washed down with Raki.  What a day!

I forgot to mention that right before this all happened, I think I got stung by a bee on my upper right lip.  Immediately it started to swell.  I asked Eug if there was something wrong as I noticed my lip getting numb.  At first he said it was nothing and kind of laughed, the usual.  However, I knew something was up when about 2 minutes later he took another look and then sprinted down to the cabin in the midst of this windstorm.  That’s when I started to get worried.  Luckily he was able to get some anti-histamines and it resolved the swelling. He later told me he wished he could have taken a picture as he said my lip was almost swollen to the point of blocking out my right nostril.  He didn’t want to worry me though so he kept quiet (and told another passenger to do the same).  So while other passengers were having fantasies of the Titanic sinking, I was worried about my asymmetrical face.     

We started sailing at 4am the next day to get to Kas before the wind picked up again.  The ride started out rather smoothly and but progressively got choppier.  What was worrisome was that we were the only boats out on the water.  Thankfully we made it to Kas!  Kas is a small fishing, yachting, and tourist town that was founded by the Lycians.  We walked around this cute little town for a bit and grabbed a real coffee (as opposed to the ever popular Nescafe in Turkey).  Our captain showed us a small Roman theatre and the Lycian rock tombs and took us to a small pebble beach.  Later that night we all went to a pub where the captain and the chef shared many of their fun cruise stories with us (especially ones relating to fawning female guests).  The last day we dropped by Butterfly Valley, a canyon that hosts many different kinds of butterflies and moths when the season is right, and Oludeniz (Blue Lagoon), one of the most photographed beaches on the Mediterranean.  The colour of the ocean water here was absolutely breathtaking.  It is also regarded as one of the best places in the world for paragliding due to its unique panoramic views.  We saw the bay from our boat and it was so beautiful that we decided to stay in town for the night after we docked.  We were very disappointed to find out that this incredible beach was completely spoiled by restaurants and pubs blasting Kenny G and Celine Dion (we heard My Heart Will Go On no less than 5 times) at dinnertime.  We were hoping for some calm after dinner, but the music then turned into blaring techno (again?!) for all the beach party goers.  There were even dudes on the roofs swinging flames.  What a shame.

Despite the windstorm that put us behind schedule, we had an incredible time on the cruise.  Every meal was delicious and the dishes were never repeated.  There was no doubt that our young captain knew exactly what he was doing.  Us passengers bonded really well and we all shared an unforgettable 4-day journey together.