I left Olimpos from my full week of sport climbing, and arrived in Finike in the evening and settled down at the hotel, check out my view. I had dinner with Ismailbey and his wife and two of their friends and of course Ercan (driver) and Yooz.
The next morning we woke up at about 9am and headed out to the boat for our 10am departure. Yooz here untying us from the dock, Ercan is in the Captain's chair starting up the engines, that's right plural... Ismailbey has TWO engines (Volvo Penta)
Goodbye Finike, that's the welcome sign to all the boat goers. It's a very nice little marina.
Myself and Captain Ercan at the wheel.
Once we got about a half an hour out, we got near some islands that had ruins spread out all over the place. This was the only thing that was somewhat complete and freestanding.
Here you can somewhat get a glimpse of the underwater ruins. directly under us there is an ancient city that is part of the one you see on the islands. I wish I could snorkel here but it's not allowed... for good reason I am sure, lots of people here in the water would surely tear it up.
Lots of tour boats cruise by in these waters showing visitors the great ruins of the coast, you can even see an underwater wall. This is what my underwater camera is for, but no I cannot enter... darn...
Chillin' on the deck snapping as many shots as I can...
As we pulled away from the ruins we set out to another group of islands where we would stop for lunch and a swim.
As part of the ancient there is this castle sitting on top of one higher island, still intact and part of a small community that looks to be mostly for accomodating tourists.
Near the sea edge close to the castle wwere these ruins. There is too many to show, but I did my best in selecting the best.
Some even seem to become places where boats dock and people congregate... It's too bad, these 'people' are the ones ruining the remains.
Tiny tiny island of rock, with of course the Turkish flag at its peak. I wonder who discovered this???
Deck hand, or first mate I don't know ship terminology, but Yooz here is dropping the anchor so we can have our lunch.
After lunch Ismailbey and I took a dip. I came fully decked out in my snorkel gear, even the fins. I went for a swim around some of the islands and out deep and tried to swim down maybe 12ft, but it wasn't clear enough.
CRAMP!!!! just kidding... It's time to remove the fins and get out of the water. :(
I can't say I have ever been on a boat like this, I know it's normal but not to me. It had a fresh water hose to rinse yourself off, cool. Didn't have to go back all that way feeling the salt all over you. I even got to rinse off my gear and my camera. I really wanted to take out the power boat, the small one, but we couldn't apparently there was something wrong with the lift... So I didn't get to do any deep water soloing. Oh well, maybe next time, if there is one...
I spotted a cave as we headed back to Finike. I saw alot of these, one on the Olimpos coast I snorkeled into, very cool.
Captain Ercan looking cool here sporting his shades and the polo. He was great, very patient man, he is also Ismailbey's sofur and mine occasionally.
This is where Ercan would be driving if the weather turned sour, but luckily for us it was great, very sunny and a nice cool breeze the entire day.
The 'Amadi,' * Ismailbey's personal boat.
Ismailbey himself relaxing in the lower rear of the boat as we head back to Finike. Why would you drive your own boat when you got Ercan!
I spotted this small cliff that I was dying to swim out to and try some deep water soloing, but couldn't happen... oh well, at least I know where it is.
My turn to drive... HEY no I want to sit here... Ercan kicked me out, only let me sit here for a photo.
Marina yachts.
On the drive back to Afyon, Ismailbey pointed out some of these cool structures carved into the rock, all in the village of Finike.
Ismailbey and his wife wanted to stop by this market to pick up some fresh local produce.
I think it was very popular with the locals, you can even have some chai or roasted corn.
5 comments:
Those ruins look great, i wish you were able to get closer and took some nice details =) Open markets by the sea is fabulous, they had those in Greece too...so whats next on your adventure list? =) UPDATE.
lol, u have such a farmer's tan! from the week of climbing? the water look soo nice. i wished i had AT LEAST touched the sea when i was there.... so sad.... =( so that was his name, Ercan. i thought he was so cool. didnt really looked turkish in my opinion. VERY patient man indeed! =)
OMGGG i'm so jealouss!!! seeing those pics just makes me wanna jump in to snorkle, despite the fact that i can't swim. lol. ruins? TREASURE!!!! ahhh wish i had ur job... wish i HAD a job...
see you tomorrow. can't wait to meet the awesome chris that lily raves about.
chai... as in chai tea? if so, i didn't know it was turkish... but anyway, i loved the cliffs and the water -- so blue! reminds me of the cayman islands when i was there. i didn't go snorkeling tho... i'm afraid of deep water. and i can't swim either. :X cheers!
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