July 18, 2012 Cruising the Aegean
I didn’t sleep well, tossing & turning, worrying about
where the kids were on the beds and if they were close to falling off. Then there was a prayer call…it was dark
outside and I thought it was the middle of the night. Also because I was in a half-sleep state it
felt like the “song”/call went on forever and instead of lulling me back to
sleep I just marveled at how loud and long lasting it was. Turns out that was the 5 a.m. call and I was
able to go back to sleep for a few more hours.
Another tomato, cucumber, cheese & olive breakfast and a group of us
headed off to the marina for a day boat cruise on the Aegean. We were first almost put on this totally
crowded boat but we were like, no way José, so they put us on another one that
was totally empty although around 20 more people ended up joining our
cruise. The lower level had two rows of
5 tables that could easily seat 6 but we only had 2-4 at them and a walkway
down the middle. Then there was an open
area in front of the captain’s cabin/bar where you could stand or there were
stairs to the top of the boat that was uncovered and had giant cushions to lay
on and soak up the sun. I stayed below
at the tables where it was covered :) The boat left at 1130 and didn’t get back in
until 630, all the time in between cruising the Aegean Sea. We made 5 stops to swim, jumping off the
sides of the boat into the clear, dark blue, cool at first but then warm, salty
water. Lunch was served us at the 3rd
stop, us veggies getting the salad, rice & bread plate minus the chicken
& potatoes portion. The salad was
full of dill & big hunks of parsley that I picked out but for the most part
it wasn’t bad. We drank Efes beer and
had a blast enjoying the scenery and dipping in the water. There was fun Turkish dance music playing
that kept us kicking our legs to the beat and they served an afternoon tea with
cookies as well. It was so relaxing and
beautiful. I would just stare out at the
water and island beyond it, feeling the breeze on my face and trying to imagine
what it would be like to be filthy rich and having a yacht to go out on
whenever I wanted. To have all that
luxury while just cruising without a care on the sea!
Now I Know My ABC's, Next Time Won't You...
At some point during the 3rd stop, which was our longest stop of 1 1/2 hours, while a bunch of us were out swimming and farting around we started imitating synchronized swimmers - very badly mind you. Tony was taking pictures of us at the moment and suddenly one of us got the idea to spell out letters in the water together. It had been a running "joke" that we dubbed ourselves "Team Tron" with the destination wedding and group of us coming together, trying to organize daily events, trying to communicate those events through the group, and with all of it being so challenging & often pathetic. Most of us were Deutron's ("Tron") friends before Evin's friends and while we all came from different parts of his life, some of us had become friends since meeting before Turkey. The rest of us on this trip just fell in like we were all friends from forever. So I think it was Alison that thought it would be fun to spell out "Team Tron" in body letters in the sea and send it to him, esp. since he & Evin's hadn't made it on the boat trip with us. So 4 of us clumsily put together the letters "T" "R" "O" & "N" before we had to get out of the water because the boat was moving on. Then, while cruising to the next spot, some of us got the half cocked idea to do ALL the letters of the alphabet so we could spell all of our names, if we wanted. It sounded like a fun challenge so we agreed, designated a photographer who would stay on the boat (Ray) and enlisted the rest of the group so we'd be sure to have enough bodies in the water. I only wish we'd had video of the whole ordeal instead of just the final letters, what a freakin' RIOT! We were pinched for time because the last stop was only 20 minutes long and we had to get through the whole alphabet! We all jumped out into the water and grouped together, all yelling directions at each other about where to be in order to make the capital letter "A." It was a lot harder than we thought, esp. since a certain swimmer just wasn't seeing the vision the rest of us were, which happened on several letters and was so hilarious as we kept yelling the same person's name because they were just out of place continually! When we'd finally get ourselves together in what we thought was a perfect rendition of whatever letter we would all yell out the letter, at the same time, without thinking about it, so Ray would know we were ready for the photo. It was hard to hold our position for long with the waves, etc. The funniest one was when we made an "S" and all got in place and yelled "S" and then said to each other "that was a perfect S!" and from on top of the boat Ray yells, "that didn't look anything like an S!" Hahahaha!!! It was the most fun I've had in a long time, regardless of all the salt water I swallowed and got in my eyes. We managed to pull off all the letters in time and I got on the boat to check-out the pictures just to make sure before we were totally screwed out of time. I decided our letter "F" was seriously needing help so I yelled to the rest of the group in the water they needed to make another "F." The second one was much better and soon everyone was out of the water and we were pulling away in the boat, chuckling and wondering if the other people on the boat (none of which were English) thought we were all high as kites or just stupid or what!!
We got Tyler & Teagan out a little bit but the water was
actually a bit too cold considering we didn’t have room to wade in and get them
adjusted. Even the rest of us basically
had to jump in because it was slightly too painful to go slow, though once we
were in it was totally nice. There was
this really sweet Turkish woman who totally clamored to Teagan and hung out
with her while Tony & I swam at one stop.
At another stop I swam to the pebble beach and picked out some sweet
rocks to bring home…I could have just sat there all day sifting through them,
picking them up and marveling at the colors and shapes before another caught my
eye and I moved on. I wished for my
camera but that would have been too far to swim with one hand out of the water. I thought about my triathlon training…how
totally nonexistent it is right now and how when I get home I’ve got to start
putting in time at the gym pool.
It was a wonderful day but soon we were heading back into
the harbor and as the wind stopped from our motion on the water, the heat
returned, ushering us back to the hotel that much faster to rinse off & relax in the a/c. We met again in the
garden, snacking on some fresh fruit Novi or
Alison bought from a nearby stand, sipping wine or Efes or Raki. I was having a serious case of sea-legs,
feeling like I was still on the boat rocking & swaying. In fact in the shower when we first got back
I actually felt like I might throw up it was so bad. It seemed everyone else was having the same
problem too. We went for dinner down on
the “beach” a few doors down from where we were the first night.
That whole bay is just lined with restaurants bleeding right out onto
the pebble beach, tables all the way up to the water’s edge, under the
stars. The group was even bigger
tonight, Deutron’s family that were staying at a different hotel joining us. We had a nice dinner, shared a bottle of wine
and then, much to our delight, another fireworks show! There’s this big club, Halikanas, or
something like that, supposedly the biggest & most popular in all of
Turkey, that shut down a few years ago for total renovations and that
Wednesday night, of all nights, when we were there, was their grand
reopening! So they put on the fireworks
show and it was quite a show. Totally amazing
sitting on the pebble beach, listening to the gentle waves lapping against the
shore as the warm night sky lit up with color.
How could it get any more perfect?!
On the boat with an excited Teagan
Notice how naked we look next to that woman covered head to toe behind us
Name that letter?!
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| Born to sail?? |
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