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Published: October 10th 2011
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We were booked in for the sea kayaking trip today. Had a small brekky, took some washing down and were ready to be picked up at 8:20 am.
Our transport was a battered old blue jeep. We piled in - Jeff in the back with the rest of the group and me in the front. We drove from Kas up into the mountains heading west towards Antalya then turned off and went down a narrow road that wound it's way south and eventually down to the village of Ucagiz in the bay of Kekova. We parked near the marina and were kitted out with life jackets and kayaks, given a bit of instruction and then finally we were on the water and on our way. The water in the marina was pretty yuk with an oily scum but soon we were out in the cleaner water.
We were four doubles and two singles - one English girl and our guide. We went across the bay, past a rocky island and it wasn't too long before we all had a reasonable rhythm going. The English girl had a problem with her legs going to sleep. The group was made up
of a young couple from New York who were on their honeymoon, a Spanish couple, an Australian woman and her French partner, the English woman and her mum (who didn't kayak - she came on the security boat) and Jeff and I. We kayaked across to an island, into a little bay called Shipyard Bay. We landed on the beach and went for a swim, then Korcan (pron Kor-jarn) gave us some info about the area. There were various remnants of ruins of different eras including Lycian (cut into the rock), roman (large blocks), Byzantine/other (smaller rocks, with cement/mortar) all over the place including some under the water. It was in fact a shipyard during roman times. Korcan then told us about the sunken city, which also contains a mix of eras, and became partly below the water level as a result of two separate earthquakes many centuries ago.
Next we got back in our kayaks and paddled round the island to where the sunken city is. It's prohibited to swim or dive there, but being in kayaks we were able to get in close and get quite a good view. We sailed above the old harbour walls, and
saw walls, doorways and gateways on the hıllsıde near the waters edge, in some walls we could see the rows of holes for the beams for floors, there was the silhouette of a roof on a rock, tombs, etc. Having the explanation beforehand, and Korjan pointing things out as we glided along made it much more meaningful. Boats were cruising by a little further out, including our security boat with Helen (the English girl) and her mum Joan on board and taking some photos for us.
Once we'd seen the stretch of sunken city we paddled back across a strait to the village of Selime. There was quite a strong current - we had to paddle just on the left most of the way across. We landed at a little rock island just across from the village and Korcan gave us some info on the history of the village, including the rock cut tombs, the sarcophagi (one in the water just in front of us), and the castle at the top of the hill, the turrets of which have been built in three different eras, therefore some are pointy, some have v-cuts in the top and some are wavy
on top. We paddled (on our feet) across a pebbly path through the water to the mainland (there is no road to the village, it is on a thin peninsula and can be reached by foot or by water). We walked through the village and had a bowl of ice-cream in a cafe at the far end. We could have walked up to the castle instead, but the hazelnut ice-cream was delicious. On the way back to our kayaks we dropped in for a quick look at a "museum" full of old bits & pieces where everything is for sale. We paddled our sea kayaks back to Ucagiz, packed them away then went to Ibrahim's restaurant looking out on the water, where our lunch was waiting for us. It was about 3pm or so. We had a lovely buffet of salads and delicious fish. We farewelled the Spanish couple who were staying the night in Ucagiz, piled back into the jeep and headed back. We stopped at a lookout point over Kas for a quick photo and Korcan dropped us all off at our hotels. What a great day!
After trying again unsuccessfully to get any photos from the
DVD onto my blog, I gave up.
That night we decided to check out the town centre, which we discovered really comes alive at night. It was a really happy, laid back place with lights, cafes, restaurants, shops and lots of people wandering around having a lovely time. We wandered along enjoying the atmosphere and decided to have a light dinner at a pide restaurant. I had a delicious one with meat chunks, mushrooms, cheese and I'm not sure what else. After dinner we had more of a wander. I checked out some colored glass lamps that hang and can hold tea lights. They had them for TL 25 and 35. Not practical to buy one now but may closer to the end of the trip.
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