16th May 2008
Managed to haul myself out of bed this morning at 6am, with no fear of what I was about to undertake – paragliding. Honestly, I think Nigel and I may have still been a bit drink from the previous night. We climbed into the back of a pickup, and we all started singing ‘Livin on a Prayer’. We got suited up and attached to a professional. When it came to my turn, we kinds jumped off the edge, but instead of falling, you actually just float up and away. It’s not scary at all and I actually found it peaceful floating in the sky. The coastline in this area is amazing. Certainly, deserving of the name “Turquoise coast.”
After paragliding and a short nap, we packed ourselves up yet again and were taken into Fethiye to be introduced to the cruise suppliers. After that we were doing a short-day cruise. We got on our boat and cruised around, we had lunch on board, again, traditional Turkish food.
I spotted a water slide off on the shore and Paul and I jumped overboard and swam to it. We got to it and the staircase was completely rusted and the slide was out of operation. It was one of those yellow tube slides, I decided to climb up to the top of it and then crawl down the tube. When I popped out at the bottom, I could hear everyone on the boat laughing at me. Paul and I swam back to the boat and drank beer and sun baked on the deck until we pulled in to Fethiye.
Burak then gave us a quick tour of the town, which involved us going and looking through the bazaar for a bit where I bought a small magnetic chess set. We then grabbed all our stuff to get onto our overnight cruise on a gulet, a traditional Turkish sailboat. We boarded our boat and were all given cabins, I got one to myself, it was so tiny and the toilet has a pump attached to it….not sure about that!
On the way out we managed to see Lycian tombs carved into the cliff above the town. We had dinner on board and then lounged around on deck until the late hours. Cruising the Mediterranean along the Turquoise Coast just rocks, by the way. Nigel and I were last awake again, Nigel was playing the captain at backgammon, and he actually managed to beat him, I think he may have been a little put out, but he took it well. After Nigel had beaten the captain at backgammon, we decided to play chess, with my newly acquired chess set. I’m a little annoyed to say I couldn’t beat Nigel, although I must admit I was a little distracted.
It’s the thing to do to sleep on deck on a gulet, so Nigel and I dragged our blankets and pillows out to the back of the boat and curled up on the big cushion under the stars. I’d always wanted to do that, and it’s another thing crossed off the list and bingo, I didn’t have to do it by myself either, which was a nice added bonus.