Although I was awake, Jane’s alarm went off at 8am. Think there was an element of doubt about the boat trip, purely because of having to be up at that time. Bless.
I headed downstairs, made a coffee, and had some bread with jam – rumour has it that at least jam tastes sweet on the way back up!
My confession being I get seasick in the bath. Thing is, I also know from experience that I’m fine when a boat is under power in most circumstances. It’s just when it stops & bobs around. Maybe a touch of apprehension on my part, but I’d rather risk that than miss out on what sounds like a superb trip out.
Charlie was not enthusiastic at all when I knocked on and gave him a 30 minute warning before “doors to departure”.
Just after 9am, we left the house expecting to head down the hill so that we were in position to meet Captain Tommy Ozturki, who was picking us up. Except he was waiting for us at the apartment! The VIP treatment! We jumped on the minibus, and Tommy led the way on his moped. After a few stops, the minibus was full and we headed to the boat.
The boat holds 40, but there’s only around 20 or so of us onboard. Really nice boat, and a nice amount on – not like some of the “party boats” we’ve seen, packed to the rafters, foam parties and music you can hear from miles away. Not our scene. I’d add “anymore” to that except I’m not sure it ever has been our scene, tbh.
We set off from a choppy beach, out into the bay. I sat central, but at the back, facing forward and without a backrest so I could ‘gimbal’ myself.
Charlie on the other hand, sat for about 5 minutes before his first trip to the ‘heads’ to blow chunks.
As he was down there so long, Captain Tommy asked if he was ok. I explained it seems he’s sick.
Solution from Captain Tommy:
“How old is he? 16/17. Ah. Hangover, seasick or both? Ok, so I pour him a lager shandy – chug it down in one. Burp up or throw up the gas. He will be fine”. Then Serves him two half pints of shandy to chug. Charlie made one.
Too late we found that for Charlie the better solution was to stand up at the back of the boat and focus on horizon. By the end, Charlie reckoned it would be a perfect job for him 🤦♂️
Between those two points wasn’t fun for Charlie, making a number of lengthy trips to the heads. For Jane & I however, it was brilliant! Multiple stops at little coves, beaches & inlets. Plenty of time to snorkel.
Plenty of time to get Efes foisted on you by Mehmet, Tommys brother.
After one stop, Tommy passed the helm to Mehmet. As the boat whizzed along, a few things got underway. The smell of chip fat from the galley (on a rocking boat). Tommy sat on the rear platform casually BBQ’ing a tonne of onion, chicken & fish for lunch.
The food was superb! Really well cooked chicken for Jane & I (Charlie abstained), with salad, potatoes from Tommy’s mums, home-made coleslaw, and a tonne of spicy tomato spaghetti. Brilliant!
And incredible value. Hence a decent tip at the end. £20/person for a really good day out, fabulous lunch & transport from your accommodation. Drinks & snacks on top, all at perfectly fair prices. Top bloke, top trip!
It seems that the Eid celebrations & festivities have brought the posh folk out. In many of the places we stopped, we were surrounded by fancy Yachts. Really fancy. “Barstards” says Tommy, clogging up his routes.
More stops, more snorkelling, then a choppy head back to Oludeniz for the excitement – getting off the boat! I should have taken a photo or better a video, but it was so fraught with tension & jeopardy. That boom, up, down 4 or 5 foot out of the water, when down and on the beach, you’ve a 20 second wave-window to get to ‘Omaha’ before the next surf partially submerged the boom & anyone on it, before swinging up another 5 ft in the air!
Once on to Omaha Beach, the to climb the 40deg slope of shingle bare foot (we had a tip-off & beach shoes on), whilst each foot down sinks in 4-6 inches, like a pebble version of quicksand. Exhilarating on our scale of holidaying!
Olu was bonkers busy, with big queues at both the Taxsi & Dolmus ranks, due to the festivities. We walked out of Oludeniz up the hill a bit and jumped a cab to save the queue and the crawl out.
The traffic queue heading into Oludeniz was huge & more or less at a standstill. It went back all the way up the hill to just before Hisarönü. That’s a way. [edit: since found out it was 5km of standing traffic!]
Back in Ovaçik & dropped off at our local mini market, we nipped in to get Charlie something to eat. “I’m starving”…
Now the challenge became getting anyone in the mindset of going out for tea. Charlie bailed, still feeling gippy, so Jane & I made use of the 33% extra bill.
We walked past Turtle from Friday night and went to the quite upmarket ‘Karizma’, although ‘Cat-Rizma’ may be more appropriate at the mo – 4 “cute little kittens” playing in the olive tree next to our table for two, which meant it became a table for 6.
Had a readily good meal, albeit we shared a starter, had a main each, & couldn’t finish either. Fine dining it is, refined portions, it’s not! Relatively, it’s towards the top end price wise, but that’s all relative – £40 all in with drinks & fabulous service.
The walk home was a bit of a tough one – left knee is playing up again, so a bit ‘grindy’. Anyway I’m home.
So that was today!
Laters taters
Chris x