Medsailors Diary Part 2: Saklikent, Paragliding Oloudeniz, Göcek & Skopea Limani Bays

So so so very excited to share with you guys my final Med Sailors diary from my amazing trip to Turkey back in September. I finally had my images recovered from my corrupted SD card (thank god), so what better way to beat the winter blues than with some dreamy holiday escapism! As the temperatures have plummeted over the last few weeks, I know I'm probably not the only one that's been dreaming of warmer days and thinking about what trips to take next year.

I have a couple of destinations planned already and a lot more to add to the list, but if there's one thing I'll definitely be doing, it's a sailing holiday with Medsailors again. As I mentioned in my last diary (read here), it was an absolutely incredible trip filled with unforgettable memories and unparalleled scenic beauty from the stunning west coast of Turkey. We had such an amazing time that I'm making it a goal to do a sailing trip every summer I can!

So, picking up where I left off, the last few days of the trip were some of my favourites and some of the most thrilling (yep, that's me strapped to a lovely Turkish man, 3000ft up in the sky). We explored a gorge and got covered in clay, paraglided above the clouds and swam in some of the most naturally beautiful secluded bays – like I said, unforgettable.

Saklikent Gorge & Patara Beach
After a morning exploring Kalkan, we all jumped on a bus and headed to the Saklikent gorge, one of Turkey's most breath-taking natural wonders. It took our group an hour and a half to walk all the way in and back again, and that in itself was an experience. Trekking through some ice cold waters from a natural spring and swimming through clay pools up to our necks was a little challenging, all whilst talking in the magnificently vast narrowing views of the gorge. I felt like a true little explore on this day, though perhaps inadequately dressed in just a crochet bikini (no time for soggy clothes!). Of course, there were a few slips and hundreds of laughs, this afternoon was definitely a highlight of the trip.

We then drove down to Patara Beach to catch the sunset and stopped at a couple of beautiful historic sites. The old stone ruins looked even more magical in the burning sunlight at golden hour and we had so much fun climbing and taking some funny photos. On the beach, we grabbed some beers and circled round our guide for a story time session on the sand where we enjoyed ancient Turkish and Greek tales before watching the sun dip behind the Aegean, which was pretty spectacular to watch across the long 12km stretch of Patara beach.

Come evening time, we were back out in Kalkan for a delicious group dinner at Salonika. Turkey is literally mezze galore and this place provided one of the best selections we had during the whole trip. Following dinner, we headed to the local night club for what was probably the wildest night out of the trip, I had one too many caipirinhas' and ended up dancing on the bar (as you do) with a few of the girls! The club also had a swing which of course I managed to injure myself on – only I would go on a sailing trip and end up with rope burns that weren't from the boat!

Oludeniz Paragliding & Cold Water Bay
From Kalkan, we took a long sail north to Oludeniz beach. After the previous evening, we were all feeling slightly worse for wear so it was definitely a day of straight chilling on our yacht. We enjoyed another delicious homemade lunch by our crew on a swim stop and spent the best part of the day cruising along the deep blue Aegean waters and soaking up the scorching Turkish sun, before mooring at Oludeniz beach.

Now, if there's one way to knock a hangover from out of your system, it's jumping off a 3200ft mountain. There were points when I actually thought no bloody way am I doing that, but it turned out to be one of the most incredible things I've ever had the chance to experience and I would do it again and again and again. I can't even describe to you how crazy even the cliff platform was – a vast slope of concrete nestled just above the clouds. I would even go as far to say it looked pretty ethereal and heaven-like!

I was in tandem with a lovely Turkish man called Tolga, who's full-time job is to jump off that mountain 5 times a day – not a bad way to live, right? He instantly quashed my nerves by cracking jokes and once we were all strapped in he says 'now you run with me, ok?'. Yep. Run. Right off the bloody mountain edge. Was I sh*t scared? Hell yes, but the rush was exhilarating. And once we were drifting amongst the clouds, every nervous feeling instantly slipped away as I took in my more than surreal surroundings. Never did I think I'd have the chance to walk on a cloud, Peter Pan style or see such epic birds eye views from being out in the sky in something that wasn't a plane, let alone dangling from a parachute. You can see why they picked this spot, the views of Oludeniz beach are stunning and all kinds of turquoise blue.

From the sky, I could spot cold water bay, where we'd be staying that night. After a landing much smoother than I was expecting, I waited for everyone else to land and we got a water taxi over to the bay. This ended up being one of the most hilarious parts of the whole trip, our boat driver was what I can only describe as a Turkish Jack Sparrow who relished in making us jump as we bounced over the choppy sea as it got dark. I don't know if it was from the recent altitude, fear we were going to fall off or the fact that Turkish Jack Sparrow was playing Justin Beiber's Sorry full-blast on repeat but we were all uncontrollably in hysterical fits of laughter for the whole journey.

We settled down over a barbeque at the sole tiny tavern just inside cold water bay – I had a huge plate of barbequed calamari and it was so bloody tasty. We slept under the stars again that night and were spoilt with another beautiful sunrise come morning. Made even better, of course by pancake lady. Every morning this old Turkish woman and her husband boats out to the surrounding bays and cooks fresh pancakes for everyone. I mean, she even had Nutella! And they set us up for our sail to Göcek.

Göcek
The sail to Göcek was another beautiful one. This trip definitely made me appreciate the serene beauty of Turkey and the Aegean sea, it's somewhere I never really thought about visiting but after taking in the gorgeous natural allure of the country I'll definitely be returning again – maybe even next summer. For our daily swim stop me moored up by a rope swing and took turns taking a plunge into the ocean whilst some of the boys cliff-dived from way higher up! It was here we saw the first sea turtle of the trip up close. It was actually bloody massive, but so so beautiful and incredible to see in its natural habitat. I think I followed the poor thing around the bay with my snorkel for a good 20 minutes!

Moorning into Göcek marina come evening time we had the chance to have some proper showers and refresh a bit before the evening. We ended up staying on the boat playing a Monopoly deal led drinking game until about 10pm (this card game is seriously fun) before heading out to Kebab Hospital for dinner. Weird name for a tasty food joint right? But we were assured by our crew it was the place for some delicious traditional kebabs. And there's none of that gross stuff you get at the end of a night out in the UK, it was all fresh meats and salads and absolutely heavenly!

Skopea Limani Bays
After a day-time wander around Gocek town and picking up some supplies for our final night in Turkey, we set sail for the pristine Skopea Limani Bays. The wind was behind us so we all had the chance a go at properly sailing and though a little scary when the boat turned at a 40 degree angle, it was so much fun! Even if we had some tidying up to do of toppled items in the cabin after. Again, bays were full of crystal clear turquoise waters and we paddle boarded and even did some more sea turtle spotting, it was the perfect way to spend the last day.

We moored into one of the small bays for the evening where we were met by another tiny family run tavern (ie: a few bench tables on the beach) and even few wild animals including a couple of cows, goats and a pair of kittens that I very nearly took back to the UK with me. Chatting to our new friends and eating delicious food right on the water was the most idyllic way to spend the final evening.

Come morning time, our boat took a mini hike over the hillside to hunt down some ruins, which were pretty spectacular and well worth the early walk. Our skippers, Charlie and Alex brought the boat around to meet us and after enjoying our final breakfast, we took a swim around and actually through the ruins which was like something out of little mermaid!

And then before I knew it, it was time to head back to Fethiye and get in our taxi back to Dalaman airport. I left turkey with the most wonderful memories, things ticked off my bucket list and most importantly some incredible new friends. Dave and I even had our new Aussie and Kiwi friends down to Bristol for his birthday earlier this month! It really was one of the most special trips and I can't recommend Medsailors as a company enough. They looked after us so well from start to finish and I hope to join them again next year.

They also do sailing holidays to Greece and Croatia in addition to Turkey, and brand new for 2017 is their Italy around the volcanic islands (definitely going on my travel list!). Right now they have a limited early bird offer, so if you're thinking about joining Medsailors on an epic holiday next summer NOW is the time to book! I think it would make an extra special Christmas present for a loved one too. Visit their website here for full details on their trips and early bird offers!

Wearing: Missguided crochet bikini, yellow bikini, pom pom top & white shorts, Teva black leather sandals, Topshop stripe bikini (similar), Hamamm and Home towel

MedSailors Diary Part One: Karacaören, Kas & Kalkan

Last week, I spent 7 days sailing the western coast of Turkey with Med Sailors. You’ll have seen from my relentless Instagramming and Snapchatting (it was way too pretty not too) last that last week I spent my days sailing along the southern coast of Turkey with Med Sailors. Prior to this trip I’d barely rowed an inflatable dingy, let alone help sail and stay on a yacht, so I was brimming with excitement and anticipation of a brand new experience and couldn’t wait to set foot on to our boat.

Running only to a minor delay, we hopped in a taxi outside Dalaman airport and made it to Fethiye marina bang on 3pm – just in time for set off. On board we were introduced to our amazing crew members, Lead Skipper Charlie and Guest Manager Alex, and then the rest of the guests Jess, Tory, Alan and Lauren (three Aussies and a Kiwi) and I knew straight away we were with sa great bunch and the week ahead was going to be so much fun.

We quickly unloaded in our cabin (small but cosy and with an ensuite!) and got back on deck as we set sail for our first stop, Karacaören. The first picture here was taken after we carefully (still getting used to our sea legs) scampered up to the bow of the boat to enjoy a couple of Coronas as the sun started to dip. An hour in, it was paradise from there on out.

Karacaören

We moored up in Karacaören just before sunset and jumped straight into the crystal clear water. Floats and paddle board came out and we bobbed around in the secluded bay where we met the guests from the other yacht and catamaran too.

As the sun dipped behind the Turkish hillside, Charlie and Alex brought out a brew of their special punch as we lolled around on paddle boards and enjoyed the best kind of swim-up bar. Dinner was located at the lone restaurant in the bay, a charming little wooden shack overlooking the water where I devoured some delicious mezzes and the freshest whole baked seabass. The evening ended with several rounds of ping pong (the little shack happened to have it's own table!) which inevitably progressed into beer pong, of course. It was a lovely evening filled with laughs and a great way to kick off the trip.

Come morning time, I forced myself up with a slight beer/punch induced fuzzy head to watch the sunrise from the deck of our boat. We'd docked so the boat was facing directly opposite a mountainous landscape and I watched the sky flood with hues of electric blues, oranges and pinks as the sun peeked over the mountain tips – well worth waking up early for.

Kas

After a freshly prepared breakfast by Charlie and Alex, we spent an hour or so drinking coffee and paddle boarding around the bay before setting off for our next stop, Kas. The journey to Kas was around 6 hours of sailing, but not without a couple of stops along the way. Just a short way into the journey we slowed down to admire a couple of enormous sea turtles swimming near the boat. I didn't realise that they're actually quite popular in Turkey and was even lucky enough to get up close an personal with one whilst snorkelling later on in the trip!

Six hours may seem a little long, but bobbing along the Agean in glorious Turkish sunshine was just heavenly, I read October's Vogue and a good chunk of Girl On The Train, not forgetting to take a million pictures of the beautiful surroundings too, of course. Our lunch stop was in a crystal-clear turquoise bay just outside of Kas were we devoured a delicious Spanish omelette and tuna salad before having a swim and paddle-board explore around the bay.

After our swim stop, it was just short sail into the Kas marina. This little harbour town is packed with shops so it’s a great place to pick up some traditional Turkish gifts and trinkets – I picked up a gorgeous ring and bracelet on our way into the old town. We found a cute terrace bar called Omlet Kahvalti up on the hill that had the prettiest sunset view over the harbour and served some delicious but pretty affordable cocktails. Food-wise, there’s a tonne of adorable traditional tavernas here, each serving loads of fresh fish and seafood. As a group we headed to a lovely little family run place called Ikbal, situated on a gorgeous patio we devoured some delicious dishes from grilled haloumi to stuffed calamari.

Kalkan

When we got back to the boat in Kas the evening before, most of us decided it was too warm and decided to drag our mattresses up on deck to sleep under the stars (something that we’d then go on to do every night) and woke up with the sunrise. That, and the warbling’s of the towns call to prayer of course. Charlie set sail for Kalkan around 8am as some of us were still dozing on the deck, whilst the rest enjoyed fresh coffee and breakfast on the go.

The sail into Kalkan from Kas was much quicker than the previous days journey. We arrived into the bay at about half 10 for a swim stop. The boys did some cliff jumping whilst the girls swam and explored on the paddle board. It was here we ended up messing around and got towed along on the board by holding a rope attached to our boat, as you’ll have seen on my snapchat we fell in A LOT and it was bloody hilarious.

We pulled into the marina where we then had a couple of hours to explore the beautiful town. I think Kalkan was probably my favourite. The tiny streets, pastel buildings and bougainvillea remained me a little of old town Ibiza or Mykonos. It was trinket heaven so of course I was in my absolute element, it took all my might not to walk away with a humongous turkish rug and silver lantern, so settled for a couple of pretty hand-painted coasters and earrings instead. Here I also had chance to meet with the lovely designer Olivia from Hammam and Home who’d spotted I was near Kalkan on Instagram. We had a beer in a cute little bar on the marina called Aubergine and she treated me to one of her gorgeous Turkish beach towels, you can have a nosey through her gorgeous range here.

Come lunchtime, we headed back to the boat before setting off for an afternoon of exploring at the Saklikent Gorge, but more on that in my next sailing diary post. the trip was such an incredible new and social experience and is up there with some of my favourite holidays ever – I really can’t recommend it enough. Med Sailors actually have a few spaces left on their last two Turkey trips this year, leaving on the 1st or 8th of October, so if you fancy yourself some last minute sunshine and sailing fun check out the details here. You can also see their other routes to Croatia and the Greek Islands with early bird prices for next year too, I know I’ll be returning for sure. Stay tuned for more in my next post (think waterfalls, more turtles and paragliding!) and as always, thanks for reading.

In order of appearance: Topshop white bikini crop top, Asos brazillian bikini bottoms, Triangl Brigitte bikini top, American Tourister Bon Air suitcase, Topshop embroidered top (now £7), H&M stripe skirt, Missguided pom pom tank