Fethiye and my Second Blue Cruise

On my very last day of work at BLIS, I flew down to Fethiye to meet up with my friend, Randy, who traveled from Bellingham, WA to spend my last 3 weeks in Turkey traveling together. Our first adventure was to meet up with 8 of my friends from Ankara for a 4-day Blue Cruise out of Fethiye. These pics are from hiking around the city together before embarking on our cruise.





Fethiye is the ancient Lycian city of Telmessos. The rock tombs belong to the Lycians






As for the Blue Cruise, there's not much to say in terms of history or culture. It was just purely beautiful, relaxing, and fun.












This group MadLib did come out of the trip, however:

When they cast off from the marina, they had no idea that CHARITY (group member's name) would be the weakest link in all their Catchphrase games. But there would be many other surprises as well, such as the name of the Blue Cruise: "The 10 (number) Island Tour," which only meant a series of STALACTITES (rock feature) clumped together in a 2 (number) -square meter space.

They split their time between DIVING (leisure activity), SKYDIVING (active activity), and SPELUNKING (adventurous activity). CARRIE (group member name) proved to be the most adventurous, as was made evident through her willingness to NIGHT SWIM (risky activity) so that all could enjoy KNOBBLED (adj.) bread and get within 3 (number) kilometers of Butterfly Valley. The butterflies were sparse, but the sea landscape was abound with ELVES, GIANTS, and DUCKBILLED PLATYPUSES (3 creatures).

Many nature discoveries were made by Olivia, Carrie, and Katy during the first day on the beach, the most interesting being a SEVERED ARM (thing that washes up on beach). While snorkeling, Jeff spotted a SPERM WHALE (sea creature). They heard DOLPHINS (sea creature) splashing around at night, and all assumed they were CENTAURS (fantastical creature). While swimming on the second day, they all experienced a TINGLY (skin sensation) sensation all over their bodies, which was quickly forgotten about during MOJITO (drink) time. Truth be told, all discomforts were quickly forgotten about when they assembled around the dinner table, where YAPRAK SARMA (vegetarian dish), KARPUZ JAM (type of jam), and a SEALED PAIL (type of container) of butter waited for them.

The water gave the Blue Cruise its name, despite their wish to rename it the CHARTREUSE (color) Cruise due to John's affiliation with the SOCIALIST CHOIR (fascist party organization). The water was a mere reflection of the color of the sky: TURQUOISE (color). And it was 21 degrees Celsius (temperature), and had a SOUR (a taste) taste. There was enough salt in it for all to float like buoys, except for Jeff who had LOOSE FLATULENCE (a reason for being different), and needed a RAFT (flotation device) to stay afloat. They relied on the water for all their bathing needs, and after the third day, all had SMILY (adjective) hair, especially JEFFREY (group member's name) who had mysteriously grown to resemble RIP VAN WINKLE (actor's name).

Randy spent some of her leisure time trying to learn TAIWANESE (language), so when anyone sneezed, she would reply "AK DENIZ!" (Turkish phrase). The trip would not have been complete without a little testosterone-driven dare-deviling. Uriah and Jordan found an OUTCROP (rock feature) for cliff-jumping. The girlfriends watched nervously from the deck of the boat, and as Uriah was about to jump, Leyla shouted, "GO FUCK YOURSELF!" (a phrase for chewing someone out).

Some couples arrived on the boat as such, but some new coupling arose as well. John, Randy, and Captain Ilhan were caught in some kind of love-TRAPEZOID (a shape), which began when the Captain learned that Randy's name in British English meant "SMART" (adj.). But the Captain seemed torn between this American beauty and this British ASKIM (term of endearment). The rest of the crew looked on at their SQUEEZING (type of embracing) with astonishment, keeping an eye on the Captain's hand placement at all times. Despite John's inability to detect when males were hitting on him, he was quite aware of the difference between the American and British pronunciation of SPHINCTER (word with a "r" after a vowel).

The group got along SADLY (adverb), and with the 17 (number) horizon lines of mountains ahead of them on their way back to Fethiye, LEYLA (group member's name) was able to sum up the overall feeling of the trip perfectly when she exclaimed, "CONDITIONER MAKES HAIR SILKY SMOOTH!" (famous movie line).