On our last day in Bodrum we decided to rent a private boat for the day and explore all the hidden coves along the Bodrum peninsula. Remember all those boats in the harbor? You could walk up to most of them and ask them to take you on a tour lasting anywhere from a few hours to a few days. And it was pretty cheap ($250 for an 8-hour trip) considering we got our own private boat, private tour (= quiet and relaxing since the regular tours would have 40+ people per boat), lunch, and tea and cookies included. It would have been a great thing to do with a close group of friends ... so next time we expect some friends to join us.
Turns out September/October is the low season for tourism in Bodrum so we really lucked out and there were hardly any other boats out at all the day we went out. A lot of the boats play loud party music and people on them can be quite loud and obnoxious but thankfully we only ran into a few of those such boats and as soon as they came near us our captain would take us away to someplace quiet again.
We visited 4 different areas and we swam in all of them. Martin snorkeled. The water there is incredibly clean and clear and turquoise. Here is our first stop:
This is really the only way I'll swim in the ocean - if it's clean and clear. I hate seaweed or anything brushing up against me in the ocean:
Here's Martin having a snorkel. There weren't many fish around but there were a few:
Our second stop. When we got here some wild boars (and baby boars!) ran out of the shrubs onto the beach but before we could get the camera out to get their picture somebody on another boat jumped into the water and scared them away. It was like being on safari for a second.
Martin snorkeling again. I went in too but Martin never got out and took my picture (okay he did once but it was really blurry so I'll keep it off the blog).
We had a captain and a first mate on our boat, really nice guys, and they taught us to fish for a bit with our leftover bread from lunch. The fish were too smart for us though, they managed to eat the bread off of the fishing hooks without getting caught. I was happy though I don't like fishing and having to watch fish struggle to breathe and then die.
The view looking away from the shore:
Our fourth stop (the third wasn't that great, the shore wasn't very pretty and the water was much deeper so it wasn't the gorgeous clear turquoise):
Looking out away from the shore:
Here's one of the boats with 40+ people on it. The top is all filled with pillows and places to lie out and sun yourself. It just felt weird to me to be in like a big bed area with a bunch of strangers in their speedos.
Having a read on the way back to Bodrum:
More relaxing. This boat was way too big for just the two of us, there were 9 mats for people to lie on on the front of the boat and 4 up on top plus some big comfy couches in the back of the boat by the dining area.
Heading back into Bodrum harbor ... here is the castle with somebody's yacht:
Somebody's big sailboat with Bodrum in the background:
And finally another shot of the harbor - so many boats! Seems like everybody in Turkey must keep a boat here for weekend use:
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