crabs and turtles

So, Dalyan... Today we went on a boat trip to see the protected turtles that come here to breed (check mr google or aunty wikipedia if you want the actual info), to have a go at catching blue swimmer (?) crabs and, generally, to have an amazing day on a boat, cruising around the river, sea and lake that make up this part of the coast.

First stop of note was by "Hole Island" - same name in Turkish apparently. It is a fairly literal name for this small island barely off the coast. Here we were invited to jump in for a swim - so we did. It's one of those postcard seas - aqua and clear as clear - perhaps not as warm as later in the season, but warm enough. It was an absolute ripper of a start to the day.

Eventually we toodled further along to fish for crabs. I managed 3 good bites (same crab each time I think) but the wily old thing always let go just before we got to him with the net. It was good fun, though. One we caught eventually escaped and bit a chap on the big toe... there was blood. Enjoyable for everyone else, of course.

Lunch was on the boat, by the beach (sort of in a lagoon on the spit that separates it from the ocean proper) - anyway it was tasty. I had a second swim at the beach while lunch was being cooked.

From there we motored across to do some turtle spotting - using crabs to lure them up. Turtles duly spotted, we set off again to the lake - which is fed by sulphur springs or some such - in any case it means there are warm bits as well as cooler bits. I thought I had done with swims but you don't come this far NOT to get in, do you? So, in I went. Third swim, lovely, although the warmer bits were not wildly in evidence. Apparently if you dive down to the bottom and grab some mud it's pretty warm. I wasn't a starter for that - also the mud is reported to smell really bad. No one was a starter for that.

All in all, a blissful day. We are doing another trip on Tuesday and possibly a third on Thursday. Tuesday is called the 12 islands trip (hint).

On a more practical note we woke up to no electricity. As did the rest of Dalyan as it turned out. We still got a lovely omelet and coffee for breakfast - nothing seems to phase our hosts. Also, after some serious rain yesterday we seem to have found the sun. Possibly a tad too much today - we will be better prepared on Tuesday. Photos will be launched separately and soon.

chur...