BODRUM BAY
Sailing on the "Pirate Schooner"
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We spent one day of our life riding a "pirate schooner" along the delightful bay of the Turkish city of Bodrum. We will tell about the city itself in another report, but here we will talk about the adventures that a day trip to the shores of the "Black Island" gives.
Our route looked like this schematically:
At around 9 am we left the hotel and ended up on one of the city's beaches, where at this time it was not very crowded. By the way, this side of the bay is famous for the huge number of rooms that are rented to yachtsmen and those who serve yachts in Bodrum.
The choice of "pirate schooners" in the morning hours is very wide and varied.
We chose the "Black Angel" for ourselves and I climbed onto the third deck to explore the surroundings. The rest of the passengers chose their seats on the red mattresses of the second deck.
Our ship slowly set out on a journey, leaving on the starboard side the severe castle of St. Peter, which is colloquially called "Bodrum castle".
According to legend, even the name of the city came from the castle "Petrum", which over the years was transformed into "Bodrum".
The atmosphere was filled with Turkish music, which made the experience even more authentic. At the first stage, we were "accompanied" by a small pleasure yacht, but our captain did not tolerate such an opponent, he added speed, and we left the former "fellow traveler" far behind.
The first stop of the "Black Angel" near the "Black Island" 😉 was organized next to a hot spring that gushes from under this island.
Passengers are given forty minutes so that they have time to swim in the warm water near the rock. The beauty is that the rock overhangs a little, forming a small grotto where it is interesting to swim. But, unfortunately, a large number of people who wanted to do this at the same time did not give us the opportunity to swim inside the grotto and we were content with the hanging edge of the rock.
Walking left and right from the pool with warm water, took a selfie and dived for a swim near the side of his schooner. The water there, as in the entire Aegean Sea, is relatively cool, but much more fresh than in the mass "splash pool".
The next point of travel was the "aquarium". This is what the yachting vendors call this place. They promised a lot of colorful fish, but we were skeptical about their assurances, since this is not Egypt. But the color of the water in the lagoon pleased us, it was so fantastic that it doesn't cost much to tell: see for yourself.
Looking at the photos, one gets the impression that it is not deep there at all, but an incident happened to us that made it possible to find out the real depth of the lagoon and evaluate the transparency of the water.
One of the passengers of our schooner, seeing that I was diving from the second deck, asked me to get a smart watch from the bottom, which his wife had just dropped overboard. He confidently pointed to the bottom point where they lay. I, evaluating my diving skills quite modestly, said that if there are 5-6 meters, then I can try. A sailor of the schooner passing by heard our dialogue and, laughing, advised us not to even try, since the depth overboard is from 12 to 14 meters.
We stood and did not believe that through a layer of water 12 meters deep we could see the clock at the bottom. 😲
The meals on board our schooner were All Inclusive. Pros - The chicken and rice lunch doesn't leave you hungry. Cons - paper cups are small, like for espresso in coffee machines, and drinks are only poured on the bar on the first deck. Accordingly, when you complete the quest in the form of descent from the second or third deck, then in a dense stream of people you reach a bar, wait for your turn, get a glass with 150 grams of juice or beer, and then start your way back, balancing between people on the first deck, then on the "spiral" staircase you climb to your second ... After such an "obstacle course" you don't want to go for a second portion, so "allclusive" is purely nominal.
But while we were waiting for lunch in this blue lagoon, we were pleased several times by passing boats. Namely, by its shadow: when the shadow is torn off from the boat and slides on its own along the bottom, then the feeling is created that the boat is hanging in the air.
This bay is so popular that most of the yachts that we met along the way "parked" here. See for yourself, there are yachts along the coast, almost like in the "Marina" of Bodrum.
In such a place, it is very important to take more photos and dive from a height 😊😊😊
Neighbors from nearby yachts were engaged in water sports. Our attention, for example, was attracted by a friend who used a certain walker, where, pressing the pedals, you steer your board.
After all the photos, jumping and lunch, our schooner turned around and swam back, leaving a small but very picturesque uninhabited island on the side.
Stop number four on our map, which was at the beginning of the report, is a training place for divers. Since we approached this trip seriously and studied the route in detail, we took with us a comfortable mask, with which I studied this bay in detail. There are indeed some rocks underwater that look like animals. And also two through tunnels through which light passes, reflecting from the bottom.
Important tips for visiting this place would be:
1. Do not swim close to the rocks - the oncoming wave threw me on the rocks so hard that I barely managed to dodge.
2. Do not step on stones under water - the sea urchin left a few thorns in my foot, but thanks to my "ninja reaction" 💪, they entered shallowly, and we were able to pull them out on the ship.
The final bay we visited was this one.
It is located opposite the "Black Island", but the palette of colors presented here by the waters of the Aegean Sea is in no way inferior to the bays that we have seen earlier.
Realizing that after this bay we will be returning back to Bodrum, the enthusiastic passengers of the "pirate schooner" jumped from the second deck for an hour. Thanks to the height of 7-8 meters, the jumpers managed to create a real rainbow. See for yourself:
And so we sail back to the marinas of Bodrum, passing by the beautiful buildings of our hotel "Holiday Bodrum". (If anyone has questions about this hotel - write them in the comments).
After the hotel we sailed past the Bodrum shipyard, where all types of yachts are built and repaired. In the photo you can even see a four-deck "beauty" standing on the slipways.
In a small cove, almost near the city itself, we saw a sailing club. A lot of small sailboats circled along the trajectories indicated by the leader.
Evening, the setting sun, and the Bodrum fortress is majestically looming in front of us again. We spent the whole day in the joy that Bodrum's bays and the magnificent Aegean Sea bring to travelers.
Be sure to travel!
