Boat trip around Gundogan bay

Mom: Today we headed down to Gundogan early in search of a boat for a day trip. According to our local guide, you just show up down at the marina and pick a good looking boat, but we had trouble finding a boat that had a clear indication that it was available for trips. I suspect it's easier to find one in Bodrum, as Bodrum is much larger. Eventually we found a sign on the side of a restaurant advertising two different routes for boat trips, so we went in and inquired. The restaurant guy said to come back at 10 and we would leave at 10:30, so we divided our extra time between the beach and checking email at the internet café. When we arrived back at the restaurant at 9:55, the boat was ready to go-this reminded me of our bus trip out of Ankara. So we hopped on board. The day trippers were mostly French, with a good number of Turks on board as well and us. We noted that when the French and the Turks communicated, they did it in English. We are pretty lucky to know the international compromise language.

The stern of the boat

Early in our trip, tea was served in the traditional tulip-shaped glasses.

Kate doing her "Titanic" impression

Josh: Today we went on a boat trip. The boat had tables and chairs set out. At the far end where we sat, there were also big cushions where you could lay and bake. There was also a top floor with lots of smaller cushions where you could bake even more. We really liked it. When we were on the boat, our first assigned stop was Rabbit Island which is the island that we can see from our house, but first we stopped to pick up some other passengers. When we got to Rabbit Island, we mostly snorkeled. I didn't see much, but Kate and mom both saw crabs. The water was crystal clear. When we were done, we went to a lot of places like that. It's kind of hard to remember the order and what went on in between. At each stop we swam and at one stop, they served us lunch which was fish with the heads still on them. You could see little yellow things in the eye sockets. I didn't eat that. Kate, Alex and I asked for something else and they gave us spaghetti, which we ate happily. Mom also brought us peanut butter which we spread on "ekmek" and ate. At one point they put a board on a life preserver, put tea on it and tried to serve it to the people in the water (big mistake). The tea spilled, I saw a big round cloud form in the water and about 10 tuilip cups and dinky spoons went down into the weeds. Kate, Alex and I tried to find the cups, but there was no luck. We saw some guys with knives and we thought they used them to hack at the weeds. At one point, I was sitting on our big cushion. We were hanging up towels and letting them dry. I started swatting like a cat at the towels which were floating in the wind. Soon after that I went snorkeling and found a really pretty shell, but it broke and I blamed Kate. There was a trial and she was found "not guilty," but I know she was guilty. Soon after that, we started going back. I went to the top deck to bake and dry off. A man started talking to me and Alex and we struck up a conversation. He asked us some questions like where we were from and I asked him where he was from and we soon became sort-of friends. I asked mom some questions so that I could answer some of the questions he asked me. We arrived back at the dock. When we were leaving, I said, "Iyi achshamlar," to my new friend.

Peaking from the top

We walked around, got some dinner and we went to a store and I bought some sandals. Then we tried to call Dad on the computer, but that didn't quite work, so we emailed with him a little bit.

Alex: My favorite part of the day was jumping off the top deck of the boat. The water was cold, but it was good too. I stayed off the boat for a while. Sometimes I would just feel the water from the side of the boat, hanging off.

Kate: I liked the snorkeling, looking at the different fishies and seeing the gigantic crab.

Alex, again

One of many swim stops on the boat trip

The ice cream boat

Call him Snorkel Boy

Josh "bacon in the sun"

Alex's eyes look bluer here