"Cruising the Lycian Shore" is our first cruise in Turkey since October 2019, On this occasion, to give an impression of the experience, we are providing a kind of travel diary. Every day we will pick one image we took that day, accompanied by some explanations and thoughts.
Today did not go according to plan.
Any gulet cruise is to some extent subject to the elements, and therefore prone to more or less significant changes of plan. Of course, any plan that cannot be changed is a bad one, so we design our itineraries specifically with the potential for such changes in mind - we plan the unplannable!
If that sounds grandiose, it's really just practical. We enable our tour experts to be very familiar with the areas we travel and with alternative sites or schedules; we make sure that they communicate well with our captains and crews; and we design our itineraries in such a way that there is room for flexibility. Especially on our Cycladic cruise, with its long crossings of the open Aegean, guests will have witnessed the daily conferences between our captain, my fellow expert and myself, determining the plan for the next few days on a daily basis.
Today, the unforeseeable came to meet us in Lycia, and suddenly. The day had started with a pleasant morning cruise and a delightful lunchtime swim in a small cove in the famous Bay of Kekova. Then, a weather system expected to stay further inland moved across the shore at speed, bringing thunder, lightning, a half-hour's worth of heavy rain and a brief but violent squall. None of these things is particularly common on the Lycian Shore in mid-September, but it is what it is! So, our plans for an afternoon walk around the ruins of ancient Teimiussa and dinner ashore were blown away. Instead our guests had a lovely relaxing afternoon, while we discreetly rejigged our plans in the background.
And once the weather had blown over, we were greeted by another unplanned and unplannable sight: a full double rainbow rising high above the ancient city and castle of Kale and above our gulet's bow, lasting for nearly an hour. We gazed at it in wonder while it was there, and none of us are likely to forget it in a long, long time. A fine reward for respecting the elements!
Tomorrow, we won't have time to look for the pot of gold at the rainbow's end, but we'll find something else of value.
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