After an uneventful night in Motel Berc we travelled by
mini bus to Kas (pronounced cush - as in bus). We stopped halfway for cool
drinks where the well-meaning (but not hot) owner sprayed us with some kind of
liquid to try and cool us down. (Alternatively it was to try and get 10 pink
sweaty people out of his shop). I thought it was water and rubbed it over my
face getting quite a bit in my eyes. However, it was the searing pain in my
eyeballs make it clear that it was alcohol based and the screaming did nothing
to endear us to the natives. By the time I could see properly again, we’d
reached the coast and, wow, it really was a sight for sore eyes.
We got to the Nur Beach Hotel in time for lunch and
then a dip in the sea. It was freezing. The thought of swimming that far in
such cold water made our hearts quake and Kate and I suddenly felt way less
sure than we had. However, Shirley, (she who turned fifty and the reason we
were there) and her evil sister, Jay, intentionally didn't tell us that there
was a glacial spring at that very point to see our reactions and I must say we
did them proud.
That night it was intro night where we met our guides
- Bruce (an Ozzie, poor thing); Morgan (from England but we forgave him when we
saw his six pack) and Zelda (cat hiss). Our group comprised: myself, Shirley, Jay,
Sam and Ted (Shirley’s gorgeous sons); Louisa (nickname Dorey ‘cause she just
kept on swimming), Gill, Hazel, Cathy, Lesley and Kate. Two other English
girls, Lucy and Sarah, completed the group.
We introduced ourselves and once we got past the
spelling mistakes the guys told us how to signal for help, water and immediate
evacuation. Shirley seemed a little put out that there was no hand signal for
gin and tonic but they seemed adamant – something they may have regretted (see
below).
The first morning we were put into groups Fast (slow),
Faster (medium) and Fastest (quick) and accordingly given our caps. I was in
Orange (slow) and was happy of it.
Then it was off to the boat where we were introduced
to Mustapha, his wife and awesome cook (Zenab) and their boat helper guy (Mesut).
What fantastically friendly people.
The first swim revealed the shortcomings of my
swimming costume and highlighted why one shouldn’t go with the first one you
find. As I mentioned before, while the body part fitted fine, the bra part was
hopelessly inadequate. The result? Poor Bruce and Mesut got several unwanted eyefuls
of Molly and Hilda and finally understood the phrase, ‘what has been seen
cannot be unseen’ and regretted the no alcohol policy. Mercifully I found a
rash vest to tame the two behemoths and everything was contained to everyone’s
satisfaction.
Bruce’s other horror was Sam’s ‘flag’ baggies
(swimming shorts). Brightly coloured with flags of the world and not in the
least streamlined, Bruce was horrified that Sam considered a) wearing them and
b) actually swimming in them. But he did and by the end I think Bruce had grown
quite fond of them.
When it came to lubing up Morgan did it with more
enthusiasm while Bruce had the technique of a man with loads of experience. I
am sure Morgan felt something akin to nausea when he was rubbing up the older
ducks but there were days when it was the inspiration we needed to get aching,
sunburned muscles into the water.
The water was so clear and blue and buoyant and
because there are no beaches (okay, I lie – I saw two and they were of the
crappy pebble variety) you swim right next to the coastline. So you see fish
and turtles and crabs and it’s like a fairytale. On more than on occasion I had
to pinch myself that I was actually in the Med. Swimming.
We’d swim in the morning for a couple of hours, break
for absolutely delicious lunches prepared by Zaida in a kitchen the size of the
average laptop and then retire to the cushions for a lovely nap/reading time before
the afternoon swim.
We had a really
wonderful holiday. The company was great, the swimming and food fantastic and I
can really recommend it as a fun holiday to do with family and friends. The
company we went with was Swimtrek (www.swimtrek.com) and they have swims in
many countries (but not enough) and we’ve kinda, tentatively thought of Baha in
two years.
