Kas: Day Three

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Mike had to do five dives as part of his Advanced Diver Certification, so it takes two full days of diving. This meant another day of sun bathing on the top of the boat with the occasional dip in the Med for me.  Tough life. I know.

While I had recovered from the previous night's food poisoning, I still was feeling pretty weak and tired, so a day of napping and resting on the boat was completely fine with me. I did get in the water both times the boat stopped for dives, but I didn't swim nearly as much as the previous days and I didn't even put on a snorkel or a mask. Instead, I read. A. Lot. I finished Wild and started Defending Jacob, which I didn't think was as good as everyone said, but it kept me occupied.

After a day of diving, Mike was officially certified advanced, which was exciting! When the boat pulled into the harbor, we had to pay the owner of the boat who reassured us the day before that we could pay with a credit card.  He also mentioned something about a paint shop, but we didn't really understand.  So, when we pulled up to the harbor and went to pay, he told us that he didn't have a credit card machine, but that was okay.  We'd just go with him to a paint shop where he owed some money for work on the boat and that we'd just pay them. Mike and I just laughed and obliged because....Turkey.

(side note: The fees for credit cards are ridiculous here.  They're around 8%, so store owners lose a lot of money when they accept credit cards.  A lot of the smaller places won't accept them.  Add in who-knows-what kind of tax laws and you've got people paying paint shops for scuba diving)

Both Mike and I were starving by the time we finished with that whole ordeal.  We also had been craving good Mexican food, which is impossible to find. When we were going to dinner the night before, we saw a sign for Mexican and decided to try it out after researching on Trip Advisor.  When we got there, we noticed that the entire restaurant was cat themed and that there were cats/kittens all over.  The menu wasn't an extensive Mexican menu, in fact it really only had tacos on it.  And by tacos, I mean, taco shells with fajita fillings.  The best/worst part was when we went to go order an appetizer of chips and salsa and found out they didn't have tortilla chips. I didn't know you could remain open as a Mexican restaurant if you didn't have tortilla chips. Despite it's shortcomings, the food was actually pretty good and, while it wasn't quite the Mexican food we had been hoping for, it definitely hit the spot.

That night, we hung around the campsite, listened to live music and drank some wine.  It was a great end to our last day in Kas.

"I can't wait to read the blogpost about this." -Mike as we're walking out of the paint shop

Kas: Day Two

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We woke up early the next day because Mike had arranged with Can to do two days of diving so that he could take a class and get his Advanced diving certification.  I was going along for the ride again and very content to read my book and soak up the sun.  The boat this time was a lot smaller than the boat in Fethiye and there weren't nearly as many people aboard this time.

I snorkeled in the morning while Mike dove. I saw a sunken ship and a ton of fish, so it was definitely better than Fethiye in my opinion. We had heard that Kas is more protective of their fish than Fethiye, so it's better diving in Kas. 

Unlike the trip in Fethiye, the boat in Kas didn't serve lunch.  We had signed up for all day of diving, so they let us off the boat and we went and grabbed lunch before returning to the boat.  Some people had only signed up for either the morning or afternoon dive, but our group was mainly the same.  

The afternoon was a lot of the same.  We went to a different location and I snorkeled again.  I didn't see any shipwrecks, but lots of fish. 

When we got off the boat, we headed back to the campsite to shower and change before dinner.  I had been battling swimmer's ear and really hoping that it would go away on it's own (wishful thinking), but had finally succumbed to the fact that I needed to get drops to put in my ear. In the US, this wouldn't be a problem.  I've had swimmer's ear a ton and have always cured it with a quick run to CVS for some over the counter drops.  Here, I had no idea what that would look like. 

So, before dinner, Mike and I stopped into a pharmacy.  Luckily, one of the men behind the counter spoke English (I think probably because they get so many English speaking tourists in Kas).  He explained to the pharmacist what I needed and out we walked with ear drops!  The whole process was so much easier than I expected and the drops seem to be working.  At least, I haven't lost my hearing....

After that, we found a nice restaurant off of the main tourist strip and enjoyed a bottle of wine and some non-turkish food. I had a steak with mushroom sauce, which was okay and Mike had sea bass. Mike said his fish was good, but neither of us can get over how the Turkish don't use any sort of seasoning or added flavor to the fish.  You literally get the entire fish on a plate and that is it.  No blackened or any sort of spicy fish.  Just the fish. 

Anyways, after dinner, we headed back to camp for some reading and relaxation. i hadn't been feeling great all day and they have live music every night by Can and some of his friends, so it seemed like the perfect end of the night.  Little did I know that as soon as we got back to camp, I'd have a visit from a friend.  First name "Food" last name "Poisoning."  It was a rough end to the day, but luckily I seemed to recover by the morning and was ready for another day on the boat. 

Kas: Day One

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We arrived in Kas around three in the afternoon and found our hotel relatively quickly.  Well, if you want to call it a hotel.  When Mike was looking at places to stay in Kas, everywhere was really expensive except for this place, probably because instead of staying in a hotel, we were going to stay in a hut.  Yup, we were basically camping.

The entire camp was located on the side of a hill overlooking the water.  There were basically three levels with rainbow colored stairs leading to the next level.  The first level was the restaurant/bar, as well as a place for a campfire and lots of bean bag chairs. As you made your way up the rainbow stairs, you would find yourself at the sleeping level.  To the left of the stairs was where people pitched their tents. Luckily, we were to the right in the more pricier section which had wooden huts with a mattress, an outlet, and a fan for us.  On the third level were the communal bathrooms and showers (separated by gender). It was truly hippie camp.

When we pulled up, I couldn't help but laugh.  Mike has never been camping before (I know, I'm not sure how he made it 27 years without camping) and, even though we read the description before we booked it, I just wasn't sure how this was all going to work out.  I have many a fond memory of camping as a child and spent six glorious summers as a camper and counselor at Camp Alleghany for Girls, so I knew what camping entailed and knew we were sorely underprepared (read: only came with beach towels. No shower shoes, shower towels, or shampoo/soap).

Mike hanging out in our hut

Our neighboring hut

It was too hot to stay in the hut during the day (Can reassured us that it would cool down at night) and walked into the little town of Kas.  Just like Fethiye, it was full of European tourists.  We settled in at a restaurant along the water and helped ourselves to a few cocktails.  It was five o'clock somewhere...

After a few drinks, we headed back to camp where they had a set menu for dinner for campers.  It was just your basic Turkish food, but it was pretty good.  We called it an early night since we knew we'd be up early for diving/boating/snorkeling the next day.