May 2010    Download the Entire Issue (PDF)

Vol. 25, No. 5   What's this?

Fethiye and Kas, Turkey

in search of amphorae on the Mediterranean Coast

from the May, 2010 issue of Undercurrent  

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Dear Fellow Diver:

Exotic Turkey -- the muezzin call to prayer five times a day echoed throughout the Mediterranean coastal town of Fethiye, adding a magical touch when viewing the 2,500- year-old ruins of tombs. I am a woman traveling alone, as I often do, but I avoid irrational avoidance by educating myself about a destination beforehand. Just because the Kurdish Freedom Fighters blew up a bus of tourists in a nearby city four years ago doesn’t mean it will happen to me. I was to divide my two weeks between diving in Fethiye and Kas, where American divers are rare. I came to dive ancient wreck sites to see the Amphorae, unique and ancient vases, and they are there, in abundance.

I showed up at the Dolphin Diving 45-foot dive boat-cum-office, where Colonel Yilmaz Guven, one of Turkey’s first divers, was waiting to introduce me to the “Turkish Diving Delights”, or so his website assured me. It was a package deal of US$360 for three days diving and hotel for five nights. Excellent deal? Nope. With only one boat, majority rules. Seventeen of 20 were first-time divers. Somehow, I was roped into spending seven hours in the water at the same dive site for two consecutive days teaching novices, Brits and Turkish university students. John, the colonel’s son, smashed a sea urchin to draw in fish. My reward, other than the pleasure of educating newbie divers, was a beer at day’s end. Any diving is better than sitting on deck sulking....