The howling onshore was no more and the sea lie flat in the dawn light. As the moon sets and the sun rises the water returns to the crystal clear blue colour of days prior. After a quick breakie we break out our dive gear again and scrabble down the rocky outcrop to the waters edge. The sedimentary rock which makes up the steep bay walls is at mercy to the off season waves and in on place had collapsed into a water cavern. We could see it from the camp spot, and after having a look with the drone, decided to swim over and check it out. Armed with the dive torch we made the several hundred metre swim over to explore the cave. Like the rest of the area there didn’t appear to be any life inside ( that we could see). The cave was about 15 meters deep and about 20 meters wide with the ceiling about 4 metres from the water surface. The outside sunlight filtered through the crystal water and looked incredible from the inside looking out. With not a lot of life under the sea here this cave was a cool feature to explore.
Back at the Troopy, in the balmy comfortable sea breeze we throw up the hammock under the adjacent trees and decide to do nothing for the afternoon. Since restarting our little adventure we’ve been moving quite frequently so it’s good to have a down day and ‘hang out’ and Jolie puts it (Pun intended).
While travelling through Central Turkey we passed some other overlanders who were heading East, they sent us a message on Instagram and suggested this spot. Like the last beach camp, and the hundreds before, we found these spots simply using Google maps. We were surprised that someone else had also found this spot as it wasn’t marked on any maps/apps we were using. We also thought it was a little odd as the majority of other overlanders we meet, especially this close to Europe, hop from one marked camp spot to the next. After having this little slice of paradise to ourselves for the two nights, a German couple and their baby pulled up in a van, after a quick chat it turns out this spot is marked though on a paid app we don’t use. Proof that finding unexplored camp spots in this part of the world is very difficult! In saying that, perhaps it’s good it’s on a paid app and not one so freely available as it keeps it clean! If anyone is reading this that is keen to find it, please, if you do find it, use your head and think of the next person when you position your camp fire!
Leaving this dreamy rocky camp spot we make the steep bumpy climb out of the valley and onto the main west coast highway. The roads continue to improve in quality as we near the major coastal city of Izmir and are also full of friendly Turkish people who continually hoot, wave, or send us photos of us driving on Instagram; something we haven’t really experienced since Indonesia. For reference, one day while driving across Java in Indonesia we received potentially 200 messages on Instagram of nothing but photos of us in the Troopy!
Back to Turkey, previously as we neared the southern coast we noticed that the majority of campers, people in vans, or on touring bikes, weren’t foreign though Turkish. Vehicle based touring and camping is very popular in Turkey and one of the beaches in the area we had chosen to look for a camp was extremely busy with about 50 campers set up along the beach. Not our idea of idyllic conditions so we pushed on to a quieter less accessible beach which looked promising. The access to the beach appeared to be through the ruins of an old resort which provided several great level hard stand areas to park up with panoramic views over the sea. The steps down to the water was an added bonus!
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9 июн 2022
