I have a day in the Fethiye area, and there is a lot
to see around here.  My first order of business is to
visit the famous Blue Lagoon beach.  I take a short
dolmus ride over, and the first thing I notice
entering into Olu Deniz, the Blue Lagoon town, is that
there are paragliders all over the skies.  As it turns
out, the Blue Lagoon is nested amongst some very high
mountains, and is one of the best and most scenic
places in the world to paraglide.

I brush it off at first, but my trip has been lacking
a certain amount of adventure, so I keep it in mind as
I head over to the Blue Lagoon.

The Blue Lagoon itself is very clean compared to other
beaches, maybe it has something to do with the
European Union sign at the entrance.  Although the
pictures give the perception of sand, it's actually a
pebble beach.  The pebbles are so small and soft that
it's really comfortable to walk around.

The swim is great too - besides the fish, the bottom
drops in depth dramatically maybe 15-20 meters off
shore.  I have an underwater camera, so there will be
pictures!  The sun's rays shining through the clear
water creates "spider webs" of light on the pebble
bottom.

Finishing my morning swim, I return to Olu Deniz, a
huge tourist trap.  At this point in time, I'm
compelled to check out the paragliding.  As it turns
out, it's pretty cheap, at $80 for a 40 minute glide,
and no training is required whatsoever.  I sign up,
but have to wait for an air show to finish.

The air show, performed by the Turkish air force, is
quite a sight, and explains the droves of people at
Olu Deniz today.  Unlike North American shows, which
have probably learned from previous disasters, the
planes perform pretty close to the crowd, and swoop
over us a number of times.

After the show, I'm ready to go.  Unfortunately, a
small patch of clouds have covered the mountain peak
since - (shows you how high the jump point is!).  Just
my luck, because the sky everywhere else is clear as
usual.  I suppose I wasn't meant to paraglide...

Yeah, right.

Turns out the next morning, my yacht for the Blue
Voyage has broken down, and I have half a day in
Fethiye.  I have to decide between visiting the
Saklikent Gorge, a small gorge with icy water running
through it, or paragliding.  I choose to fly.

Ironically, the scariest part of the jump is the 45
minute ride up.  This is the sketchiest drive I've
experienced so far, and probably the scariest I'll
ever experience in Turkey.  In fact, my pilot tells me
he hates it when people chicken out because he has to
take the freaky ride back down.  The road up is a
narrow, rough road.  The scariest points of course,
are when another vehicle comes down the mountain, and
the two vehicles have to negotiate past each other.

Today's my lucky day, and I make it to the top in one
piece.  Of course, since I decided to sit outside on
the top of the truck with the parachutes, I do suffer
a number of scratches from tree branches.

The feeling at the top is fantastic.  It's magical
enough watching people quietly set their parachutes
and run off the cliff.  I get into a flight suit, my
pilot gives me a 1-minute detail to run when he tells
me to, and before I know it, I'm flying.

Compared to bungee jumping, it's a surreal feeling
seeing such small scenery, so my heart isn't racing at
all.  For my pilot, I can tell he's done this many
times, as he chills up there with a cigarette in one
hand and his cell phone in the other.  Besides the
fantastic view, we decide to have some fun.  At my
request, my pilot takes us into a 3G spiral drop until
my eyeballs feel like they're in the back of my head. 
Besides the spinning, we drop 300m in the matter of
seconds, so it's a really cool feeling.

I don't realize how high I started until I reach the
bottom.  It was chilly at the top of the mountain, but
by the time I reach the bottom, I shed my flight suit
right away.  I think the mountain is around 1700m?

Pumped from my recent adventure, I set out to the top
of Fethiye next, where a set of Lycian tombs lies high
above embedded in some cliffs.  I get there by walking
through a neighbourhood, and notice that there are
ancient sarcophagi in the middle of the street.  In
fact,they're scattered all over the city - kind of
cool.  

The fee to see these tombs up close is a bit of a rip
off (just my luck too - the ticket person leaves 5
minutes after I arrive.  It's an easy hike to see the
tombs, and a bit of a climb to get into the tombs.  I
don't think I'm supposed to climb in them, as I think
I hear the ticket person yelling to me, but I don't
look back.  The inside of the tombs are nothing
special anyway, and it smells badly of urine.

Oh, speaking of tombs, I forgot to mention that I've
seen 3 of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World.  Well,
there's not much to see, as most of them don't have
many remnants left. There's the Tomb of Mausolus in
Bodrum - it was disassembled by Crusaders to build
their castle there. There's the Temple of Artemis in
Selcuk - all that remains is a tall, reassembled
column and the foundation.  Finally, there once was a
huge 35m bronze statue at Rhodes, which fell apart
after an earthquake.  Might end up seeing the "8th" at
Mount Nemrut later.

New food tried in Fethiye - I tried aksire, or Noah's
pudding.  The age-old name makes me think it tastes as
age-old as it sounds, but it's actually not bad.  It's
like "Middle East trail mix" - nuts, raisins,
pomegranates, figs, and apricots - in some sweet jello
emulsion.  I also try this yummy walnut pastry emersed
in some sweet milk - forgot the name, but I'll try to
get it later.

Also on the food topic, I forgot to mention a little
incident I had the day before as I searched for
dinner.  I found a nice outdoor establishment in the
cool bazaar, and had a fun dinner of mixed meze
(appetizers) - stuffed peppers, stuffed potato, rice,
and some souffle.  Unfortunately, I forgot to ask the
price thinking it was cheap and totally got ripped off
for dinner ($12 - 3 times the price of regular
dinner).  Unlike everything else, you don't have to
bargain for food, so that might actually have been the
price, though I still remain suspicious.

Oh, also, one cool aspect of Fethiye is that as you
drive around and look into the cliffs, you see ancient
dwelling spaces all over the place - doors, windows,
and caves are carved high into the cliffs.

Back at the boat, the engine has been fixed, but the
company has decided to make us wait another day for
some more people to hop on board. This is not pleasant
news to me, though I a day's worth of free meals and
acommodations, as it creates an undesirable delay.

In any case, I meet my roommates, a pair of
adventurous Australians, as well as my other
shipmates, a group of Kiwis (New Zealanders). They're
a nice group, and we chat the night away in some small
cove near Fethiye.  The boat is a cozy Turkish wooden
yacht, or gulet.  

It has sails, but only for show.  The cabins hold two
to three people each, and each have a tiny bathroom. 
It's too cozy for the three of us, and we all decide
to sleep on the deck, which has beds laid out.  

The first night is relaxing - the full moon in view,
so bright that I have to bring my eye covers on deck. 
It's a cool night, and I fall asleep staring at the
silhouette of the mast, and hearing the ship's flags
flap comfortably into the night.