Adventure at a Wild Beach

Cirali Airlines

A couple of days ago, we decided to head out to a wild beach with our snorkel gear. The journey there wasn't easy, taking us an hour under the blazing sun.

*I must admit, I was wrong to chuckle at my husband for bringing fins from London that are about my height when you stack them! To all the jokesters saying, "Those fins aren't that long / are they kids’ sizes?" please refrain from commenting at this moment!

I sent my mom a picture of those fins before we left, and she replied, "Well, at least it’s not a soldering iron." Yes, my dad once took a soldering iron on vacation! I’d like to say, "back when that wasn’t mainstream," but it oddly never became a trend.

Anyway, back to the story.

Our trip to the wild beach was incredibly rewarding! We swam, encountered a beautiful lizard, I found an oyster, and Serge was quick to catch a crab with his bare hands. But since we only had one set of snorkel gear, we decided to buy another pair and head back there a couple of days later.

The beach was truly wild. On our previous visit, we only came across a French family in the evening. This time, at almost the same hour, a Turkish man arrived by his little boat.

We exchanged greetings and discovered he was there for the same reason — to relax and swim with a snorkel and mask. He didn’t speak English at all but simply pointed to his mask and made a swimming gesture.

About ten minutes later, he beckoned Serge over again.

“What does he want?”
“Well, he’s inviting us to swim with him on his boat to the second beach, then the third, and afterward, he’ll take us back home.”
“How did you understand him?”
“He said: ‘Beach🏝️, blah blah🤿, Beach🏝️, blah blah🤿, Cirali Airlines!😊😊😊’”

This wonderful man named Erkan took us around to those beaches, swimming with us while we pointed out sea urchins, crabs, and manta rays.

At every picturesque spot, he would stop and say, “Photo, photo, photo!” Besides the two beaches, he took us to show a cave and other landmarks. He even lent my husband some flip-flops since he had worn sneakers, taking photos of me holding the moon in my palm. At one point, he intentionally made a second round in the boat when he noticed I hadn’t recorded a video of the moon!

In the end, he genuinely brought us back to our beach. After discussing with my husband, we chose not to offer him any money, sensing that such a gesture might offend him.

Honestly, if I were a lonely Natasha sharing this story, I doubt anyone would believe me!