Sherrie's Cruising Blog (Sailing Catamaran Element): Antalya

October 14 - 16

The day arrived that we had to take my parents up to Antalya so that they could catch their flight the following morning. We were unable to acquire a 7 person van in Finike so we had to rent 2 vehicles in order to accommodate the 6 of us and my parents luggage.

Shaun had scored a great deal on an all inclusive hotel for 520 TL for 2 rooms. We left Finike at 10:30 AM. I had my parents and Jordan in the car following Shaun in his vehicle. As I haven’t driven in a while it was a little nerve racking. I nearly was side swiped and then I nearly took out a fellow on a scooter within 10 minutes. After that everything went smooth. Shaun had bought me my own cell phone that I was able to turn on as we neared Antalya in case I was separated from him. He called me and we had the cell phones on speaker the entire drive into Antalaya all the way to the hotel. I managed to stick to him like the proverbial tar to feathers. There was NO WAY I wanted to be driving on my own in Antalya. Driving in Turkey, lets just say all speed limits, lines on the road and pretty much all rules are guidelines. It was definitely outside of my comfort zone. I expressed this to Paige while the cell phone was on. Stating that I was pushing my comfort zone and becoming a better person in the process, just like volleyball. We made it to the hotel in one piece thankfully.

feeling nervous as I have to follow Shaun up to Antalya (there was no 7 person van available)

one of three tunnels

inside the tunnel

our hotel for the evening

We were a little early for the rooms so we decided that instead of rushing through lunch and going over to the aquarium that we would eat and relax. We headed into lunch and then to the bar. By this time our rooms were ready so the girls grabbed their suits and we all headed down to the pools and the bar. The 2 waterslides were open so Jordan went down while my dad waited at the bottom in the very chilly water to catch her. I ended up having to get into the water to help as he was too cold….. It was VERY chilly to say the least.

hurry up and take the picture it's chilly in here

preparing to dunk in the water

ready, set, go

Jordan wanted to stay at the waterslides

Paige's new favourite chair

view from the bar

view out from the bar

having some beverages

playing at the pool

our new Australian friend Artie

photo bombed

me and my mom

family photo with Artie

chilling with her new cat friend

Artie and his new friend Sabrina

resident rooster just strolling by

the girls and more furry friends

We were drinking rum and cokes, gin and tonics and long island iced teas without incident until there was a barman change. The new barman noticed that we had a red wrist band and informed us that the rum and cokes and long islands were extra. After a small argument Shaun went to reception to inquire and found out that in order to have ALL ACCESS we had to spend an extra 20 TL each…… Well you know what we did. After that we were golden. The drinks were flowing and we met a Turkish/Australian names “Artie”. The afternoon/evening got more and more interesting. Artie’s friend Sabrina arrived and then we had a party LOL. We made it to dinner in one piece and escorted my VERY happy dad up to his hotel room. Shaun and I tucked the girls into bed and headed back down to the bar to meet up with Artie and Sabrina. I decided to nurse drinks due to the fact that we had a very early morning to get my parents to the airport.

Shaun had complimented the bartender by saying he was better than Tom Cruise in the movie Cocktail. The bartender started pouring 3/4 rum and a 1/4 coke. Needless to say Shaun was feeling no pain. We ended up closing out the pool bar not before Artie managed to buy a bottle of vodka and Sabrina wrangled up tequila shots for our whole table which included the newest additions a Flemish lady and 2 Russians. We made our way down to “The Disco” which was a small room with extremely loud music and the 7 of us. That didn’t make it any less of a party….. I asked Shaun a 1:00 AM if we could go back to the room as I figured it was getting late and any more alcohol would have been a bad idea.

I've had a few drinks can you tell?

waiting patiently near the resident hen

and the night starts to get interesting

dad feeling no pain before dinner

After setting two alarm and pouring himself into bed, Shaun passed out. He successfully woke up and got my parents to the airport safe and sound. He however, was in no shape to leave the hotel so we ended up booking the hotel for one more day. The girls and I went for a walk and then hung out at the pool. Shaun met up with us for dinner and then went back to bed.

The following morning we left the hotel and went to the Aquarium. We had heard that it was expensive but nearly fell over when we were given the total for access to the whole thing (795 TL). Once we recovered from our shock we headed inside to start our aquarium adventure. It was incredibly well done and I would recommend visiting. Save your pennies and suck up the cost. The habitats and displays inside each aquarium were incredible. The water tunnel was also amazing. We enjoyed seeing all of the reptiles, spiders and insects. We particularly liked snow world. I laughed very hard and will carry these memories with me forever.

We took a 4D submarine ride through the oceans of the world. It took Paige and I a few minutes to get comfortable as we cruised through a school of barracudas, then a sea turtle, through narrow chasms, over colourful coral, got splashed by a whale, swam with seals and chomped by a great white shark before returning to base. All in all a successful ride.