Southern Turkey Coast-Kayak adventure trip

Alan Brook’s  Solo Sea Kayaking trip

Kayaking  Itinerary : Koycegiz to Finike

Paddling Distance:  290 km.

Duration: 10 days

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Kayak: Feathercraft Kahuna

After landing at Dalaman Airport I took an half hour taxi ride to the north end of the Koycegiz Lake. From there I crossed to the southern tip of the lake which empties into the slow flowing Dalyan Riverwhich led me to the sea. I then followed the coast for 9 days finishing in Finike from where I traveled toAntalya for my return flight.


Taxi drop off point – next to Koycegiz town on the northern tip of the Koycegiz Lake. Carefully chosen tree and lawn for building the boat.
All my equipment, including kayak, in one big and two small carry on bags – 32 + 8 + 5 = 45 Kg  (99lbs) in all. In addition there was water and gas canisters which I bought on the way from the Airport.

Koycegiz Lake - signs of rain with my first nights camping spot in the distance.

Camping on Koycegiz Lake - looking north back towards my starting spot. A little rain and lots of mosquitoes.

Camping on Koycegiz Lake - looking south towards the next day’s route: the mouth of the Dalyan river.

Mouth of the Dalyan River

Cliffs along the Dalyan river

Dalyan River - Lycian rock tombs

After a few hours down the Dalyan Delta I reached the sea. Later I found a good cove for the night.

First camping spot on the sea. View from inside my tent with some light rain outside.

Sunset.

Morning along the coast - the first few days were mostly calm in the mornings with some strong winds in the afternoons.

Beach near the Sarisu River. Two very small dwellings (one pictured) with an old man living in each.
They were very welcoming and gave me oranges. I decided to stay for the night.

The man gave me permission to pitch my tent in the ruins of a third hut which was more comfortable than camping on the sand.

A cove for breakfast. Just before landing I caught a fish. Since it did not resemble any species that I could identify I decided to release it and go with crackers and cheese instead.

Camping in Skopea Limani (Gocek bay). Owls living in the caves in the cliff (mid picture) provided a lot of audio entertainment throughout the night.

Looking east across Fethiye bay.

Approaching Fethiye town where I bought food and had a good meal.

The region of the Burnu cape - searching for a place to land for the night on the steep and rocky coast.

After a few hours I found a small beach with signs of a single, more or less flat spot on the steep slope above. In areas of continuous cliffs I found that there were two chart indicators of possible landing spots or small beaches. Firstly the nautical maps sometimes showed rivers or more often rivulets (Wadis) reaching the sea. This was the case in the spot above – Coyu River. Also a small but pronounced cove of less than a few hundred meters in width would often also turn out to be the end of a dry rivulet with a small beach. 
This spot was surrounded with mountains of more that 1000 meters with their peaks less than 2 miles from the sea. They were covered with pine forests right down to the water.  Put the camera on a box, set the timer and run.

My kayak tied to the rocks below. I slept with the soothing sound of wind through the pine trees.

The next day a spent a few hours along an area of continues cliffs known as the Five Capes. I then reached the Zeytin river and paddled a half a mile inland and had a picnic.
After the picnic on the Zeytin river the wind came up and soon there was sand blowing all over. Within half an hour the sea had gone from force 2 to force 5-6. The wind was westerly at about 45 degrees towards the coast and my destination. Also there was about 10nm of beach with easy landing until the Yali bay which would be protected from the wind. Given these constraints I decided to continue my trip along the Patara beach. I had an exciting ride for the next two hours working hard to keep direction. My GPS indicated that I was averaging 5 knots with occasional periods of >6 knots which is not bad for my 4.5m long folding kayak. In this kind of sea it was easier being in my stable folder which even allowed me to get out my camera for a quick snapshot. Later I rounded the Yali headland into the protected bay near Kalkan. 


Next morning approaching Kalkan Marina for breakfast.

Ada headland near Kas (Turkey) on the left and Meyisti (Kastellorizon) Island (Greece) on the right.  Although I passed less than a quarter mile from Meyisti I could not land due to immigration complications. 

Big beautiful bay all to myself.

Approaching the entrance to Geyikova bay.

Geyikova bay – partially submerged ruins.

After leaving Geyikova I planned to camp in the eastern-most bay near the Ashil Island in the region which would put me in a good position for my trip to Finike the next day. As I came into the bay I was dismayed to find about 10 yachts already moored there. They were making a lot more noise than most of the other boats that I had encountered and this immediately raised my suspicion which was confirmed as I got nearer. Turns out that this was a group of people from one of our home Marina’s sailing schools. Moreover my name was called from one of the boats and I met up with Ira from Terra Santa.
Waiting for coffee on one of the yachts – my kayak tied up behind.

Finito in Finike – approaching the Finike marina where I completed my trip.
I checked into a small hotel next to the marina to get cleaned and packed.