Butterfly Valley, Fethiye, Paragliding

I joined my paragliding group for a one-day boat trip. It turned out that the Butterfly Valley that the boat went to can be accessed by public buses. When those who were suffering from seasick knew that, they said to me with their eyes wide opened, ‘Really?! Where’s the bus stop? I want to take it back to the main island!’

We stayed at the Butterfly Valley for a couple of hours. Some people went for scuba diving. They came back and told us it was like a big fish pond. The fish came to get the bread as if they knew it was their feeding time.

Those who didn’t go scuba diving like me, hiked up to see the waterfall. But it was too dry. The waterfall was like a stream except that it’s vertical. Again, I couldn’t stand the heat so I didn’t finish the trail and headed back to the beach and slept in the shades.  

The boat took us to the Blue Cave.  It was a commercial route where all the other boats went. It cost 120 liras including lunch onboard. Not too expensive but it is still a rip off considering the first destination can be accessed by bus which cost probably around 10 liras. 😀

Most of the pilots decided to fly again after the boat trip and I went back to the hotel to rest. The heat was killing me.  I checked out the cost for tandem paragliding and planned to do a morning flight tomorrow.

That meant, I had to wake up early for the tandem flight but it was worth it.

It is a matter of preference. For the boat trip, it was not worth it for me. But for the tandem paragliding flight, oh yes!

It was such a great flight. We took off at 2,000 metres high and the pilot caught the thermal and went up to 2,500m (maybe a bit higher than that?).  Before the flight, I told him I was learning solo paragliding. He said ‘oh I’m so lucky to have a solo paragliding pilot as my passenger.’ 😀  He then told his other mates about that.  ‘But I have only done 10 solo flights. Still a beginner.’ 😀 I asked him not to swing too much otherwise I would throw up and all my breakfast would be gone. 😀 So, it was more like a scenic flight.

At one stage, he said he’d take off my helmet and I screamed. 😀  Helmets are very important for the pilots and the passengers!

When we took off, as usual, I screamed. It was so high!!

As he flew above the mountain range, he said, ‘there’s a thermal there. Wanna go up higher?’ Of course yes!!!  He caught the thermal.  And then he asked me ‘higher?’ And I said yes. 😜 So we kept catching the thermal and he said ‘wow, we are really high!’ I think we were higher than 2,500m.

I saw a very unique town near us so I pointed at it. He told me it was rock village (I think he meant Kayaköy, the ghost town close to us) and that I could go there.  It’s not that far. 😊.  Plan confirmed. 😊

We did so many things while we were up in the air – we sang, we danced the Turkish dance, we chatted, he showed me places around the area, he told me he had done 700+ tandem flights… I should have taken some snacks and wine with me. 😀  Some paragliding pilots do that during their long and calm flights. It felt so cool up in the air. I really meant cool in terms of the temperature. I didn’t want it to end.

In the end, he said, ‘this flight is supposed to be 30 mins but it will be 35 mins.’ ‘Oh really? It didn’t feel like it. Ok. Let’s go down quickly.’

To go down quickly, he swirled 360 degrees in the air and then did the big ears (paragliding jargons). I could feel the heat as we descended. Goodbye cool weather. 🙁

We finally landed.  We were the last one to land. 😀 I asked him, ‘did you enjoy this flight? How was my skill?’ 😀

I felt a bit dizzy after the flight so I went back to my room to rest.

But I had to buy the bus tickets otherwise I would be stuck here which was not a good idea. My plan was to go to Cappadocia, that meant I had to go back to Istanbul.  Another plan was to go to Izmir where I could visit Ephesus.

So, I went to Fethiye otogar (bus station) to check out the bus schedule.

Cappadocia – sold out.

Izmir – available.

Well, I bought that ticket and the ticket from Izmir to Istanbul. After I finished this chore, I walked around Fethiye. I stayed in a mall and ate and did some shopping. Things were cheap and they’re having sales. 😀 The good thing was there was air conditioning and a food court!

I walked to Fethiye city centre. Quite a nice city. But it was so hot that I didn’t have the mood to enjoy anything. Things were much cheaper than in Olüdeniz. If I were not with the paragliding group, I’d have stayed here and done a day trip in Olüdeniz instead. It’s more convenient to go to other places from Fethiye.

Yes, like I said in my previous blog, Olüdeniz reminded me of Seychelles, somehow. Beach, parties, bars. Don’t really like it. Can’t we have a quiet beach?

14 – 16 August 2018

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