Would you like wine with your snorkel?

 We love Bodrum, it's a picturesque seaside town with white washed houses that dot the hillsides. We chartered a 20 meter boat today, one normally packed with loads of tourists. Just the two of us, our crew of two Turks and an Albanian, and the sparkling Aegean Sea. (Had I cracked open a travel book prior to coming I would have known I was not going to the Med like I thought until today.) We are not high rollers, merely fierce negotiators : )

After about an hour of going along the coast we stopped in an area they call the aquarium - really turquoise water so you can see everything. We jumped in the water and the crew threw us some snorkel gear and dropped bread in the water. Giant schools of fish appeared immediately! We are snorkeling in the sea, no life jackets so paddling away, and our crew brings in a floating tabletop into the water, and pour us wine. Watching Shala take that first sip of wine while wearing a snorkel mask was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. It may sound easy, but wine while snorkeling requires great skill. While treading water and keeping our glasses out of the waves while taking a sip - whew. Because we had on snorkel masks we couldn't breathe through our noses while we drank; I never realized until today that oxygen to the nose while imbibing is something not to be taken for granted! There was one point where we were in the water and the crew in the boat that I regretted that lazy Saturday afternoon I watched Open Water II, Adrift at Sea.

After a tough day at sea, we indulged at yet another street vendor - the Turks serve up a mean grilled cheese!

We saw so many beautiful places today that it made me think a lot about my mom. She always wanted to come here and she would have loved today. When God created the earth He added something special to this place. If my mom has a say in her backdrop options in Heaven I think this incomparable cultural mosaic may be it!

-- Posted from my iPhone