by Tyler Zetterstrom

This was an amazing weekend. Friday night I decided that weekends would be more effective if I stayed closer to the sea-side. So I had previously checked out some guesthouses and hotels in Kyrenia and found that they ranged between $8 - $25 CAD per person per night. So at my suggestion Haneef, Tanya, and myself went out and spent the weekend there. It was a great idea, for myself to be able to wake up and immediately explore and swim if I wished. This as opposed to previously waiting around for everybody to get up, and then get ready, and then call a cab, and then and then and then... We would not be out there until 1-2pm at their rate. Now I was able to wake up and here I was. As well we were paying $20-$25 for the cab ride each day previously between the four of us. So we were now able to put those costs towards our stay as well.

Arriving in Kyrenia around 9:00pm I immediately decided it was time to swim. It was already twilight and I thought I should catch a bit of light for my swim. Minutes later I was in the water peering down into the water with my mask and snorkel. Shortly it became dark and I could not see much. However, the bioluminescence quickly appeared to occupy my cravings. Also there is a building that shines brilliant spot lights on and around a rock that slightly juts out of the water. Watching the fish at night with light streaking through the surface had quite a magical feel to it. It was a nice beginning to this weekend. And cool.

Eventually I went in and found that Haneef and Tanya had found a hotel but were calling it an evening. I sorted out a hotel for myself and then decided I would go sit in the harbour at one of the many restaurants. I spent the evening eating calamari and salad, looking at the moon and the old harbour buildings, and bantering with the waiter as we attempted to learn each other's language. It was at the time he began laughing at the idea that I swam from Canada to Cyprus when I realized that my Turkish was coming along "yawvawsh yawvawash" (slowly - English pronunciation spelling). We had some laughs and around midnight I retired for the evening.

The next day I woke up eager to be in the water again. It was early and I knew the other two were slow to manoeuver, so that was all the convincing I needed. As I approached the water I could see a little white mark bobbing far out in the water, close to the horizon. I figured it was somewhere between 2-3 kilometres. I decided that just in case while having a great time looking at things, I happened to cover the distance, I may as well head in that direction. Well... it did not quite work that way. I was too eager at the thought of finding deeper water and that maybe the bouy was marking a key diving location. I swam all the way non-stop. I figure it was a 2 kilometre swim. I could see the bottom of the sea all the way out there. A little disappointing since I was hoping to be able to see some life in deeper locations.

Upon arrival I could see that the marker was tied down to an old anchor. I relaxed and began diving. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was 18-20m deep here. I guess the clarity and water magnification did not present it as such while at the surface.

Immediately down below I saw much larger fish than I had previously seen. They mingled around the schools of smaller yet large fish, and then there was the many variations of small ones everywhere. None of them took much concern over my presence. Lots of jelly-fish were near the surface. They looked like a pair of jet turbine engines merged together with flowing tails. Amazing. The bottom was interesting with alternating sections of bare rock strips 15 feet wide and then seaweed covered rock of the same width. As I was moving along the rock shelf bottom moving away from the island, it suddenly dropped to a deeper shelf. I swam down into the seaweed bottom and found it was 25m deep here. So 2km off shore and 25m deep I was now excited.

I continued diving and on one dive was looking around at fish in the rocks at 18m. I decided to flow with the current down the strip of seaweed covered rock. Not much current but heck why waste energy. Suddenly there is something large and blotched with dark and light colorings. Heading directly towards me, I watch intently trying to discern what it is. Manta ray flashes through my mind but shortly it becomes clear... A turtle! Large turtle! I can see it's head moving side to side as it looks for fish. It spots me suddenly and stops moving. Completely still it sinks a few feet straight down and settles in the seaweed to not attract my attention. Amazing. I swim towards it stopping roughly 15 feet away, not wanting to startle it. I give it a good look over and decide to head up. I anticipate it will see I have no interest in it and then I can come down again for a longer inspection. When I reach the surface immediately I get some air and snorkel in my mouth and look down.

I can no longer see the bottom. Oh no! I quickly breathe-up and go down again. Alas, it was not to be seen any more. The thing vanished. What an experience however just for those few moments. My body tingles as I write this, just thinking of the animal.

Anyhow I decide to head in to prevent missing Tanya and Haneef completely. Boat traffic is getting heavier and I have to manoeuver out of the way of a few big boats. I need to get myself a dive float. On the way back I spot something on the bottom... big, white, round. I dive down to take a look. It is 12m down or so. Suddenly as I approach within 10ft, up shoots a small colourful fish. This thing is very unique looking, with striking thick black and yellow alternating stripes. Yet what is more unique is that it looks exactly like a shark. As it comes within 3 feet of my face I determine that it must be a small shark. I stop to peer at it.

At this point the thing rockets towards me and comes directly at my face. Startled, I immediately kick up a little. But the thing starts shooting at me like a bee. In my mind I am thinking, colourful = poisonous; bare hands, bare face; keep away! I keep kicking up but the thing continues to follow me in proximity to my stomach and chest. Everyt time I look down however, it appears to be aiming at my face. My snorkel is yellow and black and it occurs to me that this may be the source of the fish's attraction. I get the idea to remove the snorkel from close to my face. It is clamped to my mask strap and I realize the futility of trying to undo it as frantically worry over the fish nipping or stinging my skin. I end up swatting at it and still it weaves in and out of my hands and arms looking like it is trying to get me.

Realizing the lack of control I have over the situation I quickly determine my objective. I must influence my body to reach a location where I have the best chance of being undesirable to this fish. Meanwhile it would be nice to have the option to breathe. I stop looking at the thing and just focus on reaching the surface. I shoot through the surface and get my breath. My mind is picturing the thing excitedly going in for the attack as I sit there helplessly. I look down and see it 12 feet below, slowly swimming away and every once and a while turning back as though to say, "this is my turf buddy." I watch as schools of other fish swarm by yet seem to keep their distance from the little thing (4 inches long).

Eventually it seemed to move on and lose interest in me. Basically this means I can no longer find it. Now I was able to focus on the object I had originally intended to inspect. Diving down again I discovered it was a dead turtle. Recently dead it appeared. I turned it over and brought it to the surface with me. It was amazing. To see the details of a turtle so closely. And did I mention it's shell is about 2.5 feet long. This thing is huge. Yet so dynamic in the water that I barely notice any difficulty in swimming with it.

At shore, I inspect it and can not imagine how such a creature was designed. The detail of the head was spectacular. Like a mosaic of tiles similar to the shell. And a massive beaked mouth. A singular claw 2/3 of the way down each of it's fins. I decided I did not want to be labelled "turtle killer" in a Turkish city, so I limited my time at examining the turtle on the surface and took it back down to a sandy bottom. I set it upright so as to scare off any fish that may want to start their work on it. It was amazingly natural looking sitting there on the bottom.

Throughout the day I swam a few more times, but was mainly filled with the amazement of the earlier dives. I spent the rest of the weekend mainly eating at little restaurants, having conversations with Tanya and Haneef, playing poker for pieces of paper, and in general lazying about.

Sunday I went off on my own again walking around, attempting to finding good access points to the sea away from the heart of the city. After a long sweaty search under the sun I finally discovered a perfect location. I settled down in the rocks and prepared myself. I once again had to swim far out to find deeper water, this time with no fins. As I made it about 1 km off shore I saw my boss go by in his boat heading towards a beach where we were optionally supposed to meet up. They did not see me as they were still a few hundred meters away and I had previously swam away not knowing it was them.

I did a few dives as I came across deep rocks covered in seaweed. Schools of fish would surround me sometimes as though looking for food waste following in my wake. It was 15-20m where I was diving and I ended up finding a nice large conch shell. I retrieved it out of the sand and took it back with me as a souvenir of my day.

When I got back to shore I was getting a little thirsty and hungry. Noticing the large quantities of sea urchins around me, I decided I should indulge just to understand the difference between the urchins here and the ones at home in BC. Well other than being quite small... urchin is urchin. However the roe eggs were dark orange instead of mustard yellow and were quite satisfying. Whereas some urchins back home, when they are quite large, seem to have an off, bitter taste to the eggs.

Well those were the main highlights of this weekend. Look forward to the next.