Lest you think me a complete idiot, let me say I know what seasons are. I also know what travel seasons and the concept of “off season” means. When we lived in Virginia and everyone and their mother vacationed in the Outer Banks, being aware of the season was important: high season meant the best chance for good weather and a lot of $$$ and people. Shoulder season meant fewer crowds but higher potential for bad weather and fewer options for activities as seasonal activities prepared to close for the winter. And of course off season meant winter where only the locals would tolerate the weather and the smaller number of places that were open.
Okay… so what? Well it’s been some time since we did a beach thing at a place where the “season” was an issue. For many years now we have had wonderful winter sun trips to the Carribbean (Jamaica, Belize, Aruba, etc.) and Mexico in just about every “off season” month possible. We even braved Gran Canaria last February and had a lovely time. So you’ll forgive me for not even considering that Turkish beaches have a “season” but they most definitely do. And it is not now.
In general, I like the notion of “off season” – not sweltering hot, fewer people, a calmer vibe. So initially it didn’t even occur to me when we arrived that being out of season would be an issue. The pool bar isn’t open and parts of the kiddie pool and water park is still closed. Oh and the two fancy restaurants are closed – just the main buffet. No problem. But that’s not all. It’s not just that things are closed – it’s also that so many things are being fixed up for when the “real tourists” arrive in season. There are tractors sifting the sand on the beach (!?!), ceilings being replaced, walls painted, and rooms getting new floors. In general it’s fine except that parts of the hotel look like a war zone!
And it’s not just our hotel. We’re walked all over our part of the coast and there are hotels that are not open at all but are being worked on. It’s hard to tell if they have ever been open but there is a lot af activity to indicate that someone thinks they should open soon. [Geek alert: I’m actually going to look up what proportion of Turkey’s GDP and labour force are in construction. I don’t know about the rest of the country but this area is nothing but building!)
Rant warning! The off-season-ness of our visit means that some of the activities we would normally want to do are not on offer yet. When scrolling through the excursion offerings, it becomes clear that paragliding and pirate party ships are the main staples. Since Mr. Vertigo will never jump off anything, we opted for a boat option. I’m really a bit over the pirate boat with “foam party” and was very excited to find an offering of a catamaran trip along the coast that sounded much more chill and just what we needed on this unwind week. So booking made and we are off to set sail. Except that when we arrived at the dock, we were met with Kaptan Barbossa’s party pirate boat.
Apparently there is no catamaran available “off season” so everyone gets the pirate treatment. GRRRRRRR. So instead of a chill day, I got to listen to very loud dance music (including some rap that dropped more f-bombs than I do in a week – and there was about two dozen kids on board!) and pretend that the waves of soapy bubbles was really fun. Granted, it was fun watching other people getting covered in the stuff but the whole thing had a frat party vibe which definitely hasn’t what we were going for. (Rant over and nasty TripAdvisor review left.)
So today’s lesson children is to remember to consider the time of year when one travels and whether the location is ready for travelers. The weather has been spectacular (25 or 26 with lots of sunshine every day) but that apparently does not a season make.
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