Black Sea Charabang

Today is the Turkish "Victory Day" National Holiday and school was closed. Instead, nearly 30 of us went together to Kilyos, on the Black Sea, for what was, quite simply, a perfect day. I spent nearly all of it jumping waves and was in the sea for hours. Slightly overcast, but the sea was warm and noticeably much less salty than the Aegean. Quite breezy, white horses everywhere. The waves crashing around me as I jumped them drenched in their foam was exhilarating and couldn't be more unlike swimming in the Aegean near Akbuk. The coast of the Black Sea, which feeds the Bosphorus, goes into the Marmara Sea and then the Aegean, is known to be dangerous with rip tides and strong currents and also because of all the kite surfing, swimmers are only allowed in a cordoned off area small area, closely watched by a vigilant Life Guard who sometimes took 10 secs off duty to ride a wave himself. Experience enabled him to slide through the water with a lazy grace that was great to watch - but even more impressive were the Kitesurfers. The speed at which they shot back and forth was sometimes really quite alarming and their skill in manipulating the kite simply extraordinary. At one point, a surfer must have shot clear twenty feet in the air as he came off the breaking wave. A day that filled my eyes and heart. Absolute magic.