In addition to a “Dram of the day” – ours was famous grouse – to start the tour we were each given a Glencairn Whisky glass. The glass design is supposed to be the result of years of consultation with Whisky experts and be the perfect glass to enjoy all the characteristics of a good dram of Whisky.

After the tour we enjoyed 4 Whisky tastings – a dram each from the lowlands, highlands, Speyside and finally the islands. There are two menus of 4 drams available – a regional menu and a casked menu. I went for the regional menu, which was as follows:

• Lowland – Genkinchie 10 yo
• Highland – Royal Lochnagar 12 yo
• Speyside – Glenlivet 12 yo
• Islands – Caol lla 12 yo

The casked menu was as follows:

• Speyside BenRiach Bourbon (American White Oak) casked
• Glenmorangie wine (American White followed by Cote D’Or European Oak) casked
• Balvenie Portwood 1993 (American bourbon, Portugal Port) casked
• Macallan 10yo Sherry Oak (European Red, Jerez, Spain) casked

After your tasting you get a membership to the Scotch Whisky Appreciation Society which allows you to do 2 for 1 tours in the future – though tastings are not 2 for 1. I should have checked out the Whisky Experience website as they have a few special offers including a discounted tour entry and a complementary dram – oh well there is always next time =).

It seems like a lot of the Scottish attractions have special offers on their website. I wish I had known that www.malts.com offers free memberships – entitling you to free tours of all the classic malt distilleries – before we did our road trip around Scotland.

Our cabin was at the back of the boat and the two port holes looked out into the crystal blue Mediterranean sea. Though the cabin was occasionally filled with diesel fumes while en route, the boat was anchored each night while we ate dinner and slept, so no fumes then. Though capable of being sailed we spent no time sailing and ran the entire time on engine power. The boat really didn’t cover that much distance on the cruise which meant quite a relaxed pace with flexibility on our swimming stops and on our land based excursions.

Each of our stops was accompanied by a mandatory dip in the ocean to beat the heat. The water was a very nice temperature but the sea life left something to be desired. One stop sported a rock shark which was actually a shark made out of concrete.  Oh well, floating around was fun enough!

All our food was included in the price of the boat cruise and the crew-prepared meals were usually quite tasty, with vegetarian lunches and lots of fresh veggies and fruit. Drinks were extra but they were priced similar to restaurant prices and considering the cost of keeping them cold while at sea I think fairly.

Despite being on the water and moving at a fair pace the heat of the sun was relentless and the crew were nice enough to pull out the blue tarps to provide some shade!!  The tarps came in handy to keep the dew off us when we slept the night on deck (which was most awesome!)

While the crew provided a great boating experience their English was somewhat non-existent – a little better than my Turkish =) – and there was next to no explanation of the sights. Our group was actually quite lucky to have a passenger who spoke both Turkish and English and was able to convey some of our questions (thanks Al!). After we finished the trip I read a good tip – ensure before hand that your crew speaks English – I knew I should have read the guide book before the trip.

We spent evenings playing card games (see the Texas Hold’Em photo below – anyone play at home?  we need to play again, it was really fun!) and one evening was a shore trip to a club with dancing.

One of the highlights of the boat cruise is visiting a sunken city. Apparently laws prevent boats from stopping and people from swimming in the ruins so we whizzed by it – apart from a few stair cases that lead into the water and a few ruined shells of stone buildings there wasn’t too much to see.

Across from the sunken city was a little village and the ruins of an old fortress. We stopped here for a couple of hours, and our boat’s captain’s mother guided Oana and I through the ruins and pointed out things that we would have missed on our own. Some of the rocks used in the construction of the fort contained fossils, and there were also wild carob trees and several well known herbs growing around the ruins.

On our second night on the boat the crew surprised us with a Jack ‘o Melon decorated with delicious fresh fruit for dessert.

Two of the crew skippered us to Olympos.

Ok I admit it, these two were only in charge of the debarkation (but the boat crew wasn’t much older!). Apparently most of the boat companies do not own any boats of their own. The boat companies get reservations, find enough people to fill a boat to capacity and then charter the boat themselves. If you can get a group of people together it is possible to charter the boat complete with gas, crew and food for a much cheaper price – though finding a large enough group might prove difficult.

It’s definitely a must-do if you go to Turkey.  Four of the people on our boat had done the cruise before and were return customers.  They didn’t get off the boat in Olympos – they were going to do another 4 day trip back up to Fethiye!