Good-byes and Hellos!

My final weeks have almost come to an end here in Turkey, and they have been just as eventful as always! 
With an amazing trip to Istanbul to experience some traditional culture including balik ekmek (fish bread), beer on the steps outside Galata tower to drinking endless cups of tea in endless little cafes! As well as seeing all the beautiful mosques and walking about 50 miles in 5 days, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip and would recommend this city to everyone!

Saying goodbye to my friends in Istanbul I returned back to Dalyan with its small buildings and quiet roads and settled back into the calm of this quiet river town. Seeing my old friends at the centre and saying hello to our new turtle Buggy (who has a very poorly flipper from having fishing line wrapped around it) was a pleasure, and I have also had a chance to spend some time in Dalyan with my family and some very old friends, enjoying our own private boat for the day, jumping off boats and watching shoals of fish in the water. 

I have also been lucky enough to go on another blood sample boat trip again, and I can safely say that the day was one of mixed bags! Firstly, Turkish time was upon us, and we left late, okay, that is not so bad, but then when settling down to wait for the team to do some of their open water dives our little boat decided to stop working, and the wind starting taking us away from the divers! Nothing that a little fishing boat and a rope between the boats can't solve. Thank-fully our trusty captain got his hands dirty and managed to fix the engine so back on our way we were ready to get some blooood! Successfully we managed to get 2 turtles, unsuccessfully I decided to have a go with the bait and crab line.... now, let me explain how this works, you throw the crab in (that is tied to the line) then in the other hand you hold the fishing line holder and let the line go as far as you can throw, then reel it back in slowly to attract the turtles attention. My turn. Rather than do this even a little bit well, I decide to throw everything just straight into the water, line, crab holder and all, and after giving a little yelp seeing an Italian jumping into the water 5 seconds later to rescue it!! Luckily everyone saw the funny side of this, but needless to say, I left it to the professionals after that!

Our third turtle was rather more annoying, after seeing the satellite tag on the back of a turtle, we thought it was Dalyan, a turtle released the previous year and aptly named Dalyan due to her love of the delta, but seeming as we didn't have her blood we wanted her! After a few crabs and a bit of skills the turtle was successfully put in the boat. It wasn't Dalyan. This turtle was in fact Coban, one of the turtles we released 2 weeks ago, and not in the place he should be! So we decided, Mr naughty would come back to the centre until the release next month when all our angry turtles will be released right out at sea. Lets hope this time around he stays away!

So now I find myself with just a few days left in Turkey and my future ahead of me. Looking back at my time, I learnt a lot about myself and turtle biology, I met some amazing people and I will be going back to University even more ready to learn and with a greater appreciation for my course and what my future holds!

To everyone I met, I wish you all the best, and to anyone thinking of doing volunteering anywhere in the world, just do it! You only have one life, and you must live it to the full!
Ciao for now, until my next big adventure!