Cape Gelidonya Project Blog

The past two days have been at times very busy, and at other times quite slow. Our dives have mostly centered on getting everyone acclimatized to the depth (25-30 meters), and familiar with the area.  There is a very large flat-topped boulder in the northeast corner of the site that serves as an easy reference point. We plan to concentrate part of our season on the area surrounding the boulder, as there many deep crevasses around its base where artifacts may have fallen.

After we had gone to bed last night, the wind started picking up out of the east, threatening to push the STS Bodrum towards the island we are moored next to. Before it got to that point, the crew decided it would be safest to leave the site and moor in the nearby town of Karaöz. Virazon and Millawanda also had to leave, as the sea could have worsened through the night, and it is important not to separate those who had dived on the site that day with the recompression chamber aboard the Virazon, in case any diver started showing symptoms of decompression illnesses.

We woke up this morning still in Karaöz, with clear skies, but still gusting winds. Conditions remained the same throughout the day, so we remained in Karaöz. A few members of the team went to Kemer to turn in the Ikamet (residence permit) applications we need to work at the site, and a few more went to town to take in trash and bring water from a freshwater spring found by Ali, the Millawanda’s captain, and fresh vegetables. Most of us remained on the boats, with some odd jobs to do, but mostly a lot of time to sit and enjoy the scenery. In fact, most of us took so much time to enjoy the scenery, we forgot to photograph any of it. And of course, there was a lot of Scrabble.

Susannah H. Snowden and Kim Rash playing Scrabble during our weather day in Karaöz. Susannah's final three letters just happen to spell INA - completely by coincidence! Photograph by Ryan C. Lee.

In the afternoon, a large, rotating game of Uno developed between the archaeologists, museum representatives, and STS Bodrum crew. Tomorrow we hope to return to the site, we would much rather be working!