Kekova Island Tickets and Tours | GetExperience.com

Kekova is an uninhabited island of four and a half square kilometres off the Lycian coast near Demre. Along its northern shore a town lies in the water. Earthquakes in the second century put it there.

What the channel holds

The drowned settlement is Dolichiste, and from a boat in the shallows you read it as architecture rather than rubble.

• Staircases. Flights of cut steps run off the shore and carry on under the surface.
• Walls and doorways. House foundations sit a metre or two down, sharp on a calm morning.
• The rule. Kekova became a specially protected area in January 1990, and swimming or diving over the sunken section is still forbidden.
• Glass bottoms. Many boats carry a viewing panel, which is the only lawful way to look straight down.

Simena across the water

Opposite the island is Kalekoy, built on ancient Simena, with Ucagiz a kilometre west on ancient Teimioussa.

Kalekoy has no road in; everything arrives by sea. A small castle crowns the hill above it, its Crusader-period walls enclosing a rock-cut theatre of a few rows. A Lycian sarcophagus stands in the shallows below, lid clear of the water.

Practical

• Light. Late morning has the sun high and the surface still; afternoons here go choppy and reflective.
• The hull. A kayak sits low and quiet and shows more than a deck does, at the cost of range.
• The castle. Short, steep and unshaded, with a small fee at the gate and the whole channel laid out from the top.
• Landings. Jetties are stone and the coves are pebble, so reef shoes earn their space.
• Distances. Under an hour from Kas, about three hours each way from the Antalya resorts, which makes a very long day.
• Wind. Boats stay in when it gets up, and the call is made in the morning.