Turkey, darkly

If it's Sunday it must be time for another great Times photo--and another application of the word 'exotic' to something that's merely non-Western.

Taylor Holliday's article, In Turkey, Sailing Into the Exotic on a Blue Cruise, about a trip around the coast via sailboat, is actually cringe-inducing, on multiple levels.

By the time we'd spent one full morning swabbing the deck and cleaning the head — which, by the way, had to be pumped for every flush — and by the time my eyes had swollen up from an overnight bug bite, Oytun's face had broken out in a rash and Carla had banged up her nose on the metal contraption that held the solar panel, we girls weren't so sure we wanted to be real sailors.

Wow, amazing that the Times is turning to 12-year-olds for their articles.

Another irresistible temptation was a mysterious cafe at the end of the quay. A seriously exotic place, apparently owned by Turkish communists (check out the bookshelves), it was literally a nomad's tent perched on the dock above the sea. "There's not many places sailors can experience desert culture," said Carla, as we removed our shoes and settled into the cushions and carpets on the floor.

'Seriously' exotic... versus like totally exotic, dude?

The next morning, Oytun and I took the dinghy to the next cove for a swim in the pristine waters, the pebbly beach all ours save for a village family on a picnic. Covered head to toe, they were nonetheless seemingly unbothered by our bikinis.

Yes, how surprising; cause you know, Orthodox Jews walk around New York scowling and all shook up by the attire of non-Jews. How surprising these Turks, even to the author's eagle eye, didn't seem focused on the girls' swimsuits--didn't they get the memo that it's all about Taylor? What are they doing at their own beach if not to howl at the dress of tourists?

Some days, the wind was weak and we'd have to motor. Cengiz taught us how to read the nautical chart, map the coordinates of where we were headed and load them in the G.P.S. system. Most often, though, we navigated by sight and by the sailing bible for this area, Rod Heikell's "Turkish Waters and Cyprus Pilot."

Ah, yes, many a Turk mentions that their sailing bible (or is that Koran?) was written by that well-known Brit, Rod. They even learn English so as to be able to have their waters explained to them.

Plus that way they can read Taylor's articles about exotic! places!

Photo of an unspecified Turkish cove by Yoray Liberman for the Times.