While we were in Kas, we made a day trip by ferry to the island of Megisti, Greece. Megisti means “big” in Greek, which is ironic because this island is the smallest in the Dodocanese. Evidently the name refers to the fact that it’s the largest island in its smaller group of islands. It doesn’t much matter anymore because since the 12th century, Greeks have been referring to the island by the name Kastellorizo.

Kastellorizo is only one mile or two kilometers from the Turkish mainland, but because it is Greece, going there under our own power on Golden Glow would require that we turn in our Turkish Transit Log and clear Golden Glow into Greece, and get a Greek Transit Log. Then, on returning to Turkey, we might have to spend another day (as we did in Bodrum) clearing back into Turkey. So ferry it was.

Our main reason for going to the Island was to explore the Blue Grotto, a sea cave with vivid coloring.

The main room of the Blue Grotto is 40–50 m long, 25–30 m wide, and 20–25 m high.

There are a couple smaller rooms in the back end of the cave.

After returning from the Blue Grotto, we visited the museum of Kastellorizo and we learned about the history of the island.

With more time until our ferry back to Turkey, we sat overlooked the Kastellorizo harbor and enjoyed a meal. While we ate, turtles lazily swam in the harbor adjacent to where we were sitting.

caretta caretta aka loggerhead sea turtles swimming in Megisti harbor