Our First Activity Holiday – Adakoy, Turkey

I’m not sure I can remember when we last had a ‘proper holiday’. The sort where someone else does all the cooking, washing up and cleaning for a week. I think it might have been our honeymoon back in 2007, as we started our journey to Financial Freedom in 2008. During that time every penny was counted (it still is, but with a less examining eye) so I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have coughed up for anything other than self-catering after that.

I know most people think because we retired early, we’re on holiday all the time. It’s true we generally don’t have to set an alarm clock to get up – unless it’s Saturday for Parkrun – and our time is ours to do as we please. Yet, when we’re at home, we both get a nagging feeling we should be ‘doing something’ with our time. I went so far as to set myself a goal of reading 52 books in a year, so when I was sitting on the sofa reading, I was still ‘doing something’.

We’ve had lots of trips and adventures since our honeymoon, but they have all either been in our motorhome or in a self-catering apartment. While we’re away we do feel less inclined to be ‘doing something’ all the time, but it still doesn’t feel like a holiday, just that we’ve simply moved our lives to another location. That all changed last month when we treated ourselves to a beach club activity holiday with Neilson (other operators are available!).

After the rubbish year we’ve had, it felt like we needed a real break. Neither of us enjoy lying by the pool all day, but we do enjoy trying new sports. We’d seen our friends and fellow motorhomers Phil and Jules go on activity holidays where they spent their days sailing, playing tennis, swimming etc, and these had always appealed to us, but not so much the price!

After watching both my parents die this year, it made us realise how much our lives have been on hold while they were ill, and that now we need to live. Spurned into action the price was (with a little reluctance still) overlooked and we booked a week at the Cook’s Club Adakoy, just across the bay from Marmaris in Turkey.

We flew from Birmingham airport as it was around £300 cheaper than the same trip from East Midlands – we haven’t gone totally spending mad! Arriving at Dalaman airport in the early evening, Jay breathed a sigh of relief as it was dark and raining and for once he wouldn’t have to drive us to our accommodation as transfers were included. Another couple from our flight were going to the same resort and the time flew as we chatted away to Gill and Alan, fellow motorhome owners and a lovely couple.

Arriving at the resort at 9.45pm the receptionist directed us straight to the restaurant as they stopped serving dinner at 10pm (after that you had to buy from the A la Carte menu). We sat together with Gill and Alan and carried on chatting and eating until we decided we’d better go and check in.

The room we had chosen was a land view one, but from the balcony we still had a side view of the sea. Out of curiosity I asked how much more it would be for a sea view room, and at €40 a night extra we decided we were happy with the view we had.

We were woken at 2am by thunder and lighting, the sort that fills the sky and you can feel in your stomach. It was also lashing it down, so I chose to watch from the room instead of the balcony. The following morning around 7am I was woken by the sound of water again. This time, as well as the rain outside, the noise was coming from the bathroom. I said to Jay it sounded like one of neighbours was having a shower and the sound-proofing wasn’t great. It turned out the water from the storm was coming in through our bathroom ceiling and landing on the loo seat. Jay lifted the seat which reduced the noise and caught the water, but the lights in there were crackling and flashing so I got dressed and headed over to reception.

At the bottom for the stairs to our building I was faced with a small river heading along what was a path last night. The whole area was a couple of inches underwater, with it all heading down towards the sea. I picked my way through the water, passing teams of staff squeegeeing out the restaurant and bar area. I explained the problem at reception and they were great. It turned out quite a few guests had experienced similar problems as this was the first big storm of the season. After breakfast we were transferred to another room, with a sea view and at no extra cost. It looks like the holiday gods were smiling on us.

At the Neilson ‘welcome meeting’ we were told how to book activities through their app and set about filling our days. We started things easy the following morning with a yoga session on a wooden deck overlooking the sea. Then we went a bit more hard core with a taster session on efoils (think electric powered surfboards that can rise up out of the water). Unfortunately the sea in the bay was choppy so we never got up to standing – and that’s the excuse we’re sticking with!

We rounded off our first day with a paddle to the nearby marina using kayaks as the water was still too choppy for stand-up paddle (SUP) boards. We got a go on the SUPs the following morning at a SUP yoga session, which we were told is also known as ‘splash and giggles’. I’m pleased to report neither of us fell in, although it was very close several times.

Our first taste of a ride on a catamaran was with Oner, the watersports instructor, who showed us what to do. Jay took the helm as we ‘tacked’ our way around the bay and succeeded in getting some air. At any time you could go to the activity beach and take out a kayak, SUP or electric mountain bike to explore the local area, and we made full use of that.

Some of the more popular activities did get booked up quickly, so it was worth checking out what you wanted to do in three days’ time and being ready when that day was released. Although we did get to do everything we wanted. We also heard that some people just didn’t turn up for the activities, so if something was fully booked it was worth a wander over to see if there was a space anyway.

One morning it was raining and we were booked to go on a RIB excursion to do some snorkeling with sea scooters. We saw these on the website and they were a huge part of the reason we booked this particular resort, I guess we both fancy being a bit like James Bond.

We arrived at the activity beach and only the instructors were there. The session was fully booked, but the weather had put everyone else off. We figured we were going snorkeling so we’d get wet anyway. Oner, the instructor who had taken us out on the catamaran, said he’d take us as long as we got more layers of clothes as we’d get cold on the RIB ride. We nipped back to our room, grabbed our coats and beach towels and set off on the RIB for a shipwreck near the entrance of the bay.

We had a quick bit of instruction on how to use the scooters and off we went. The water was warmer than the air and soon we were whooshing around the shipwreck, which we had all to ourselves. We got to answer my question about what would happen if we scooted through a shoal of little fish would any get sucked into the motors – they didn’t, and had a great time.

After a while I started to get a bit chilly, as the scooter was doing all the work, so I headed back to the boat. Jay followed a short while after and even with coats on and wrapped in towels the trip back was bracing. Back on dry land we headed straight for the spa area, as use of the Turkish bath and sauna were included in our stay. You can imagine everyone’s surprise as we piled into the sauna wearing our coats over our swimwear, but it soon warmed us up.

Between us we did several gym and yoga sessions, a sound bath, played some padel (the new tennis?) and SUPed, kayaked and snorkelled to our hearts content. We used the ebikes to cycle the 12 km over to Marmaris one day, which I certainly couldn’t have managed on a normal bike as there were a couple of massive hills. We also joined a group hike up one of those hills to a viewpoint. Doing enough activities to keep busy, but also making sure we had plenty of time to relax.

With all that exercise you’d think I’d have come back a few dress sizes smaller, but I hadn’t counted on the food being so yummy. We’d only booked half board, which was ideal for us. Instead of all inclusive food and drink, we opted for all the activities to be included (you can book the hotel with other operators and pay for each activity). Half board included soft drinks at meal times, and dotted around the resort were machines to fill your water bottles. All the time we were there we only spend about £8 on some afternoon snacks from the shop in the marina next door.

Once I got the hang of what was available for breakfast, some days I managed four courses – yoghurt with nuts, seeds, followed by cooked to order omelette or pancakes, followed by fresh fruit and rounded off with pastries. All washed down with a smoothie, fresh orange juice and the occasional hot chocolate.

In the evening there was sometimes just too much choice. The restaurant was set up with several food stations offering pizzas and pide, hot grills, local and global dishes, vegan and vegetarian dishes, pasta, an array of side dishes, salad and mezes and my favourite, sweet treats. The main courses were all cooked fresh as you ordered them and some nights you didn’t even make it back to your table before the buzzer went off to let you know it was ready.

At each station a blackboard stated what was on offer there that night, so I’d wander along and choose. Of course I made sure I visited the sweet treat station before I ordered my main course, so I knew how much room I had to leave. We’d grab some salads, bread and meze and tuck in to those with a soft drink from the bar. If the evening was warm (or we’d wrapped up well) we’d sit by the sea and watch the fish swimming past, or if it was cooler there were several big ‘social’ tables where you can sit and chat with your fellow guests.

Several nights I managed two desserts, mainly by sticking to a lighter main course like grilled fish. Sure I’ve put on a few pounds in that week, but I don’t regret a thing.

Before we left for our holiday I made a point of letting our running club know that I wouldn’t be doing any work for my role as treasurer while we were away – the closest I get to putting on an out of office message. Sorting Mum and Dad’s probate was put on hold and their house sale was carrying on without me. I also made an effort to use my phone less while we were there, and switch off from the outside world. The Cook’s Club was a great little haven to do just that.

Would we got back there? Possibly. I definitely want to do some other activity holidays, but from speaking to other guests it sounds like we might have picked the best one first. We hadn’t realised the bliss of an adult only resort until we reached the airport and rediscovered noise of children again, so I might look to see if I can find another adult only resort, but probably one a bit closer to other stuff.

Adakoy is set on an island connected to the mainland by a causeway at the marina. It’s pretty much on it’s own other than the marina, so you really need those ebikes, a taxi or a water taxi to get anywhere. However, it is such a lovely place to simply switch off, but with plenty to do maybe I just don’t need to go anywhere else.

Ju x