Open Water Turkey Çeşme

In Çeşme, in the İzmir province, the Open Water Turkey Çeşme brings open water swimmers into the clear sea of Çeşme at the height of summer in August. The competition offers two distinct distances designed for different pacing strategies, with a 1,000-meter sprint and an endurance course covering 4,000 meters. Swimmers taking on the longer route navigate open stretches of Aegean blue, pacing their rhythm as the coastline stretches out beside them.

The Çeşme coastline: submarine thermal springs and karst shallows

Just along the shore at Alaçatı, an expansive expanse of calm shallows extends outward, where the water depth does not exceed one meter for over 700 meters off the shore. Submarine thermal springs bubble straight up from the seabed into the sea, transforming the open saltwater into a broad, naturally warmed marine pool where swimmers can feel mineral heat rising through the clear water.

Ancient harbors of Erythrae and the naval Battle of Chesma

Human maritime history has left deep traces here, where archaeologists uncovered the remains of a 2,500-year-old temple of Aphrodite dating back to the 5th century BC. About two kilometres from the race area, the ancient city of Erythrae sat on a small peninsula jutting into the bay opposite Chios. Erythrae did not place its heart on the exposed shore but operated from its protected harbor of Cissus, contributing eight warships to the historic naval Battle of Lade. About eleven kilometres away near Karareis-Meli, the fortified town of Pteleum anchored local military power. In 412 BCE, the Athenian army used the fortress as a naval station to launch maritime attacks across the strait against Chios, successfully repelling a winter assault by the Spartan commander Astyochos.

Erythrae's strategic importance caught the ambition of Alexander the Great, who devised an uncompleted plan to dig a canal across the peninsula linking the bay of Teos to the gulf of Smyrna. While earthquakes in the 1st century AD eventually brought decline, surviving Hellenistic fortifications still stand with five visible stone towers. Centuries later, the harbor took a central role in Ottoman naval defense when Sultan Bayezid II significantly strengthened and enlarged Çeşme Castle.

Eşek Island: the wild donkey sanctuary across the strait

Looking offshore into the Chios Strait, Eşek Island rises prominently from the blue with an elevation reaching 218 meters across an area of 670 hectares. Accompanied by two smaller neighboring islets directly to its east, Küçük Ada and Toprak Ada, its closest approach to the mainland lies at Çolak Burnu on the Karaburun peninsula. The island takes its name from a resident community of wild donkeys, originally descended from working animals abandoned by humans in decades past. Rather than leaving the herd to struggle on the dry limestone crags, local conservation provides fresh water through an autonomous system of solar panels and wind turbines that pump and treat water. A traditional windmill-powered freshwater well also supplies the animals, while fragrant wild flowers carpet the terrain throughout the spring, creating a serene sanctuary out across the strait.

Beaches and harbors from Dalyan to Altınkum

Along the shoreline, the coastal village of Dalyan retains the unhurried atmosphere of an authentic fishing port, where a harbor framed by working boats borders the settlement. In the transparent shallows off Dalyan Beach, swimmers often spot sea urchins clustered on rocky ledges, where locals welcome their presence as an unmistakable indicator of pristine water quality. These seabed dwellers, typically measuring 3 to 10 centimetres across with sharp protective spines, remain resting peacefully on the bottom where swimmers can easily see and avoid them as they glide overhead. Other shores provide completely different sensations in the water, such as the small, shallow cove of Tekke Beach tucked beneath the ruins of an Ottoman dervish lodge in town. Further along, the broad stretch of Altınkum Beach presents fine, golden-hued sand and refreshing water that stays cool even beneath intense summer sun.