Summertime Voyage

We have finally wandered our way back to Marmaris where the boat is going to over-winter. And it is coming, winter that is.   The weather has suddenly changed – still in the low twenties temperature wise, but the days are alternating between sunny and cloudy with thunderstorms occurring regularly. However this is much more pleasant for working in, and that is what we are now about. We have had a bit of a nightmare with the work that was done on the boat last winter and I may have to itemise these deficiencies at some point as they have been serious and dangerous. At the moment we are just concentrating on getting the boat de-commissioned for the off season. The first job was to re-bed the hatch above the forward heads compartment. This has been leaking resulting in a puddle of stale water in the shower compartment that has rusted the shower drain fitting . Well masked, in the current idiom.  I wanted to wait until we were close to base to do this as if it went wrong, I ma...

Ciftlik to Loryma The elements were again favourable for a Westerly sail so we set off back down the Peninsula. It was a bit of a motor and then a sail, as is commonly the case. Again we were hit by the sudden appearance of a strong wind with little warning. We heeled dramatically and I might have turned up-wind to de-power and reef. However we were under reasonably good control so we carried on sailing and reefed the main first and the the Genoa while under sail well heeled. It was a good exercise which we came through well and providing everything works is much better than allowing everything to flap out of control while sail is shortened, We settled into Loryma. I am not a great foodie, though you would not know it from my girth from time to time, but the guys in Loryma have turned their little piece of rural idyll into a very enjoyable setting for a meal. Good music, wonderful vista, comfortable cushioned benches and large tables, not to mention the goats and donkeys. The food is ...

Bozburun to Ciftlik Paradise Bay (ours) to Bozburun One year ago we visited Bozburun when we were spotted by Mehmet, the head waiter of Osman’s restaurant. Our saltire flag was the clue… the boss, Lynn hails from Stirling and he knew she would want to have a Scottish chinwag with us. It transpired that Lynn is the Local Rep for the cruising association and she put forward a good patter about why we should join. We said we’d think about it. One definite merit was that we would have a significant reduction in Marina fees, enough in fact to give us our first year’s membership of the Association free. It seemed to be providence that we met at that time, because we shortly noticed a water pump leak and asked her if she knew of a mechanic locally. Of course she did and a splendid job was undertaken with quiet professionalism at a reasonable rate. So after all this we decided that we should join .. and of course that was how we discovered the Blog competition. We felt that we should return to...

We set off early to make our way south again to the Datca peninsula and arrived in Knidos in time for lunch after a splendid sail. We had the bay to ourselves and enjoyed a couple of hours of swimming in the emerald clear water there and enjoying the dramatic backdrop. It is certainly food for thought to imagine the old city there, buzzing with ancient civilisation and Triremes in the harbour. Bodrum to palamut The wind picked up for our onward sail to Palamut where we snuck into a tiny berth. A somewhat anxious looking skipper watched our ingress with increasing alarm. A lady member of the crew was filming us continuously. ‘You need anchor out ! Anchor!!’ Almond and Bulgar salad.  He looked a bit embarrassed as I showed him my remote control and explained that indeed our anchor was chugging out. As soon as we were tied up he introduced himself. ‘ I am Murat Aras !’ I obviously looked a bit blank. ‘ and my friend here is Arda Esen !’. Again my blank expression must have been all to...

It had definitely been worth getting into a marina to sit out the southerly wind, which was a bit more than predicted. The southerlies are the ones that are feared around here. Kormen to English Harbour Once it had passed, and we were fully kitted out with telecoms and provisions, we set off to go further down the gulf of Gokova. I had my eye on a spot some 30 miles downwind called English Harbour. It is so called because the British Special Boat Section had used it as a base during the second world war. There is an interesting article in Wikipedia about them and carrying out operations on Rhodes, Kos and Symi to great effect. I had always thought Turkey was nominally neutral for most of the war, although favouring the Axis, and came in very late on the side of the allies. Presumably they did not mind their territory being used like this, or maybe nobody really asked permission. We set off with a light Westerly wind. I had just taken part in a discussion on the (very good) Beneteau 423...