A bit of a dampener

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 thank Lynn and tell her about our success. She was duly pleased and we had a very pleasant evening at the restaurant. She said that despite Covid they remained very busy and had been completely covid free. There are banners up explaining high fines for non compliance with masks, and all shops and restaurants assiduous with the use of santitisers etc.

Coast Guard Cutter in Bozburun

We awoke to the sound , and wash, of a power boat coming into the harbour, accompanied by a loud announcement on a PA system. It was a coastguard cutter with an alarming number of personnel, some in hazmat suits and others armed.

As we watched, half a dozen smartly dressed young men in jeans and hoodies disembarked, obviously under custody, followed by a collection of perhaps 20 women and children. They sat looking dejected on the harbour wall while various parts of an enormous inflatable craft were taken ashore. Huge plywood panels, outboard engine and plastic shelter came off and were loaded onto a waiting police van. Clearly this had been a boat of refugees, stopped on the way to nearby Greek Island of Simi.

Although we hear about this happening, it was sad to see the human misery at close hand. The police appeared to be treating them with empathetic care, and they were well dressed for a short passage in fine weather. But all they had with them were small day rucksacks. What must it be like to put total trust in, and all your resources to, the traffickers and to embark on this dangerous voyage? The craft are purpose built and can have no other function. How desperate must life be like to put your life savings into an attempt like this? We were told that they would be held in police custody for a short time, but then likely to be freed, rather than held in detention centres. These are clearly aspiring people in desperate straits who have huge courage and ambition to make a better life. At some point it will be clear that our ageing society will need such people. I wish them well and hope they can find a safe home and jobs in these challenging times.

Our next rendezvous was to meet up with friends Shan and Hugh, who had arrived in Marmaris to spend 3 weeks on Stargazer. Hugh and Colin were ex colleagues, and after retirement they had bought Stargazer specifically to undertake a circumnavigation with Blue Raleigh. Our paths only crossed briefly, but it is always nice to hear of their experience of daring do on the high seas. However with the pandemic even they are now restricted to bay hopping. However that is still fun and they seemed to be enjoying their chance for some R and R. 

A Mackeral Sky - bad weather in 24hrs

Bad Weather!

We are getting towards the end of the season now and the consistency of the meltemi is lessening.  Southerly winds often mean dampness as the air coming over the sea from Africa brings moist conditions. Clouds! The air is still warm but everything gets moist and sticky. When the NW airflow reestablishes itself the air magically clears and normal service resumes.