Ekincik - Another description defying beauty spot

We really had no idea where to go next. From here the Turkish coast gets very interesting, with innumerable anchorages and harbours, restricted zones and special environmental zones where a 'Blue card' is required to ensure nobody dumps their black water (read poo) into the area.

We don't want Sally to miss too much either, but that proved problematic from our very first stop...

Ekincik is indeed... 'cik'

A pine treed mountainous backdrop to a (superlative) bay into an immaculate marina into which we were directed, assisted and welcomed. Ekincik is a cooperative which includes the marina with power and water, a small supermarket, a restaurant which sits easily into my top five of all time and boating tours of the nearby Dalyan, the school excursion for the kid's first day back at school.











The water in these parts is so clear, the  visibility so good that it is difficult to gauge the depth before diving off the boat.

Dalyan is way out of context compared with any of the topograpghy so far. An ancient river delta and marshland with the ruins of Kaunos the King tombs and the Dalyan mud baths...

I wonder what the other kids were doing on their first day back?

This Google Earth image shows the marshlands fronted by the white sandy beach, the tiny bit on the left being a Leatherback turtle breeding ground.

On the way to the river mouth, our boat driver hugged the rocky coastline, looking down at the bottom off the front of the boat we could just as well have been floating in mid air, this little natural high interrupted by wild goats and cool caves...

Dalyan River - Turkey

The river running through the Dalyan River marsh is reminiscent of the Zambezi River in southern Africa, minus the crocs, hippo's and elephants.

Zambezi River - Zambia 

Those of you fortunate enough to have canoed the Zambezi east of Kariba you would relate...

...... Back to Turkey.

First stop, the Kaunos Ruins. Kaunos was an important sea port in the 10th century BC but due to silting it now sits 8kms up river. The silting also means there remains a fair bit for the archaeologists to dig up but what is there is pretty impressive. Fortifications on high knolls attract a climb and from here the views are, according to the Author of 'The Book' his favourite in all the world.

Understandable when up there taking it all in.

We were given an hour, but after an hour and a half we trudged back to the boat dissatisfied at not being able to spend more time there. Whilst we found the ruins fascinating, the kids were taken by acorns, the comparison between goat and cow droppings, thorns, tortoises, ducks, a crane and tutt tutting at another misbehaving child....

And then there were the Kaunian Tombs of the Kings and Queens carved into the rock faces and below which has sprung the highly touristic town of Dalyan. Fortunately there is no access to the tombs themselves, so they can only be viewed from a boat on the river or from one of the many restaurants and bars along the river bank. They might last a little longer as a result.

We lunched and ATM'd. Some outlets only take Euro's some Turkish Lira and some both?? it's a pain... but one must suffer a little for this joy I suppose...

Once lunched it was off to the mud baths. Cheap to get in, packed with mud swathed tourists, well enough organised to cope with the hordes. On arrival we found somewhere to leave our valuables, don board shorts and in Summer' case, a bikini. We stepped into a large pool of smelly, muddy water, the bottom dangerously uneven and disgustingly squishy with thick black mud.

Nothing for it but to join the laughing throng and cake ourselves in the stuff, stand in the sun taking photographs while it dried, shrunk and grossed us out. We began to itch and headed,  at pace for the cold showers... These were a rack of multiple, high powered jets 10 feet off the ground. Pick a jet and frantically de-mud.

Now head for the guy with the fire hose. His job is to spray away the last of the remaining mud and the occasional bikini top depending on the endowment there under.... We presume there is a queue for this particular line of employment...

Then into the very smelly sulfurous thermal bath.



And so... tired, ice creamed out and heads full of new knowledge, it was back on the boat for a slow sunset putt home.

The end of a magical first day, back to school excursion.

Marmaris Yacht Marina - The largest in the Mediterranean

In Datca we'd been give the name of a man who could get us a spot in the marina and arrange any repairs we needed. Highly recommended, Metin did indeed arrange a spot but was careful to point out that we should not attempt to arrive on the weekend.

We had planned to get here by the Tuesday, but the weather held us in Selimiya an extra day so Wednesday it would have to be.

On arrival we were met by Metin's man who explained to the Marina gate keepers that this was Metin's boat, here for repair and in we went.

Marmaris in the back ground...

The Yacht Marina is a good half hour bus ride from Marmaris itself, it is huge, the largest in the Med and not overly personable. Great facilities like a pool, an amazing restaurant, a library with pool tables, a well stocked chandlery and supermarket and it is a place where over 1000 boats winter in the water and a further 1800 on land.

We are considering wintering our boat here, but it is so far from the fun and any local facility (like a toilet) is a bike ride away where as in Kos, Greece it's all right there, the old town inclueded. It all depends where we end up in December.

Marmaris Old Town and Castle

Shain (Sha'in) got to work understanding all the items I needed done on the boat while Sal, Al and the kids explored our new world.

I needed new lazy jack lines, a sail batten holder repaired, a new hatch replaced, the bimini repaired which had been torn by the boom, a new main halyard, new genoa sheets and a couple of seats for the paserelle to attach to the rear steps.... B.O.A.T is an appropriate acronym for  Break Out Another Thousand...



The following day, I stayed on the boat to assist in the repairs while the crew went into Marmaris town to do some shopping and for Al to get a haircut. Here is a Youtube link I urge you to take a look at. It is not for the squeamish, but this is what happens as part of getting a haircut in Turkey!  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3o4WtLCUK58

On Friday the 3rd October, Sal flew back to Aus to be with her Mum which left Al, Will, Summer and myself to 'fend' for ourselves.... Now it looks like the sailing same sex couple with their two kids! One of the great things about having Al here is that we get to go sailing. Unlike when Sal went to London and we sat in Chiania for a good week longer than we'd have liked to.

Before leaving Marmaris, Al asked if  I could get him up the mast so he could give a better photo perspective of the shear size of this marina...

He did get some good shots, but here you get both aspect and Al!

Summer

William

Then Summer wanted to go up and naturally, William
had to follow..






















By Sunday we were all done. An expensive little stop, but we did get all the jobs that had piled up done and dusted. I was looking forward to getting the main up with the new halyard for the first time since we got hammered by the Melteni and to give Al his first experience of actually sailing on the Summer Amy.

Buzuk Kali. The most amazing spot so far, bay far.

A short, but once again, beautiful trip around Bozburun Yarimadasi (that sticky out bit) We weighed anchor an left at 10:15 with most of the other boats in the harbour.

As you approach the entrance to Buzuk Kali the Citadel is clearly visible on the top of the cliffs on the eastern side and according to 'the book', a must see.

Entering the bay is another wow moment, large enough to accommodate hundreds of boats but protected from anything but a southerly which is rare at this time of year.

There are three restaurants in this bay, the first on the left as you enter the bay, tucked into its own little cut out with the restaurant clinging to the side of the hill at the end of the jetty. If we chose to tie up here, it means we eat at that restaurant. The same applies with the other two. You can of course anchor off in the bay and dingy to whichever restaurant you like.

The first just looked so perfect, so protected, the water that colour so inviting you cannot resist a swim. So we headed towards it and as we did so, a guy with a red flag started waving us in.


Without checking out the other two jetties, we figured, why not? It looks good and it is the nearest mooring to the Citidel.

It looked as if he was directing us to a spot big enough between two moored yachts until we closed. He then moved to the end of the jetty and started waving us towards that? Ok, so he wants us to raft up against the yacht on the very end of the pontoon..... Not so happy with this arrangement until he started indicating that he wanted us to go behind the pontoon where there looked to be no room at all, very large rocks and way too shallow!

He assured us as we approached within earshot that this is where he always parks the catamarans, so against our better judgement, in we went. It all went without incident and it was indeed an incredible place to be parked.

Once set, we were goggles on and into that water.... my main reason was to check and see just how far from the rocks the keels were.


It goes without saying, you could not park a yacht in here.

Not long out of the water and two small boats materialised piled high with Turkish merchandise. We could see that there was nothing we needed, but they were cheerful and persuasive so Sal took a look. She decided on a couple of small items, but was careful to buy off each of the ladies to avoid a feud.

A German lady came by for a chat and mentioned that we should reserve a table for dinner as the place would fill up by days end.

We headed up to the restaurant and were met with an attitude that caused our enthusiasm for the place to evaporate somewhat.... The owner happened to be the husband of one of the boat ladies and without any welcome at all he told Sally that his wife was not happy that Sally had also bought from the other lady....

We asked if we could reserve a table for dinner and he asked for how many. "For three...." Indignantly he replied "but you must have more people than that on your boat!"


It felt as if he now regretted attracting us to his jetty in the first place, generously providing all that space for just three people. It was all we could do not to hop back on and move to another jetty. Sal asked his wife why she was not happy. It turned out that it was her husband who was pissed off because she had not managed to sell us anything else!

We ordered a bottle of wine, a plate of calamari and things settled down.

We decided however to do the Citadel, then drop the dingy and go on a pub crawl before dinner back at the ranch.

The Citadel is amazing and well worth the effort. It is intact and impossible to imagine how it was constructed. Take a look at the size of some of those blocks....

The first pub at the very head of the bay, not as nice a mooring, but a much better restaurant/bar. We ordered drinks but when we were offered the dining menu and explained that we had docked where we had docked and would therefore be eating there.... well, we copped anther flogging for not choosing to use their jetty!

Another placating plate of calamari, we enjoyed the sunset while the kids went off and fed some wild donkeys...

Time to move on to the third and final jetty for a replay of the same attitude that pervades this little paradise and yet another bottle with placating plate of calamari.....

Dinner was delicious if a little expensive and given the calamari and wine gut full we could well have skipped it all together... We were not about to take that chance!

Selimiye to Bozburun

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow....

We left Selimiye at 11:10 on Monday the 29th September and motored through the most (insert your favourite superlative here as I am at a loss) scenery imaginable. The route took us through narrow gorges between precipitous islands plunging into seas so deep the depth sounder gave up on occasion and through shallows in the turquoise waters that looked like we would bottom out at any second.
We put the headsail up, but it just obscured the view so down it came while we motored in awe.

Once again, the IPhone didn't cut it, so if you want to experience this, you'll need to buy an air ticket.... we'll be here for a while.....

Bozburun sits at the head of the bay and for a change there was plenty of room on arrival, Someone to allocate our spot and assist with mooring, power and water at the end of a most enchanting morning.. what more could you ask for?

We sat down to a mouthwatering lunch.... just loving lunch in Turkey. Sal received some bad news, so it became a long lunch....

Having lost a day in Selimiye due to the bad weather, we could only afford to spend one day in this delightful hamlet. Woken at 5:00am by the Mullah across the way calling us to prayer... bit of a cheek if you don't happen to be Muslim, but it does have a certain ancient romance to it which I have always loved listening to.

Leaving Bozburun at 10:15 and realising that the enduring memory will be that it was where Sal got the news that her Mum, Maureen had been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and she would need to get home as soon as practical.  

Datca to Selimiye

Ok, now we get what all the fuss is about, Turkey has an amazing coast. The majority of yachties we have met have been Turkish, it is the Turkish holiday season, and the Turks like it too.

We left Datca at 10:00am and motored, thankfully the Meltemi had cooled it heels so we at least had an excuse to keep the mainsail in the bag. We won't be seeing it again until the Jack Lines are repaired in Marmaris.

By 1:00pm we entered the bay that is Selimiye and had our first real wow moment in Turkish waters.



A stunning bay that cannot be captured in a photograph and would leave you wondering what I was on about.

We were not the only ones that thought so. We had to shoe horn our way into a spot which was not initially wide enough to accommodate us, but with some judicious use of rubber fenders, and not so judicious use of full reverse thrust, we managed to bully our way in.

So tightly were we sandwiched that there was no real need to pick up the slime line nor tie to the dock..

Fortunately, our neighbours were away at the time.... and a little surprised when they got back.

A cute little town with the usual overwhelming array of restaurants. In Turkey it's about the Mezzes. There, displayed in the bay marie, decision making impossible.... "we'll just have the lot thanks!"

We'd planned to stay just one night, we needed to get to Mamaris by the Tuesday in order to get a spot in the marina and there was at least another two stops we'd been encouraged not to miss on the way. When we woke it was pretty clear we were not going anywhere. The locals were talking 90Km/hour winds with rain.... Rain! We hadn't seen that in five months.

We hired  driver and went to Mamaris by road just for something to do. I'll cover it when we get there by boat but this was our first glimpse.

Palamut to Datca

10:55 we left Palamut after spending more time than we'd planned there. It was a very pleasant stay, Semra Uzun, the lady who ran 'le jardin de Semra' is warm and friendly and infinitely helpful, and she runs a great restaurant. There is no ATM in Datca and we quickly ran out of cash... Semra to the rescue with "here's TL500 pay me when you can"

Sally recently put out an APB on Facebook asking if anybody wanted to come and crew for a month so she could seriously put her foot up.

She got an instant reply from Alan Reid, manager of the Bullwheel, our home away from our condo at Big White. It would be hard to choose a more ideally suited person for the job, given it doesn't just involve sailing a boat. It is a boat with a family which includes two young kids who have been at this for more than five months....

I'm assuming that you may have mused as to whether you could spend 24/7 on a boat with your nearest and dearest for five months in all kinds of conditions and situations?..... yep, it comes with its own set of issues.

Datca was to be where we linked up with Alan and we wanted to get comfortably situated, boat cleaned and provisioned, laundry done before he arrived. We left early for a short 13.7 mile sail in order to ensure a berth on the wall with a day to spare.

Nearing the harbour it was hard to see where we could birth. We spotted a space right inside and positioned to moor.... "My friend, my friend" said Mr Wavey arms "This for Turkish boat, you must go outside" and moral plummeted.

I'm not sure what the actual ignition sequence was, but the boat erupted into a senseless diatribe of individual nonsenses that went on until well after we'd autometronically anchored  in the North Bay.

Although I lowered the dingy, interest in going shore was zero unless it included an hotel room and some serious time out. There were none and so we simmered through the night with not much more being said.

Early the following morning I hopped in the dingy and headed into the harbour to see if I could secure a mooring. Anchoring out was simply not an option and Al would have arrived on a boat which was not quite what he had in mind.....

English is not the second language in Turkey and my German is rusty to non-existent after so many years in the drawer. I got bounced from pillar to post but could not make myself understood.

Dejected and beaten I wondered around the south bay looking for any signs of space for our beleaguered catamaran. I happened upon a small craft mooring with nobody to take their lines, so I stepped up to help. As I was doing so, a spritely young man in a logo'ed white polo shirt took the other line, tied it off and sat back down to finish his Turkish coffee... I wondered over... "Do you speak English?" "Yes I do." "Do you work here?" "Yes I do." "We are anchored in the north bay, any chance of a reserved mooring for a 44ft Catamaran for two  or three days?" "Yes there is, just bring it around and park it over there, there will be space when you arrive....."

It took precisely 15 minutes to get in the dingy, get back to the boat, raise the dingy, weigh the anchor and motor around to the harbour, fully believing that by the time we got there another catamaran, mistaken for ours would be mooring in our spot. Not that we're paranoid or anything...

We moored in what has to be the most attractive of any harbour we've seen.

The sun was shining, the wind was of no consequence, breakfast tasted marvelous, our neighbours were friendly, the kids were off on their bikes and the harbour staff were welcoming and efficient..... Moral was fully restored and we got on with the business of readying the boat to welcome Al and thoroughly checking out this lovely town that is Datca.

In these harbours, the atmosphere is simply one of leisure. Boats of every description from all points of the globe, nobody in any hurry.

When we left Sydney, we packed two bottles of wine.... A Henchke's Hill of Grace 2008 and a Grange Hermitage 2010 (the only wine ever to be awarded 100 points by the International body who awards these points). The idea was that we drink these after epic sails and given our limited experience before we got onto this boat, they weren't going to last very long.

Well, before limping into Knidos, we'd had a pretty epic sail, but we were not in any mood to celebrate at the time. Before mooring in Datca, we'd had a pretty epic disagreement and certainly were not in any mood to celebrate But after mooring in Datca harbour, cleaning down the boat and forgotten what it was that sparked the disagreement, I suggested that perhaps the reasons to open one of our bottles was epic enough and we were indeed in the mood to celebrate!

We chose fillet steak as an accompaniment, the restaurant allowed us to bring our own bottle, decanter-ed it for us and it was just so delicious...

The next day, Al arrived to what he would have been expecting. He'd had his own epic journey including planes, ferries and buses and a 10 hour stopover in Amsterdam.

We decided to stay for another couple of days while he sorted his jet lag but Datca was such a pleasure, the food so good that the decision was an easy one.

Knidos to the haven that is Palamut

Having resolved to get out of howling hollow and after not too much shut eye, we weighed anchor at 9:20 on the 20th September and pointed East under motor and headsail.

As we moved east and as Predict Wind had predicted, the wind abated to reasonable levels until after only a 7 nautical mile sail, we made Palamut. Ahhhhhh.......

A small safe harbour in a dusty, sleepy little hamlet. We were directed by a friendly Turk to the only spot there was for a boat of our width. Power, water and protected from the bulk of the wind. Although in gusts it kicked up a lot of dust from the quay making the boat filthy.

Of all the things that could make us uneasy on this adventure, the one real anxiety driver is the anticipation as to whether or not we'll get a spot on the wall. This is not just so that we can get the bikes/kids off and step on and off without having to drop the dingy. It's got more to do with the way in which we have become used to being informed by some waving, shouting, most unwelcoming (enter description here) that there is no room and where to go. It tends to put a real downer on a place and it has happened quite a lot lately.

All we want is to see their town and to spend some money in it! Why do they have to be so rude? We are only consoled by the possibility that they are delivering their message in a second language...

Don't get me wrong, in a nice quiet anchorage, the dingy is a hoot to go off and explore in, but just to commute backwards and forwards to town or to provision the boat.... more for Sal in a surgical boot than for me, it's a schlep.

The 'Turquoise Coast' reputation is a little more justifiable here. The beach is long, lined with interesting tavernas and is of small flat pebbles which ordinarily is not our choice, but here it gave a nice clean feel to the place and the water. If you'd like to see and hear how relaxing this was, go to YouTube and type 'Summer Amy Pebbles' (case sensitive)

Speaking of interesting tavernas, here was an innovative attraction... A 'dolls' house on top for the kids, particularly Summer, and a spot for the adults to sit and smoke the hooker pipe down below... Unfortunately Turkey has changed somewhat since my last visit in terms of what you can smoke.

At last a taste of what we, and specially Sal have been waiting to experience.... the Sunday markets..... yum!

Still not your actual souk, but getting there.

Now, a couple of key differences from Greece....

The hours they keep here are similar to ours, ie; Lunch is at lunch time, there is no siesta and dinner is at dinner time. It all shuts down around 10:00pm.



The other is, there is no house wine in 250ml or 500ml carafes, in fact there is no house wine at all... Here it is beer or raki.

Wine comes in full bottles, the contents of which is an anathema to the publican. The problem with this is, Raki is not my cup of tea, Sal is ok with it, we try to stay away from beer as we are quite fat enough, but if wine is the go, then we drink either none (not), or too much, and generally it is not very good and it is always expensive.

These are jarring changes after 5 months of getting very comfortable with the Greek way of doing things.

Finally, whilst it is school holidays in Australia and therefore, school holidays on the Summer Amy, Summer continues to educate herself while her 'teachers' insists on taking the holiday.

Here is an example of how her maths is coming along.....

I should point out though, she did use a calculator.