Forced to move for a rough ride and a BIG mistake.

8:30am on the Sunday the 9th, we heard a weird noise that sounded like the anchor chain turning in the guide. A few minutes later we noticed one of the lines ashore had disappeared and thought it had severed like the last.

On closer inspection, the boat had moved further out of the inlet... the anchor had lost its grip and the second line had just sunk at the new angle.

Emergency mode! We tried bringing the anchor up in the hopes that it would bite on the way in, no luck. We dived overboard to see where it was only to find it was dangling in mid water 6-8 meters below the boat. The boat was now moving toward the rocks where the lines were tied. Nothing to do but to disconnect altogether, pull the lines in and assess our options when we got out into open water.... and the wind!

We had planned to spend another day here as we waited for the wind to abate. We had even booked lunch at the Purple House after some more planned exploring.

There was literally nowhere else to anchor in that inlet. Too steep and too rocky so we tucked ourselves behind the hill in a tiny crevice at waypoint 2. We were out of the wind but in the pouring rain while we built up the courage to head out into open sea. Straight into the teeth of the wind and the swell that it had generated over the past few days.

Sal made breakfast, we ate, the rain stopped, the wind backed off a little and we decided to go for it. No other choice really, we couldn't spend all day holding the boat in one position in this tight little spot using the engines, so off we went.

Through the gap at waypoint 3 and into the bucking open seas. In no time the entire crew were whooping and hollering as the boat just took the lot in its stride. A very enjoyable five mile ride to the protection of the Kekova Roads and the most amazing entrance into history.

In the shot below there are so many of those 3,000 year old sarcophagi all robbed long ago, but still standing as if on day one.

Üçağız afforded the most protection in the dying wind so we headed there first. According to 'the Book' we were supposed to be met on the quay and directed to a berth, but as we approached, nobody to be seen. We could see that there was no space, but we entered the tiny inner marina as a means of attracting attention and sure enough, along the wharf came our man indicating that we should exit and moor on the outside pontoon.

We pirouetted as you do in a cat and heard a scraping sound coming from the anchor chain.... Al and I looked at each other, a nano second of confusion and then it hit us!

I had not pulled anchor in after we'd dived in to see it dangling 6 meters below the boat! In our hurry to stay off the rocks in the teaming rain, disconnect two lines off razor sharp volcanic rock and not catch those lines or chop Al up in the propellers, we'd forgotten all about the dangling anchor.

So, just to recap, we'd come through 5 miles of the roughest water, entered several very narrow rocky gaps to get to the marina, gone right into the harbour and at the slowest speed on the entire trip, the anchor touched ground to alert us to the potential problem..... How lucky was that? If that anchor had jagged on anything while we were sailing, it would probably have sunk us. We are still reeling....

Ibrahim's
was where we found solace. Walking by on our way to the recommended Hammam's we were gently hustled,
decided to stop and this became our home away from the boat.

They fed us large, loved the kids, did our washing, served us chai free of charge when we had a moment, arranged a glass bottom boat to see the sunken ruins at a great price and had our mooring fees cut in half.

I'd love to show you the fascinating views of this ancient sunken city with archway entrances and tiny fishing harbours, but as you see, the glass bottom part of the boat was not that effective.... unless you wanted a shot of Al looking back at you!

Although swimming around the ruins is now prohibited, just looking over the side of the boat was sufficient to make it all out.

We entered a small bay where swimming is permitted even though there are ruins surrounding it and sunken into the bay.

I thought I was never one for ruins and history of this length, but you just cannot be anything but fascinated.

Lots of sea creatures in this bay. A group of colourful squid, an eel, loads of needle fish who were kind enough to point out an octopus for us. In fact each time we lost track of the octopus, they'd find him and point him out for us. In this shot you can see five needle fish pointing straight at it? The octopus is not very clear but it is that lump to the left of the brick.

Al decided to video the octopus close up. He set the Olympus Tough underwater camera to 'video' dived down and left it sitting right next to the creature. The camera fell onto it's face and the octopus immediately sidled over it looking as if it was about to consume it. All we could see of the camera was the wrist strap and when that started to disappear, I dived down and grabbed it. This link in YouTube is what the camera filmed...Octopus Eats Camera