Kalcan to Kas (Pronounced Cash) and the Blue Card Blues

13:20 on Sunday the 2nd November... We cannot believe it is November! we weighed anchor and cast off, bound for Kas, a place that has come highly recommended. We'd topped up the fuel in Fethiye and had the black water tanks pumped out as we'd been warned that the authorities were checking and a catamaran "just like ours" had been fined 2500Euro for not complying.

We were asked for our Blue card... "no, we have not been able to acquire one, do you have any?".
"No, we don't have any here but I can give you a receipt which will satisfy the authorities"


20TL or $10 later we're all pumped out and compliant and resolved to go via the new marina in Kas on our way to the old town harbour to get a Blue card and another pump out....

We motored all the way. It had promised a decent sail, we did get the sails up for all of 15 minutes until it went flat and down they came. I radioed Kas Marina on the way in, was directed to the pump out station and assured there would be a technician there to sort it. There wasn't. We waited. The sun was setting. I radioed again. Another assurance. Nobody showed. I radioed again fearing we would be arriving at the old town harbour in the dark when somebody finally showed....

"Where is your Blue card?" The adrenaline started to reach my face while as calmly as possible I explained that in no port so far had we managed to obtain a Blue card and that a receipt would suffice. "No" he explained very patiently having noticed the adrenaline build up.. "the machine will not function unless a Blue card is inserted."

Slightly embarrassed now..."Ok, can I buy a Blue card here?" He called the marina office which was some distance away and "Yes" they had a blue card for me. In darkening skies I jumped on my bike and hurtled off to collect said card.

On arrival I'm told by a very ditzy young lady that they don't have any Blue cards....! "But, but you've just told the guy on the phone that you did!" more adrenaline coursing it way into my brain.... "I am the only one in the office and nobody has called here...." She replies, exhaling a lung full of cigarette smoke....

Back on my bike, its time to move, dump the black water at sea and deal with the authorities if and when we needed to. I get back to the boat and explain what has just happened to the now very confused poo technician. The adrenaline makes its way to his face and he is back on the phone as we are gearing up to leave. "Stop" he says, "They do have a Blue card for you."

Back on the bike, into the office and "Soooorry" say ditzy, "They arrived on Friday, it was my day off". "Yeah, yeah. whatever. We need to go, will this take long?" as she tries to log onto the government web site that authorises Blue cards.

The minutes tick by, her screen remains blank, I flick through a yachting mag. Finally she gives up. "It's Sunday, nobody in office, government wed site". As she lights another fag the adrenaline is now replaced by disbelief and laughter restraint and I cannot wait to relay this one to the crew....

Back to square one as we cast off and head at pace for Kas harbour.

As it was getting late I had inquired of Ditzy how much to stay at the Kas Marina for one night.... 115Euro! that's AU$150.00. At the Kas harbour, right in the heart of town, water, power and free bread delivery by Smiley each morning, 70TL or AU$35.00...

Still no Blue card and fast filling poo tanks!

This is the serene scene that greeted us a soon as we docked in the harbour. The wharf is where the paragliders land and so the very next morning Sal went up the hill, had a wonderful flight and landed less than 50 meters from the boat.


An enchanting town is Kas. We had called Smiley (Ismail) on the way in which was fortuitous. This is not a large harbour and it is jammed with Gullets and dive boats. He managed to get us a spot and he delivers bread, free of charge each morning!

Not overly altruistic, he does have a great restaurant....

As in Kalkan, it is obvious that the tourist season has ended. Everybody is packing up, tourists venues are closing or should be and it is nice to have the whole place pretty much to ourselves.

Kas sits 6kms from Kastelorizo.

This is a Greek island also highly recommended but easier to go over there by ferry rather than check out of Turkey, check back in to Greece and back again in our own boat.

On the following day we caught the ferry over and as pretty as this little hamlet is, we found it all but shut and we had six hours to burn....

Al and Summer went on a marathon walk to get this shot which encapsulates the whole town.



If there seems to be a shortage of big fish in the Med, it is probably because they get, or got eaten.

Something that is not on the menu in either Greece or Turkey is Loggerhead turtle. They are protected, nurtured and pop up everywhere from way out at sea to inside some of the cleaner harbours.

Being back in Greece meant being back in the land of the 'very familiar' Greek menu... There were only three restaurants open, at one of which the owner was cleaning a freshly caught squid. He explained that it was the start of the squid season and he would be cooking it for lunch... We went no further.

After walking the length of the harbour trying to imagine what it would be like in mid season, we sat down at the water's edge in that clear light that comes with autumn sunshine.


With turtles munching on our prawn scraps we enjoyed the best meal we had experienced in all the time we were in Greece.

Prawns in garlic and chilli sauce, fresh calamari, octopus salad for starters, oven baked lamb for the main and ice cold Rose' as the lubricant. Yummmm.

Then off down to the sunny end of the harbour where there were some comfy looking sun beds for a little nannanap

The six hours was hardly enough...

Gullets are magnificent Turkish crafts and we have wanted to experience one since we arrived in Turkey.

A day on a Gullet with somebody else worrying about the provisioning, the steering, the anchoring, the cooking, the cleaning and the mooring was so appealing we selected a suitable Gullet from a choice of about 50 and motored out for a day of island and beach hopping, snorkeling, fishing, relaxing and eating genuine home cooked Turkish by the skipper's wife.

The following day was a free day, meaning one with nothing organised which saw Al, who has the appropriate licence, go for a dive and Sal and I do the schooling for change.

This is an example of what he saw...

I had asked Ismail in passing what we could possibly do about obtaining a Blue card... Now how amazing is this guy?
He arranged space for us in the harbour.
He arranged special off season 'local' rates which included power and water.
He fed us very reasonably
He woke us at 2:00am one morning to warn us of an impending and dangerous catabatic wind, that we should get the boat well off the wharf to avoid being surged onto the dock.
He delivered fresh bread and rolls to the boat each morning free of charge...

and yep, you guessed it....

He arranged for an illusive Blue card!

All he has asked was that we say something nice in Trip Adviser....

We have done so. Thanks a ton Ismail.