Kas to The Kekova Roads

A late start, not too far to go, we got the schooling out of the way, provisioned and scrubbed the boat, topped up the water and at 2:00 pm on Friday the 7th November, we cast off in a growing easterly wind and headed around to the new Kas Marina to test the Blue card, our poo tanks now full after 5 days in Kas.

Turns out that there is no need for a technician, the blue card works like a bank card, the pump out station like an ATM only instead of receiving cash, your donating poo. 279 Liters of it to be precise.

In wintering skies, the easterly grew to an uncomfortable 20 knot head wind and even though we were fairly protected, beating directly into the wind is never much fun, everybody having to dress appropriately...


The first stop was Asar Buku an inlet in which lies the ruins of the ancient city and port of Aperlaie now partially underwater.

The days shortening dramatically now and even though we anchored in the inlet at 5:30pm it was already getting dark. We were however treated to the most amazing sunset, smartly followed by a full moon on a crystal clear night turning the white volcanic rocks along the shoreline silver and electric blue.

Although the anchor bit, we needed to tie a long line from the starboard cleat to keep the boat off the rocks on the other side of this tiny inlet we had chosen in an attempt to get out of the wind. There was no other choice of anchorage and it was too late to move.

Al, Summer and I dived on the anchor the next morning. It had wedged itself into the only place it could have, so we checked the line ashore before heading off on an excursion in the dingy. The wind was still howling so leaving this place and moving out into the open sea was not a smart option.

We got the dingy right into the inlet, tied it off and started exploring. We met a man who runs this ramshackle, hippy like accommodation/restaurant called the Purple House, after the purple dye that comes from the earth in the area. He suggested we take a walk east to the far inlet where we would be sailing to when the weather improved.
A moonscape. Walking past 3000 year old ruins, the ground strewn with rocks, discarded olives fallen from neglected trees, acorns, porcupine quills and 12 bore shotgun cartridges it really did feel like we were on another planet where the civilisation had long since perished.

We arrived at the other inlet, the wind coming straight in off the sea. The restaurant and all facilities looking decidedly shut for the winter, we took a walk out along a very long jetty to see if we could see any signs of life. Nothing. Just about to head back and Sally smelled food. We walked around to the only likely source and totally surprised three locals who were indeed preparing lunch for themselves.
We asked if there was any food to be had, they looked at each other, chatted a bit and "sure, why not?"

After producing two bottles of white wine, they got busy and knocked up a quick Menemem, a delicious Turkish dish mopped up with bread. While we ate they sat with us as we all played charades in an effort to understand what everybody was saying. By the time lunch was done, we felt like family. On leaving and with what little they had, they produced a bag of apples and pomegranates for us to take home.

The walk home included a meander through the ruins. Whilst there are so many of them, we had to wonder at the number of sarcophagi that have been standing there for over 3000 years and will be standing there for another 3000 by which time, this civilisation may well have long since perished.

That's Al doing his Ninja thing on a sarcophagus standing as part of the submerged ruins of the city of Aperlai.

On returning to the boat, we were horrified to see the boat, not in the position we'd left it.

The volcanic rock had cut right through the line ashore and the boat was gently bumping against the very sharp rock on the other side. The wind still howling, we went into emergency mode, restoring the situation with Al having to do a lot of heroic swimming with propellers churning in the chill of the evening. We used chain around the rocks and put out two lines for the night, something Al had suggested and I had ignored on the previous day! Luckily the damage was minimal, we must have arrived soon after it had happened, but it made for another fairly sleepless night.