Alacati.... Serendipitis BOOYA!

Before we departed Sigacik, we called Alacati Marina to reserve a spot for a few days knowing that this is a bucket list venue.. I was told in no uncertain terms that they simply had no space for a catamaran. I persisted, they resisted, they won...

Not to be deterred, Alacati is a large bay that has become number 3 in the world for wind surfing championships. Whilst it sits on the southern or lee side of the peninsula, the land to the north is low lying so the Meltimi (prevailing and sometimes treacherous northerly wind) blows straight through the bay but the 'fetch' is too short to kick up a big swell making it perfect for wind generated sports like wind and kite surfing.... but not so attractive, although not impossible as an anchorage and our least favoured option.


The entrance to the bay is lined with channel markers keeping arriving and departing boats away from the main wind surfing area, but of course any arriving boat becomes a challenge to any or all wind surfers so it's like a game of dodgems on the way in or out.

Alacati is an absolute must do if you come to Turkey. It is frequented by the well heeled from Izmir and Istanbul but few non-Turkish residence. (read no foreign tourists) and reminds me a little of Noosa but with loads more history and Turkish sophistication thrown in. So, we have no place to moor but a very windy bay... Enter Al the Google Meister!

He noticed a canal north of the marina labelled 'private moorings' went to AirBnB and found two of the villas with private mooring for rent. Made some inquiries and got in touch with Kerim. We didn't want the villa, just the mooring and after some to-ing and fro-ing it started to look promising.

For some reason, communications ceased right up to the point we got to the entrance to the canal leading to the villas when finally we got the call from Kerim telling us to come on in...

Whilst this was in the nick of time, it was the easy part. There was a 20-25 knot northerly blowing straight down the canal which meant we were going to have to moor side on to the wind. In a 44ft catamaran this is almost impossible when the wind catches both hulls and forces the bow away. Kerim suggested from shore that we radio the marina for assistance.... Would the marina, the very people who had so adamantly denied us access and who would certainly remember the boat name want to help us at all. I radioed, they remembered the boat name but dispatched their tender without delay.

The tender driver skillfully kept the bow at right angles to the wind and within minutes we were snuggly in to the most prestigious mooring in Turkey. Power, water, swimming pool and gated community. Al gets to stay on the boat a while longer!

Off with the bikes and a ride to the marina to hire a car. The town of Alacati is a few clicks away and there was a winery we had to visit too...

You know, educational excursion for the kids....

Alacati the town is a gorgeous labyrinth of cobble stoned streets replete with the most inventive and innovative shops, bars, restaurants and well dressed people I have seen anywhere in this world.

Al gave Sal and I a date night while he entertained the kids. We'd had a late lunch so dinner was off the agenda but an elevated spot in a cruisy little bar with the best music that had me Shazaming all night. Margaritas and a snack of the best garlic bruschetta and lamb carpacio ever, this became our perch for the evenings people watching.

We sat their for hours watching the Turks show us how genuine sophistication is done. We were just plain and simply blown away.

The following day, a sleep in and a long drive to the winery. Difficult to find and thankfully unpopular on the day, we had the whole place to ourselves. The couple who owned the the winery grew up in the area, in fact he was the first to wind surf the bay back in 1980. After living in Detroit, Michigan for seventeen years, they bought the property eight years ago, planted all the vines and now supply high end hotels and restaurants in Izmir and Istanbul. Nothing available in retail.




Quaint but beautifully designed by her, the architect, the only food on the menu being home made pizza. That was all that was needed. Paper thin crust with topping to die for and our choice of one of their two Rose's to aid the digestion. Yummmm!

Lunch sorted, Sal asked if we could see their cellar. After a slight hesitation, we think because it was an unusual request we went underground....

Wow! Small enough to take in, big enough to store a truck load of wine. Such a wonderful space.

Naturally cooled by an exposed part of an ancient, soaking sand stone wall, Slimy and yuk to the touch but cold, this was such a privilege.

Is the boat now well stocked with great wines.... Well Hell Yeah!

So, whilst not on the international tourist agenda, if you're thinking about Turkey as a destination, spoil yourself with a few days in Alacati...
pronounced Alachate' you won't be disappointed.

Cam to Cigacik

After a great night with the van Wamelen's and a dip in the morning to deal with the effects of the great night, Al swam ashore, released the long line and got towed back to the boat. At 10:30 on the 22nd June, we weighed anchor and set a course for Cigacik.

Not far into the journey, at Doganbey Peninsular Summer sighted a pod of dolphins which headed straight for the boat and hung around for a while. Always such an exciting sense of privilege when they show up. It is only the fourth time in 3000 miles.

By 12:30 we had all the sails up in 15-20 knot NW and sailed for an hour and a half until we turned for Cigacik. We are doing a lot more sailing this year than last. The winds are more consistent and shutting off the engines yet maintaining the same speed is blissful.

Cigacik is by far the flashiest Marina we have moored in. All brand new, spacious, clean ablution blocks, swimming pool, organic veggie gardens, (pick as you need). Power, water and as expected, the bill to match. 140Euro per night plus power and water.

Keep this price in mind when I tell you about where we are right now in Greece in a future blog.

Oh, and there is this highly scientific weather forecaster for which there was no charge.





There is an issue with wifi in this part of the world. If I was to add up the time spent in either OTE (Greek Telecom) or Turkcell (guess) it would run into weeks. We are not able to top up online and in Greece you con only buy 5 gigs at a time and then only 3 times in a month? In Turkey, 10 gigs and then only 3 times a month and it takes ages to get topped up.

Why we can't simply buy as much wifi as we need is frustrating because we get through it pretty quickly no matter how we try to regulate.




Why am I telling you this? Well, we were out of Turkish wifi and prepaid mobile again and the nearest Turkcell to Cigacik is the larger town of Seferihisar five clicks away.


Nothing for it but a bike ride through the Turkish countryside which turned out to be both enjoyable and fortunate.

Like most, we love a good market and this town had a cracker.



As soon as I managed to by some Turkish prepaid I called Sal who taxied over and tried her best not to go nuts. Fresh organic fruit and veg, meats, olives, cheeses, herbs, wild honey, flowers, baklava, spinach and mince pies.

The market is totally covered, cool and the size of an aircraft hanger. Is the boat replete with fresh organic provisions....? Hell yeah!

Two nights in Cigacik was plenty. The town itself is an old fort which has recently been re-inhabited, beautifully cobblestoned and resembles one continuous London muse.

The season has yet to get going here so none of the tiny restaurants, bars or shops dotted throughout were open for business Just a few places along the waterfront which were excellent dining, but expensive.

Will... Like an Egyptian on the fort wall 

 At 9:50 on Wednesday the 25th, my wonderful sister's 52nd birthday, fat with wifi and fresh produce we cast off and headed for Alacati.

Cam Limani... Beautiful bay

Marjolein and Maarten van Wamelen have lived on Mobilae, a 38 foot catamaran for 3 years and a nicer couple you couldn't hope to meet. Moored aside them in Kusadasi they suggested we try Cam Limani on our way north. An anchorage in a protected bay with a small beach.

It was on our first try that Summer had her mishap which forced a return to Kusadasi where we moored aside them once again. A couple of days later they joined us as we both set off for Cam Limani and for the first time ever we enjoyed what I was lead to believe happens all the time in the Med, a 'Pot Luck' dinner. This is simply where each boat cooks up something nice and it is all shared on one boat. It is probably supposed to involve more than two boats..






Another first, the Summer Amy was photographed on the water. Difficult to achieve when you're on the boat....On reaching the bay, we'd forgotten it was a Sunday and found it full of local pleasure boats. Thankfully only for the day so we elbowed our way into a spot, anchored, ran a long line to shore to stop the boat from swinging and settled in for a memorable afternoon and night.








Surprisingly, like Sally,  Maarten is an accomplished Asian style cook, so it was Thai beef red curry from our boat and a Panang chicken curry from theirs. We dined on the Summer Amy and what a feast it was washed down with chilled local Turkish white and delicious red wines. Yummmo!

A swim in the morning, which disappointingly revealed a seabed ladened  with garbage of all description...

We bid our friends a fond farewell and at 10;30 on the 22nd June, we weighed anchor and made for Cigacik.

Kusadasi and Ephesus

After the drama at sea and the return to Kusadasi, I thought I'd better tell you something about these two places we have now moved on from.

Kusadasi is a large town that even so early in the season is tarnished by these on the right. Each morning we woke to two and sometimes three new monster cruise liners.

Restaurants are expensive, service is slimy/ friendly and the food... Well, late one evening we were lured by "Steak House", assured that the meat was Turkey's finest and the chef was a master...


Al's was ok, but baked leather was their first offering for me rather than a medium rare T-Bone, seared frozen their second attempt and an entirely different cut their third. When the bill arrived with a 'free' plate of toothpick spiked cheese blocks we thought they's charged for all three servings and instead of the cask house red we drank, I think they were shooting for Grange! They got $50 and a little Australian vernacular as we left.

At least there was a modicum of honesty and some efficient traffic management. Park in the wrong spot and your car is lifted and gone in less than a minute... No, it wasn't our car.

We did have some good experiences, one of them being Ephesus.... However, it's hot, there have been three new Super Cruise Ships in overnight, all 6000 passengers are here for that one reason.

Ephesus!

So we spent the day at the Marina pool, which just happened to open for the season on that day. A cool breeze moved in just after midday and Ephesus closes at 7:00pm. We drove over at 4:00ish which was about the time that everybody was leaving and had two an a half hours to imagine.

Built predominantly by the Romans around 2000 years ago, it was clear that the people of the day were highly sophisticated and the arts got way more air time than they do in our world.

The amphitheater above held 25,000 patrons on a good night. The road you see to the right heading off into the distance, ran down to what was then the sea port and the very reason for the city's existence. As the valley silted up, so the sea receded until the city lost its reason to be and became completely covered but the dust of time.

Much of this huge site has only recently been uncovered and there is clearly much more to be discovered.

The Library. A magnificent building that goes to my comment on the arts...

Recently unearthed, this series of apartments are now under a huge roof constructed courtesy of the Austrian government in order to protect so much, including these detailed and exquisitely preserved ceramics you see below.

Imagine discovering something like this one toothbrush stroke at a time!






























Two and a half hours was long enough to cover most of the site. A guided tour would have taken an age, but may have been more informative. Suffice to say, try and get to Ephesus in your travels, it is so worth the trip but I'd recommend very early or late in the season.

Arrival, Maiden Voyage and Massive Drama on the High Seas!

Sal and the kids arrived in Istanbul at 6ish on Wednesday 17th with a view to catching the 9:00am flight to Izmir, some 80kms from Kusadasi. We have a van booked for 9:00am, we have some last minute jobs to ensure the boat is A1 for them when I get a text from Sal saying they are on an earlier flight and will be arriving in Izmir around 9:00am!

Are you awake Al?! We contact the Van hire company to see of he can get the vehicle to us earlier. He could. We hustle to get those chores out of the way and the van turns up at 8:20. We have an 80km drive 'north'.... Google Maps to the rescue. Text from Sal, they have departed Istanbul. Text from me, we are still waiting on the van..... Sorry!

We get there before they land. I get a text saying they have landed and I respond to say we'll be about an hour. Perfect. Dressed in the colours of the national soccer champions looking like the bromance chumps, Al and I remain out of site as they come through and casually walk up behind them....

Super excited to be here, we spend the day just enjoying a very hot day and Kusadasi. The following day we take a trip to Ephesus. This is a place that deserves and will get its very own blog.


At 12:20 on the 19th June, we cast off and set a course for Cam Limani, and beautiful anchorage recommended to us by Marjolein and Marten van Wamelen, a Dutch couple who had joined us, replete with home made Limoncello the previous evening.

A solid North Westerly is blowing so all sails went up and we held a steady six knots for two or more hours before a necessary change of course into the wind which meant bringing down the sails. As we are about to furl the headsail the ever helpful Summer asks if she can pull on the line as it leave the winch. This is clearly not a safe option and so I promptly decline the offer.....

Watching the sail furling I hear Summer scream! and I mean SCREAM!!

For some inexplicable reason, she has held onto the line as it comes onto the winch. As it reached the winch it trapped her fingurs between the line and the winch dragging her arm backwards around the winch, snapping both bones in her forearm! One more turn on the fast moving winch and the horror would have been way too much to contemplate...

The scream lifted my foot off the button and the winch stopped. Still screaming we manually released her arm from the winch and it was pretty obvious what we had here. The rest of the sails came down, we turned 180 degrees and headed straight back to Kusudasi.

Now, with the wind behind us, about an hour away.

Doing what we could to comfort her we reached the marina, and moored in the same spot. They had a taxi on its way and Sal and I accompanied our baby girl to the Kusadasi Private Hospital....

Now here, not knowing what facilities to expect, is where we get blown away... Australia, come to Turkey and learn a little about how a hospital really should work... Within 20 minutes she had seen an orthopedic surgeon, had been X-Rayed, had been back to the surgeon who confirmed the break and 'explained' required procedure. She was in her own suite where she would need to fast for 5 hours before that procedure to line the bones up before putting the arm in a cast. Thankfully no surgery necessary.

The allotted time for the procedure was 9:30pm.

At 9:30pm precisely in they came and wheeled her off. By 9:50 I was called in to a very dozy but happy little girl who's arm was now on the mend. She was to spend the night in the hospital and as it is only 6:24am, she is still there with her Mum.

The Turks have their act together. The professionalism, love and attention shown to Summer and consideration for us was heart stopping and all with hardly anybody speaking any English.

We imagine the bill will be memorable. Not for us however.... This one is for you Allianz.

Patmos to Pythagoria on Samos and on to Kusudasi Turkey

After exploring Patmos by scooter, we agreed that we'd been given a bum steer by our mates from Coffs. Although Kambos bay was nice, there were a couple of really beautiful and more protected bays with a bit more happening... Each to their own I guess.
There was a good early breeze to sail on so we raised the main while still on the anchor. This way the boat points directly into the wind and it is all so much easier. By 10:10 on the 12th June, we raised the anchor, turned for the wind, raised the headsail and were doing 8 knots in no time. Nothing quite like it!

Pythagorian on Samos was our objective for the day and I'm betting your wondering why this illustration... Well, it is Pythagoras' Theorem and the town was named after old mate Pythagoras' in honour of his genius. Whilst there was not a teacher on this planet that was able to get me to concentrate, let alone understand this theorem, one look at it in the place it was conceived and splat! I got it.....

Pythagorean theorem The sum of the areas of the two squares on the legs (a and b) equals the area of the square on the hypotenuse (c)

This is a guy cooking lunch at a
tiny seaside restaurant on a charcoal
grill. Fish and then octopus... yummm.

On arrival in Pythagorian, we found to our surprise that the harbour wall was chockers and so we had to anchor off the adjacent beach. Lovely spot, if only for the eye candy on the beach.

First order of the day was to hire scooters and see if there was anything worthwhile to see while on Samos. This is a substantial island but the only two sites we came up with after some research and remembering that Al is the Google Meister, were the famous Samos tunnel and the outdoor movie theatre...

Not much, but it was a start....Both were shut!

The bloke who hired us the scooters did give us a map marking places of interest. Towns annotated with "Lovely little village" or "Beautiful village" or "Village with a view" We visited them all and he was correct in all cases.





I have been a little scathing of the place, but it was an amazing ride along coast roads right on the edge of the water and up into the hills.Click Here. for a little taster. Then up into mountainous vineyards, each paddock neatly enclosed by beautifully built stone walls.

Having eaten starters in a tiny coastal village, we had mains on the mountain surrounded in vines. Having seen all the vines, a bucket list item arose... Buy some Samos wine.




Actually what really prompted it were the aromas of the countryside through which we traveled.

Totally different at sea level from the heights, but exquisite all the way. In places it was like riding through a perfumery and as I went I felt sure those aromatics would find their way into the local wine.

So far we have only sampled the Rose and I have to say that the aromatics are almost overpowering, will take some getting used to, but I think we'll persevere.

We had planned only a day on Samos, thinking it best to give ourselves a couple of days in Kusadasi, Turkey in preparation for the end of our peace and tranquility and the arrival of Sally and the munchkins!

When we discovered that Kusadasi Marina charged over 100 Euro per night, we spent an extra day on 'free of charge' Samos, swimming, cleaning the boat and generally pottering.

Having reserved a spot in Kusadasi Marina, we were in no hurry. At 11:30 on Monday the 15th June, we weighed anchor and motored all the way.

An impressive entrance to Kusadasi harbour, we were met by the harbour master, escorted to our birth and assisted in mooring, as is the Turkish way.

This shot is for Coralie and Fiona whose mate makes these special thongs called Plugas. You asked for a shot of the Plugas on the Med girls, so this is just for you and Pluga!

Finally got out of Kos!

I arrived in Kos on the 27th May. The boat had been in Kos since the 2nd December. That is very nearly 6 months... During that time she was in the care of Christos Mylonas and Mikola Sudzum of Istion because back in September last year we sustained some damage in Kos Harbour and they repaired it so efficiently that we decided after negotiations and checking the Turkish options to winter the boat in Kos.

They took the boat into their fleet and she became part of their annual winter maintenance program. This means servicing the sails, the toilets, the engines, the windlass, the hatches, all the through hull fittings, getting her out of the water, getting the bum cleaned and anti fouled and servicing the sail drives (propellers).

This is what they look like after only 3 months in the water...

We also decided we wanted to have solar power fitted so that when at anchor we wouldn't need to use the generator for power.

So, after 6 months you would have thought that all this would have been done and dusted and that we would have been out of Kos in a couple of days? Well, it was the very expensive batteries that had to come all the way from Holland you see.....! No matter,

Briggy having just had his arm chopped off
by the wind generator!
or was that a glitch with the 'panorama' option?

Thanks to Briggy, our  wintering Englishman we were escorted to all his favourite  haunts where we were treated like locals which became another good reason to get out of Kos!

This was not a cheap winter with all that was needed, but it did come in under budget and the work is all first class. If you happen to need a place to repair or winter your boat, Kos is the place and the guys from Istion are the people.

And so with the new solar system/bike rack installed, it was time to test it all and slowly meander through some Greek islands before reaching Kusadasi on the Turkish coast where we plan to meet Sally and the two munchkins.

First (planned) stop was Lakke Bay on Leros but it meant punching into the prevailing northerly which built up to the point that we were driven into Xerokambos Bay on Leros just around the corner from Lakke to avoid going out into the teeth of the wind to get to Lakke.

Xerokambos is a lovely spot dotted with swing moorings all labelled with the name of the Taverna that owns it and therefore where you are duty bound to eat. Nicely protected from the winds we'd endured all day, we were happy to pick up a mooring close to shore, and dingy in for the usual.

We did meet a couple of Coffs Harbour boys who have been doing this every year for 15 years!


We weighed anchor at 9:00 the following morning and popped around the corner to Lakke before the wind got up. We were followed in by the navel vessel in the background... funny how I always think it's me they're after for some indiscretion I'm bound to have committed.
We were Med Moored on the wall in town by 10:00. We whiled away the day, Al getting all the technology on the boat to talk to each other and we now have state of the art music and video systems and I did rock all! Pity really because it was too late when we discovered that this was where Mussolini spent the 2nd World War and there were some interesting artifacts like tunnels and manuscripts we missed out on because they were closed by the time we cottoned on....

Kambos Bay on Patmos was the recommendation of our Coffs Harbour mates, still into the wind but not too uncomfortable, we left Lakke at 10:10 on the 11th June and were anchored in Kambos Bay by 13;30.

So, of all the places we have been, and there has been over 100 of them since we started this caper, Patmos would be my recommendation to anybody wanting a 10 day holiday in a really nice apartment near the water. Got that Bay Travel!



This is a beautiful island. Skala is the harbour town. This shot taken from the an amazing town on the peak of this mountain. At the very top is a large castle structure which is actually a monastery but to reach it there is a maze of beautifully paved, narrow Byzantine walkways just under 1000 years old We had hired scooters and we probably should not have done this, and it is probably why I always think the authorities want a little word with us. This video will give you a really good idea of what I'm on about. Click Here.

We're back!

Al Reid was there to pick me up at Kos Airport after a great flight from Aus. Etihad Air gets my vote, mainly because they didn't steal my wallet as happened with Emirates last time I arrived.

The boat was still on the Hard and filthy after a 'red' rainfall covered it in dirt that had blown over from North Africa. Inside was clean and tidy but staying on the boat proved untenable as it was way too far from a power supply point, a water supply point and most importantly, the toilet!

After complaining to marina management about having to pay for the boat on the Hard without being able to live on it, they let us have an apartment overlooking the Marina in the centre of everything for half price.

For those of you that may be new to this blog, I was asked many times last year for a video tour of the boat. If you are interested  click here

You may have read that Kos has become the 'go to' place for Syrian refugees. They have been moved along by the Turks or bypassed the Turkish coast choosing Greece and therefore the EU rather than Turkey.

My impression of refugees was of a bedraggled, desperate, destitute lot who left their homeland with the clothes on their back and whatever they could safely carry.

Sliced up dingy

We strolled along to the place where they had all gathered and here was a crowd of well dressed tidy looking folk taking selfies with their IPads or smart phones, some coming out of the Western Union office looking as if they'd just won the lottery, probably having transferred adequate funds from Syria I assume.

Speaking to a local restauranteur we were told that they arrive in the mornings, slice up the dingy they arrived in rendering it unusable and ask where they are....

Al taking a closer look at the inside of the hull

                                                                            When they are told they are in Greece, they give the whole "We are free thanks be to Alla" spiel and then make their way directly to the police station somehow knowing exactly where it is and that it is the first port of call for refugees?

Not much to impede their arrival either. This is the Coast Guard Boat for Kos! Someone ran it up something hard at high speed which would have taken some explaining and is going to take some fixing.


So, I'm happy that these refugees are not destitute but they would be desperate none the less. I couldn't help but reflect on the incongruity. Kos is a holiday destination, brimming with pink, happy tourists. I couldn't imagine how these people felt about that or what lay ahead for them in a foreign unwelcoming land with a different language and culture and the thought of having to start to build a life all over again.

With nothing to do but wait for new batteries and a repaired helm plotter we eat, drink and just soak it all up. I thought this was worth a photo... an itemized meal bill. What the? Must have been prepared by a doctor.

Al's time away included Skiing at Big White and then a motorcycle trip from Canada to Costa Rica which he had planned before we dragged him over to Turkey to help crew last year.





Mine... well. Get the kids to school, make a nuisance of myself at the office and basically tread water until it was time to come back. I did manage to get my Open Water Divers ticket, have my nose fixed and get the years tax sorted but I couldn't help being a little envious of Al's Central American adventure. Maybe the next little jaunt....

Now, before you go I'd like you to take a look at this. I believe it is a first. We strapped a GoPro to the top of the mast and time lapsed the procedure of getting the boat off the hard, into the water and onto the dock in the marina. It is worth a look, just click here