Am I in Heaven?

36°42.49N 28°05.61E

Last night we had the first storm of the season at about 3am (such a change from last year!). Lots of lightening, the rain absolutely bucketed down and, thankfully, only moderate winds. We have had heat and clear blue skies for weeks, so it was very nice to be drenched and cooled. The air is so clear this morning and the 360° view of the enclosed bay is sparkling. The boaties are rising to wipe down their cockpits and put things out to dry.

We had dinner at Osman’s Place last night and there was an air of expectation in the village with the rain forecast. Most of the restaurants have tables and chairs outside under the stars and the town jetty of this little village, Selimiye, was chocker block with boats – the busiest we have seen; everyone tied up to shore for the storm. We have been here three times in as many weeks as it is such a lovely (and well protected) spot. There is a veneer of mostly yacht tourism over a delightful traditional village in picturesque surrounds; lovely friendly people, a butcher, good fresh supplies, a range of restaurants, traditional cafes with ‘real’ Turkish food and a bus to Marmaris. You only have to take a walk along the water front or the one road back to see lush well tended gardens amongst the houses and pensions; plants heavy with eggplants, peppers, beans, citrus fruit, figs and fragrant flowers; goats, cows, sheep, dogs and cats. There are no tourist shops flush with international brand names, only shops with Turkish made souvenirs, kilims and jewellery, inexpensive summer wear and Turkish clothing (including lavish belly dancing outfits!) with cats sleeping on colourful cloths.

We checked into Turkey on the 27^th of August and have had a lovely time since. Smiling, generous people, a change in architectural style; mosques and their minarets dominate the skylines of delightful towns and villages; on the. After much wind in the Aegean there has been little wind, but lots of heat, sunny skies and mostly clear, deep water for swimming, but not so good for anchoring. We needed to cover quite a bit of territory to check out of Greece by the end of the month when our transit log expired and to collect Karin, our first guest for the year, on about the 29^th somewhere near Marmaris.

Amorgos

After the last blog entry in Andiparos we waited out a Meltemi. A window of relatively light winds came and we set sail for Amorgos, taking a route across the middle Cyclades to the northern Dodecanese. We expected to anchor in the bay of Katapola, the main town, but on arrival found that there was a busy looking yacht meet going on and the only places left in the bay were untenable. After a couple of attempts to anchor we were not happy so made our way further up the west coast to Ormos Kalotiri which was just perfect. It was quiet and well protected, excellent anchoring, clear water, no town, only a few other boats were there so it was blissful. A good night’s sleep was had after a long day on the move.

Levitha

Taking advantage of the fair winds we left early the next morning making our way to Levitha; a tiny island at the very edge of the Cyclades – the last stop before the Dodecanese. We had heard very good things about the small taverna in a farm house run by two brothers with their families, just up from a bay with laid mooring buoys. The only other inhabitants of the island are a lighthouse keeper and a few fishermen (and lots of goats). This place is seriously way out in the middle of nowhere.

On tying up to a mooring buoy with assistance from one of the brothers we were given the run down on the menu for the night, oven baked goat or fish with lemon sauce. We chose one of each and booked a table. As the afternoon progressed the bay filled up and apparently this became the busiest night for the year to date. I think the secret is out - and with good reason. Apart from the unique location and hospitality, the food was fantastic; su

cculent, tasty and so fresh. A bottle of wine to wash it down, some other friendly patrons and a walk back down the unlit, not very well marked path to the boat made for a memorable evening.

Sailing Daze

You may ask, what is it that we do while sailing these azure seas? Well, one of the th

ings that Ross does, in his commitment to continuous improvement, is monitors the performance of things. I was surprised one day to find him on the transom (back of the boat) on his knees, with snorkel and mask on, about to plunge his head into the water. This was at about 5 knots. He was checking the feathering propeller to see how it was going and what it actually does when sailing, in gear and in neutral. Then there is the cleaning. As long as it is calm, and especially if you are motoring, there is not a better time to throw a few buckets of salt water over the teak cockpit than when we are underway. The teak loves a good dose of salt. And then there is the black spot removal which has, thankfully, become a favourite for Ross. Otherwise it is boat watch, sail watch, bird watch, sea watch and a bit of reading and snoozing… quite nice really.

Patmos

Our next stop was Patmos, our first island of the Dodecanese; a group of twelve main islands which lie in a crescent shape down the Turkish coast to Crete. We anchored in sand in Ormos Livadhi, where it was a short walk up to the road to catch a bus into Skala, the main port. There is a couple of restaurants (including one with great views) and a bar on the bay.

Patmos’s main claim to fame is that it has the second most important place of pilgrimage for Orthodox Christians, the spiritual centre of the Greek Orthodox Church after Mt Athos. St John was banished to Patmos by Emperor Dominitian and it was in a cave here that he dictated the ‘wild poetry of the Apocalypse, found in the Book of Revelations’… so legend says as there is no actual proof of this. The island was home to Saracen pirates until about 1088 when St Christodopolous was granted permission to establish a monastery in honour of St John. Given the ongoing presence of pirates in the area, fortified walls were built to protect the monastery which prospered and came to house one of the largest libraries in Greece outside of Mt Athos. There is an impressive museum in the old Treasury which displays a range of illuminated manuscripts (including the Codex Porphyrius), relics, artwork, coins etc. The monastery with it’s buttressed grey walls is visible from far out at sea as it crowns the island and is surrounded by the immaculate white houses of the chora. We caught the bus up to the top and after a morning at the top walked back down to the port.

With such a major attraction and also the magnificent natural beauty of bays and beaches, Patmos was quite touristy and this was most strongly the case in the bustle of the main port and town Skala where every day a host of cruise ships and ferries appear and spew forth thousands of day trippers and holiday makers. While quite entertaining, Ross did not particularly like the touristy aspect but I think the visually spectacular island has much to offer. This lack of simpatico with the island did not stop Ross from performing a minor rescue operation when one of the beach side pedal boats made a break for freedom. Ross returned it to shore to a very appreciative water sport hire guy. If we went back to Patmos I would anchor in Ormos Kambos which is a prettier bay NE of Livadhia with a little village too.

Leros

The very attractive low key Leros was the next stop for a few days. We tied up at Lak

ki Marina (which was not so attractive), in the very large and protected bay of Lakki.

It was very interesting if somewhat surreal because of the amazing fascist Italian Art Deco architecture which surrounds the bay (to quote Rod Heikell, ‘the place has the feel of a mock-up for a film about Mussolini or any Second World War movie set in Italy). The island was under Italian occupation for some years and Ormos Lakki was the Aegean base for Italian navy.

We hired a motorbike and went to the impressive Kastro(with small but interesting museum and enthusiastic curator) at the top of the island, checked out the amazing views of the crenulated coast line and then had the local burgers for lunch in the lovely Agia Marina. The next day we had a very good lunch at Xirocambos at a beachside restaurant (turn west when you reach the bay and it is right on the beach). I have since heard from a Greek friend that a great place to eat is Dimitri’s, which has a gorgeous view over Pandeli Bay – next time.

Boarder crossing

On the 25^th we made for Kalymnos to check out of Greece. After completing the formalities we anchored off Nisis Yiah, an odd little island south of Kos. The whole island is pretty much a mine. While not exactly attractive, the water was clear and it was interesting to watch a big ship come in and tie up to enormous mooring bouys to position itself under a loading conveyor.

The next day we started out early stopping for a swim and lunch at Knidos, at the tip of the Datca Yarimadasi (Dorian Prominatory) where a small bay is home to the impressive ruins of one of the Dorian hexapolis. Two theatres, the agora, the city walls are all visible from the water. That night we anchored in Kargi Koyu just west of Datca where we would do our entry paperwork the next day.

Datca

Datca is memorable, not only as the first place where we laid foot on Turkish soil, but where we had our first Turkish meal – a plate of delicious mezes - and as a place of welcome. We met very helpful and generous people, marvelled at the variety of fresh produce (on the Greek islands the produce was not that varied or necessarily fresh and the menus the same everywhere) and the gorgeous rugs, ceramics and distinctly eastern wares.

After a day of cleaning we collected Karin, our first guest for the season, at the Datca bus station; she’d flown from Istanbul to Dalaman and then bus via Marmaris. After stocking up on some provisions (including delicious flat peaches), we returned to Kargi Koyu for a couple of nights and a day of catching up, swimming, snorkelling, eating and drinking. We went ashore to a small restaurant for a beer and stayed for mezes dinner. A group of about twenty Turkish people arrived and after some food and drink rearranged the tables for some dancing and singing. When we went back to the boat there were people with little fires on the beach singing, danc

ing and eating. It was holiday time and everyone was making the most of it.

Hisaronu Korfezi - Gulf of Fortresses

In Turkey we have adopted a slow approach to travel, spending more time getting to know the exquisite coast line; to date this has been Hisaronu Korfezi. Thankfully Karin was very receptive to this. Over the next few days we slowly made our way along the peninsula into the gulf stoping in Degrimen Buku, Kuruka Buku and then to Selimiye where we tied up at the new jetty (15 YTL a night but we seem to be wearing a cloak of invisibility most days). Roguish Osman, (aka 008 of Osman’s Place) helped tie us up and welcomed us to his town with his golden smile (literally!) and ‘life is life’ philosophy.

Unfortunately, around this time I came down with some stomach virus/bug thing. While this meant that I was not my usual bundle of energy (in a laid back kinda way), I don’t think this was too much of an issue for Karin who was much in need of a rest from her full-on job in Alice Springs. She made the most of being surrounded by water and took quite a shine to the people and village. I think the woman in the traditional Gozleme café took quite a shine to Karin too, judging by the delicious grapes which she returned with on a number of occasions.

After a few days we anchored on the other side of the gulf in Bencik bay, which was a lovely quiet spot with a few yachts at anchor. There were some locals, also living in boats, who came around a couple of times a day to sell freshly caught fish and local products like almonds, figs, pistachios and some clothing and textiles. In the morning we swam and over breakfast watched a kingfisher fishing from the shore nearby.

We then sailed to Keci Buku, another particularly spectacular bay with an island which is home to the ruins of a Byzantine fort – there are fortress ruins everywhere on this coastline (Hisaronu Korfezi means the Gulf of Fortresses). We anchored off the island and soon met some other live-aboards whom we had seen in some other anchorages. They were extremely helpful with advice for my stomach (an excellent pharmacist in Marmaris, opposite Tansas) and kindly invited us to a pot-luck party on the island beach the next night (special thanks to June and Jeff from Concerto). It was fantastic meeting a group of terribly interesting yachties who mostly have spent years in these waters (and some newies too!).

Farewell Karin; Hello Julie and Max

The next day Karin was on the bus to Marmaris to then make her way to Fethiye to do some of the Lycian way walk. Karin, you are missed!

After a day of washing and cleaning Julie and Max, our next guests, arrived. Ross regularly sails with Max on his boat, Exocet, out of RMYS in Melbourne. They were keen on some relaxation as they had quite a stressful start to their trip, which included losing a credit card (and all cards being cancelled as a result – yep, that equals no access to money) and then a tooth extraction in Istanbul! We were tied up and the delightful Iskele Motel jetty and decided to stay an extra night to takeadvantage of the pool (it was still hot, hot, hot) and have access to the internet to deal with the credit card related paperwork.

We made our way back to Semiliye with a lunch and swim stop in bay before. Max enthusiastically embraced doing many of the boat related tasks that I would normally do (it was like being on holiday!) and assisted Ross with some maintenance jobs.

Apparently one does not bargain for food, but for clothing and other wares it is the go. I have not even thought about it as I have been principally purchasing food. Julie was there when I purchased a couple of noodles (for floating purposes) and, horrified at my ignorance, was an excellent bargaining advisor. Heck, we only paid 5 YTL instead of 6! I think I’ll need to do some revision of the relevant section in the Lonely Planet guide for when the coach is gone.

We decided to head towards Bozbrun. On the way we stayed the night, anchored and tied up to shore, in Dirsek, a lovely quiet bay with only one restaurant ashore, and gave those noodles a work out.

The next day in Bozbrun town we had a delicious lunch at Fisherman House, gathered supplies, purchased earings from lovely jewellery shop. We then went off to a recommended anchorage (in the Kizil Adasi passage) but, after many tries, could not secure the anchor to Ross’ satisfaction. Feeling tense and somewhat bereft of hope we went back towards Bozbrun and then first go secured the anchor and tied a line to shore in the first bay on the west side.

We stayed a couple of nights and enjoyed plenty of swimming and a dingy excursion to explore more Byzantine ruins ashore. We enjoyed barbeques (far too hot to cook in the galley) and salads, but our first serious foray into a selection of Turkish wines was not exactly successful. Wine is relatively expensive (most alcohol is expensive especially compared to Greece, and the wine does not compare so well to what we have in Australia.). Perhaps if we had deeper pockets our findings would be different, but we might take a rain check on that for now.

On the 15^th we tied up to Ali Baba’s restaurant jetty in Bozuk Buku, right under the intact Hellenistic citadel, and with the ruins of ancient Loryma scattered around the bay. Julie and I made 2 explorations of the ancient site, one in the afternoon/evening while Ross and Max dingh

ied off to explore the bay and other two restaurants with beer money

in their pockets. We all went up again in the morning before the heat of the day.

Ali Baba’s is an amazing little enterprise (not unlike many of these seasonal businesses), a very basic restaurant with a side business in clothing and textiles with eye catching hand crochet trims which incorporate shells, beads and evil eyes.

We ordered 2 Lamb and 2 fish in advance and enjoyed freshly baked bread and salad with our

dinner, set in a prime position table looking over the jetty and bay. Apparently the women do the embroidery and crochet over the winter months and then spend seven months in this sea-access-only bay for the summer, living on a boat, working in the restaurant (baking truly delicious bread!) and selling their wares by boat. This is not an easy life! We had a special treat in the morning when a board of freshly baked bread appeared at the boat. It was just as good if not better than the night before.

We returned to Semiliye for Max and Julie to catch a bus back to Marmaris and then to Pamukkale (the rest of their trip takes in UK and Morocco). Again, you are missed, but I have to admit that it is nice to have the boat back to ourselves.

Semiliye Bavaria 42 Cruiser convention

This time, on the Semiliye jetty, it looks like a convention of Barvaria 42 Cruisers.

Ross has made great mates with Aziz and Ali from Istanbul who have had their Bavaria 42's about the same length of time as us and sail with their wives, Zerah and Meltem, respectively. Each have made some interesting changes to their boats and keep them in amazingly immaculate condition (they put us to shame!). Lots of ideas and experiences have been exchanged over coffee as well as cleaning product names and tips galore!

Reading

At the moment, I just don’t seem to be getting enough reading time, but we do have some recommendations. Ross has been reading his book-club books (contributing comments each month via email) and through this he came across ‘Too Close to the Falls’ by Catherine Gildiner. I subsequently read it and it would have to be the recommended read of the month. Last month’s pick of the crop was Cormack McCarthy’s “The Road”. In my enthusiasm for it, I foolishly swapped it in Trizonia and since then Ross and I have wanted to dip back into it. We will just have to wait until we get home and borrow it from the excellent St Kilda Library. I have also just sent ‘Too Close to the Falls’ off with Julie without consulting Ross and am in trouble! It would be a good book to keep onboard as it is a great holiday read; it gives you a bit to think about within an entertaining celebration of a very unusual childhood.

Food

While I am not getting reading time, I am getting cooking time, but it has been so darned hot that there have been far more salads and barbeques than hot dinners! Inspiration abounds with lots of lovely fresh ingredients to work with, especially if one catches a market (can I go on again about food?). I have had the good fortune to be in Semiliye for 2 markets(Wednesdays) and the Orhaniye market (Saturdays), there seems to be a permanent market on the road in the area going to different villages on different days. The stall holders set up under large white tent like canopies early in the morning and sometimes snatch a bit of sleep in the back of the truck before the customers arrive. They pack up near dusk.

The range of produce at the market is impressive. It includes gorgeous fresh fruit and veg, cheeses, salami, olives, hand made butter and other deli foods; dried beans, grains, spices and lots of sweets, especially an incredible range of Turkish delight; cleaning and general household products and another section of clothing, home wares and hardware. The stall holders are friendly and helpful. If they don’t have what you ask for it is likely that they will pace the rest of the market helping you find the right seller. It is all very convivial and relaxed; devoid of hard sell. You get to taste before you buy and, of course, the produce is seasonal; I am invariably tempted to buy far more than we can eat.

The longer we are here the more Turkey grows on us. Life is pretty darned good; perhaps I am in heaven.

Over now to Captain Ross….

Turkiye - September 08.

We have crossed the Aegean Sea so it’s goodbye (Andio!) to Greece for now. It’s a quirky, somewhat inefficient but proud and passionate place – we liked it a lot.

Our last Greek experience whilst checking out of the country was characteristic. I had three different offices to attend to complete the formalities at the port of exit on the island of Kalimnos. We’d left our boat temporarily tied up alongside in a ‘sub-optimal’ berth in the commercial harbour; it was a decrepit wharf intended for large ships and with big, potentially

yacht-gouging, pieces of steel protruding from it. Occasionally when checking out of a country Customs will want to board your yacht to search it so you need to bring it into the harbour in case of this, even though there is often limited provision for a yacht to tie up.

The first office I visited told me that the entire procedure would take around four hours, or if I wanted to hire a taxi and take our documents to the police station for stamping myself it could all be done in around an hour.

I jumped in a taxi and headed for the police station with a driver who spoke perfect English – he had lived in Darwin for thirty years. Much of the Kalimnos population migrated to Australia apparently, to Darwin principally, and there is still a large Kalimniot community there he told me. Some, like my driver, are returning to their roots in Greece as they get older.

The taxi waited outside the Police Station to return me to the first office. My documents were taken ‘upstairs’ by the police and they indicated I should wait. After 15 minutes my driver came in to ask me about the delay. I didn’t know the cause. So, he marched upstairs on my behalf and found the person with our documents. That person didn’t speak English and as I was ‘out of sight, out of mind’ downstairs she had seemingly put things into the too hard basket for a while. The driver came down and got me and subsequently interpreted whilst the police officer politely asked me for the information she needed for her forms. Stamp, stamp, stamp on the documents and we were out of there in five minutes. The police officer was no doubt relieved to have the problematic non-Greek speaker situation off her plate and I was relieved to have had the Greek/Australian taxi driver with me. I didn’t doubt it when he said that I would probably have been left waiting there all day had he not intervened. That’s typically Greece – simultaneously bureaucratic and informal.

So, would Turkey be as pleasant as Greece?

We had a somewhat ominous arrival. Our Turkish landfall coincided with us sighting a coastal freighter ship, newly wrecked upon rocks. A lighthouse a few hundred metres away from it obviously hadn’t been enough to avert this calamity.

Things swiftly improved! We have now been in Turkey for three weeks. The fifth country we have sailed in and it’s a very agreeable place. The Turks are welcoming and h

ospitable, possibly the friendliest people we have encountered so far. It’s more than 20 years since I was last in Turkey and it’s pleasing to see that it hasn’t changed in this regard despite a marked increase in tourism.

There’s a dramatic, beautiful coastline here - and a great variety of excellent food. The fresh bread is great, as is the delicious fruit. Turkey is frequently referred to as the ‘market garden’ of the Eastern Mediterranean.

There’s always something new to learn

After experiencing quite strong winds crossing the Aegean we have enjoyed calm settled weather since we arrived here.

The anchorages in Turkey differ to Greece in that most of them are deep with the depth dropping of quickly from the shoreline. So, we are sometimes dropping the anchor in 20 metres of water and then running a long line from the stern of the boat and tying it to a tree or rock on shore. It can take a while to set up with just the two of us.

One recent evening we anchored in a large quite open and isolated bay, the only boat there. As a fair swell was running into the bay we put out a stern anchor as well as a bow anchor to keep the boat head-in to the swell and the motion on board comfortable.

The bottom was sand with crystal clear water. The setup worked well and after a comfortable night we went to ‘up’ anchor the next morning and head off. The problem was, we couldn’t get our stern anchor up – it had buried itself completely in the sand as the boat tugged on it overnight. This is common and normally easily resolved; you just drive the yacht ‘over’ the anchor and using the yacht’s weight and bulk, pull it out. However, this wasn’t an option in this instance as the stern anchor was in water of only about two metres depth – too shallow for us to take the yacht over it.

So, after consideration I decided that the best thing for it was to dig the anchor out – underwater and by hand. Karin, our Australian friend who joined us for a week, kept watch on the yacht whilst Carolyn and I positioned our dinghy over the anchor. We donned masks and snorkels and took turns diving, scraping sand away from on top of the anchor with our hands. About 30 or 40 dives and half an hour later we had just managed to retrieve the anchor. Who needs a gym membership? Carolyn, as is her wont, felt obliged at this point to recite the ‘ah, living the dream’ quip. But, with a water temperature of 28 degrees and air temp of around 30, things could have been worse.

And, due to this episode we met a friendly family from the Czech Republic - Petra and George and their two young children. They are former yacht owners who now have a campervan that they spend a few summer months in each year in Eastern Europe and Turkey. They have medium-term plans to buy another yacht in Thailand and to live on it there to escape the Czech winters - and the springs and the autumns which they aren’t too keen on either.

They were camped on the shore of the bay and helpfully came out in their dinghy to assist us to get our anchor up – in fact we had just done so. So, they joined us for a coffee on board. Petra’s English was quite good (our Czech was, of course, non-existent) although there was some comical miscommunication. We were all sitting outside in the cockpit and talking about Petra’s work (she has created an internet-based business to free herself up for travelling). Their young son then spoke to George in Czech and they both went down below. At this particular juncture Carolyn asked Petra what George ‘did’ – i.e., what did he do for work?

Petra replied verbally and then (hilariously) in mime when the English words escaped her that he wiped bottoms. We were puzzled and somewhat incredulous. Aged care? Hospital work?? No, he had just gone down below to assist his young son to use the toilet.

He actually has a small import/export business.

Porous borders

On this part of the Turkish coast (the Carian and Lycian coasts between Bodrum and Finike) sometimes you can be sailing along adjacent to the Turkish mainland and not be absolutely sure which country’s territorial waters you are in – Greece’s or Turkey’s?

Some Greek islands are located just a few miles off the Turkish mainland. For example, the Greek island of Kastellorizon is just one and a half miles off. Its former population of 20,000 now stands at around 200. Apparently there is an agreement that the island will be handed from Greece to Turkey should the population fall below 85. (Thinking of an affordable holiday house purchase in a Mediterranean idyll? – think Kastellorizon!) Most of the 20,000 population have emigrated, many to Australia. It’s a popular island for expats to visit by ferry from the Turkish town of Kas on a quick ‘visa run’. Most nationalities only get a 90-day tourist visa for Turkey which is strictly enforced. So, if you want to stay longer you need to leave and re-enter the country before your 90 days expires. Kastellorizon partly survives economically on this trade.

A lot of yachties who live aboard in Turkey – there are many – also occasionally hop over to a Greek island in their yacht to stock up. Few would formally exit Turkey, enter Greece, exit Greece and re-enter Turkey in their yacht. That would take a couple of days of grappling with the paperwork and bureaucracies and be expensive with cruising permit fees.

So, people slip into a quieter bay or secondary port on a nearby Greek island. Why? Well apart from the desire for a brief change of culture, food and ambience, the overriding reason is that fuel costs more than AUD$3.00 per litre in Turkey. It makes the recently inflated fuel prices in Australia look like a bargain in comparison.

If you are putting a couple of hundred litres (some put 1,000 litres) of fuel into a yacht, people can save a lot by filling up in Greece at its considerably cheaper fuel prices. That other fuel for yachting - alcohol - is also around half the Turkish price, and, you can buy bacon!

On the Greek island of Simi the authorities apparently turn a bit of a blind eye to these, technically illegal, brief shopping visitations by boats from Turkey. The island’s economy would probably suffer too much if they cracked down and eradicated it.

The Greeks are nothing if not pragmatic about things.