37:07.9N 27:22.7E
Around the world with the Aqualunies
Jonathan & Gabrielle Lyne
Tue 18 Aug 2015 08:04
TÜRKÜBUKA
Again we tried to call in here on our way up the coast, but we dragged and the meltemi was blowing hard. This time it was calm and we found some good sand to anchor. Turkubuka is the ‘St. Tropez’ of Turkey where all the young, rich, and lovely go to relax and party in the summer. The bay was full of huge yachts (a bit like the ‘Emerald Coast’ in Sardinia) we found a great spot to anchor.
Our yacht proved to be the best looking in the bay (small and well put together!) and drew quite a bit of attention with one guy coming in his RIB with ‘boat boy’ driving and circled our yacht slowly a few times before asking us what make it was and saying how beautiful it was. He came back again for another look. Perhaps ‘Discovery’ ought to find out if there are any boat shows in Turkey they could get a stand at, there is certainly a lot of money floating around here. Jonathan took me ashore so that I could have a ‘sticky beak’ around the shops, some were lovely and not at all expensive, others quite bohemian and some very ‘top end’ and expensive. All the ‘decks’ sticking out into the sea from the beach were full of sun loungers but by 6 p.m they are being washed down and tables and chairs, bars etc are being put on them ready for the night life and night clubbing. My ‘boat boy’ after a phone call, came and picked me up to take me back to the yacht. We just had fun watching people coming and going and observing some of the very large motor yachts and sailing yachts through binoculars……. Showered and got ready to go ashore for drinks and dinner.
We started off at the very upmarket end of the bay where J had a Vodka Tonic and I had a Margarita sitting on the deck looking out over the bay and people watching as they came and went along the promenade, the drinks were expensive and J nearly fell of his stool when he got the bill, at least by Turkish standards they were expensive. We sauntered along to another bar and that was a tad cheaper. Then on to dinner where we had booked a table at a Fish restaurant. The service was desperately slow so after a few Metze starters we left and went on to a restaurant (which had been fully booked when we tried to get a table) but was now a night club with great music and a lot of fun, even J enjoyed it!! Back to the dingy and slept well despite some of the music sounding across the bay. A lazy morning swimming and having fun before we set sail. I persuaded Jonathan to let me take over the yacht for the morning as I really need the practice and he always does things without thinking that I might like to do it, so had great fun taking her out through the passage between the island and coast line with mega yachts anchored and moored aft to the cliffs each side.
We had a gentle sail not much wind but enough to drift along doing on average 5 knots but we were not in a hurry. We saw a lovely bay off an island called CATALANDA and dropped anchor in there. There were quite a few other yachts there as well because as it was Sunday so everybody’s day off. The sea was so blue and slightly cooler but beautifully refreshing. J decided to get the water dumbbells out to try and do some exercise around the yacht, spotty dog walking…. sadly he kept going backwards out to sea!! I got the other pair out to try to teach him but it was no good he just needs to get fit and use those stomach muscles and really kick his legs straight.
Sailing towards Bodrum an hour form the bay we could see the Greek Island of Kos and the very large ship which has been brought in to deal with the paper work of the refugees fleeing the mayhem in Syria. I feel so sorry for them, I hate being without my land home but that is nothing compared with these people who have literally lost everything except themselves.
We got up early the next morning as we were booked into the marina in Bodrum for 9 am with the guys helping us in due to our lack of a bow thruster. Now we are here with John Eustace and Ian from ‘Discovery Yachts’ sorting out a few snagging problems which one inevitably gets with a new yacht. The only thing that bugs me is that we had a leak through the chain plate of the mast coming down through Biscay, the ‘Riggers’ had not sealed it in properly this happened before with our old yacht one would have thought by now they would know it has to be done properly. Sadly Discovery have to deal with it and sort it due to the carelessness of riggers who are not under Discovery’s umbrella. It also means that the wood became stained in the passage way and has to be redone, if only they realised what a moment of carelessness does to a yacht.
We are here for a week to fix things and put in a new bow thruster before Antonia and her friends arrive next Monday.