The Big 60

Arwenofbosham
Rob and Jacky Black
Wed 6 Oct 2010 06:39
36 49.5N 28 18.9E
MARMARIS
Having been ashore in the dinghy to meet up with our friends Lesley and Trevor (Lagos 2008) who showed us around the marina we arranged to take a berth
for the following 4 nights. The marina is huge but has a very friendly atmosphere and a lovely swimming pool which Jacky put to good use during the stay.
We were given a berth on H pontoon and right opposite us were Sue and Tony on Escapade (friends from the EMYR). While in the marina we took advantage of the free ferry into the town
found the large supermarket and did a big stock up on supplies. Robert also renewed his Turkish visa by going on the ferry to Rhodes for the day. Meanwhile back in the marina we met up with Dutch friends Cobi and Rick
(Chica from Lagos days) and we all had some good social sessions during 'Happy Hour' at the marina bar. The Saturday evening was an end of summer party to which we all went and had a great time, with food, free drink, Turkish folk dancing
and a belly-dancer before a disco. This served very well as a party for Jacky's 60th celebrations albeit a day early. The following day was spent lazing about, Jacky opened her presents over a late breakfast and then we were joined for drinks (Bubbly) and chocolate truffles (instead of a cake) on board Arwen by Trevor, Lesley, Cobi and Rick at lunch time. This was followed by a session at the pool and then a super meal at the restaurant in the marina in the evening. The fillet steak served here is the best we've eaten since our days in Portugal at the 'steak on the stone' place! So all in all a lovely birthday weekend! Shame about the cold Jacky picked up and suffered with for the following 3 days!
Berthed near to us was a boat flying the Scottish flag of St. Andrews and it transpired that the owner Tom Mcgurdy hails from Kilcreggan (where Jacky lived as a child!) what a small world and needless to say there was a good deal of chit chat between Jacky and Tom about the village and the locals they both knew! We also met a very interesting chap from California - John whose boat Paul Gerard was on our pontoon. John sailed in the Black Sea last year and kindly gave us some very useful information about places to visit there and some contact details. We were sad to say good-bye to Trevor and Lesley who left for the UK on Tuesday but hope to see them in Sussex later in the year. We also left Marmaris on Wednesday and headed for Greece! We went to Simi and anchored in the bay in the SW corner known as Missionary Bay.