36 45.1N 28 07.7 E

Keci Buku – Ersoy Pontoon, Orhaniye 8^th – 12^th October

Once all fast on the Ersoy pontoon we discovered another 2 UK flagged boats were here along with 2 Belgium 1 French and 2 Germans.

All bar us were regular customers here. The place was like stepping back in time with a small cafe/restaurant, some rather basic toilets and showers at the back plus a large vegetable plot and small farm yard complete with resident tethered cow, chickens, cockerels and a goat! The management team consisted of Soli(father and chef), Mustafa (son) i/c moorings etc. a lady (we think his wife or sister) who did the garden, prepared food and did laundry and another man who helped in the evening with supper as a waiter! We were made very welcome and assured we would be safe here for the bad weather to come. A 10 minute walk brought you to the road junction where the Marmaris bus stop is situated. I took the bus the following day into the town to top up the Turkish 3G dongle and to get some fresh salad produce. The journey was about 40 minutes and the views as you descend down into the bay to Marmaris were stunning.

We explored the other 3 hotel/pontoons at this end of the bay and collected cards from them for the future. Interestingly we noticed Skylax Rod Heikell’s boat on one of them so felt re-assured that we had chosen a good safe place to be for the forecasted gales! Later Rod and Lu came over for coffee and we had a catch up on what we had all been doing since our last meeting in Porto Kuofo, Sinthonia peninsula in July. The gales duly arrived although we didn’t really have any prolonged steady wind just very strong gusts of over 40 knots during the first night which were hitting us on the starboard bow. We were glad to have 50 metres of chain out and that a rather large (50 foot) yacht was up wind of us with 100 metres of chain out! No damage was done and we all survived the gales and the very heavy rain we had intermittently over the next couple of days. The deal on this pontoon is eat at the restaurant each night and the berthing is free (including water and electricity) otherwise a charge of 30 TL is made. The food was in fact delicious all specially prepared to order although not everything was available on the menu. But when we asked for octopus and it was not available, they made it for the next night. We eventually left on Wednesday and made our way down to Dirsek bay recommended by Rob the skipper on the large boat next to us (Seascape Charters). This bay lies on the western end of the southern side of Hisaronu korfesi.

We found the bay to be quite deep until very close to the head where there is a pontoon to tie back to – however we didn’t want to do this so eventually dropped the anchor close to a large Gulet over a clear patch of sand in 7 meters. We didn’t tie back to the rocks but swung free here. Later 13 charter boats arrived and took all the space on the pontoon, they also made sure we all knew they were there with loud partying until 0300! Such a shame as it was a lovely tranquil setting. Needless to say we left the following morning.