Wednesday 7^th May, 2014.

It was sad to say “goodbye” to Yat Marina where we had enjoyed an extra three weeks plus on the pontoon while we cleaned the boat up to our normal standard. We decided it was better to pay to be in the marina with the facilities rather than pay for a harbour wall and still have the work to do. The dust from the yard had left us both very upset at the damage it had done to the top sides.  But after three different bottles of cleaner and compound we are nearly back to where we were last October.   It is very much a working yard as well as a marina and although we managed to be put in the dirty end Jim is thinking about going back there at the end of 2015 if the Turkish residency visas are sorted out.  He spoke to the General Manager and his assistant before we left and they were very apologetic but it still does not put right the damage done. We think if you are lifted early November you have a greater chance of being on the concrete and away from the dust!

The marina has a marvellous 5 star restaurant which is very reasonable together with a swimming pool which I must admit is not quite warm enough for me yet but has a great view over the bay. The pontoons are managed very well and security is very tight without the need for gates on each pontoon.  There is a tradesman for everything you could possibly need on your boat on the site. Anything can be made or manufactured for you. The bus stops outside the marina every half an hour and takes you into Marmaris town centre.  We have been several times and it is quite a up market holiday town.

I got our leaving paper for the pontoon manager which you hand over to the boat boys after radioing the office to say you are leaving your space.  They then give any assistance and you are free to leave being a fully paid up member of the marina.  Security is differently tight. No sheet of paper to hand over and you wouldn’t get out of the marina.

The weather report was good with wind from the north east later in the day.  We motor sailed out of the big entrance to Marmaris bay and then turned off the engine and it felt good to be back sailing along.  We tacked out as once we left the entrance the wind was giving us a great lift.  Two hours later as we were progressing along the coast line in between tacks a very funny cloud full of rain was settled on Rhodes mountains and the wind was now being felt by us.  We tacked and tacked and several hours later we managed to get around the headland at Karaburun where it was flat calm and we needed to motor along this piece of headland until we approached the bay of Bozburun and the wind was behind us. We were back to sailing again with lots of help from the wind.  It was very windy as we approached the small harbour of Bozburun so we dropped the anchor outside just in time to see the sun go down.  We had covered 51.70 miles in 9 hours 54 minutes of quite demanding sailing.

The weather report is not good for the next few days as it is showing wind with three days of rain.  Therefore, this morning we have moved into the harbour and have managed to moor alongside the wall facing into the direction of the wind which should take care of us for the next few nights until the low has blown through.  Our picture shows we are the only ones in the harbour visiting at present.

We watched a stork fly over Ariel while we had breakfast and flew back carrying twigs before it landed on the roof of the mosque.  Once we moved into the harbour we spotted him from a roof looking down at us.  So far we have not seen the nest he is building high up.