Marita arrives---photos
Marita3
Mark & Helen Syrett
Sun 7 Apr 2013 17:12
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A few days late and in the late afternoon the
Thorco Svendborg came round the corner and into the bay.
 She headed straight for the marina where the cruise
liners berth on the outer wall. With the help of a tug that had arrived an hour
earlier she was soon alongside
 and up there, strapped across the bow, was
Marita
  They had hoped to unload two boats that afternoon
but the ship had stopped out at sea off Rhodes to bunker fuel---Greek fuel is a
lot cheaper than Turkish fuel. As a result no ships were unloaded although they
prepared one yacht for early lift off.
She was lifted off at 0700 the next day and then
they started on the blue motor boat.Rumour has it that she was loaded with
cheap fuel from Thailand and thus over her declared weight therefore
requiring both cranes. Her under water profile also made it very difficult
to secure the slings which had also caused the problems with loading in Phuket
as it was especially difficult for the diver to position them under
water
  After about 5 hours she was in the water and
unloading was then stopped for the day as the wind increased.
We decided that we would try and buy a passarelle
(a gangplank!) -----a three mile walk to an industrial estate took us
to a fabricator who wanted 500 euros for a beautiful hinged, stainless steel and
teak gangplank----not the price we had in mind!
Dejected, we started to walk back but within
200 metres we spied a wood yard and sawmill. We are now the proud owners of a
plank of red pine which has been cut, sanded and drilled to
a specification still on the drawing board as they started
cutting.They spared no effort in producing an excellent result with the owner
practising his English at the same time---all for 70 Turkish lira (about
£25)
 We then had to get it back to Marita, carrying it
through the crowded Saturday streets of Marmaris. The shipping
agent arranged for us to go on board the ship and see Marita which we did
with the plank tucked under our arms.
We hope to have some time with Marita before
unloading as anodes need changing and there are a few barnacles to be
removed.
 She is covered in sand which will wash
off---the advice that we were given in Thailand to remove as much as possible
and cover winches, clutches etc was very valuable.
No unloading today (Sunday) as the wind blew force
9
 and finally a picture of the statue of Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and much revered throughout the
country. The statue bears the words ''Peace at Home, Peace in the World''.
He was a commander during the Gallipoli campaign when nearly 56,000
Turks were killed---however they did beat the Allied forces.
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