05/07/22 Knidos 36’ 41”.044N 27’ 22”.536E to Karaada Island (End Bay) 36’57”.678N 27’28”.849E

Weather: Hot 35’c, sea temp 26’c. Early  morning light WNW winds increasing to 18-24kts from the NW by late morning with a moderate sea state. 

We left Knidos at 0812 and headed out into a light WNW breeze under engine. 

Once on course for Karaada Island the wind picked up and we were soon sailing under full main and reefed Genoa at 7kts. The sea state increased to mod with a beam on swell so we put a reef in the main and a second reef in the Genoa to sail along quite comfortably. 

Once in the bay, looking for a spot to anchor and put lines ashore was very stressful. There were lots of Gullets, some leaving, some arriving, some still finding their spot to anchor in. At one point we found ourselves surrounded by Gullets and not able to move forward or backwards, there were swimmers in the water near the shore and for a time it was chaos. 

Eventually we were able to squeeze into a space and I swam ashore with the stern lines. The rest of afternoon we saw gullets come and go on a regular basis. They only appear to stay for about 1.5 hours, then they are off to the next bay, but there is always another one to take their place. Even "Club Med" sailed into the bay with about 12 dinghies. Then about 1700 in the afternoon they all disappeared, very suddenly, and we are left completely on our own. 

The water in End Bay was beautifully clear, the bottom being sand and rock. The small fish swimming around and eating the weed off Muskrat’s hull were bright blue colour and a joy to swim amongst.

Club Med arriving to join the chaos in End Bay

At 1700 they had all gone