On our way to Turkey for a couple of days
Knotty Girl
Tanya/Roberto
Thu 19 May 2022 09:40
| 36:33.4N 29:02.9E Yesterday (May 15th) after having had to “check out” from Greece we sailed to Fethiye in Turkey. We had a nice sail with the wind starting around 18 knots to end up with 8 knots which allowed us to sail all the way with the wind from behind which we were very happy about ! As we could not go ashore before doing the “check in” - which we (or more precisely the agent we had chosen to do it for us as is necessary for entry in Turkey from another country) could only do the next morning, and instead of anchoring in front of Fethiye town which is a big city, hence a bit noisy, we decided to anchor on the other side of the bay in front of a small island and it was quite nice and very calm. The next day, we motored to the quay to meet the agent who had already started the customs process - it all went very smoothly and 30 minutes later we anchored in the bay to then go ashore to buy a sim card for our phone and do a bit of grocery shopping (we went in the MIGROS and were very pleasantly surprised by the low prices - compared to the MIGROS in Switzerland). What stroke us upon arriving is how green and mountainous the area is ! We could see snow (even if we do not all agree that is snow) on top of some mountains. We then sailed - this time broadreach but with 15 - 18 knots of wind and no waves to a “private” beautiful anchorage about 15 miles south of Fethiye (behind the island of Gemiler - on the bay to the left of where the small beach is). On our way we spotted something relatively big floating in the sea and went by to see what is was and sadly it was a dead calf - maybe coming from Rhodes given the way the current was going but who knows. The coast we were in is called the “turquoise coast” and when we see the colour of the sea we can totally believe it ! After anchoring the way you do it in Turkey and other places in Greece namely by putting the anchor out and 2 lines on the back (which was the first time this year that we did it and as Jean-Luc and myself did not follow exactly the instructions of Roberto namely to return both Jean-Luc and myself with the dinghy - I found myself returning alone to the boat with the line while driving the dinghy and did not manage that very well - I had a “mini nervous breakdown” while everyone was remaining very calm…- Finally I managed it and went for a swim in this beautiful bay and all was Ok again !! The next morning we decided to go with the dinghy to visit the ruins on Gemiler Adasi - in front of this island were about 8 beautiful caÏques boats - a caïques reunion ? :) - On this island are the remains of several churches built between the fourth and sixth centuries AD, along with a variety of associated buildings. Archaeologists believe it was the location of the original tomb of Saint Nicholas. It was amazing to visit these ruins all by ourselves and they are very worthwhile. At some point you see original mosaic from the Byzantine area. Plus the view from the lighthouse over the bays is magnificent ! We then went in our dinghy to see the lagune in Oludeniz which we could only go into rowing - a good morning exercise for Roberto & Jean-Luc ! There is an immense beach and some big hotels. Upon returning to our boat we had a very bad surprise. Somebody obviously tried to break into our boat ! The entry hatch was broken and the lock forced. Yet as the hatch was kind of closed again we thought they had not been able to go inside. And initially when we went inside we thought nothing was stolen as a result and were relieved. Yet towards the end of the same day our friend noticed that the cash in her purse with Turkish money and Euros had been stolen. NOT NICE. We felt very sorry for them and they felt very sorry for us as we will need to replace the lock and the top door of our boat. Yet we were “relieved” that our passports and electronic material was not stolen. We have obviously been too confident. Lesson learnt, we will put our alarm on from now on and hide our things inside the boat. We then half motored (and saw the first in what I hope will be a series of - sea turtles) and sailed to Goceck. The Gocek bay has a beautiful scenery yet totally spoiled by the NUMBER OF BOATS !!! We did the pump out of our black waters (as is again necessary in Turkey) and decided to go ashore to retrieve Turkish lira and see if we could find material to repair our lock but without success. Then we hurried out of this crazy busy bay to anchor (we found a buoy and moored on it with the help of our new “mooring helper" ) on one of the island of Yassica Adalari Archipelago. After putting the line and starting to relax we noticed a rabbit on the shore and hoped it would not decide to eat our line for dinner !! This morning we decided to explore the area - 12 islands, that should be fun to decide where to go !! More to come !    |