Spring update
Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Sun 5 Apr 2009 11:10
Marmaris Yacht
Marina
Saturday 4th April
2009
Spring is here - but
we are told it was the worst winter for 20+ years. November was wonderful
and on days when the sun shone, the sky was a clear blue and the wind was
blowing just right for a sail, how we wished we hadn't sent the sails to
the loft and dismantled the engine! But with the beginning of
December came the wind and rain, and it was pretty relentless right through till
now. Ok, not every day, but enough that everyone was pretty fed up with
it. We bought some wellie boots for walking around the marina, it was so
wet.
So our visit back to
the UK in January brought some light relief from the rain - in the form of
snow! We were not used to the cold!
Pretty!
Pretty cold!
We had lots of
family and friends to catch up with and only two weeks to do it so it was a bit
hectic.
Monopoly with
Lisa and the
boys
Ice-creams(!) with M-J and Jake in Brighton
Luxury
accommodation on Lord Amory for the DSP
AGM A
"glass" of beer in Smith & Western with Kerrie, Lee &
Smithy
The folk at
t'mill.
Home-cooked Sunday roast with family - lovely!
Bowling and
pizza with the boys - attractive pose
Tom!
James and a cheesey grin
Ryan and another
cheesey
grin Ahh,
bless. Included this just to annoy
Kerrie!
Of course we also
had to fit in a visit to the London BoatShow - which we did - twice! Once
to do business and once to meet up with the various friends we had told 'See you
at the Boat Show!'
We stayed with
Kerrie and Lee (and Max and Trouble) who made us very welcome and comfortable,
for which we are very grateful, and it was lovely to see everyone,
Too soon it was time to fly back to Marmaris - we wished we could have
stayed longer, but concern over the work being carried out on Scott-Free meant
that we wanted to be away from her as little as
possible.
Back in Marmaris
life became a little more hectic as we commuted between apartment and boat, but
we continued to join in the social life of the marina. Before leaving for
the UK we had enjoyed Christmas and New Year rather less quietly than
expected!
Seasonal Quiz
night in the workers'
canteen Christmas
dinner with friends in a beachside
restaurant
Christmas
dinner
Home-made mince pies - not bad for a first attempt on the
boat
Our beloved
Scott-Free on Christmas Day
2008
Chris on the beach on ChristmasDay -just as she always
said!
New Year's Eve
party at the marina
restaurant.
In Turkey, the men are the first on the dance floor!!
Belly dancer at
New Year's Eve
party
New Year's Day boules competition
At the end of
January we made a two-day trip inland to visit four ancient sites,which were all
well worth seeing.
Aphrodites
temple at
Aphrodisias
Stadium at Aphrodisius
Amphitheatre
Wow, they must have had enormous winches...
Mid-February we took
a trip to Istanbul for the Boat Show. The trip was organised by the
marina and cost us only 60TL (£25) each for transport, Bosphorous cruise and
Boat Show entrance. The coaches left at 6.30a.m. and arrived at the
hotel in Istanbul at 8.30 p.m. A long journey, but with plenty of comfort
breaks and with a good book to read and some Su doku to puzzle over, the time
soon went. The next day we visited the Boat Show which had much more there
than we were expecting, but of course was nowhere near as good as the
LBS. We found a Lewmar dealer who gave us a good deal on a new electric
winch,so that made the trip worthwhile as well as enjoyable.
After the Boat show
we went on a cruise up the Bosphorous. We have a fondness for Istanbul as
it was the first place we visited together almost 10 years ago and we have
lovely memories. We couldn't remember the name of the hotel we stayed in
all that time ago, so in the evening we went for a walk - we knew it wasn't far
from where we were staying now - and sure enough we turned down a little side
road and there it was - we both recognised it at once.
The next day was a
free day, and as we had done all the tourist bit before, we decided just to
wander around,do a bit of shopping in and around the Egyptian market and just
soak it all up. It was a lovely day. Unfortunately, that night Chris
was unwell with vomiting and diaorrhea and had a horrible journey home the next
day, making the coach stop to be sick and dosing herself up with Imodium so that
it wouldn't have to stop more often! It kept her in bed for two days when
we got home and it was a week before she really felt well again. Oh well,
at least it was at the end of the trip, not the beginning!
Cruising the
Bosphorous - in our best marina
jackets!
Around the Egyptian Bazaar
Sweetie
houses!
A chocolate spoon to stir hot chocolate!
March has been spent
getting the boat ready to go back into the water, moving out of the apartment
and back onto the boat, and trying to sort out below decks and get everything
back in its place. This is an ongoing task but getting there. The
mast is due back in tomorrow and then we will set about getting her ready for
sea by the end of the month.
Our plans for this
year have changed in the light of two things: 1) we have signed up for the
Eastern Mediterranean Yacht Rally 2010 and 2) we want to be here next winter so
that any problems that may arise with the new deck can be put right under
guarantee before leaving the area.
So Plan A is that we
set off early May and go North up the West coast of Turkey, with the aim of
reaching the Black Sea via the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara and the
Bosphorous. Whether we will get that far will depend on the weather as the
Meltemi, a strong Northerly wind, begins to blow in earnest in late May and
battling against strong headwinds is okay once in a while but not something you
want to do as a matter of habit. However,if we reach the Black Sea we plan
to explore that a bit before turning around and letting the Meltemi blow us
back down the Aegean. The Khalkidiki peninsula and Evia on the Greek coast
look worth a visit. Then we have the Sporades, Cyclades and Dodecanese to
choose from and we could take a diversion to the West and visit
Athens. We will see. We plan to be back in Marmaris for next winter,
and then to join the EMYR as it passes through Goçek next
May.
So, that's us up to
date - and looking forward to setting off again in the not too distant
future. We will keep you posted...