Gumusluk, Turkey

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Fri 28 Aug 2009 17:03
37:03.3N 27:13.9E

Thursday 27th August

Following a last minute shopping run for veg, we got under way from Kalimnos
around 10.30 am heading for Gumusluk in Turkey.

There was no wind at all at first and we slowly motored along, but as we
reached the southern end of the island, we could see a big swell running
down between where we were and the Turkish mainland. We paused to put up the
main sail as 'Souris Rose' who had left well after us, came powering past on
her way to another Greek island.

Within minutes the wind began to pick up and as we emerged from the wind
shadow of the main island, we found ourselves bounding along on a fine reach
in 20 knots of wind. The waves were larger than we had expected here, but as
we were doing 8 knots through the water, we soon ate up the miles and were
all too soon rounding up to drop the sails prior to entering the bay at
Gumusluk. All around this 'bay' are the ruins of ancient Myndus which was a
city that enclosed this harbour. Virtually nothing remains today except the
bases of the walls and some sites that are actively being excavated by
archaeologists here at the moment.

The anchorage was very busy but we managed to find a spot in quite deep
water that seemed OK, but there was a concern if the wind shifted too much,
we might swing onto some underwater walls remaining from the ancient city.
We decided then that we would be better off and more secure overnight if we
moved to where there were some boats at anchor and tied back to the beach.
This manoeuvre is fun at the best of times, but with just two of you does
require some thought! All went well though and we were soon firmly anchored
and tied back to some rocks.

In the evening we walked round to the few tavernas that we could see on the
far side to see if we could get Wi-Fi and have look around. We were very
surprised to find that what we could see from the boat was just the frontage
and that it is a big area with loads of restaurants and a lot of stalls
selling arty jewellery and the like. Restaurants looked good and as is the
Turkish way, we were not short of people asking us to eat at their
establishment in preference to any other! It can be quite hard work to walk
past these places without being almost physically accosted.

Made our way back as darkness fell and enjoyed a quiet evening on board.