We arrived at D-Marin,
Turgutreis about 12.30 on Friday, 2nd May, in plenty of time to be
ship-shape before our crew arrived around 6pm. The other boats participating in the EMYR, which were
already en-route from
Istanbul, started to arrive in the
marina during the afternoon, already dressed all over. New boats which were also
joining the rally in D-Marin, had berthed in the marina, before
our arrival.
After Lucy and Caroline
had arrived and stashed away their luggage, we went in search of a suitable
restaurant. Then, back to the boat for a chat before retiring to bed. They had
both had a long day.
The following day, we
found the market and purchased lots of very fresh fruit and vegetables. That
evening, we joined the other EMYR participants in a “pot-luck” supper which, to
my surprise, turned
out to be
scrumptious as well as lots of fun. We did take a special pot of food with us
for Lucy, as it was unlikely that there would be any food suitable, at the
party, for a vegan.
On Monday morning we were
all up at 6am and had already covered
half a mile by 6.30. The wind was slight and we motored for a couple of hours
before we were able to hoist the sails and turn off
the engine.
For the next 2.5 hours,
we sailed with just the parasailor before changing to the main and the genoa.
However, after an hour we furled in the genoa and raised the cruising shute
before once again, reverting
back to the genoa. See
the photo below, taken between noon
and 1pm, which shows Tucanon, sailing
with the cruising shute. By 2pm we had
reefed both the main and the genoa and this was how we
continued sailing until
we reached Marti marine, about 4pm.
Early afternoon, we had
our first sighting this year, of dolphins, as they played around the boat.
It was a perfect first
leg of the rally, involving lots of sail changes. In fact, we used all the sails
we possessed on that passage, with the exception of the storm jib, and we were
delighted not to have had
to use that.
Mayday in the
UK was a sunny,
hot day in
Turkey. Caroline
and I went for a walk and found ourselves in an area, surrounded by hills. It
was like a secret place with a small village, a few cattle, even a
calf, surrounded by
olive groves which were also planted with cereal crops. There were many citrus
trees, medlar and fig trees, vines and beautiful hibiscus bushes, sporting an
abundance of flowers. We
left our secret garden
and made our way back to the beach, passing a waddling of ducks, admiring the
view of the sea and our boat , dressed all over, at the edge of the marina. See
photo below of
Tucanon, dressed all
over.
Up at 5am on Tuesday morning and still dark, as we motored out
of the marina before 5.30. We had been rafted up to another Lagoon 440, owned by
an American couple, who had lived aboard for
2 years. They were just
minutes behind us as they followed us out of the marina. By 8am we were sailing, continuing to do so until 5pm and were approaching the marina at Gocek.
Once again, we had
utilized all the
sails except the storm jib, although predominantly, we had sailed with the
parasailor.
We tied up, with long
line attached to a mooring buoy, stern to against the pontoon, next to our
American twin, which had overtaken us when we hoisted the mainsail at 8am, staying ahead of us thereafter.
We and they, supped
together that evening, at a local restaurant, on the other side of town, in an
orange grove.
A days excursion had been
organized, and those EMYR participants who chose to do so, visited various
places of interest in the locality. None of our party joined the excursion as
all but Lucy had
previously spent
quite some time in the Gocek area. That evening we attended a cocktail party
held on the patio of a first floor bar, in the marina complex, where an ample
supply of delicious drinks and
food were provided
by a local restaurant.
We were the penultimate
boat to leave Gocek marina, at 6.15 on Thursday morning, just before 6.15am. We had planned to leave at 6.30 but when
the engines, on the catamaran next to us, were switched
on at 5.45am, there was no point in not getting out of bed.
There was no wind so
early in the morning so we motored until about 10.45, motor-sailing on and off,
from 9am. Once we had raised the parasailor and switched off the engine, Tucanon
was in her element
and just once, for a very
brief spell, we were traveling at 13.3knots and overtook most of the fleet which
had left the marina so early that morning.
We anchored that
afternoon about 4pm at Kekova Roads in
2.5 metres of water. Cocktails ashore at 7pm then back to our boat for a barbecue and a film.
In the morning we took
the rib ashore to join an organized trip in a glass bottom boat and look at
sunken antiquities and the ruins of the village which had fallen into the sea.
Then back to walk up to the castle
and admire the view and
where I bought some wonderful baggy trousers, identical to those worn by the
Turkish women.
Caroline had visited the
castle at Kale Koy on at least one of her many previous visits so rather than do
so again, she went to visit some Turkish friends. While visiting and drinking
tea with the grandma who
was looking after her
small grandson, she looked for a small gift for me, toying with a pretty shell
bracelet, before purchasing 2 scarves for herself. As she took her leave,
grandma gave her the bracelet, as a
gift. We met again, back
on the tripper boat. However, it was not the same glass bottom boat, that had
been replaced by another similar boat which didn’t have a glass bottom. Before
the boat was cast off
from Kale Koy, Caroline gave the bracelet to me and I
have worn it since.
At noon, we raised the
anchor, hoisted the parasailor and incredibily, with only 3.6knots of true wind,
we sailed away from Kekova Roads toward Finike, with the water maker producing
fresh water and the
washing machine
ensuring that we would have a constant supply of clean bed linen and clothes.
Once again, we were able
to sail most of the way though it was necessary to switch on the engines for the
final half hour, in order to arrive at the marina within the time-slot
allocated. We were 1 minute late
but other than ourselves,
I don’t believe that anyone else noticed.
We rafted up to another
catamaran, which was moored alongside. Another catamaran rafted up to us on our
port side.
Next morning we
congregated at 8.30am near the marina
office and climbed aboard one of the 6 vehicles provided. There were 5
dolmus and 1 small coach.
We visited the church and
sarcophagus of St. Nicholas at Myra,
a Catholic saint best known as Santa Claus and the amphitheatre and rock tombs
of the ancient city of Myra.
Trout was served for
lunch, at a restaurant with the tables set out alongside the Arykandos river,
where the water rushed along over the boulders, shaded by tall, broadleaf
trees.
After lunch we explored
the ancient city of Arykanda, built
upon 5 large terraces, ascending a mountain slope and covering an exceptionally
large area. The view from the acropolis was stunning.
Stopping for refreshments
mid afternoon, we were able to explore a 500 year old Gokbuk village.
Arriving back at the
marina at 6.10pm, the group leaders
and skippers attended one of their regular meetings, to discuss the plans for
the morrow. We all got together again at 7pm to attend the cocktail
party and, as occurs at
each marina visited, award the presentations to the marina staff, who had made
us so welcome.
The Tucanon
Team
Lucy joining
Tucanon
Caroline joining Tucanon
