Fw: Alanya and N Cyprus
Arwenofbosham
Rob and Jacky Black
Wed 2 Jun 2010 11:33
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----- Original Message -----
From: Jacky Black
Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 12:05 PM
Subject: Alanya and N Cyprus
36 20.5 N 33 19.9 E
GIRNE Commercial Harbour After our return from Cappadocia we spent the next
two days exploring the area and decided to take a contract here for the rest of
the year.
This means after the end of the EMYR we will go
back to Alanya and Jacky will fly home for August. The marina is well appointed
and the town
is a short dolmus journey or a 20 minute walk away. Antalya airport which has Easy jet and BA
flights to Gatwick is a 50 Euro taxi ride.
We had another Rally Dinner beside the swimming
pool on Sunday 23rd of May which was followed by dancing and the usual flag
ceremony and presentation
of memento to the various officials from the
town.
The following morning the local live aboard
community organized some fun water sport events which each group was asked to
enter. Our yellow team fared well
with Jacky featuring in the ladies doubles
assisted by Alida from an Italian boat being placed second despite an awful
dinghy with plastic oars that bent if too much
pressure was applied! Rob took part in the coxless
fours also placing second. The final raft building and race needed extra help so
Jacky took to the water with Rosemary
from Halcyon Days (boat from Oz.) and swam along
pushing the raft - again a second place was achieved! Overall the team finished
joint second behind the orange group
who had resorted to very dubious tactics to achieve
there victories! But great fun was had by all!
Later we set off for our overnight trip to North
Cyprus.
On arrival
after a fairly uneventful motor sail we anchored off the harbour entrance to
await our call in to dock. Jacky took the chance to swim as it was a lovely
morning
and the sea temperature showed 26 degrees. Lucky
she did as she spotted a large white plastic bag wrapped around the prop. Rob
then entered the water and removed it;
we think this may have been the reason the prop was
not performing as it should while maneuvering slowly!
We were eventually called in to moor up around 1400
and duly dropped our stern anchor and edged the bow into the raft of boats
already moored stern-to on the jetty.
The whole operation was well organized and a
masterpiece of planning though rather reliant on no wind or swell entering the
harbour!
We were actually in the commercial ferry port and
the terminal building was our exit to the town. Later that day we had a rather
splendid 'Reception' as guests of the Governor
of Northern Cyprus (although in the event he didn't
come and his deputy made the speeches.) This was held at the castle which sits
on the waters edge overlooking the old harbour
a magical setting and we were able to walk around
the ramparts admiring the view before enjoying a splendid buffet meal with
plenty of wine and beer.
We did one of the organized Tours which took us to
see the northern part of the island with a visit to the ruins at Salamis some of
which date to the 11th Century BC. We then went on
to visit Famagusta as well as the Church and
Monastery of St Barnabas (now used as a museum). We were recommended by
locals to try a restaurant set a bit out of the main
'eating' area and decided to give it a try so
caught a taxi to it (even the driver had trouble finding it!) along with two
other couples from our group. It was called A14 and the setting was around a
small pool
with tables under the trees and in small
courtyards, the food was brilliant - it made a nice change not to be having
meze.
Our final event in Girne was the rally 'Pirate
Party' which was great fun as everyone dressed up and we paraded through the old
town to the Dome hotel for a lovely supper and dancing;
we also had a splendid belly-dancer to entertain
us. We are looking forward to re-visiting this island later in the
year.
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