For Shell
Posted at 7:02 PM, Sep. 26, 2008
We are finally under way proper with the final cruise for the 2008 season that encompasses a planned cruise eastwards from Marmaris along what is referred to as the Lycian Coast. This coast is very mountainous I read with peaks up to 11,000 ft and with good ski fields nearby. It gets close to the border with Syria so the statements that Turkey is the bridge between east and west is very true.
It is Friday night 26th September and we are anchored in Pilloried Cove which is in the SW corner of the bay Sarsala Koyu in the Gulf called Skopea Limani. A beautiful spot with pine trees down to the waters edge as shown in the photo below taken a couple of hours ago.
Tied up to a tree - Pilloried Cove
The town of Gocek is at the head of the gulf and on the eastern side the town of Fethiye. Both of these places are charter boat bases and there are still plenty of boats around including numerous gulet�s which is the Turkish equivalent of the a cruise ship - maybe I am being kind to the gulet's.
We had an uneventful flight over from NZ with a very expensive overnight stop in Dubai - not so much the hotel room but Pam's visit to the gold souk!! Got into Dalaman on Sunday evening21st September and met by a driver courtesy of Basil. Thanks for the tip Ted he has been very helpful. Basil came down close to midnight to meet us at the marina, gave me his card and said anything you need or want please call me 24/7 - he said I do this out of friendship not to make money from you. When the best deal you can get on a taxi fare is 400 lira negotiated down to 200 lira and Basil says straight up 110 lire you get a sense he is being very fair.
Alice and Volker arrived the following morning by ferry from nearby Rhodes in Greece and we spent the day provisioning, paying various tradesmen for work done while we were away and checking over all systems on board. Headed off on Tuesday morning for the town of Ekincik at the head of the bay Kocegiz Limani. Had a pleasant sail reaching in 10/12 knots of wind for the 20 mile passage and anchored in a bay just around from the town. The anchoring deal in Turkey is very much anchor and then stern in to shore and tie off to a tree or rock. Fortunately the water temperature is still 26 degrees which is also about the midday temperature as well. So often when swimming the water is warmer than the air temperature and we generally swim the line ashore.
Tombs in the cliff at Dalyan
The following day we negotiated a deal with one of the town's taxi boats to take us for a 7 hour trip up the nearby Dalyan river to see the ruins of the ancient town of Caunos, seeing the rock tombs in the cliffs beside the river, stopping at the town a few miles upstream and then heading further up the river to a thermal area for a mudbath and then into 39 degree mineral pool. The photo's below show the about to be unveiled 20 year age reduction programme - bit hard to see.
Rejuvination programme
The next day we were due to head further east but a call to Basil became necessary and the end result was a trip by road back into a private hospital in Marmaris for attention to what was diagnosed as an acute abscess on a tooth. All aok now and a few lira poorer and a day lost. That night we moved across the bay to a private marina called My Marina - again amongst the pine trees. We will have to stop by for dinner on the way back up the coast.
So today we motor sailed the 35 odd miles to Skopea Limani, very quiet although managed to get the Code zero up for a couple of hours but basically a diesel consuming day.
All well on board, Volker's English is pretty good and he is a keen fisherman so we are trolling a lure every day. Got a good hit on day one but lost it!!
Cheers for now
Keith