Kalkan to Fethiye to Ekincik
Posted at 6:04 PM, Oct. 18, 2008
We are now entering the final week of our autumn cruise and I have to say that this is a great time of the year for sailing in Turkey. The weather is excellent, water still good for swimming, not so many tourists around (both on and off the water), the meltemi season is over so we mostly get what seem to be afternoon sea breezes generally up to 15 knots and only a couple of nights of rain. So all good and quite a significant contrast to what we experienced this time last year in Croatia. I would have to think it is the best place in the Med for late season sailing. It does though sound like the lights go out come 31 October when many shops and restaurants close for the winter.
Getting into local customs
From Kalkan we then planned to sail 40 miles up to Fethiye, in the gulf of Skopea Limani, which has Gocek at its head. Started off at around 0730 hrs with 20 knots on the beam as a frontal system went across a few miles ahead, great sailing around 9 knots of boat speed and I was visualizing an afternoon exploring Fethiye. However all good things seem to inevitably end and after the front (quite cool) went through the sun blazed away and the wind disappeared. So on with the iron sail for some hours until we got into Skopea Limani when an afternoon sea breeze kicked in so we had a gentle on the wind sail, on autopilot while we had a late lunch, up to Fethiye. We had thought that Fethiye was a small town and that the main town in this area was Gocek, we had obviously misread the pilot as Fethiye turned out to be considerably larger than Gocek, sits in a beautify bay, not exclusively turned over to tourism, and with a magnificent marina with magnificent prices to go with the facilities. So late afternoon Saturday the 11th we pulled into the marina in a fresh cross wind, and trying to avoid hitting boats on either side of us, and having completed that exercise to be greeted by well done kiwi and found we were next to a boat from Whangarei.
Fethiye is just delightful and I would certainly think about leaving the boat here over a winter, the main disadvantage that they do not have any haulout facilities from what we could see. Walking around the old town that evening Pam got talking to an English woman sitting on her own at a restaurant on the street anyway it transpired that she had lived there for 5 years working in the travel industry. She recommended that we get a rental car and explore inland and then spent the next 30 minutes writing down an itinerary for us. So on Sunday we duly did as advised and drove inland to the ancient city of Tlos, dating back to 400 BC and high in the mountains. As was the custom of the time there are many tombs caved into the hills under the city, which we were able to explore.
Tombs at Tlos
I am coming to the conclusion that ruins are a bit like cathedrals, you can only see so many and then the enthusiasm wanes. At this stage we were very close to one of the ski resorts and it is clear where the tree line stops and above that no vegetation all all.
Tea gardens near the gorge
From here we drove along the foot of the mountains to a gorge with sheer rock walls up to 1,000 feet, accessed by walking along a footpath cantilevered over the river, and then on foot for a further 2 k's up to a waterfall. Pretty impressive place.
Looking up the gorge
We had lunch at a nearby outdoor family restaurant on the side of the road. The daughter called the mother who arrived with filthy hands and then a menu emerged. A while later the daughter arrives with a load of wood and they fire up the outdoor BBQ and the oven over which they bake pancakes after first rolling out the dough etc. We were a little concerned about the whole process anyway two hours later and having been supplied with all sorts of food we had not ordered we went away saying this was the best meal we had had so far.
Preparing lunch
After this is was back down towards the coast to visit yet another set of ruins at another city (they are all ancient) called Xanthos. The amphitheatre was particularly impressive. Back up to Fethiye and the boat and then a final night dinner at a local restaurant with Alice and Volker. The following day we delivered them to Dalaman airport where they caught a flight back to Leipzig.
Back to just Pam and I on the boat so we vacated the marina, anchored off and then found a local haman (read Turkish bathhouse) to go to. Neither of us was to sure just what to expect - an hour or two later we were certainly very clean having been washed in huge volumes of water, massaged, pedicured and on the receiving end of various alternating doses of hot, cold or warm water. We are still trying to work out whether we liked it and whether we will visit again?
So Tuesday we headed off on a 35 mile sail up to Ekinic that had been our first port of call after leaving Marmaris. It was a motor sailing day and then we tied up at My Marina with the intention of having dinner at what is a restaurant in a beautiful setting above the marina. The latter consisting of a few good and well constructed pontoons which are free if staying for dinner. The big surprise was that we found Klaus and Renata there who we had not expected to see again. Anyway that will be another story.
Cheers for now
Keith