Bozburum to Sorgut
Posted at 9:47 AM, Jun. 19, 2009
We are still sailing off the Turkey coast and currently in the Gulf of Gokova that has Bodrum at its NW end. This part of Turkey is comprised of three Hauraki Gulfs each adjoining the other and running more or less on an east west axis. That all adds up to a lot of coastline - it is mountainous, largely covered in pine trees and heavily indented with many bays, villages and some modest hotel development. Bozburum which is where we were at the last blog posting was in the Gulf of Hisaronu (meaning the gulf of fortresses).
Typıcal Turkısh gulet motors by
From Bozburum, which is a lovely area and well worth visiting, we headed to the eastern end of the gulf to Marti Marina, thinking that maybe we could winter over here. The marina is located in a stunning area, in an enclosed sheltered bay surrounded also by pine forest. Unfortunately they have increased the prices dramatically (EUR91 a night) and this seems to reflect a pattern where prices are quoted in euro’s (despite a 20% depreciation in the lira against the euro) and 15 to 30% price increases have been effected. The net result of all this is that Greece looks to be a far cheaper option for wintering over and I would not be surprised to see a movement of boats away from Turkey. The view that they are pricing themselves out of the market is expressed by many we meet.
So from Marti marina we had a good sail on the wind that strengthened as we sailed the 35 miles out of the gulf. As we were approaching the Greek island of Symi, that guards the entrance to the gulf, and with the wind strength in the high 20’s we decided to bear away and head into Symi. However as we approached the entrance we chickened out as we had not cleared out of Turkey and with stories of large fines ringing in our ears we decided to revert to our original plan and went on to Datca, We anchored off a small jetty off the beach as the town basin was full and with plenty of wind the anchoring room in the enclosed bay was also all taken. Bit of rocking and rolling on the anchor for a few hours until finally the wind died away. We motored into the bay the following morning thinking we would go ashore for a look around only to find that all berths were still occupied so no space equated to our departure.
The next “port” of call was Knidos located right on the eastern tip of the Dorian Promontory described as a must see despite the enclosed anchorage being described as poor. It was one of the six cities of the Dorian Confederacy dating back to the 4th century BC and seem famous for two reasons. Firstly it was the home of the scientist Eudoxos regarded as one of the founding fathers of Greek geometry – he was a mathematician and an astronomer. Also it was the site of the statue of Aphrodite the first statue of a naked female – prior to this it was only men who were revealed.
Approach to Knıdos ruıns of amphıtheatre ın background
Now is the time that I must confess to an exaggeration – the 120 ft superyacht referred to in the last blog posting arrived in the bay shortly after us and this has now turned itself into an 80ft Oyster. Still very impressive – they motored alongside us and asked if we were the yacht they had seen out of Marmaris a few days earlier. The upshot is that the their yacht “Free Spirit“ is owned by Michael and Susie out of Sydney and we joined them for drinks later that evening. It is a beautiful boat and it transpired Michael and I have a number of mutual friends in Sydney at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club where he is a member and I raced out of for a year when I lived in Sydney. He had noticed that we hooked into a big lift a few days earlier!!
The wind blew harder during the evening and our anchor let go at around 2100 hrs, re-anchored and then on anchor watch until 0300 hrs when it let go again so it was up anchor and motor sailed across to Bodrum about 25 miles to the north where we dropped anchor right under Bodrum castle at 0730hrs.
Savarna at anchor under Bodrum castle
Nicki and Richard arrived in from Auckland late morning – we had a bit of an explore around the town. Remained at anchor under the castle over night and enjoyed the thumping music from several nearby dance clubs one of which reputedly produces the loudest music of any nightclub in Europe – some gentle music to help us sleep after being up most of the previous night was just the doctor ordered. Sure!!
Pam reclınıng ın the Bodrum marına brand name shoppıng mall
The following day we headed eastwards up into the Gulf of Gokova, anchored in a delightful nook of a bay for lunch and a swim and then sailed further along the northern side of the gulf to a place called Cokertme. We anchored off in the bay across from the few restaurants and tied a line ashore Turkish style. The following morning we went across to the village and found it to be a delightful spot – very friendly people, women making carpets under a tent just off the beach, some interesting restaurants with the cushions etc and a few charter yachts tied up to the jetty.
It is now Thursday 18th June and we motor sailed a further 20 odd miles up into the gulf our destination being Castle Island the site of a former “city” back in 129 BC. As far as I can see it is famous primarily because of Cleopatra’s beach. Cleopatra is reputed to have lived on the island at one stage and Marc Antony brought in several galley loads of sand from North Africa to create the beach. It is the most beautiful cove and the sand is great – the beach is roped off so entry is via two points straight into the water, manned by an armed guard, and on exiting it is necessary to shower so that any sand on ones body is not lost. Some good ruins to explore on the island also.
The beach where Cleopatra sunbathed wıth her lover Marc Antony
From here we motored for about 4 miles to Sogut for the night and went stern to on the restaurant and had a good meal ashore. They brought us a menu but the only item available was chicken – but it was a nice spiced up flavour and cooked from scratch so it took a few beers and a BYO wine to pass the time!
Everything well on board. No major problems – watermaker performing, tore the leech of the main by hand while I was flaking it (have effected a temporary repair) and a little concerned at the state of the stitching so will take it off when we leave and get a sailmaker to check it over. Plenty of swimming – water temp around 24 and daytime highs in the mid 30’s.
Cheers
Keith
