Yacht Fiona Blog Update

Finike Marina

We had a fantastic time in uk over Christmas and New Year staying with family and friends. The trip was extended due to the extreme winter weather over there. We were home for 7 weeks in total and only three days of that was without snow! Our flight on 7th Jan was cancelled and we eventually flew back to Turkey on 14th after an expensive extra week in London. It was awful weather but we managed to get to London Boat Show and only buy 6 hinges for the cockpit table.

Sue, Dave and Rob. One of the 3 days it didn’t snow in uk!

We were so pleased to be in milder temperatures and get settled-in back at the marina in Finike. When we got back to the boat we dived straight in doing boaty jobs - Dave had the toilet in bits within days of being back onboard! Dave has also fixed a major problem we had with the fuel tanks, so that is two smelly jobs out of the way. We seem to have had loads of work to do on Fiona this winter and have worked on her most days to get her ready for the sailing season but we have taken days off too.

We have had some bad weather in Turkey a couple of times over the winter. Finike’s had rain and wind and on one occasion huge hailstones and on another, a big swell from the south which broke over the harbour wall. On our boat it was just like being at sea, making it hard to cook or sleep! The bad weather was short lived, though.

We have really enjoyed life in the marina here over winter. The internet connection here has been upgraded and is probably the best we have ever had on our travels so we have been able to skype and download podcasts too.

There has been so much going on, if you have wanted to take part. Dave has practised his guitar and gone to guitar class - he's really improving and I went to the art class and have persevered with trying to paint in the cockpit on many afternoons. Quite bohemian aren’t we?!
We also went to several concerts in Antalya - We got a lot of culture for very little cost! The days out including transport and the concert cost only 30 TL each -about £12! We enjoyed the trips as they included a visit to a big DIY hypermarket, Koscas and a nice cheap restaurant for dinner!
 
At the beginning of February we went to see some camel wrestling - yes, camel wrestling. Good fun and no camels were hurt in the process! 

Camel Wrestling!

Later in February we hired a car with some friends and went into the mountains to see two local historical sites on the Lycian Way, the ancient city of Olympos at sea level and Yanartas at 300m where, according to mythology the fire breathing monster, Chimaera, was slain by the Lycian hero Bellerophon who was mounted on his winged horse, Pegasus. Basically, burning methane gas issues from the surrounding rocks as it has done for centuries. Olympos was a famous pirate stronghold and a religious centre in the Roman and Byzantine period. We had a lovely day out walking in beautiful scenery and enjoying the lovely spring weather and early spring flowers.

The Chimaera

In March we went on another organised trek on the Lycian Way, to a lighthouse, some ancient ruins, some pirate bays and a lunch out at a trout farm - it was great!

We had to do a visa run at the beginning of April as our three month Turkish visa needed renewing. We used the tried and tested way from here, which is to go on a bus to Kas in Turkey and ferry from Kas to Kastellorizon in Greece which is very close and not expensive. We had a great day out, got our passports stamped, our duty free alcohol and most importantly loads of pork products to last us until we go to Greece again. On the weekly Sunday BBQ we had pork sausages and all our fellow yachties were envious!

Beautiful Kastellorizon in Greece

We cancelled our week on the hard this week as Dave dived under Fiona and found out that the antifoul really didn’t need renewing. We had done it last year in El Kantaoui. This has saved us a lot of money, so we have decided to go on a 4 day trip to Pamukkale and see the ancient Greek city of Hierapolis located in south western Turkey near Denizili. Hierapolis is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the hot springs there have been used as a spa since the 2^nd century BC.
Then we’ll be almost ready for sailing again. The warmer weather reminds us that there are places out there that we have to sail to and explore. We have no definite itinery yet but we will explore the Greek islands of the eastern Aegean and the Turkish coast north of Bodrum.

There is so much to see around here that we have decided to stay in Finike next winter too.