Fram's Voyages

Turkey November 2010

 

1 November 2010

N 38 42.023 E 28 13.543

Gerbekse Cove, Carian coast, Turkey

Weather: Sunny, 25C, wind Beaufort 1-2 NW

 

Another beautiful sunny day which we started by taking a morning swim off the boat and then had breakfast sitting in the sun in the cockpit. We prepared Roam for a day at sea, said good-bye to Barbarossa and left the dock around 10:00. Barbarossa has no wifi so we had no weather report. We have tried the Turkish weather VHF channel but it never comes on when we think it should. We are beginning to think that maybe Turkey has changed its clocks back like the rest of Europe and we have the wrong time. Must investigate when we get back to civilisation.

 

There was very little wind and what wind did come our way was mostly katabatic winds from the mountains along the coast. But we were in no hurry and it was a beautiful day. Found this cove from Rod Heikell's Turkish waters pilot book. It is very long and narrow so we put down our anchor in the middle and then took a stern line to the rock shore. It's very calm and protected from all sides except East. Dan dove down to look at the anchor which was lying flat on the bottom so with a set of flippers he dove down 4 meters and angled it into the sand bottom. The water is so clear I could watch his every move. I know that I mention the clear water alot, but just can't get used to it being so incredibly clear. Makes swimming feel very safe too. It's like being in a huge exotic swimming pool.

 

2 November 2010

N 36 42 982 E 28 14.278

Ciftlik, Carian Coast, Turkey

Weather: Sunny and warm, 25C, no wind

 

We had a very short journey to Ciftlik which is just around the corner from Gerbekse. There was no wind so we motored the 45 minutes to the jetties lining the bay. Two restaurant owners were standing on each his jetty waving us in with flags. How to choose?? Dan got he bright idea to open the computer and see which place had the strongest wifi signal. Rabat Babi restaurant won the toss so we tied up there. They have electricity, water and wifi all free of charge, but hope that you will come and eat in the restaurant. We happened to be out of provisions so we happily made a reservation for dinner.

 

Once we had filled up on water and connected to electricity, I took a short walk around the area to find a road where we could run. There is a huge hotel resort here complete with aqualand for kids; pirate's cove, spa, restaurants and tennis. Apparantly is owned by Russians and used for Russian tourists. But it was all closed down for the season. I found a road going past the hotel. I took a right and walked around the hotel complex which was all fenced in with chainlink fencing, then walked up a very steep hill where I had a lovely view of the bay. Once at the top, I could see that it wound down to a village about 500 meters away and then stopped. So turned around and walked back down the hill, past the hotel in the other direction and found a round that seemed to go on for a long time. I retraced my steps to the hotel and asked the guard where the road led and he said it goes to Marmaris. Perfect, now I knew where we could run. Went back to the boat, got changed and we both took off up the Marmaris road. It started off very nice and level but after about a kilometer it started to climb and it did nothing but climb for 4 km. Dan sprinted up liike he always does, I dropped behind and after 2 km I opted for power-walking. After 4 km it was still climbing so Dan waited for me to come up and then we started the run back down. The scenery was actually very beautiful in a primitive and wild kind of way. There were pine trees, all kinds of flowers blooming, and bee hives everywhere. We found the old road that has grass growing on it nowadays and tried to run on that but we kept coming upon long lines of bee hives so we went back onto the road proper. Once back at the waterfront, we threw off our running clothes and went swimming. The water is divine now, about 22-23C.

 

I went up to the restaurant with our computer to update our website and check email, etc. Dan joined me an hour later and we had dinner. Lamb Shish Kebab this time and it was really good. They serve it with French fries fried in olive oil and a arugula salad. No wonder I haven't been able to find arugula at the markets here, it looks completely different than our little dainty leaves. It has big wide leaves, albeit the same general shape, just bigger and thicker. Tastes just as good though:) There was an English speaking man on a boat near us who was also having dinner in the restaurant so we invited him to join us. His name is Phil and he is South African but has lived in the UK for 16 years and works as an Optician. He bought his boat through a yacht charter company. The deal is that you pay the first 25% when you enter into the deal, then the yacht charter company charters it for 5 years. At the end of the 5 years you pay another 25% and the boat is yours. He said that it worked out very well and the boat was still in good shape when he got it back. He is just getting ready to put it up on land in Marmaris for the winter. Then his long term plan is to slowly sail it back to the UK.

 

We said good night after dinner and went back to Roam to plan our route for tomorrow. We are heading for the Lycian Coast, (south of Marmaris)where we sailed with the Zingales on the Turkish Gulet boat a few years ago.

 

 

3 November 2010

N 36 37.774 E 28 52.731

Kucük Kuyruk, Lycian Coast, Turkey

Weather: Sunny and warm, 25C, wind Beaufort 1 NW for the first hour and then total calm

 

There was a light NW wind fluttering our flag this morning so we quietly slipped out of our mooring at Ciftlik and set our sails and floated out of the bay. We didn't get very far though as the wind totally died after about 45 minutes and we had to turn on the motor. Much as we hate to motor, it does have its advantages; Dan sits still and we can use the autopilot to steer the boat while we read and enjoy the view. We sailed along the coast traveling in a south-easterly direction down the Lycian coast. There is a naval base in one of the bays just south of Marmaris and they were on their way out on exercises this morning. They were a convoy of about 8-10 destroyers, frigates and coast guard boats.

 

The Lycian coast stretches from Marmaris to Antalya. It is a wild and rugged coast with steep sharp mountains that drop straight into the sea causing it to look very hostile to the sailor from out at sea. In ancient times it was feared by mariners, which we could totally relate to as we sailed along it. I would not want to wash up on these shores. Around 16.00 we rounded Kurdoglu Burnu which is also referred to as Turkey's Cape Horn as the sea can get very confused and choppy when the meltemi blows sending big waves crashing into it and then it sends them back out again. But today it was gentle as a lamb. We entered Fethiye Körfezi and headed for our chosen cove for the night, Kücuk Kuyruk. It is protected from all sides but the East and if you go right to the head of the cove there is a little beach and you are totally tucked in with mountain sides steeply rising on all 3 sides. As we entered the cove we were struck by the strong fragrence of Pine. Pine trees cover the steep slopes here and happily, there were no other boats so we had it completely to ourselves. At least for the first half hour, then a little fishing boat came in, dropped its nets and went onto the shore to spend the night. But he went straight to sleep and we didn't see anymore of him. We dropped the anchor in 7 meters of water and went for a long leisurely swim. Once the sun went down behind the mountains, it got chilly so we put up our bimini and closed all sides except the back. Dan lit the kerosene lamp that we put in the cockpit to show other boats that we are here and we had a very cozy dinner. I had to really scounge to find something to make as the mini-market didn't have anything but eggs, milk and junk food yesterday. I had some leftover chicken, a green pepper and an onion, then found some corn in our storage space so made a chicken and rice stir-fry. We shared a small airplane bottle of champagne from Stephie to celebrate our return to Fethiye Gulf. After dinner we played Tavli which is a set of 3 different backgammon games that we learned when we were in Greece. Portes is the normal game that everyone knows, then there's Plakato and Fevda which are played a bit differently. Dan won 2 - 1..

 

 

4 November 2010

N 3637.774 E 28 52.731

Kucük Kuyruk, Lycian Coast, Turkey

Weather: Sunny and warm, calm.

Temp: Max 28C, min 14C.

Sunrise: 07.30 Sunset: 18.05

 

We woke up early this morning, when the fisherman started his engiine and left to pick up his nets. The sun hadn't come up over the mountains yet but I could see rays of light shooting up over the mountain peaks in the East. The sun's rays slowly increased and spread over the tops of the other mountains before the sun itself finally made it's entrance. It was truly spectacular. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the smell of pine soon came wafting into the boat. Small noises of birds chirping and waves lapping up against the rocks broke the long silence of the night. Looks like another beautiful day in Turkey.

 

 

Dan and I had a long morning swim before breakfast. The water was divine in our little cove which we now had all to ourselves. Breakfast though was pathetic, just coffee as we were out of bread and just about everything else you could think of to have for breakfast. I didn't even have tomatoes, cucumber or olives. We took our time getting the boat cleaned up and waited for the bimini to dry before taking it down for the day. Not long ago, I couldn't live without the bimini up during the day because the sun's rays were so hot that you could almost feel your skin burning. Now with the sun farther away it's much more pleasant to be directly in the sun and more so after a chilly night.

 

When we were ready, we motored in to Göcek for provisions, fuel, wifi and a shave/haircut for Dan at a Turkish barber. Göcek has 4 marinas to choose from. We took the municipal marina as it is right in the town center. We have been here before, when we chartered the Turkish Gulet boat with the Zingales, so recognised the place and knew just where to go for for the ATM machine. Dan went straight to the Barber's shop and I went to the grocery store. I found a lovely supermarket called Tanzas that had a butcher's counter and really nice fresh vegetables. This is definately the nicest supermarket i have been in since probably France. It's a chain store so was invited to apply for a customer card which gives me an additional 10% off everytime I shop with them.

 

When I made my way back to Dan his hair was beautifully cut and he was in the middle of the shave. I sat down to wait and was treated to a cup of Turkish tea. An Englishman came in and sat down to wait his turn. He's a skipper for SunSail Yacht Charters so it was interesting to hear about some of his adventures with charterers, while I waited for Dan to be finished. I could see by his dreamy expression as he watched Dan getting his shave that this was an experience to be looked forward to with great pleasure:) 

 

Here is what is included in a Turkish haircut and shave: First, 2 cotton balls are placed in ears to protect from stray hairs coming in. Then hair is cut, first with a comb and old-fashioned razor (slasher razor). The razor follows the comb taking all the hair above the comb teeth. Then scissors and comb are used to shape the haircut. Cotton balls are removed froom ears. Next the barber takes a metall stick that has a cotton ball on top doused with alcohol which he lights and then ever so lightly swabs around ears burning away the undesirable hairs, while other hand follows smoothing skin so it doesn't burn. Then the eyebrows are trimmed with scissors and comb. Next is the shave. The whole face and neck are lathered up and shaved with an old-fashioned razor, which is incredibly sharp, he never has to go over a section of skin twice. Then the head is washed and massaged by gently pulling the hair outwards between the fingers. The last step is alcohol patted on the entire face followed by some kind of skin cream. Voila, finished and all for the reasonable sum of 9 Euros.

Our next stop was the West Café for lunch and wifi. I updated our website and then went into my email while Dan walked to the nearest gas station to fill upp our Jerrycans. Once finished with all our internet business, we went back to the boat and cast off our lines and headed for Round Bay. We made it here just before dark, which was at about 18.30.

 

 

5 November 2010

N 36 41.854 E 28 52.646

Round Bay, Lycian Coast, Turkey

Weather: Sunny and warm, 29C, Calm

 

Another beautiful sunny day. Breakfast was a much more interesting affair this morning now that we have provisioned. We sat up in the cockpit enjoying the morning breeze and the warmth of the sun, eating breakfast and reading our books. I'm reading "Atatürk" now and Dan is reading the "Siege of Constantinople".

 

I got antsy after about an hour or so of this and had to get Dan's attention (sort of like Vilda when she jumps up with her paws on our shoulders looking beseechingly at us to take her out for a walk). We set about to blowing up the dinghy. Got our running things on and went ashore to explore. The dirt road led through the pine trees uphill, of course, and around towards Tomb Bay where there are ancient Lycian tombs dug into the mountain face. We had only run about 400 meters when we came to the end of the road and beginning of some kind of strange construction project; a wide path had been bull-dozed up and over several hilltops. We thought it was the beginning of a road being built to join up with the small road on the other side of Round Bay. So we pushed on, sometimes running, other times walking and other times nearly climbing hand over hand as it was very steep in places and the ground is very stoney here so there were piles of stones that were lying loose. I started at least one little avalanche when I slipped on some stones and sent them flying downwards. Dan was much more fleet than I, he ran nearly the whole time. I ran until I lost my balance on a stone or became totally breathless from the effort of running 45 degrees upwards for about a hundred meters at a time. But even this ended after 4 hilltops and it ended right at the top of the highest hill overlooking some graves in the hillside opposite us. They were small almost square holes in the wall about 1 meter high and maybe 1 meter wide; little black uneven squares, 12 of them, almost like large pigeon holes. But we know from our reading about the Lycians that these that have no decoration and are small, are commoners' graves. We couldn't see inside as it was too far away and dark in there but it looks rather eerie. We looked around and wondered what to do next. "Turning around" was not an option, so we picked out a path made by an old dried up stream that looked to be going in the general direction we wanted to go. It was also very stoney so had to keep an eye on the terrain so as not to slip down the hillside which was very steep. Grabbing onto the pine tree branches and bushes I followed Dan all the way back down to Round Bay back almost to where we had started. We weren't ready to stop yet so ran the opposite direction of before, to the north side of the bay, but after just a few hundred meters we came upon a couple hundred bee hives and could hear a great din coming from the bees working in the trees, so did an about face and found another dirt path, also uphill. I turned around after about 1 km of straight uphill running, Dan continued a while longer. We met back at the beach where the dinghy was and put all our stuff in the dinghy and swam back to the boat. The water was simply divine, clear as usual, and a lovely refreshing temperature and soothed my aching legs.

 

After lunch a little wind came up so Dan took up the anchor, I raised the sails and steered us out of the cove and off towards the next cove we had picked out for the night, Tomb Cove. Once we got out into the open water between all the islands, the wind died totally. It got very hot out with the sun beating down as we sat there dead in the water, so I dove in to cool off. Dan went after me. We took down the sails and motored slowly into Tomb Bay where we tied up to a jetty near a restaurant. It was the same jetty to which a Swedish boat was moored 4 years ago and Dan and I remarked that one day Roam will be there too, not suspecting it would be much sooner than later. When we went in for a Raki and a beer, the bartender told us that the swaths cut along the mountain top were to prevent forest fires from spreading. They have alot of fires in the summer. So that explains that strange phenomenon.

 

Tomb Bay gets its name from all the Lycian tombs carved into the mountain side. There are the 12 common graves that we saw while running and a little further on in the pine trees there are 2 opulent graves with columns and decorated doorways that must have belonged to a wealthy family. The tarzan rope that we all (Zingales/Döllings) swung out on and dropped into the water on the south side of the bay is still there and the path is well-beaten so figure people are still using it regularly. It's a beautiful bay as all of these bays around here are but very deep so difficult to anchor just anywhere.

 

7 November 2010

N 36 38 701 E 28 51.200

Wall Bay, Lycian Coast, Turkey

Weather: Sunny and warm, 27-29C, little or no wind

 

Sunday morning and a beautiful day. We came in here last night after a slow leisurely sail from Tomb Bay. We tied up at the dock in response to the usual waving in by restaurant personnel. There were a couple boats already here, mostly couples from Istanbul out to enjoy one of the last nice weekends before winter sets in. For the first time we were out-numbered as foreigners; all the boats here have Turkish people onboard. Although it's easy to be fooled if you judge by the country flag of registration. Of 5 sailboats, 2 had American flags on the back, 1 had a German flag and the other two had British flags. Dan and I find this very deceiving. The first time I saw an American Flagged boat was in Marmaris and I walked up to say Hello, but the people on board looked suspiciously olive-skinned and didn't understand a word I said; they were Turkish. We have had the same experience with British flagged boats too. Apparently, people register their boat in countries where the taxes are lower or non-existent. Turks seem to have no trouble establishing some little company in Wilmington, Delaware and then register their boat there and keep it here. In fact, almost every American-flagged boat I have seen in Turkey has Wilmington, Delaware written on the back as the home port. The British-flagged boats have Isle of Wight or Jersey as home port, though the people onboard can be Greeks, Turks or Italians.

 

Once we got all settled in we went to the restaurant for Raki, beer and Meze. They did a really good Meze platter; roasted aubergine and zucchini covered in a creamy yoghurt with hot Turkish bread. Dan was less enthusiastic regarding the Aubergine... but he liked the warm bread. In the evening it gets rather chilly now, but this place had a huge fireplace that they got going and it was really warm and nice. 

 

This morning Dan and I took a morning walk over to Cleopatra Bay where there are partially underwater ruins of an ancient Lycian town. It took about 15 minutes to walk there and once there we sat on a rock enjoying the scenery and watched some tourists on a Turkish Gulet Boat getting ready for some kind of outing. They had a guide who was very exuberant and shouting out instructions. He looked slightly military and we wondered how this worked with the group he was in charge of. We could hear that they were being divided into 2 groups, one for a long hike 1.5 hrs and the other for a shorter one. They were Americans and all elderly and good humoured as they made their way in the dinghy in to shore. We laughed as we listened to the guide direct one of the women on where to put each foot getting into the dinghy. She exclaimed that her legs didn't bend that way and she would do it her own way, by George. This group was taking the long hike and as they and their guide disappeared up the steep hillside, Dan and I got to thinking; "where could they be going?" We decided to latch onto them and see. It took us about 5 minutes to catch up to them just as the man farthest back was telling everyone he needed to stop and rest. We asked where they were going and the guide told us they were off to the Roman ruins. We walked with the group for a while and chatted. The guide was not only old military he also enjoyed orientering and had taken part in O-ringen in Sweden this summer and he had a lot of nice things to say about Sweden. The going was slow so we parted and set out to follow the red markers that the guide pointed out to us that would lead us to the Roman ruins. It was a beautiful walk/climb through Pine forest, rocky outcrops dropping down to the sea below and along a dried up river bed leading down from the mountains. We crossed over the top of one mountain and soon found ourselves on a plateau with grass covered meadows, donkeys, sheep, wells and a couple of small farms. To our surprise there were other tourists there, also American. They had started out from Kizilkuyruk Bay which is on the other side of the peninsula that we were crossing. Apparently, the Gulet Boats drop their passengers off on one side and then sail around and pick them up on the other side when they have completed the trail. Dan and I would have to turn around and go back the same way we came. We chatted a bit with these tourists and then they continued on towards Cleopatra Bay while Dan and I walked up to the ruins. According to the guide, these ruins have never been excavated, so their history remains unknown. The ruins were actually very grand and looked to consist of quite a village stretched over about an acre of land. 

 

We stood there and admired the view before turning around and retracing our steps back to Cleopatra Bay. We decided we would leave the track and follow the riverbed that we had crossed from time to time on our way up. It was very dramatic with high sides and rubbly underfoot, trees had grown up out of the bottom of the river bed, big pine trees and olive trees hung over it making a green canopy. We couldn't think why more people didn't go this way. After about half a km, we came to a very steep drop-off which must have been a waterfall at some time. It was about 40 meters straight down. Eeeps! Now we understood why people didn't go this way...We climbed out of the river bed and got back on the proper track where we stayed till we got back to Roam. It was a wonderful hike and we felt we got our exercise for the day. We hiked about 8 km total.

 

A light wind was just coming down over the mountains when we got back so we raised the sails and sailed out to a cove on the outside of the peninsula. According to the GRIB files, increasing southerly winds were predicted for the next couple of days and since we had to go N to get to Marmaris we decided to set ourselves up for an easy and early start.

 

 

8 November 2010

N 36 52.111 E 28 16.764

Netsel Marina, Marmaris, Turkey

Weather: Overcast turned to sun later in the day. Wind Beaufort 5 SE. 27C

 

Can you believe we woke up to an overcast sky this morning! We have not seen a weather report since we were in Gocek 4 days ago, but everyone said that the sunny weather was going to continue for at least another week....Hmmm...

The sun wasn't up yet at 07.30 when we weighed anchor and set off for Marmaris and it was chilly and wet on deck from all the dew so we put on long underwear and I had my foul-weather pants on. The wind was from the south, so perfect for sailing north. We averaged 5 knots per hour and the total distance was 38.1NM. Eventually the sun came out and it was warm, about 27C and we could shed our layers of clothing down to bikini and swim shorts. When we approached Marmaris Bay the wind increased and became very gusty, but once into the bay we were protected. We docked at pontoon D slip 10 at 16.30. This will be our winter quarters until March when we start our journey back to Sweden. For the next 6 weeks we will be traveling by air to the U.S., Sweden for Christmas and London for New Years. We'll be back on Roam at the beginning of January.