It is now 3 weeks since our yacht Paradise was launched after the winter period. I thought it was time to update you on our adventures and antics (Well not all of them!)
To test the ‘waters’ (pun is intended) we decided to just venture a short way for our first trip out. We motored to Turunc Buku and all went well. We spent 3 enjoyable days here and met some Ex Pats in the local bar. They recommended the ‘CAN’ restaurant on the sea front for the best place. We had a lovely meal and evening there. The owner was very friendly and spoke very good English. He seemed amazed that we were from the large catamaran sat in the bay and asked many questions regarding our life on board. As with many people he could not comprehend how just 2 (well I always say one and a half) people can sail this large vessel. The answer is research, practice, confidence and Paul as the captain!
After this pleasant initiation back to life on the water we set off for Rhodes. Although we did want to visit Rhodes the main intent was to hire a car there and carry out a large shop in Lidl. We used our fold up bicycles to ferret out a car hire shop but found we spent more time going the wrong way around the one way system than the right. Never mind we enjoyed the experience and luckily the roads are so narrow and the traffic is so heavy that it felt quite safe to cycle around this town. We rose early next morning and set off to collect the car before it became too hot. We made 2 trips and each trip filled 2 trolleys to the brim with food, wine and beer. Lovely, we were now really set up and ready to seriously start our season on the water. Onwards with fervour!
I will move quickly over the next few days as we had trouble with our black water tanks, I am sure you will not want to hear about it and I will have no pleasure in reminding myself of this time. Just a note - those of you who are paying us a visit this year I assure you they are all fixed and working properly now. Phew! (However better bring some old clothes and rubber gloves just in case – Joke!)
After Rhodes we travelled back to Turkish waters and explored some new places and re visited some old favourites. Because we were close we popped over to Symi, a delightful Greek Island that is as Rod Heikell describes; “Discovering Symi is like discovering a rare exotic plant in the desert”. We really enjoyed Symi, a romantic town with stunning views and a carefree ambience about it. In addition, Paul had his first dive of the season which he really enjoyed and saw lots of ancient pottery and many coloured fish. At present we are back in Turkey and anchored in the lovely bay of Gumusluk enjoying the clear waters for swimming, the unique restaurants and the gentle bustle of the quay side.