Photo: Fisherman statue, Marmaris waterfront.
After spending 3 weeks in Liverpool visiting family and friends it was time to head to Marmaris, Turkey to await the arrival of the ship with Dol on its decks. We arrived at Dalaman airport on ANZAC Day, 25th April 2014, early afternoon and transferred to our hotel in Marmaris 90 minutes away. The next 3 days were spent visiting the shipping agent to ensure they had all the necessary paperwork for Customs to enable Dol to be discharged off the ship, local chandleries (because it is something you do) to source new starter batteries, cruising guides etc, got ourselves sorted with a Turkish phone and internet capability, as all phones in Turkey need to be registered it is cheaper to buy a cheap local phone than get a Turkish Sim card for an unlocked overseas phone, the same applied to internet so we bought a Turkish wifi modem, visited the local supermarkets (90% of the products only had Turkish names and descriptions which will make grocery shopping interesting) and we explored the town . We also looked at and visited a multitude of cafes and restaurants, we even found the Anfield Bar totally dedicated to Liverpool Football Club; Gail was in heaven with a major match coming up against Chelsea, possibly for the premiership! Over the three days we must have walked fifty to a hundred kilometers, or it felt like it.
Marmaris has a nice feel to it, the people are very friendly and as it is not yet the high season for holiday makers, it is not too crowded. The town has a good promenade with bronze statues, local fishing and tourist boats and some parks. Walking back along the waterfront one evening we were overtaken by hundreds of Fernabace supporters celebrating as they had just won the Turkish equivalent of English Premier League. Claes and Laila, Comedie and Lynn and Dick, Wind Pony who were with us couldn’t believe the noise with the car horns, whistles, hooters and singing. People were even letting off flares. A day or so later a Cycling tour had a stage start and finish in Marmaris centre. There was plenty to see and do, although after the first day the weather was only OK, a lot cooler than Thailand.
On Tuesday 29th April we awoke to the sight of the PAC Adara, tied to the cruise ship wharf, with Dol sitting on the deck. We were due to unload late afternoon but the unloading was running late so we were informed we would probably not unload until Wednesday morning and arranged dinner with Lynn and Dick, Wind Pony and Barb and Frank, Destiny. We received a phone call ten minutes later to say Dol was next to be unloaded. We quickly got our things and headed for the ship, Gail had to return to the hotel, so Brian carried on and was taken on board the ship to check Dol before discharge. He was disappointed to discover damage to the hull of Dol, cracking of the fibre glass layer and bruising to the wood just in front of the propeller. The Load Master had seen and reported it, Brian took lots of photos and an Insurance claim has been lodged as the boat will need to come out of the water to be repaired. However she was finally unloaded and we motored around to Netsel Marina, our first experience of Mediterranean style mooring, we handled it like professionals. We went back to the hotel for the night, and returned to the boat the following day to give her a good clean. One more night in the hotel, we then checked out of the hotel and moved onto the boat, we provisioned and Brian installed the new starter batteries.
Friday 2nd May, we cleared out of the marina and are now at anchor two miles from Marmaris town, with Destiny and Wind Pony. Scallywag, Paul and Gloria, are in another marina nearby and we look forward to catching up with them and others over the next few weeks. We are now ready to enjoy cruising Turkey. We are also looking forward to spending some time with Garry who arrives tomorrow.