We were very sad this morning as we left May Winds for the final time and said goodbye. We have spent more time than was probably necessary in the last four days, cleaning her and getting her ready for winter, but we just couldn't leave it alone. The boatyard crew have been a great help and we have now signed up for a maintenance plan and guardianage service, so feel we have left the boat in good and trustworthy hands.

Now we have the final bit of the journey ahead and we will soon slip into "Airport Mode" and just hope there are no delays.

We're looking forward to catching up with family and friends and maybe not so much looking forward to the British autumn weather.

We haven't blogged for a while. We did what we set out to do having sailed May Winds across seven seas (see future posts) to her new home in our beloved Gocek and the last few weeks have been more of a holiday. It's no use blogging about a holiday.

Anyway, today was momentous, so here's the blog.

We spent last night on Marinturk Exclusive Marina, which is in a bay around the corner from their main marina, and quite a way out of town. The main marina was full so they accommodated us in the Exclusive, which is usually reserved for "super-yachts" and was very quiet - we didn't see any other guests. Although a little spooky, it gave us the opportunity to get the sails off and spread them out on the dock for washing. The little washing machine worked overtime on load after load of clothes to leave on the boat and clothes to take home.

Greg stood on a wasp, which promptly stung him in the foot and that caused a bit of a stir. Otherwise, everything went smoothly and we motored down to Marinturk for the 2pm liftout.

The liftout operation took considerably more time than the launch in Preveza back in May. May Winds now stands in the yard and it felt strange to see her out of the water once again. The marina staff did an excellent job of lifting her, jet-washing the bottom and then trailing her to her spot in the far yard. They even moved an electricity connection pillar 100 metres across the yard so we could plug in.

Now we are settled into the Efe Hotel, on dry land and it feels like the end of a big adventure.

Tomorrow we'll give May Winds a thorough clean inside and out before tucking her up for the winter in her new home.

I'm sure many adventures will follow in the future when we return to relaunch the boat that became our home for the summer.

Well, what a week (two actually but that’s another story!). After previous ‘near death’ sailing experiences in such places as Naxos, Abersoch , Corfu, Paxos, Stamford Park Boating Lake, it was with great trepidation when we accepted Dave and Gill’s fantastic and more than generous offer to join them on their once in a lifetime (watch this space) ‘Voyage of the Unemployed’. My previous seafaring exploits would explain my nickname for the week (tee shirts kindly supplied by the wife, ‘Deckhand’ Lindsay!) ‘Below Deck’ Ken, as for the safety of the rest of the crew it was thought it may be best to keep me ‘Below Deck’! Much to my surprise (and everybody else for that matter), thanks to calm seas and a steadying Captain i was soon promoted to ‘fendering’ and rope duty, port side, docking AND embarking (is that the right sailing terminology?) and i even got to ‘drive’ the boat at one point! I’d now like to think i’ve passed my sailing ‘preliminaries’ and put all my sailing demons to bed (below deck lol). The week itself was amazing, from one secluded, gorgeous bay/cove to the next with major decisions to make such as ‘shall we have lunch at Butterfly Valley or tootle across to Cold Water Bay’? The beer ‘Low’ level in the fridge was constantly monitored by ‘Captain’ Dave and how we kept afloat with the wine onboard i’ll never know, mind you that would explain the Captain’s quaffing of at least 2 bottles per night purely for ‘ballast’ reasons. In between lovely meals provided by ‘Vice Captain’ Gill and ‘Deckhand’ Lindsay (or should that be meals provided by lovely Gill and lovely Lindsay?) and putting the world to rights, all conspiracy theories covered (Gill was the only one who still thinks we landed on the moon in 1969!), checking the boats around us for ‘surveillance’ cameras (private joke, ask Dave) we had the odd game of Perudo which went ok as long as Dave only, could touch the dice and when i started getting any good he put the game away!! Lindsay didn’t like Perudo because she didn’t understand it and didn’t fare much better at the beach game Kubb where ‘Lads’ v ‘Girls’ the lads ran out convincing winners. I’m sure Dave and Gill are more than glad they took the plunge and did the ‘Voyage’ and would like to thank them for letting us share, albeit a little piece of it, their ‘once in a lifetime’, it was for us too.
Ken and Linz

Remember we wanted sunbathing cushions made for the decks? Well, the marine upholsterer turned up as arranged on the Sunday morning with tape measure and interpreter and after much head-scratching, tape-measuring and interpreting, they gave us a ridiculous quote. We could have bought new sails or even a new boat for what they were asking. So much for our faith in the local craftsmen. Hmmmnnn. As Dave pointed out, they see you with a boat and think you're made of money. They clearly don't realise that this is "The Voyage of the Unemployed".

And so to plan B...... We know an excellent household cushion-maker in Fethiye and he has fabricated cushions and covers aplenty for us in the last five years or so, for the house, so we decided to give him a go at quoting for the sunbathing cushion. As we marched off up the hill, we discussed how we would approach the request. "Whatever you do" says Dave, "don't say it's for a boat" Now bearing in mind that he was clutching a diagram of said cushion, 2 metres long, and shaped, well yes, like the front of a boat, I wasn't sure how we could get it past our cushion man, but went along with the plan. We were greeted like old friends, shown a range of materials, various grades and thicknesses of foam and then given a quote that was more than reasonable, and he promised to have it ready in three days, complete with velcro to join the two pieces and tie loops for securing. We happily paid the deposit and were just leaving the shop when he said

"and where is the boat moored?"

It didn't matter though, we paid less than a third of the price originally quoted and it was ready a day early.

Moral of the story - stick with what (who) you know.

Not much of note has happened recently, plus the fact that the dongle has given up the ghost in Turkish waters. Therefore we haven't been forthcoming in the bloggins.

Since we last posted, we went to Fethiye and spent five nights on the jetty at the Yacht Classic Hotel. We can't recommend this facility highly enough and fully intend to revisit with our next visiting crew, in a few days.
This is a hotel in Fethiye, right next to the main Ece Marina. In the latter, you can expect to pay upwards of 60 euro per night for full marina facilities, and fair enough, it's a lovely marina. But all you get is a safe mooring on a pontoon plus water and electricity. There's a fabulous pool at the attached hotel, but this comes at an extra charge to yachties, of around 15 euro per person.

Not five metres away is the jetty of Hotel Classic. Water, electricity, lazy lines and a safe mooring - plus hotel facilities which include a swimming pool, showers, toilets and a lovely garden with free wi-fi. All this for around 40 Turkish Lira per night. If you choose to eat at the Hotel restaurant, which is good value and good fare, the mooring fee is halved.

I challenge anyone to give me good reason to opt for the marina.

Why are marinas so expensive? Here in Gocek the town quay is around a third of the cost of a nightly berth in one of the four marinas on offer, and they don't give you anything extra.

This is why we will be jockeying for position tomorrow for a coveted place on the Town Quay, whilst we await the arrival of our next visitors.

Well we've arrived at Gocek at last and sailed over 1400 miles to get here. The exact mileage will be recorded at another date. We've seen and experienced so much, its only when you take time to look back and reflect that you piece the jigsaw together, that places come flooding back.
There have been many highlights:-

Loutra on Kithnos - mad Dimitri the harbour master was worth the entrance fee alone
Vathi on Sithnos - the antithesis of 'brochure' Greek islands
Aey Yeogis ????- superb setting in a quite barren surroundings
Port Laki on Leros - just weird

What has been strange is that everyday you woke up not knowing what the next port was going to be like, was there going to be room etc etc. My word of advice to our 'yachties' readership out there who are contemplating the same trip in the future, don't be compromised by time, as when the Meltemi kicks in you will need a safe anchorage for a few days spare while it blows through - and boy does it blow! So take your time and plan it well.

Along the way I have not succumbed to growing a pony tail as many predicted, but have dabbled with various goaties, but this was more out of laziness than anything else - hey a boy just doesn't have the time to shave, when there is decent slothing to be done. Anyway, goaty does make me look distinguished at certain angles (yes, distinguished from young people I hear you say!!).

Anyhow, we're here at Tomb Bay just outside Gocek, by luck we actually got the plum spot right under the tombs. Guess what, a neighbouring French bloke took our line ashore - I know, what's going on, has the world stopped spinning - Sacre Bleu?
The tombs vary in style and you can see how wealth played a part some 3 thousand years ago.
The tombs are typical of the region, not as spectacular as the ones on the Dalyan river, but you can't anchor there, so these are more magnificent for their setting alone.

So we're enjoying a bit of 'me time' (a touch rude I know, but someone has to) enjoying the place and the outstanding Turkish hospitality (wow - do they pamper and spoil the yachties), relaxing a little (understatement), before Ken & Lindsay arrive followed by 'our' Greg.