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The Lycian coast of Turkey

Fethiye; Our first taste of the country where we will spend winter! Fethiye, Telmessus in ancient times, lies at the foot of Mount Mendos, part of the Taurus Mountain chain, and is tucked away on the eastern side of beautiful Fethiye Limani (Fethiye Bay). The setting is atmospheric with prominent 4th Century BC Lycian rock tombs, complete with Ionic columns, carved into the overlooking cliffs. In 1934 the town was renamed to honour Fethi Bey (Bey = Mr) a pilot martyred in the war of independence; which explains why there is a very large statue of 'Biggles' standing on the seafront!
The area was devastated by an earthquake in 1958, and has been rebuilt in soulless concrete with little remaining of the old town. Nonetheless it is a lively bustling place which attracts many tourists. We are woken just before light every day by the call to prayer echoing around the cliffs, a reminder that we are once again in a Muslim country. We spent a few days getting our bearings and finding out what is available in Turkey and how much it costs! Food prices generally seem very reasonable, and a lot less than we have been paying in Greece! We even found a Carrefour supermarket, probably because Fethiye is a relatively large town -we don't expect to see many more as we travel further east. The marina is expensive at £20 per night, but the facilities excellent with clean, modern toilets and showers, and free wifi (albeit a poor signal!). As if to remind us that the sailing season is now coming to an end, we had to wait in Fethiye until strong southerly winds had abated before heading further along the coast.

20th October - Yesilkoy Limani, Kalkan: The weather forecast gave light SW winds, but we set off with a reef in the main, not implicitly trusting the forecast due to the recent changeable conditions. Again winds were variable and we motored and sailed alternately until we had cleared Fethiye Bay. As we turned east the wind and waves picked up and came around behind us, always a difficult point of sail, and we were glad of the reefed mainsail. We made our way along the coast, tacking a little to use the following wind, and rolling a lot in the developing swell. Approaching Kalkan it was still fine and sunny but the wind had increased to force 5/6, and no sooner had Kit taken off his expensive new prescription sunglasses to put on a warm fleece, than the wind whipped them away and overboard! Poor Kit was gutted!!
The anchorage of Yesilkoy Limami, near Kalkan, was almost hidden behind a headland and we had a few anxious moments scanning the rocks for the entrance. Eventually we spotted it and headed in as the light was fading. It was sheltered from the worst of the wind and waves and there were several other yachts lying at anchor. We picked a spot and settled down to a peaceful night.

21st October - Kastellorizon: Next morning the sea was beautifully calm in the bay so we enjoyed a leisurely swim and breakfast before setting off to sail along the coast to the popular 'inland sea' of Kekova Roads. We were towing the dinghy as no strong winds were forecast! As soon as we'd cleared the safety of the bay the wind and waves began to increase. Again they came from behind, and not too much of a problem - at first! The sun was shining and we still had a reef in the main but were flying at 6-7 knots, Quill bumping along behind. Our route took us inside Kastellorizon, a small Greek island off the Turkish coast. As we approached the waves were 3-4m and the wind gusting up to 40 knots (force 8)! The boat slewed this way and that in the following sea so Kit took over the steering from the autopilot, which was struggling to keep us on course. By this time we had donned lifejackets - something we haven't done for a while! Quickly consulting the pilot book for the nearest safe haven we settled on Kastellorizon, where the lee shore would give us shelter. The gap between Kastellorizon and the mainland is 1 mile, normally loads of room, but the area is littered with rocks and a shallow reef protrudes from the tip of the island. To make matters worse the wind and waves were being funnelled through the gap, creating even rougher conditions! Despite being tied over to starboard with a 'preventer' the main sail jibed violently when the waves turned the boat; ideally we would have lowered it but that meant turning around into the wind, and the big seas may have cast us toward the rocks!!

So we kept going, hitting 8 and 9 knots! - I held on tight whilst Kit managed to keep us on a safe heading. I looked up at the sail and saw the top was twisted at a strange angle - there was no time to worry about it tho'. Just as we thought we would clear the rocks OK a large ferry appeared from behind Kastellorizon and headed toward us! It looked huge, bearing down on us, seemingly unaffected by the conditions. I began to wish I was on it! ... But Kit, cool as ever, held our course and the ferry passed safely down our port side as we began turning into the lee of the island. Even here, where we thought it would be well sheltered, the wind still howled down the tall cliffs although the sea was calmer with no huge waves, so we could at last turn head to wind and pull down the main. The 'twist' at the top turned out to be a rip right across - no more sailing until that is fixed! In the melee we'd forgotten about poor Quill tagging along behind us but now saw that it had overturned; once righted we found that the seat was missing!

We picked our way between several rocky islets, and managed to avoid a shallow reef marked by a red buoy, before dropping anchor in Mandraki Limani, along with several other yachts seeking shelter. Kit hastily pulled down the Turkish courtesy flag and hoisted the Greek. We'd only covered 15 miles but it felt like 50!

The anchor held well and the winds abated as the day wore on, so we were able to relax and study our surroundings. We had a bit of company from a friendly loggerhead turtle who circled Quilcene several times. The island is steep and rocky and the bay we'd chosen is just behind a small headland dividing it from the only port, also named Kastellorizon. Brightly painted houses are dotted around the bay, most with a little greenery to relieve the surrounding bare rock. A clifftop castle flying a Greek flag completes the delightful scene.

The island was once an important port on the eastern Mediterranean trading route, but has since almost faded into obscurity. The population of 20,000 in the early 20th century is now reduced to only 200, and there is allegedly an agreement that if this number falls below 85, this Greek outpost will be handed over to Turkey.

A moment of excitement came during the afternoon when a Croatian flagged yacht headed into the anchorage - on a collision course with the submerged reef! We waved and shouted warnings as they approached but they kept coming, seemingly oblivious to anything! Just as it seemed that they would run aground a nearby German yacht sounded his foghorn and caught the attention of a man on the bow who looked down and saw the reef just ahead! We could hear their engine protesting as it was thrown into astern, stopping the yacht only inches from disaster!

22nd October - Finike: After a quiet night we were up early and anxiously scanned the weather forecast on our Navtex; with no usable mainsail we'd decided to postpone visiting Kekova Roads and head straight for Finike. We didn't venture ashore to explore, but Kastellorizon is now added to a growing list of places to visit next year.

Sadly our cruising season was drawing to its end. If we were in England with this weather we would consider ourselves lucky; the days are still brilliant with blue skies, daytime temperatures still around 20/25C and mostly 15/18C overnight ... but we are constantly watching the weather now. We have had a great seasons sailing but the storms will come soon.
No gales were forecast, so hoping for a quiet trip we pulled up the anchor and feeling brave, carefully picked our way out of the bay via a narrow channel between the submerged reef and an offlying islet . The sea was still a bit choppy but gradually settled as we motored away and around the next headland, regrettably passing the entrance to Kekova Roads. What a difference a day makes! By 11am we were about 3 miles out and only 8 miles from Finike, slicing through flat calm, and deeply azure seas in warm sunshine. It was irresistible! We stopped the engine and I jumped in to swim around the boat a few times - heaven!

Finike is situated in a bay of the same name, with a backdrop of high mountains, which looked impressive even tho' cloud shielded the tops as we arrived. A marina rib met us and escorted us to our winter berth. First impressions of Finike have been good - lovely clean, modern showers and toilets (unlike Tunisia last year!), and numerous live aboard yachts like us sporting flags from all over the world. We soon spotted Dave and Sue on 'Fiona' who were our 'social life' in Tunisia last winter and who we hadn't seen since early this year. It was lovely to see them and later that evening we caught up with news over 'sundowners' on board Fiona, and Sue cooked a 'welcome' dinner.

So here we are - land based for a while. Lots to explore tho' as Turkey is a vast country............