May 25, 2003 Gocek—Marmaris

After Tomb Bay we headed up Skopea Limani to Gocek. Gocek is a small touristy town at the top of Skopea Limani. Sherry and I had stopped here for a short break on our bus trip to Cappadocia, and we wanted Bill and Becky to see the town. We checked into the D-Marin Marina (more expensive than Netsel in Marmaris) for one night and walked into Gocek. Bill bought some more Lokum (Turkish delight)—we think he may have a lokum addiction problem, an intervention may be coming. We had a few beers overlooking the marina and bay, and a nice dinner in town—then we hit the sack for an early departure to Marmaris.
0700 we motored back up to Marmaris and were tied up on L dock by 1300. It was a calm day and the trip uneventful except for the Turkish warships. There is a bay just east of Marmaris that is ‘off-limits’ to boaters as it is for Turkish Navy only. As we approached this bay we saw at least eight Turkish Navy patrol boats zipping all around. They would turn and head right for us at high speed, then turn away as they got close, and then turn and follow us—it was a little disconcerting. We heard an announcement on our VHF radio that all vessels must avoid the area off of the military bay due to a “live-fire exercise”. We just made it through the area before they closed it off—it was not going to open back up until 0100 in the am—whew!
We rented a car for the morning to drive up to Ephesus which is an ancient city site that is a ‘must see’ for us visitors. We took B&B to our favorite eating spots before going to bed for our early drive to Ephesus.