04/16/2011
Last November I left Salara ashore at Marmaris in Turkey for the winter lay-up. I had enjoyed the sailing season having started at Preveza in Greece then sailed around the Peloponnese to the Saronic Gulf and thence across the Aegean visiting various islands on the way. Salara arrived in Bodrum, Turkey, from Kos in early June just ahead of the Meltemi season. I then cruised along the lovely Turkish coast as far as Kemer before heading for southern Cyprus for three weeks or so. I then returned to Turkish waters, clearing in at Alanya, then slowly cruising back up the coast to Marmaris and the massive complex which is Yacht Marine.
The memories of the many beautiful anchorages along this stretch of coast sustained me during the overnight coach trip to Istanbul and the subsequent Easyjet flight to London Gatwick. Once back in UK I shivered in the onset of the winter weather in North Wales. Snow and ice was something that I had not had to cope with for a long time and I was glad that my stay would be a relatively short one as I planned to return to Turkey during late February. How wrong I was!
During Christmas week I suffered a bout of indigestion, 'too much pud' I thought but next day I got the doctor to check me out. Heart attack was the shocking verdict. Next thing I knew I was having a quad heart bypass at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital.
I managed to stagger to the door and escape after seven days promising to have four months convalescence before returning to my sailing lifestyle. So here I am in Wales counting the days until I fly out in time for Salara's revised launch date on the 12 May.
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