We are so far behind in our writing.... Sorry. I'm stiitng here at Marmaris Yacht Marina, in Turkey. We have committed to be here for the upcomming winter. Finally I have some time to catch up with our blog. This will be a brief summery of the last month or so.
We left Finike and sailed a few hours to an area called Kekova Roads. Anchoring in small little bays in clear water with nothing to do but enjoy the solitude, we reslish this time that we are cruising again. There's a little resturant ashore and we head in. In fact, there are actually two resturants. They compete for your business by waving you in from their dock. We chose the one that had the flags fluttering to indicate a cooling breeze. The weather is still very hot. We are greeted by the owner and his son. They take our line and help us secure the dinghy. We practice our Turkish with, "Merhaba" (hello). They laugh and we laugh....hmm, must not have gotten that quite right. They seat us in their gazabo at a table with a white tablecloth. Looking into the kitchen I see they are building a fire in the oven. We spend the next couple of hours relaxing with good food and drink. The breeze was soft and warm. Freebird sits in the distance suspended in the deep Mediterranean blue sea. Now this is more like what we signed up for.
The next day we head into the little town of Ucagiz which is the center of this area. Wandering the streets, we strike up a conversation with a carpet dealer. He invites us in for tea. The conversation soon leads to Freebird and our wayward lifestyle. He offers us moorage for the upcomming winter at a very reasonable price. We are so tempted. The only problem is that we must haul the boat out of the water for maintainance and repairs. We love the little village. We hold the idea for our possibilities for the future. That evening we enjoyed a nice meal at a bayside resturaunt. At the end of the meal the owner hands us a big bunch of fresh basil and some flowers to take back to the boat. How nice is that? We are feeling the hospitality of the Turkish people.
A short sail brings us to the Greek island of Kastellorizon. This is an old picture perfect village located in a horseshoe bay on a small island.
Our fiends on the yacht Silver Fern are anchored near by and they give us the lowdown. We head into the town and look for coffee. It's everywhere! Little waterside cafes where you can sit and watch fisherman bring in their catch. Perfect people watching too.... All shapes, sizes and colors.
Later we climb the 500 plus steps to the old montistary on the hill above. What a view!
The next morning we headed out for some dinghy exploration with our friends Bryce and Martha from Silver Fern. In our two dinghies we followed the rocky steep coast for a few miles. We were told about a cave and we were hoping to find it. We noticed a very small arch that didn't look big enough for a dinghy to fit through. We tried anyway. If we timed it right, crouched in the bottom we could slide through between swells. We popped into darkness blinking to try and adjust our eyes. Soon an eerie blue light came up from the depths below. We jumped in the water with our snorkels and fins. We couldn't get over the feeling that somebody was watching us. After a half hour we found out who it was. In the back corner of the cave a seal was hiding and watching our every move. We swam with him briefly until he vanished.
A sunny eight hour sail finds us in the town of Fethiye. We anchor off the town center next to our friends
Captain Fatty and Carolyn on the yacht Wild Card. Fatty is the author of a handful of published sailing books and quite will known among the sailing community.
This is where we hope to meet our guests arriving from Seattle in a week. Carved in the cliff above the city are ancient Lycian tombs.
Fethiye is the start of the famous trek "The Lycian Way" a trail through ancient archeological sights stretching for 500 kilometers In the anchorage, you can count seven mosques visible from the boat. It's getting close to the end of Ramadan. Five times a day they all emit their version of the call to prayer. The result is an eerie mixture of wailing and chanting from seven different sources.... simultaneously (distorted over a loudspeaker)..... It's interesting at five AM. We walked up to visit the tombs and enjoyed the view of the city with the bay and Freebird at anchor in the distance. One night we dine with Fatty and Carolyn and catch up on sea stories. Tomorrow?? Maybe a Turkish Bath.............