The journey from Halifax to Marmaris took over 35 hours, a good part of which was spent at JFK airport, waiting for our connection to Istanbul. This is the drawback of travelling on Aeroplan tickets. Perhaps the advantage of the long wait was that both of us were tired enough to sleep for a solid eight hours on the transatlantic flight, waking just in time to catch the view of the Bosporus and the skyline of Istanbul on the approach to Ataturk airport. After a quick connection and another two-hour flight, we arrived in Dalaman, where we (and about 15 other passengers) had some anxious moments when our bags did not appear on the luggage carousel. Eventually a Turkish Air agent announced that our bags had been sent to the International Terminal and that we would be taken there by bus. "You stick with her", said Rick, "I'm going to find our cab". He left the terminal at a run. As you've probably already guessed, this was a very bad idea.

As I followed the agent through a labyrinth of corridors and watched her lock a security door behind her, I realized it was extremely unlikely that Rick would be rejoining me in the immediate future. To make matters worse, he had left me with two 25-pound knapsacks, but had not given me the baggage tags. My anxiety level dropped marginally after I located our four bags and successfully manhandled them onto a cart, but the bigger dilemma was how to locate my missing husband. This situation had the potential for a full-blown marital incident. I felt a huge whoosh of relief when I rolled the cart down the exit ramp toward the taxi stand and saw Rick running across the parking lot toward me. He had discovered that the meeting point for our taxi was actually at the international terminal and had hired a cab to bring him over. Now all that remained was a 90-minute drive to Marmaris.

We had booked one of the few available hotel rooms at Yacht Marine for the first two nights, to give ourselves time to get things sorted out onboard. We dropped our bags in the room and immediately headed for Aisling, which was already launched and in the water thanks to the assistance of Jess Holman, a local marine surveyor. Even at night, we could see that the new decks looked beautiful, but below deck the scene was grim. Our plan to be at anchor by the weekend had been a bit optimistic!

The next day, we began the massive task of sorting out the boat. In spite of the fact that it had been cleaned after the decks were installed, everything was coated with dust. (Later, we learned that a south wind had blown steadily for several days, carrying with it clouds of fine Sahara sand.) After a day of hot, sweaty, grimy work, we headed for the showers and then to the marina bar for "happy hour". The evening turned out to be great fun, thanks to the company of a group of Americans that we met in the bar and later joined for dinner in the marina restaurant. Mike on Gitana, a 43' schooner, is preparing set sail in the Greek islands with Jim, Barbara and Sue, all from Santa Fe. They introduced us to Bill and Angela Chapman (CCA-San Francisco) on Bones, a Swan 47, and their grandson.

Mike has financed his 30 years of cruising by talking guests on select passages for a fee. Both Bill and Mike are experienced cruisers, having circumnavigated the globe and made many other ocean passages to far flung corners of the world. Mike has passed all the Southern Capes and cruised extensively in Greenland as well. His program this season is to make his way to Gibraltar, then on to Brazil, and then to Capetown for Christmas (it's summer there, then!). From there he will head to Australia and then north to the Aleutians and over to the west coast of North America. Talk about a program... it was great fun to hear the stories that ranged from horseback treks in Crow country, to remote towns in Greenland that had never seen a sailboat before, to polar bear sightings in northern Norway!

On Friday morning, we took the dolmus into Marmaris to arrange for phone and internet service with Turkcell. This was a top priority, because Turkcell eventually blocks any cellphones not registered with them. The process was lengthy and difficult, since only one agent spoke good English and he was not the one who happened to be serving us. Even when he explained the rules in English, we were sure that we must have misunderstood. "You can register only one phone per passport" he told Rick "and you can do this only once every two years. You must be very careful not to lose or break this phone, because you will not be able to register another". Yikes! Suddenly I was feeling the unmistakable symptoms of culture shock. After handing over 170 TL (about $125) we were given an internet stick and two SIM cards, but we haven't the slightest idea how much it costs to make a call or how we recharge the phone and internet service. I'm sure we will figure it out in due course.

During the long wait in the Turkcell shop, we met Husain, whose store in the Marmaris bazaar sells brands similar to the ones Rick sells at City Streets. This led to an invitation to see his store, where we were served Turkish tea and invited to "do business" with him. But it seemed that he wanted us to buy jeans from him- a tough sell considering that we can get them at wholesale price at home! He was gracious when we told him that we had to get back to our boat for an appointment (which was actually true) and he invited us to come back another time. Later, it occurred to me that we probably should not have accepted the tea, since it is now Ramazan (Ramadan) in Turkey. However, I wonder if it is less strictly observed here than in Tunisia, since I have seen several local people openly eating and drinking during the day.

Otherwise, we have not left the marina and our days have been mainly filled with tasks aboard. Our living space is almost back to normal, but there are a lot of maintenance issues to deal with. During our eleven-month absence, winches have seized and wires have corroded. It took us two days to find the fitting for the staysail boom. The new decks, although very well done, have some issues that need to be resolved. We are in a bit of a race against the clock since Seker Bayrami begins on Wednesday. Most services will grind to a halt during this "sugar holiday" that marks the end of Ramadan. Hopefully, we will have enough things ticked off our list (including getting a new cruising permit) that we can spend those days in a pleasant anchorage. Another option would be to use the time to take a road trip to Ephesus, although a holiday weekend may not be the best time to be on the highways.

Meanwhile, this isn't a bad place to be. The marina pool is a nice place to cool off when we need a break and Rick is very happy to be back messing around on his boat. Hopefully our next post will have more of interest to report!