Aisling I
18 July 2016 | Genoa
11 July 2016 | Genoa Italy
04 July 2016 | Genoa
02 July 2016 | Genoa
25 June 2016 | Porto Azzurro Elba
11 April 2016 | Marina di Ragusa
21 March 2016 | Halifax
01 March 2016
14 January 2016
30 September 2015
25 September 2015 | Crotone Italy
18 September 2015 | Erikoussa
10 September 2015 | Preveza
10 September 2015 | Preveza
24 July 2015 | Preveza
20 July 2015 | Varko Bay
13 July 2015 | Vlicho Bay
09 July 2015
03 July 2015 | Preveza Greece
21 June 2015
A Glimpse of Gemiler Adasi
11 November 2010
The stretch of coastline between Kekova Roads and Fethiye is not the most hospitable locale for sailors. Between Kekova and the idyllic cruising grounds of the Gulf of Fethiye are the "notorious" Seven Capes, with their dramatic cliffs and reputation for contrary winds and rough seas. Rod Heikell's description of the Seven Capes had me wondering whether the homeward journey would be a lashed-to-the-mast experience, but in reality we had no problems other than the usual lack of wind. This may have been partly because we took Heikell's advice and stayed a few miles offshore. The waters were busy, with sailboats inshore and a number of ships transiting offshore.
Irrespective of the Seven Capes, we had to sail offshore anyway, in order to discharge our holding tank. Turkey has strict laws and stiff fines for the discharge of black water, and cheaters run the risk of being spotted by the helicopters that patrol the coast. Horror stories of the exorbitant fines imposed on penniless cruisers abound. Fortunately, three years previously, we had taken the advice of Ian and Mary in Almerimar and installed a pump that allows us to empty our own holding tank at an appropriate offshore distance. With our previous set-up, we would have had to rely on pump-out stations to empty the tank and the sad fact is that pump-out stations are almost as hard to find in the Mediterranean as in Nova Scotia. New regulations that will also prohibit the discharge of grey water are also under discussion. Although capturing grey water in holding tanks makes sense from an environmental perspective, it would be difficult to manage. For the moment, we do our best to minimize our discharge and use environmentally-friendly detergents. Personally, I advocate eating out as often as possible, which avoids the whole dishwater issue most effectively!
For a the midway pit-stop for our journey back to Marmaris , we chose the small anchorage of Karacaören Buku, on the western side of Gemiler Adasi. On the island of Gemiler are the extensive ruins of a Byzantine church and monastery. This island is on the list of "must sees" for this coast, but unfortunately, due to our time constraints, it is now on our long list of "didn't sees". Even sailing past the island was enough to make us realize we were missing something special. Since this location is relatively close to Marmaris perhaps we will have another opportunity next year.
The Karacaören anchorage was chock-a-block with laid moorings. As we pondered our options, we were hailed by a young man in a dinghy and offered a free mooring, provided that we ate at the ubiquitous restaurant on the shore. These deals always present a bit of a dilemma. Was the mooring strong enough to hold Aisling? The response (complete with noncommittal shrug): "I hope so"! We decided to go for it anyway, and kept our fingers crossed that the weather would hold as forecast, that the food would be good and that the prices would be reasonable. We tied to a mooring near a Scottish-flagged catamaran, whose crew had spotted our home port of Halifax on Aisling's stern. They called out to ask if we knew Brian March, and were clearly disappointed that we didn't.
At 6 p.m. we were picked up in a battered tender that smelled of fish and ferried to the restaurant's dock. Within minutes, I was regretting that we hadn't brought our camera ashore. The steps to the restaurant were lined with vines and herb plants potted in old tin cheese containers. A large vegetable garden was planted nearby on the hillside. The restaurant was a cozy and eclectic spot, with nets strung from the walls and ceiling. Plates of mezzes were laid out in readiness on a long table and a selection of souvenirs and craft items were displayed on another table. A huge brick wood-burning oven filled one wall. We chose our main courses from a wall-mounted menu, then were shown to a corner table. Within minutes, our first course arrived- a plate of golden, crispy french-fried potatoes. I took one bite and decided that I liked the place very much. Next came the plate of mezzes and delicious freshly-baked bread, a main course of oven-baked sea bream in oil, garlic and lemon served in a sizzling cast-iron pan, and a dessert of baklava.
Between courses, we had the opportunity to chat with the foursome from the Scottish boat, Liz and Alastair, Janet and...hmmm...for the life of us, we can't remember Janet's husband's name. (More on this topic of memory loss in a later blog.) As living proof of the six degrees of separation theory, it turned out that Liz was the first cousin of Peter March from Halifax, whose wife Janette is in Bonnie's bookclub. It's a small world indeed. We had a great evening hearing their stories of sailing the Med, commiserated over our mutual stories of being boarded by rats (it's more common than we knew) and shuddered when they described getting an infestation of cockroaches after making the mistake of bringing a cardboard beer tray onboard. Alastair also told us about a nasty experience of getting charged hundreds of lira for a meal at one of the small dockside restaurants in Skopia Limani and we realized that we'd been perhaps been a bit too trusting in not asking about the prices before we took the mooring.
Wisely, we turned down the proprietor's offer of raki at the end of the evening. "Raki is very good for your health" he said. "I drink a bottle of day, especially in winter, when there's no one here but me!" Our bill for the evening was 102 TL (about $75, including 2 glasses of wine each), and although this was a bit more than we had paid elsewhere, the price seemed low after hearing Alastair's story. We thought the price to be very reasonable in view of the quality of the food and the fact that the mooring was included- we would definitely recommend a stop here. This was among the top three best meals of this trip.
The next morning, we toyed with the idea of making a beeline back to Marmaris, but decided to make one last visit to Skopea Lamani. Tersane and Tomb Bay both looked interesting, and we sailed out of the Gemiler anchorage looking forward to one last day of exploring.
Unfortunately, things didn't work out exactly as planned. In our next posting, we'll tell you a bit about the incident that precipitated our early return to Canada.
Irrespective of the Seven Capes, we had to sail offshore anyway, in order to discharge our holding tank. Turkey has strict laws and stiff fines for the discharge of black water, and cheaters run the risk of being spotted by the helicopters that patrol the coast. Horror stories of the exorbitant fines imposed on penniless cruisers abound. Fortunately, three years previously, we had taken the advice of Ian and Mary in Almerimar and installed a pump that allows us to empty our own holding tank at an appropriate offshore distance. With our previous set-up, we would have had to rely on pump-out stations to empty the tank and the sad fact is that pump-out stations are almost as hard to find in the Mediterranean as in Nova Scotia. New regulations that will also prohibit the discharge of grey water are also under discussion. Although capturing grey water in holding tanks makes sense from an environmental perspective, it would be difficult to manage. For the moment, we do our best to minimize our discharge and use environmentally-friendly detergents. Personally, I advocate eating out as often as possible, which avoids the whole dishwater issue most effectively!
For a the midway pit-stop for our journey back to Marmaris , we chose the small anchorage of Karacaören Buku, on the western side of Gemiler Adasi. On the island of Gemiler are the extensive ruins of a Byzantine church and monastery. This island is on the list of "must sees" for this coast, but unfortunately, due to our time constraints, it is now on our long list of "didn't sees". Even sailing past the island was enough to make us realize we were missing something special. Since this location is relatively close to Marmaris perhaps we will have another opportunity next year.
The Karacaören anchorage was chock-a-block with laid moorings. As we pondered our options, we were hailed by a young man in a dinghy and offered a free mooring, provided that we ate at the ubiquitous restaurant on the shore. These deals always present a bit of a dilemma. Was the mooring strong enough to hold Aisling? The response (complete with noncommittal shrug): "I hope so"! We decided to go for it anyway, and kept our fingers crossed that the weather would hold as forecast, that the food would be good and that the prices would be reasonable. We tied to a mooring near a Scottish-flagged catamaran, whose crew had spotted our home port of Halifax on Aisling's stern. They called out to ask if we knew Brian March, and were clearly disappointed that we didn't.
At 6 p.m. we were picked up in a battered tender that smelled of fish and ferried to the restaurant's dock. Within minutes, I was regretting that we hadn't brought our camera ashore. The steps to the restaurant were lined with vines and herb plants potted in old tin cheese containers. A large vegetable garden was planted nearby on the hillside. The restaurant was a cozy and eclectic spot, with nets strung from the walls and ceiling. Plates of mezzes were laid out in readiness on a long table and a selection of souvenirs and craft items were displayed on another table. A huge brick wood-burning oven filled one wall. We chose our main courses from a wall-mounted menu, then were shown to a corner table. Within minutes, our first course arrived- a plate of golden, crispy french-fried potatoes. I took one bite and decided that I liked the place very much. Next came the plate of mezzes and delicious freshly-baked bread, a main course of oven-baked sea bream in oil, garlic and lemon served in a sizzling cast-iron pan, and a dessert of baklava.
Between courses, we had the opportunity to chat with the foursome from the Scottish boat, Liz and Alastair, Janet and...hmmm...for the life of us, we can't remember Janet's husband's name. (More on this topic of memory loss in a later blog.) As living proof of the six degrees of separation theory, it turned out that Liz was the first cousin of Peter March from Halifax, whose wife Janette is in Bonnie's bookclub. It's a small world indeed. We had a great evening hearing their stories of sailing the Med, commiserated over our mutual stories of being boarded by rats (it's more common than we knew) and shuddered when they described getting an infestation of cockroaches after making the mistake of bringing a cardboard beer tray onboard. Alastair also told us about a nasty experience of getting charged hundreds of lira for a meal at one of the small dockside restaurants in Skopia Limani and we realized that we'd been perhaps been a bit too trusting in not asking about the prices before we took the mooring.
Wisely, we turned down the proprietor's offer of raki at the end of the evening. "Raki is very good for your health" he said. "I drink a bottle of day, especially in winter, when there's no one here but me!" Our bill for the evening was 102 TL (about $75, including 2 glasses of wine each), and although this was a bit more than we had paid elsewhere, the price seemed low after hearing Alastair's story. We thought the price to be very reasonable in view of the quality of the food and the fact that the mooring was included- we would definitely recommend a stop here. This was among the top three best meals of this trip.
The next morning, we toyed with the idea of making a beeline back to Marmaris, but decided to make one last visit to Skopea Lamani. Tersane and Tomb Bay both looked interesting, and we sailed out of the Gemiler anchorage looking forward to one last day of exploring.
Unfortunately, things didn't work out exactly as planned. In our next posting, we'll tell you a bit about the incident that precipitated our early return to Canada.
Comments
| Vessel Name: | Aisling I |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Slocum 43 |
| Hailing Port: | Halifax, NS, Canada |
| Crew: | Rick and Bonnie Salsman |
| About: | |
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Aisling I's Photos - Aisling I (Main)
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During the winter, we babysat Murphy Brown (a lovely poodle that belongs to our friends Wally and Martha) for 10 days. I had some fun capturing her in some of her favourite spots!
8 Photos
Created 16 May 2012
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Pics of Aisling at anchor, up top and down below.
23 Photos
Created 2 November 2008
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About Aisling 1
Who: Rick and Bonnie Salsman
Port: Halifax, NS, Canada
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