Friday, 15 May 2015:The Quiet Life

Already more than a week since the last blog entry, we're getting slack! The main reason is that we've taken a couple of days off adventuring and in the mean time also got over some sun-madness (sun-stroke for the technically inclined amongst us), but here we go:

Unfortunately, the problem with the Facebook link still hasn't been resolved by the Sailblog (this website) team, so you may read this if/when they have done so, hopefully sometime in the not too distant future.

Last week Saturday, 9th May, we had a very quiet and lazy day today sitting in Serçe bay (left photo), enjoying the serenity of the place. The wind did pick up a bit, so skipper put on another landline to create a safe three holding points anchoring situation. We've learned a lot about secure anchoring practice in Turkey by observing the Gullet captains over the past year! The new Rocna anchor has proven its worth over and over again and sleeping while on anchor is now pretty much uninterrupted.

On Sunday, 10th May, we got underway in the morning, to Bozburun. We put up the sails in the hope of catching a breeze but after 10 minutes of no wind, we gave in and back to motoring, again. I will show tomorrow why (I believe) the winds are so unpredictable and variable (both in time and space) along this stretch of coast

We arrived in Bozburun in time to treat Chris to a very nice Mother's Day lunch at the yacht club restaurant. We then did some restocking of our supplies at the supermarkets. Most importantly we replenished our ice-cream and chocolate stock. We headed back to Clio in our trusty little Cloe and after Chris unpacked the groceries we were horrified to find that we had left the ice-cream in the freezer at the market. So, Francis jumped back into Cloe and went back to retrieve them.

Monday 11th May was another quiet day today anchored in the bay just outside the Bozburun port. We headed back into town for a wander and to get some credit for Chris's phone, and found a small restaurant in one of the back streets, where the locals eat, and got a great lunch of chicken, salad and rice plus Turkish tea and two bottles of water, for the grand total of 17 Turkish Lire, $8.50. It pays to go where the locals go. We then went to the customs office to find out if we can check out of Turkey when the time comes. Internet 'resources' come up with contradicting stories where some say that Bozburun doesn't allow checking in and out of Turkey anymore. But the local customs officer told us that it was possible (though not that day) and better yet, we do not have to hire an agent and can do it ourselves, so we save some money.
That afternoon Chris baked a beautiful chocolate cake and is becoming a real galley-princess, such luxury. Top-right photo shows that there are even scrapings in an ultra-modern rubber-like cake form.
Back to Clio for a couple of rounds of cards, with Francis still the victor. We had a bit of wind today but that wonderful new anchor, again did not fail us and held Clio firmly in place.

On Tuesday morning, 12th May, we woke to a very wet morning after having rain all night. Hopefully, it has cleared some of the pollen from the air. As we were thinking about moving on to Orhaniye, we had a visit from an Australian couple who had anchored nearby last night. Jenny and Rod Stewart (not the singing one as he assures us), from Brisbane, came aboard and joined us for tea and chocolate cake (baked by Chris) and great conversation, and ended up having to sit out a rain squall that passed over.

After they left and the sky had cleared, we raised the anchor and headed off to Orhaniye. Again very little wind so we motored for the first hour or so, expecting more rain. But the Gods were kind: the sky cleared, the sun came out and we even got a little wind to fill the headsail, and gently cruised along for the last little while. Photo bottom-right was taken somewhere between Bozburun and Orhaniye.

At the Palmiye restaurant pontoon in Orhaniye we were greeted by the restaurant owner who remembered us from last year. It is a good feeling, returning to familiar places and being welcomed as old friends. Chris made good use of the shower facilities for an indulgent hot shower and hair wash. During the afternoon a flotilla of six yachts, filled with Dutch folk tied up all around us and it all became very noisy, especially when also a small fleet of Austrians took up residence a couple of hours later.
That night in the restaurant there were two long tables prepared for the two fleets of Dutch and Austrians. The latter were already buying wine by the bottle (is this your best wine?), and we expected the owner to do very good business that night: bottle of Angora wine in the shops cost around 18-20 TL, just one glass of the house wine in a restaurant is at least 15 TL. That obviously didn't deter the Austrians who were heard singing until the very early hours.

Wednesday 13 May we hopped on board the dolmuş for a trip into Marmaris to get some more supplies and drop off the thermal safety part from our stove to get a replacement. We were also on a quest to find nutmeg, which proved to be easier said than done. The Google translation gave us küçük hindistan cevizi, so armed with this knowledge Chris went into a supermarket and asked for, what we believed the nutmeg translation to be, and was given shredded coconut. So after trying a second shop and still ending up with coconut, we gave up. On the way back to Clio, Francis messaged Güçlü to ask for his help. He told us we should try for Muskat which is very much like the Dutch Muscaat for nutmeg, so we think now we are on the right track. We are still searching for a Celcius-Strandardised Measurement Device (aka thermometer) to measure the water temperature. Back to Clio and dinner at the Palmiye restaurant.

The next day, Thursday 14th, Francis was suffering from a light touch of heat stroke and had a very quiet day today, resting and staying out of the sun. So Chris did some domestic chores and the outside cushion covers got a good wash. We tried out the mosquito screen on our small hatch and it worked like a charm, so back to the sewing machine, to produce one more (at least).

We had our final dinner in Palmiye restaurant and watched the second episode of the Swedish series 30 degrees in February.

Time to move again after a prolonged stay in Orhaniye. Today, Friday, we headed out this morning to Datça, about 20 NM West of Orhaniye. Again no wind so we left the bimini on and had a shaded motor ride for the next couple of hours, past the bay that caused us our first anchoring troubles in Turkey last year.

Datça was the first port of call when clearing into Turkey last year. So we still have fond memories of being lied to and skinned by the local Vodafone agent regarding our two pone SIM cards, the Wifi dongle and the amount of data we purchased for it, luckily there was no brick lying around. The upshot is that we would never touch Vodafone in Turkey again and are happy with our Turkcell communication requirements (though not cheap).

On arrival in Datça, we anchored in the bay and launched Cloe to go ashore in search of nutmeg (muskat), cottage cheese and the ever elusive thermometer. Success at last, we found a spice shop where they grounded nutmeg for us and we also could not resist the dried apricots, walnuts and bags of flower chai (tea). After using .the handy translator again on the iPad we were able to find cottage cheese and then went for the thermometer.

Francis drew a picture of a thermometer on a piece of paper at our rest stop of eclair, pastry and tea and after three or four different shops and being directed here, there and everywhere, our search finally came to an end in a shop something like a stationery shop. We were so excited to find thermometers that we bought three for the total price of 15 TL ($7.50), just to be sure, we won't need to go looking again for a while.

Now that we have all the ingredients, tonight Chris will attempt to make spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) for dinner. Looking forward to that!!!