Freya & Us

We started our day with a full English breakfast in Gumbet, when in tourist land and all that, and very good it was too. Then got the Dolmus in to Bodrum which wasn't really what we expected. It didn't feel like a tacky tourist town at all but had a very pleasant old town full of shops, some selling tourist tack and fake everything but also nice shops and cafes and it's huge and so lots of wandering. Our first stop was supposed to be the medieval castle housing the underwater archeological museum but unfortunately, when we found it, it was covered in scaffolding and cranes and very closed! We walked all around the bay and back around the marina which was huge and the boats crammed in like sardines, and over the hill to Gumbet stopping at the windmills on the top to enjoy panoramic views of both bays. After an ice cream and supermarket stop we went home exhausted.

Our anchorage was a bit noisier the 2nd night and we didn't get a lot of sleep but we headed off 'touristing' in the morning nevertheless - only to discover we weren't as good at it as we thought! We took the Dolmus back into Bodrum aiming to see the remains of the ancient city of Halicarnassus. At the bus station we were directed to another Dolmus and the driver seemed to understand where we wanted to go. We had a lovely drive right around the bay and out the other side of Bodrum, passed the boat yards and to a big hotel where everyone else got off. We sat there assuming the Dolmus was doing a circuit and would continue round to the ancient amphitheatre but when the driver looked at us, clearly wondering why we were still on his bus we realised he wasn't going anywhere! We explained again where we wanted to go, he apologised and spoke to another Dolmus driver and we were ushered on to his bus. We drove back towards town and were dropped off in the middle of town, clearly nowhere near the ruins! It was a lovely drive and only cost about 80p each and so not totally wasted but we were still not where we needed to be. We gave up and found a taxi! The driver was determined to keep us for the day and give us a tour but did take us to the amphitheater still some distance away. He kept asking whether we wanted to stay or come back and when we got there we understood why as there is no city just the amphitheatre all fenced off and closed by the side of the main road. Impressive but not a lot to do. Our driver took us back into town to the mausoleum which we knew was closed as it was Monday but we thought we'd probably be able to see something from outside but no, there were big walls all around it. We had completely failed as tourists, even after all our years of practice and so we walked back towards the marina for coffee! After a bit of shopping and lunch we took the Dolmus home.

The plan was to move a couple of miles away to an anchorage called the Aquarium between the mainland and a small island - sounds lovely and no loud music. The anchor was reluctant to come up and the windlass was clearly struggling - we were obviously snagged on something. The windlass persevered with lots of engine revs until we could finally see the problem. We were picking up a huge anchor the same as the ones the huge gullets carry and 20 times bigger than ours, on a big fat chain! The anchor (and it's chain) was far to heavy to simply push off, so the technique is to take the weight of the offending anchor on a line secured to the boat and then drop our own anchor while the other one stays up. Once ours is free, you then simply pull it clear and up onto the boat. All that remains is to release the line holding up the big offending anchor and of you go. Crossed anchors in small harbours are a fact of life in the med, although this is the first time it's happened to us, and we certainly weren't expecting it out in a large bay. It took a couple of attempts of wrapping ropes around it and dropping it all back it to the water before our anchor came free, but we soon freed ourselves and were on our way to our new anchorage for a nice peaceful night.

I went for an early morning swim to see the Aquarium but it was a little disappointing. The sea was very blue and there were a lot of fishes but not very different from a lot of other places. A lovely swim though even if I did get told off by the coastguard in a big orange rib for swimming where there may be fast boats - I think that's what he said anyway but he was the only one that seemed intent on running me over! When I got back we pulled up the anchor and headed for Yalikavak 19 miles away. We started with a lovely sail but then had to turn north and had the wind on the nose plus a really rough sea - we haven't rolled around like that for ages but our anchorage was well sheltered and peaceful. Next stop is back to Didim Marina where we'll leave Freya for a few days while we visit Dee and Kevin.