Freya & Us

We finally left Didim after 9 nights and the Medicane had finally blown itself out. We headed south with 10-15 knots of wind and so started with a lovely calm sail. After about an hour the wind dropped and finally shifted on to the nose and so motored the rest of the 18 miles to Gumusluk where we had a very peaceful night at anchor with lines ashore.

Gumusluk is a long narrow bay which makes it very sheltered and it's also very pretty. The village is built on the ancient site of Myndos and so, as usual, we couldn't resist exploring piles of old stones. There's very little left of the ancient city but we did find a few walls and the hamam as well as a lovely walk and great views. The village itself is lovely and has a very bohemian feel with painted gourds hanging from trees and cafes along the beach. It was a lovely morning meander before heading back to the boat, making sandwiches for lunch on passage and undoing our lines. There was no wind at all and so we had a very pleasant motor to Aspat Kyou, where we anchored without going ashore. We were greeted by a motor boat encouraging us to eat in his restaurant but we had a peaceful night on board serenaded by jazz from the shore.

In the morning we left for a 20 mile motor sail with the wind behind us - a bit rolly but not to bad. The shortest route took us through Greek waters and so we changed the flags over for a few miles. Our destination was the ancient city of Knidos where we tied up on a pontoon beside the ruins in this beautiful bay. After sorting ourselves out we went to the cafe for lunch which was a delicious Turkish mezze for just 35TL- £4.40 inc. drinks - and then headed to the ruins. It's a huge site spread over the peninsula in a very strategic position. A lot of the ruins are just that and although you can imagine what it would've been like there isn't a lot there - just piles of stones although there are several temples, churches, theatre and the agora in place. The most interesting part to us were the harbour walls where you could see the remains of the sheltered harbour they created. We spent a couple of hours exploring, which involved a lot of walking and so on the way back we stopped in the cafe for a beer or 2. This turned into dinner which was delicious but a bit more than the cheap lunch! It was quite a windy night on the pontoon and although a bit noisy and joggly we were sheltered and secure. The bay was so lovely we decided to stay another night! We busied ourselves catching up on boat jobs and walking. The ancient city also spread over, what was, the small adjacent island which has now been joined to the mainland by silting. There isn't much left of the ruins but it was a lovely walk out towards the lighthouse and offered great views of the archeological site opposite.

First thing in the morning we left for Datça, 20 miles away. We left with a following wind and so out came the jib. In the next 10 minutes we had 25 knt gusts and the it all died to nothing and the engine came back on. 20 minutes of motoring and we had wind again, the sail came out - and then nothing! We gave up and motored the rest of the way and then the wind also gave up until it was flat calm and still. We moored stern to on the quay outside the supermarket - which is next to lots of bars - we feared it may be a noisy night! Datça is a nice town, not a lot of atmosphere as it's all modern, but nice bars and shops to peruse as well as the harbour and beach to stroll along. And not too noisy at night as it turned out. Plus we got 3 bags of laundry done for 30TL a load - bargain. We stayed a couple of nights and enjoyed a drink with our new Turkish friends on our last evening.

The next night we spent anchored in Kuruca Buku, just 10 miles on. It was so quiet and still at the bottom of a wooded hill. Very peaceful and amazing stars over dinner.