Summer 2022 - Turkey - Late Summer - Preparing to Sail
10 September 2022
Donna Cariss
It was another early start from home, with Tim picking us up at 2am, for our 6am flight from Leeds Bradford. This time, we were flying to Bodrum Milas airport, to avoid the road trip from Dalaman to Datca. There were clouds throughout the flight and we were amazed to still have clouds on our approach to Turkey, giving some respite from the sun. We landed at 1215 hours and found our taxi man, from Shuttleboard, waiting for us. He introduced himself as Mehmet. He said it would be about 45 minutes to the marina in Bodrum, where the ferry departs for Kormen and asked what time the ferry was leaving. The next and final ferry of the day was 1800 hours, so we had plenty of time to kill. Mehmet said he would show us a bit of Bodrum on our way. We passed some beautiful bays, heading south from the airport, with classy hotels and many boats at anchor. Mehmet told us he is Adele's father and explained how he had met her mother. We looked it up later and her parents are English and Welsh! Mehmet took us to a high point, where we could get out and look down on the town and the harbour and then he took us to a Turkcell shop, in town, where we could buy a tourist sim card, to provide us with some mobile data. We had told him we needed this and also that we planned to eat before getting on the ferry. Next Mehmet took us to an out of town Turkish restaurant for lunch. It was a bit early for us, having eaten on the plane and planned to eat around 4pm, before the ferry but we couldn't really say no, as he was being so helpful and friendly. We ordered kebabs and iced tea and I laughed, as all Pete wanted was a cold beer and they didn't serve alcohol, being practicing Muslims. Mehmet gave us his personal mobile number and said to contact him directly whenever we needed a taxi, or any other assistance, so we know we are assured of a taxi back to the airport when we return home. Pete paid the bill for all three of us and we headed to the marina, where Mehmet parked right next to the ticket office. We bought our tickets and posed for a photo, as we were now best buddies with Mehmet. He pointed out where we could get a beer, shook our hands and left. We had 3 hours to kill, some of it in the bar and some of it stretched out in the shade of a tree, in a little green space in the middle of the harbour front road. At 1730 we boarded the ferry and sat on the open air, top deck, front row, ready to snap photos as we left Bodrum. It was a relatively calm trip to Kairos marina which took a little under 2 hours and we arrived just before 8pm, dashing to the Migros Jet to buy milk and tonic water. We walked round to the boat, opened up and dumped the bags inside. The beds needed to be made and then we settled down for a G&T in the cockpit. It had been a long day travelling.
Thursday 1st September dawned bright and sunny but there were still some clouds around to provide occasional relief from the sun. Today we needed to get ship shape. We had filled the fuel tanks and the water before leaving for home but we had sea cocks to open, the engine to check and various other small jobs to do. We headed to the marina office, to look for Kamil, as we had the €3500 cash for our year's berthing fee. He wasn't there but would be back in an hour or so. We had left our bedding and towels at the laundry before we left, so collected those and returned to the boat to put them away. A little shopping was done, for essentials for the next 24 hours, mainly breakfast items, as we would be eating out for main meals. There we also met John, the Englishman who lives aboard his yacht in the marina.
Kamil still wasn't in the office, so Pete messaged him to let him know of our return. We were in Sinem, the cafe bar next to the marina when he replied, so we invited him to join us for a beer but he didn't wish to be seen drinking outside their own establishments. We had received a lovely welcome back to Sinem from Eylul (September). We headed over to the marina office and paid our dues, receiving a photo of Pete handing over the thick envelope followed by a WhatsApp message confirming the amount paid. We had lunch at the yacht club and renewed our acquaintance there. Pete made a new friend in the shower block, Ferhat, who was excited at having completed a 45 day trip on his motor boat, his first, with a friend. However, he had to have the boat lifted to repair some damage sustained by getting too close to the beach.
In the evening, we returned to Sinem for the 7pm parish council meeting, with John, soon to be joined by Bige and Nihat, from yacht Bonji, along with their little dog. Next to arrive was Salim, who we hadn't met before and then Noll, a Dutchman who also lived aboard and skippers yacht charters. There was much chat about politics and then a round of joke telling. The Dutch apparently use the Belgians as the butt of their jokes, whereas the Turks use different regions but essentially, the jokes fit for any country. We agreed to return the following evening, same time and bring the tablet, so everyone could tell us about their favourite places to anchor.
On Friday, we took a taxi to the big Migros supermarket on the outskirts of Datca, so we could provision for a few nights at anchor. We had a long list and managed to purchase most things, other than Heinz salad cream and risotto rice. They seem to sell every other Heinz product but not salad cream, so we grabbed the last bottle of garlic mayo. The bill was £85 and we had chicken, mince, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, soft drinks, beer and wine. Enough to feed us for 5 days.
We ate lunch at the yacht club again and relaxed for the afternoon. Just before 5pm, I headed over to the marina office to get our blue card logged as having had our holding tank emptied. If it was logged after 5pm, it would be registered as the following day. Unfortunately, the electricity had failed and the lady was unable to access the internet to update the register, so we would have to return at 9am on Saturday, causing a delay to our departure. We went to Aurora for dinner and needed the torch on our phones to read the menu as the power was not fully back on. They had a duo performing but it wasn't our thing, so we left as soon as we had eaten. Pete persuaded me to go to the yacht club for a quick drink and it turned into a late night. The same band as we had seen there before were on, so it was a night of dancing until well after midnight. Consequently, it was an effort getting Pete up and motivated on Saturday morning. I went to buy breakfast and Pete went to get the blue card paperwork completed and then we called the marina pilot to let them know we wanted to leave. By this time, we were in a queue, it being Saturday and had to wait a good while. You are not allowed to depart without assistance, due to the marina insurance. By 10am, we were off.