Are we ever going to get North I ask myself. As I write this we are anchored in the Aquarium (aptly named for the amount of fish in the bay) just outside Bodrum. We have returned here after riding out a Meltimi (a summer wind that lasted two days and reached 35 knots) in Gumsuluk, a delightful little cove about half a day north of Bodrum.

Why have we returned to Bodrum? Well after a few weeks of fighting with the batteries, and checking everything, we are resigned to the fact that they are (in the wonderful Australian, often used, word) buggered. They are only supposed to last five years and we have had them since we bought Ta-b, so we are not totally surprised, although we were hoping they might last the summer.

Ooops I can't believe how long it has been since I wrote this blog, my apologies; time seems to get the better of me on board. We have also been a tad busy.

We left Marmaris eventually on the 18th May, plan was 21st April, but with boating we have found agendas never work. However, we had to get to Bodrum quickly as we had guests arriving. So we headed straight towards Datca so that we could be there for their Saturday market; which proved to be fantastic and spent a few days doing last minute prep work on Ta-b while meeting up with some of our cruising friends. With no favourable wind we ended up motoring the whole way to Bodrum, stopping on the way at the ancient harbour of Kindos.

In Bodrum we spent a couple of days stocking up the boat so that we would be ready to go into the Gulf of Gokova; which is a bit off the beaten track. When our guests arrived the heavens opened and we had a massive squall come through, another boat dragged nearly hitting us and took up our anchor, so as Russell brought them aboard totally drenched, it was interesting (stressful?) as we had to up anchor and sort out the mess. As they were all smiles and ready for the "adventure" we instantly knew they were going to be great crew.

The Hoare family had never been sailing before and we really enjoyed sharing our life aboard Ta-b with them. Luckily we had great weather from Day 2 and a wonderful sail across the Gulf, nearly got to 10 knots (clocked 9.9) so a perfect start. We popped back and forth across the Gulf, but only had good wind for a few days otherwise we had to motor or motor sail (not something we normally tend to do). We did a lot of snorkeling, kayaking and also had a ton of fun with our inflatable kneeboard and by the end of nine days everyone had got into "chill" mode. On leaving we were told that they had had the best holiday ever and being on board had exceeded their expectations, so sounds like we did a pucker (one of Russell's favorite words) job.

While we were in the Gulf of Gokova we went into English Harbour onto a restaurant dock. The dock boy messed up the mooring lines and before we knew it we were down one engine (lots of wind, no steerage, no panic - I helm). Once safely tied up, the offending line was cut off and it looked like our prop was okay, but no such luck. By the time we got to Cleopatra's Island we were down one engine and we knew that we would have to put the old girl on the hard (out of the water) to check out the problem. Managed to get back to Bodrum okay (interesting when you can only go to starboard until you have way - speed up) and then spent four days on land fixing the problem, cost a bomb, but not quite enough to claim insurance. If being on the hard is not hard enough (like the pun?) I got sick. Had to go on antibiotics (yup that bad as I do not do antibiotics) and had a violent reaction to the first lot I was given, holy .... I was not well.

Thank goodness for Turkish Baths, found a great one in Bodrum and for 50 TL ($30) and I was able to sweat/scrub/soap and massage all the nasties out of me!!! That and all the amazing local fruit and vegetables that we get from the market (must be organic as you can really taste them) got me back on my feet. Talking about markets, Turkey hardly imports anything and therefore all their produce is fresh, local, in season, and cheap. Currently we are buying cherries, peaches, apricots for 4/6 TL a kilo and tomatoes, cucumbers, and other veg for 1 TL a kilo. You can also buy cheese, olives, nuts and dried fruit from the market very cheaply (great sundowner snacks).

Anyway once Ta-b and I were back on our feet we went back into the Gulf to chill with our friends Dick and Marian from Vancouver who have a boat based in Bodrum. It was fun to kick back and get to know another Kiwi boat Tangerine; that they are friends with, before looking at heading north before the weather gets too hot.

We popped over to Kos in Greece to sort out our visas and transit log for a few days (long bureaucratic story) a lovely island, which we really enjoyed. The Meltimi slowed us down; which in the circumstances is probably not such a bad thing as it has been an easy run back to Bodrum. In fact today we had a fantastic sail from Gumsuluk with just the genni out, nearly clocking 10 knots and surfing some of the waves - great fun.

The weather has been very kind to us; most days are sunny and warm with a gentle wind; which keeps us from getting too hot. The snorkeling has proved to be the best since we have been in the Med and I am enjoying checking out my "fishy friends" on a daily basis; while making sure the anchor is secure. Recently we are finding anchorages are getting more and more day-tripper Gulets (good looking party boats), but they only appear for a few hours and then disappear which works for us. We understand that in July and August this is not the place to be as it gets very hot and crowded, so that is why we are planning on moving north. In the meantime we feel very lucky to be able to enjoy this amazing coastline at this time of year.

We hope that this finds you all happy and healthy, will try and update blog more often (no promises), photos in gallery for you to enjoy - hugs JR