Greetings from Turkey!
In the 1923 Greek/Turkish resettlement the islands were handed to Greece. But the Turks have the amazing coastline - the cote d' azur of the Aegean. We've been sailing around for a couple of weeks and have visited the towns of Gocek and Fethiye and the gorgeous bays in between. This area of Turkey has quite a different feeling than Greece. There are green hills w/ pine trees that go down to the water. Everywhere we go, there are large wooden sailboats called gullets for vacationers to spend a few days discovering the coast. The numerous amazing bays make for popular charter territory and 'tis the season so lots of boats around. Curiously, it seems every other boat has an American flag - registered in Delaware w/ no Americans aboard. Strolling and swimming you'll see ancient ruins , mostly unprotected, and a bit more sea life than Greece, but still not much. Turkey is a Muslim country and the call to prayer through loudspeakers that occurs every five hours in the towns is somewhat startling - sounds like a mix of groaning/singing, but we haven't heard it in the small bays. And someone turned on the heat switch- they said it would be hot in Turkey and they were right - it's crazy hot! Our thermostat got up to 121 degrees! Definitely we need to be by the water to jump in and cool off.
In the beautiful bays there are no stores or shops. Occasionally however, there are waterfront restaurants w/ a small dock. You can moor for free if you dine. We've been to a couple of these slow food eateries and they have been fabulous - not inexpensive, but locally grown and organic - village style. They also make fresh bread available in the mornings - delicious. Most of the time we've been med mooring and not going to a "dock." While Rodney and RJ work the anchor, Leo and I have been swimming to tie stern lines to rocks or trees (turkish med moor)- the splash to shore hasn't bothered me at all b/c it is so hot!
Turkey is wonderful place to enjoy the remainder of the family time we have left on the boat. We'll be here until the boys and I return home in mid August as it's time to reenter school! Meanwhile, Rodney and crew will set sail to the Canary Islands returning home in Oct. We'll leave the boat in the Canaries for two months, which is the last stop before crossing the Atlantic to sell the boat in the Caribbean (Rodney and crew return in Dec for that passage.) Wild to think about our trip winding down....but back to the present - it's Rodney's birthday today!!