Smiley at Kas Town Quay
12 August 2013 | Kas Turkey
Linda Witham
Monday, August 12, 2013
Kas Harbor – Town Quay
36 11.78’N: 29 38.55’E
We left our anchorage in Gemiler Adasi around 7 am, which meant that Dave had an early morning swim to retrieve both of the 2 lines we had tied ashore to huge rocks. We then proceeded toward the resort town of Kas about 40 miles away. We hoped for some wind to sail but the seas were glassy smooth and we had to motor sail the entire distance.
Upon arriving around 5 pm we elected to find a space on the town quay because we wanted to be in the town itself and the Kas Marina was outside of town. However, it was a very small and busy harbor so maneuvering was a challenge with other tour boats arriving and jockeying for positions.
The town quay “master” waved us into a spot which looked VERY TIGHT from our perspective but he confidently motioned us to back in, which Dave did as carefully as possible while Linda ran around deck trying to push the two neighboring boats away. With lots of fenders and lots of pushing, we became the “squeezers” and managed to fit in.
The Pilot Book mentioned a very friendly restaurant owner named Smiley who comes to the dock to greet boats. It wasn’t long until Smiley arrived asking where we were from (answering “California” always elicits a surprise, partly because it is a long way from Turkey and partly because everyone thinks of California as the land of movies stars!) Later that evening, we walked around the delightful small town of Kas to check out restaurants and while Smiley’s place wasn’t the cheapest, we decided to honor his marketing acumen and have dinner there. We enjoyed the best calamari casserole ever and Smiley came by to give us complimentary wine, which was some of the best we have tasted here in Turkey. The next morning Smiley came by in his scooter delivering complimentary fresh bread to boaters and he gave us a large bag of fresh produce. Not sure why but he is really a generous guy. I guess that is why he is Smiley.