Ova Buku is a stunning location with sheer rock face and beautiful clear water. The beach is lined by restaurants but it is still very quiet as the holiday season is yet to start. As we came into the bay the town jetty appeared to be in ruins. The jetty had been dismantled for repairs after winter storms. As we were about to turn around and go a man was waving us onto the harbour wall where they had set up some temporary planks of wood to enable access ashore, it was all very rustic. He helped us tie up and we were all very secure. We had our first 30 degree day here and spent some time swimming. The water has also warmed up to about 23 degrees. We had planned on spending two days here but the weather forecast changed, which would have meant wind blowing into the bay and given the rustic nature of the jetty, we decided to move to a more secure location.






So, we traded ruined jetties for the ancient ruins of Knidos. We first came to Knidos 20 years ago, when we first chartered in Turkiye, and it is always a magical place. As we sit on the back of SCII we can see an ancient Roman amphitheatre, remnants of houses and shops as well as stone terracing all around the bay. It is interesting to imagine what Knidos would have been like 2000 years ago. We did not walk the ruins, as we have done this a few times before, but we just sat back and enjoyed being surrounded by history.





Sailing up the gulf of Korfezi (we thought...)
There was a forecast for 3 days of strong winds coming up so we decided the best place to be was right up in the top of the Gulf we were currently in. This would have been about 4 or 5 hours of travel from our current anchorage. About one hour into our trip we were motor - sailing as there was only a light wind behind us. We noticed that there was no cooling water coming from the engine, just steam. Not good! So off with the engine and down below to look for the problem. Nothing was obviously wrong but to re-prime the seawater cooling system means first closing off the water intake valve. When doing this, the handle broke off with the valve almost closed - kind of an oh s*** moment!

We were not able to run the engine as it was so looked for the closest place we could sail to. Fortunately, there was a marina not far away but not one we were familiar with. We sailed in light wind to just off the marina while trying to contact them on the VHF radio. After no reply we hailed down a passing yacht who gave us a different channel to what we believed was correct and also he phoned up the marina for us to let them know we were there. He advised us to contact the local coast guard but they did not respond. Lucky we were not sinking! When we eventually made contact with the marina asking if they could tow us in, the reply we got was "we are too busy now". After sailing around in circles for a while a boat came up from down the coast and towed us in. Turns out it was a friend of the marina manager. After towing us into a berth, the marina manager contacted a mechanic, who arrived reasonably promptly to have a look at SCII's water cooling system on the engine. Long story short, after about 5 visits from mechanics, they replaced the broken valve and cleaned out the blocked intake pipe below it, which turned out to be a build-up of lots of small shells. The mechanics were very good at resolving these issues and it was not too expensive. At least where we were in the marina was sheltered, as now we were experiencing 3 days of very strong wind. The marina restaurant had a few visits!

We are currently anchored on the other side of the Gokova Korfezi (gulf), in the bay of Alakisla Buku. The bay is lined with ruins from the Byzantine era. The town was settled in the 5th century BC and abandoned about 700 AD, when the Ottoman's invaded the area. While some of the ruins are fenced off, you can still see the remnants of houses and other buildings around the bay. While the information plaque says this was the ancient city of Anastasiololis, which probably was more a small town or settlement in today's terms.



Last night we had a very large and intense thunderstorm at three in the morning, which went for an hour. There were huge flashes of lightning that surrounded the area. The lightening was very spectacular but quite high up, so we were not in danger. Glenn got up and closed the hatches, and not long later the rain started. We might need an afternoon nap today to make up for the interrupted sleep last night!

We only have a few more day in Turkiye, as our current plan is to check into Greece at Kalymnos on 2 June.

Today the weather is forecast to be a bit windy this afternoon but at the time of writing, it is 26 degrees, light wind and sunny. Perfect!