Late August, 2023

As August came to an end, we were delighted to host some more of our friends. This time, it was a family of four from New Zealand, whom we'd gotten to know while our previous boat, SCOOTS, was moored over several successive summers (and two full years during Covid) at the Town Basin Marina in Whangarei. Brian, who is the marina manager, his wife, Katharina, and two daughters, Zoe and Nina, were traveling in Turkey and spent a few days of their vacation aboard Awildian.



Brian and Co. hired a taxi to bring them to the waterfront near the Ayvalik North anchorage, where Awildian was waiting. Eric picked them up in the dinghy, and I welcomed them aboard Awildian. After they got settled, we lifted the anchor and headed toward Gümüs Cove, where the water was clear and the anchorage was sheltered from the strong NE winds.

As soon as the anchor dropped, the girls jumped into the water, followed shortly after by Brian and Katharina. This is an active family who loves the water!

It wasn't long before Zoe and Nina were jumping off Awildian's roof into the water.




Bullseye!

The girls spent much of their time in the water. It was fun to watch them enjoying themselves.



After dinner, they introduced us to their favorite card game, Five Crowns, which they played almost every day. It's a fun game, and we had a great time playing most evenings. Another evening, the girls wrote and performed a fun play for the adults, with several seamless and quick costume changes.


Planning the production

The next day, we took our dinghy to the beach, to see what the deal was with the HAERE MAI sign at the little campground cafe there. Haere Mai is the Maori phrase for "welcome," and we were really surprised to see it on a random, out-of-the-way beach in Turkey. When we asked the woman who ran the place, she said that she'd recently had a volunteer from New Zealand who'd made the sign.



We continued along the beach until we reached the end, where, a long time ago, people had placed large flat stones to create a partially-submerged causeway from the end of Alibey island, to nearby Maden Island. We walked out a short way onto the very slippery rocks, to have a look around.



While we were there, a Turkish man, who heard all of us speaking English, and some of us speaking Kiwi English, came over and introduced himself. He said that his dream was to one day go fishing in New Zealand. I hope he gets to do that.

The walk along the road was hot and dusty,



so we stopped at the cafe on our way back, to enjoy some cold drinks, while we sat at a table in the shade of a large umbrella on the beach. Life doesn't get much nicer than this.



Our loose plan was to begin heading south, and drop Brian, Katharina, Zoe, and Nina off somewhere along the way. So the next morning we picked up our anchor and sailed south to the sandy beach at Badavut. This was one of the few times we were able to sail this year, which I attribute to the good luck the family brought!







Brian and the girls went swimming, and when they came back, Brian spent some time cleaning the hull and props of the boat. Thank you Brian!


The Badavut cliffs


Some creative time.



After that, we watched as a succession of brides-to-be, bedecked in their fancy, poofy, floor-length white gowns, traipsed along the beach and out along the ledge of the rocky sandstone cliffs - grooms and photographers in tow, trying to get that perfect, one-of-a-kind wedding photo. We wondered aloud dirty their dresses were getting, and we took bets on whether the waves would sneak up and splash them while they posed, with their backs to the sea. One should never turn their back on the sea! Sometimes they did, giving the newlyweds a one-of-a-kind photo, but probably not the kind they were hoping for. Who needs TV when there's stuff like this to watch?







Later, after a fine dinner of Indian food prepared by Eric, we played some games of Five Crowns. Nina stomped us all, to win the night.



The next morning, we headed south again, to an anchorage that we'd been wanting to visit. The Bademli anchorage is a beautiful sandy spot, with clear, turquoise water, between two white rock islands. We dropped anchor and the family headed out in the dinghy to go swimming and exploring.





Several large tourist boats were anchored in the northern part of the anchorage, one of them sporting a huge figure of Davy Jones!



Zoe and Nina made a delicious breakfast the next morning. After brekkie, the girls went swimming, and when they'd had enough, we pulled up our anchor and headed to our next destination.

Foça (pronounced FO-CHA) is a small fishing town with a neat old fort, located on the coast about 21 miles south of Bademli. Brian and Co. had decided that this would be the place where they'd resume their inland explorations. We dropped anchor and then took our dinghy to town. While Katharina and I went grocery shopping; Brian and the girls went to find the bus stop, and to scope out the bus schedule to Izmir for the next day.



After Katharina and I dropped off the groceries at Awildian, Eric joined us and we dinghied back to town, where we met up with Brian, Zoe, and Nina, who had discovered the huge town market and couldn't wait to show us. They'd also found - and purchased - some ice cream, and showed us where, so that Katharina, Eric, and I could also buy some, too.

Ice creams in hand, we went to check out the market, with the girls leading the way through the narrow, winding streets. The market was fabulous, rivaling the Ayvalik Bazaar.



We bought some fresh fruit and veggies, some of my favorite dry-process Turkish olives, and even some Worcestershire sauce, which was quite a surprise find!

Walking through Foça, we couldn't help but notice all the huge Turkish flags, and posters and flags with a man's likeness on it. Katharina learned that the next day was Turkish Victory Day (also known as Turkish Armed Forces day), celebrating the Turks' victory over (and subsequent attempted genocide of) the Greeks in 1922. The man depicted on the posters and flags was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. On shore nearby was a huge projection screen showing historical pictures and Turkish writing. Anchored in the bay with us was a big gray Turkish battle ship.

Back on the boat, Zoe and Nina had fun counting the large purple jellyfish that were floating all over the anchorage, and scooping up some of the partial ones to take a closer look.





We went to shore to enjoy a farewell dinner at one of the restaurants, walking along the pretty, tree-shaded streets until we found one that suited us.



During dinner, Nina, Zoe, and I shared our food with several stray cats and a dog.



Nina did a great job driving the dinghy back to Awildian. Everyone was too pooped to play cards when we got back, so we all just went to bed.


Foça at night

The next morning we dinghied to shore and said our goodbyes.

It was an absolute delight to have Brian, Katharina, Zoe, and Nina with us; they exude such a positive energy, and it was wonderful to see the love they share, and the consideration they give to each other. As they walked to the bus station, to begin the next part of their land travels, Eric and I dinghied back to Awildian, to continue our own watery travels south.


On the way to more adventures...

Where we went: