Early September, 2023



When we left Foça, we decided to see how far south we could comfortably go, before we needed to start heading back toward Greece and then ultimately Montenegro. We thought it would be fun to explore the Güllük Korfezi (Güllük Gulf), since it was reported to have a lot of forests and not a lot of crowds.

Kara Ada 38°25.78'N, 26°20.53'E


Our first stop was a pretty anchorage on the little island of Kara Ada. On shore, we could see goats, donkeys, bunnies, and a small farm house beside an olive grove. Only one other boat had an anchor down, but small day boats came and went every hour or so, tying up briefly at the dock on the western side of the cove, dropping off their passengers, who walked across the beach to have a look at the donkeys grazing in the olive grove, and then have a swim. A herd of goats walked across the beach and out onto the dock to greet every day boat as it arrived, and followed the new arrivals across the beach.



Sağlik Beach 38°19.41'N, 26°17.23'E
We left early the next morning, hoping to beat the forecast south wind to Ҫesme Marina, where we would empty Awildian's black water tanks, and fill up his diesel tanks. But the wind had other ideas; it got up earlier than we did, and was already blowing hard by the time we neared Ҫesme. Rather than try to maneuver in the marina in the strong wind, we anchored in the cove at nearby Sağlik Beach, and decided to try again the next morning. We spent the day relaxing and doing small jobs, and amusing ourselves by imagining that the collection of semi-truck cabs among the palms on the bluff was a "truck resort."


The "truck resort" on the hill

Kirkdilim Limani 38°08.61'N, 26°33.87'E


During the calm of the next morning, we went into Ҫesme Marina and took care of Awildian's pumpout and fillup. We were impressed with the service of the guys at the station. They even had lines that they tossed to us, so we didn't have to use our own.


Unpleasant necessities


How nice that they provide the lines for tying up!

Then we continued heading south, around the headlands past Goldensands Beach, where we'd spent our very first night in Turkey, way back in July. We were heading to Kirkdilim Limani, an anchorage that looked intriguing: a small anchorage at the end of a mile-long, crescent-shaped inlet. The photos on Navily looked stunning, and we wanted to have a look for ourselves.


Kirkdilim Limani from Google Maps

It was as stunning as in the photos. But it wasn't easy to find a good place to anchor: the small cove at the end of the deep inlet was surrounded by rocks and only had a small area with anchorable depths that wouldn't put Awildian too close to the shore. And...there was a boat already there, anchored smack dab in the middle of the cove, so we had to go looking toward the edges. On our third drop, we found a spot that we were happy with, and that Obama the anchor was happy with.



When we were settled, I put our kayak in the water and went paddling around the cove and walking around the forest on shore. It's a beautiful spot.





Middle Cove 38°12.49'N, 26°39.90'E


Outside of our sheltered anchorage, the wind was howling from the north at 20-25 knots. This wasn't a surprise, in this part of the world, in this time of year, and was one of the reasons that we'd chosen to head south. We went south with the wind, huge granite mountains rising up on our left ("like sailing in Yosemite," Eric said), and fish farms strewn across the water on our right. There are so many fish farms in Turkey!

We didn't have an anchorage in mind, but decided to choose one from the many options along the north coast of the Siğacik Korfezi (Gulf of Siğacik). The one we eventually chose didn't have a name that I could find, and since it was the middle of three small coves I gave it the imaginative name of "Middle Cove." My apologies to the Turks for not knowing what they call it.



All of the coves in this stretch of the Siğacik Korfezi are stunning: white and red rocks on shore, white sand beaches, and clear water in innumerable shades of green and blue. We couldn't go wrong with any of them. We chose Middle Cove because it had the fewest boats. Obama grabbed the sand immediately, and we settled in to enjoy the afternoon in this beautiful place.

Later in the afternoon, Eric said, "I hope that dinghy is tied to something," pointing to a red dinghy that was unattended in the water, just off the beach where some people were camping. A few seconds later, a gust came through, pushing the dinghy farther into the water. Down the beach a ways, some guys were hanging out in the shade of a tarp stretched between two trees. Successive gusts pushed the dinghy farther and farther away from the beach. Suddenly, three guys exploded from under the tarp, running flat out down the beach and into the water. The gusts kept pushing the dinghy farther from the beach; there was no way the guys would be able to catch up to it.



The red dinghy before it went AWOL

But every time the wind pushed the dinghy farther from the beach, it pushed it closer to Awildian. We calmly lowered our dinghy, drove over to the wayward red dinghy, picked up its painter, and towed it over to the closest swimming guy. Eventually all three arrived and climbed into their dinghy. They spoke English and thanked us profusely. We told them it was no problem. Just another dinghy rescue for the crew of SCOOTS/Awildian.


Semanli Koyu Cove 38°12.59'N, 26°41.79'E
As you can see from our GPS coordinates, we didn't move very far to our next anchorage. With all the pretty little coves nearby, it seemed a shame not to spend time in another one. Semanli Koyu Cove is another turquoise gem of a spot, and we enjoyed our day there.





Cemetery Bay (Siğacik) 38°12.08'N, 26°46.74'E


We headed for Cemetery Bay ahead of a Low that was forecast to visit Greece and Turkey, bringing strong wind from several different directions, and maybe even some rain. Rain would be nice, since it had been months since we'd seen any, and Awildian was sporting a layer of dust from three countries. Cemetery Bay seemed a good choice because it offers shelter from all directions but the west. Huge Teos Marina was also located here, but in keeping with our policy of avoiding marinas during the summer (mostly because they are so expensive), we were going to anchor out.

It took us quite awhile to find a spot to drop Obama. Much of the bay was too deep, and many areas with reasonable anchoring depths had boats in them already - large barges, fishing boats and other boats, most of them unattended, many of them unloved.



Eventually we found a spot that we could live with, and dropped the anchor in 40 feet of murky water, where he grabbed the ground right away. With the town a half mile away, and the wind kicking up lots of chop in the bay, we opted to hang out on Awildian for the time being, doing some glamorous boat jobs like fixing the inactive "full" indicator light on our holding tank.



The next morning, the rain came - about a dozen drops that only rearranged the dirt on Awildian's decks. After this downpour, we put Rolly in the dinghy and went to town to do some grocery shopping. We wanted to stock up now, before venturing south toward what looked to be a more rural area. After tying our dinghy between some small fishing boats, we walked through town to the Migros supermarket.

The part of Siğacik that faces the water, which is the part that most tourists see, is quaint, with cobbled streets,



cute specialty shops, restaurants, and hotels.



Bougainvillea vines, pomegranate trees, and caper bushes decorated the walkways.



But one street back from these charming areas, in the area of town where the Migros was located, the properties got rough and tumbledown, with junk-filled yards. At the Migros and a fresh produce shop next door, we got everything we needed, and began walking back to the waterfront.


Because this is Europe, random old forts and castles are everywhere. We stumbled upon one on our way back to our dinghy, and had a little walk around, admiring the stonework.






Back on Awildian, we put the groceries away and spent a quiet afternoon. Tomorrow we would continue south and see how far we got.