Crew this week : Popeye + I (natch); Starquit, 68 years young (knocked spots off some of us younger geriatrics), Mobo owner and repository of a lifetime of jokes;young Bertrand, veteran of our last 2 cruises;old friends Luc + Annie, and Yves + Anne (collective sailing experience around 400 miles, plus a couple of shipwrecks)

Our "Club Med" week was as follows:

20/10, evening :arrival Dalaman airport, transfer (prebooked) to (reserved) hotel in Dalyan not as smooth as expected - the driver got lost, and the hotel, having "lost" our reservation, opened rooms and snack bar specially.Nice stay though - highly recommend Yaprak hotel.

21/10 -pre-cruise chill out- visit of Dalyan market, Lycean tombs, Caunos.

Bought a "good eye", which is supposed to protect against the evil eye - will put it in the boat. Ate a riverside restaurant, one with the least aggressive touts, with view on the tombs, illuminated at night.Metze to die for!

22/10 - transfer to Pupa marina, Marmaris ( driver got lost again, don't these guys have maps / street plans?). Greeted by Ahmet, the base manager, who we were going to see a lot more of than we expected. Popeye, Starquit + I do the check-in, managing to jam the furling main (alarm bells?). Rest of crew dispatched to Marmaris town centre with mega shopping list (extract therefrom, 6 trays of beer, 32 bottles of wine..)



23/10 - 20 miles to Ekincik, played with the sails just to get the crew used to things, but basically no wind, so 4 hours motor.Didn't think much of the anchorage options, so went stern-to, with anchor, to the pontoon at "My Marina". Starquit turns out to be an ace with the anchor. Skipper awards 8/10 to crew for manoeuvre. Elec at pontoon 10 YTL, water idem. Much insistence that we reserve to eat in the restaurant, which we did, but not brilliant, and the service was a bit OTT - staff all kitted out in twee sailor uniforms, starter trolley, fresh fish trolley, dessert trolley, and no prices anywhere! Wonder what they would have charged for the pontoon if we hadn't eaten there?

Visit from a friendly and well behaved cat.

24/10 - 24 miles to Kucuk Kuyruk, 50/50 sail / motor. Stopped at Baba Adasi for lunch and a swim.Very busy - tourists being towed on a giant banana - do people pay for that?. Popeye notes that the anode on the prop is a bit loose (alarm bells?) Anchored at KK at 17:15, only one other boat there, which left immediately. Wonder why?

Lovely anchorage, no restaurant, no tourists. Lots of kingfishers. Also the most vicious mosquitoes I've ever come across.

25/10 - morning of "R+R" (cleaning, laundry, cooking..) Up anchor at 15:00, and pootle round the corner to Ruin Bay. Practiced hat overboard procedure en route. Several other boats already there, but lots of space.Anchored with a line ashore. Only blot on the horizon is that beer and wine are now warm.

26/10 - Visited "Cleopatra's baths" - not overly impressive. Ice cold beer at Amigo restaurant, and bought some of their "boat-oven" bread - delicious.

Motored over to Tomb Bay, where we dropped the anchor. Gusty night. Pair of Popeye shorts overboard.

27/10 - Technical checks: oil OK ,haven't had to add a drop since we left; remaining water around 250 litres (out of 460); holding tank full - oops!

3 hour hop across to Fethiye marina, where we were "assisted" by a marinero who was promptly nicknamed "Mr Moregas" by the crew (alarm bells?) Found Fethiye fairly aggressively tourist, but less so than Dalyan.

28/10 - visit of Fethiye town, spot of shopping. Popeye had a mission to replace lost shorts. He came out with 3 pairs! I narrowly escaped acquiring handbags from the shorts-seller who also worked in the bag shop across the street.Starquit spotted a turtle in the port.Left after lunch for Boynuz Buku, in Skopea Limani. More wind today, toerail approaching water. Annie attempted to take photo of toerail in water - fortunately someone held on to her ankles! More problems with the furling main - it furls with folds instead of rolls, and then becomes very difficult to get in / out (alarm bells?) Arrived BB around 17:00

29/10 - short hop from Boynuz Buku to Gocek. Popeye had decided on the Camper + Nicholson marina, WTF, no expense spared. 15 gin palaces on the pontoon opposite. Facilities fabulous - never seen so much marble in loos / showers before.Bit of laundry, making beds for arrival of new crew. 17:30, departure of Luc, Annie, Yves + Anne for Dalaman, 2 hours later, arrival of sis-in-law Patsy.

30/10 - 2nd weeks crew , daughter + son Charlotte and Tom, wiith partners Nono and Kasia, due to arrive +/- 06:00. Got a call on my mobile at 04:18, saying they were already in Gocek, but at the wrong marina! Their driver from hell had ignored all traffic lights, double white lines and speed limits to bring them from Bodrum! Welcome aboard reception at 04:30, and everyone then off to bed for (attempted) few extra hours sleep.

So, with our 2 youngest kids on board, this was to be the start of the week that would re-introduce them to sailing, in a palm-tree climate....., and convince them that they would love to take part in future sailing trips with their ageing parents. Wrong again!!!!!!!!