On the 26/7 we finally checked out of Greece and the EU and sailed to Turkey. The plan was to check into Bozburun, a small village on the Carian Coast of Turkey to the north of Simi. We had organised our customs agent from Peras Yachting. Once we arrived we would complete all the customs formalities. For me to enter Turkey I need to apply for a Turkish Visa which is completed online. It is easy to do and is emailed back quite quickly. Sabrina does not need one as she has dual Australian - Italian passport and EU residents do not need these visas.

The problem was that I had applied for it two days prior and still no Turkish Visa. We decided to go to Turkey and I would sit in the boat at anchor with our yellow Q Flag (Lets customs know that we have not been checked in yet) until it came. The trip over took about three hours and was reasonably uneventful. The customs agent wanted us to anchor in front of customs house so he could eyeball the boat. We rowed ashore in Quack Quack. I explained my visa dilemma to our customs agent and it turned out that I had applied for the visa on a bad website. My heart sank. That would mean I would have to block my credit card and apply reapply for a new Turkish Visa. I was really disappointed. Usually I am fairly cognisant of these sites, but this one was good. It seemed to have all the security protocols in place.

So here is how our agent knew:
1. The domain name had a .com, not a .go as per the Turkish Government sites would have
2. The Turkish Government site does not return emails on the progress of the application or any other communications
3. The fake site gave an option of faster processing times. The Turkish Government does not have this option.

Anyway, I had to part with another 60 Euro and lick my wounds. Another one for the experience book.

Bozburun is a beautiful small town and was the Turkish equivalent of the Greek sponge fishing centre of Simi. It much smaller and there are numerous gulets (Turkish tourist boats) whereby tourism had long since replaced sponge diving. We anchored out in the bay and often went into town in the tender. It has a mosque with one minaret, and they call to prayer regularly throughout the day. The first one starts at around 5am. Now at that time whole population of roosters and dogs join in. They are all up I guess at that time. It is hilarious, a real melodic introduction to the day. The dogs have got it nailed. They howl in perfect harmony. Funnily enough, they don't join in at any other time. Anyway, what is it about the image above. It is a picture of a butcher making us minced meat. He takes a chunk of steak and minces it in front of you, no additives, fillers or other stuff. How good is that.

Next stop is Bozuk Buku, a quite little stop with a remote family run restaurant