After spending the morning exploring Knidos, we motored 19 miles east to the town of Datça. This was the warmest day we've had since arriving in Turkey with temps in the mid-70's F. Definitely a day for sunscreen!

We are anchored in 3 meters of emerald colored water in the South Bay with a nice view of the restaurants and shops ashore. On April 23rd, the Turks celebrate The Holiday of National Sovereignty and Children. In 1920, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was first established on this date and it has been a national holiday ever since. Beginning in 1927 this date has also been dedicated to the children of Turkey. Here in Datça, the celebration included an evening parade followed by civic ceremonies and a concert in the open air theatre which sits on the promontory just behind where we are anchored. See the side link to our Pictures from Turkey 2013 for a few shots taken during the festivities.

Datça is a quaint little place, considerably smaller and less touristy than Bodrum. There are lots of shops selling walnuts, almonds, honey and spices, all of which are apparently grown or produced here on the Datça Penninsula. Foodies shouldn't miss stopping at Culinarium, a waterside restaurant owned by a German/Turkish couple. After a few weeks of eating mostly Turkish food (which we enjoy!), we savored and appreciated the more international cuisine there.

We will be heading gradually towards Marmaris during the next week where we hope to catch up with cruising friends from Minnesota who left their boat there over the winter. The Datça Penninsula has lots of small coves and bays to explore and we intend to take our time and enjoy the journey. This is a great time of year to be out here ... we've seen only a handful of other cruising boats and the ubiquitous Turkish gulets which usually ply these waters packed full of tourists are still mostly unoccupied. With daytime temps now consistently in the 70's and lots of sunshine, we're settling into a nice onboard routine and are grateful to be enjoying this experience together.