We had turned in taking the precaution of removing loose cushions and other gear from the cockpit, as we were expecting rain. I had picked up another Grib file, and was expecting rain over a 12 hour period, but with little wind behind it, starting about midnight. One of our neighbours had heard rumours of a hurricane! Nevertheless it was a bit of a surprise when at about 0300 Sandy heard a bump, and the next door boat was flashing lights at us and shouting 'Anchor's dragging!'. Afterwards, there were stories of a sudden massive gust down the 'fjord' which coming from the side had unseated our anchor. I rolled smartly out of bed and went up on deck to find that it was Fuga the other boat were worried about, not them! I had not put on any clothes, so as Sandy and Mo deployed the fenders and I tried to assess the situation, I retired below to retrieve my dignity in the form of some underpants. The bower had dragged down wind, so that the bows were close to and pointing towards the other boat, the stern line to the tree lying along the bank, and Fuga's port side next to the rocky bank. It was not a situation where the engine could do us much good, but we fired it up just the same. We deployed the Fortress, chain and rode rather more rapidly than ever before, and laid this to windward with the dinghy, and were thus able to pull the bow off. (It has yet to let us down in one of these situations). Mo recovered the bower, and we then let go the line to the tree, which snaked away with an alarming twang. Sandy and I then managed to recover the kedge over the bow, and we set off into the murk with the radar on short range to guide us. At this stage half the boats in the bay were mobilising, but the wind was not too bad, with only light rain. With so many boats on the move, very deep water (40 metres or more over most of the bay), re-anchoring did not seem to be a viable option. It is difficult enough under ideal conditions. So we made for the entrance, along with some others. Perhaps the most frightening moment was when an unlit boat came by in the opposite direction on our port side: presumably he could see us.
As we reached the entrance to the bay the wind increased, and the conditions began to deteriorate. A superyacht came by with AIS running, and I tried to follow it, finding it difficult to hold the boat on course during the gusts. Forked lightning was occasionally illuminating the scene around us, and we were concerned not only for the near shore to starboard, but a rocky islet lurking somewhere to port. The rain came on so heavily that we could not see anything at all, and the radar was totally cluttered out. Mo managed to get a waypoint in, and we made for the shelter of an island opposite. After a while the rain had mostly passed, and as I was trying to check the foredeck (the kedge and warp still being left dumped on deck), the wind reversed itself so that we now needed to make for a different bay to shelter in. The dinghy had been tied quickly to a stanchion alongside to starboard. I had left the oars shipped and it was full of rainwater but conditions had now improved so that I could risk getting into the dinghy to pump it out and secure the oars. Eventually as dawn approached it began to get a little lighter, and we were able to return to our original anchorage, where we found that most of the gulets and yachts had managed to slip their lines and swing freely to the wind. We had deployed all our chain, but not used the rode, and we are now beginning to think that we need much more chain to anchor securely in these situations.
Our most obvious loss was the fishing rod and reel which had not been secured: in its 4 years it caught no fish! The galley suffered a major deluge with rainwater pouring through the fixed port as the sealant has deteriorated in the UV. Although I swam around the boat later, I could see very little because of the silt in the water washed down the creeks from the hills. I have since found that the bottom of the rudder had suffered some damage once again.
Later we motored up to Gocek, so that we would be able to drop Sandy off to her taxi in the morning. We enjoyed a meal out with Lars for company before a relatively early bed.
Sandy left in a taxi at 0400 on Monday morning for the airport: she was on a Turkish airline (Sun Express) that made an 0630 start to Luton. As arranged the previous evening, we joined Lars at the 'Kebab Hospital' at lunch time for a kebab. Afterwards we had a walk around the shops, falling out with one that over charged us for unpriced toothpaste.
The following day I took advantage of the wifi at the Can Restaurant to update the web site. Although there were a number of wireless access points, none of them would work from the boat. Mo meanwhile was able to do some re-stocking. I bought some expensive sailing shoes as most of mine are falling to pieces, and got a very high quote from the chandlers for more anchor chain. Saturday night had re-inforced the message that we simply do not have enough for the conditions when anchoring in steep-to bays with lines to the shore.
On Wednesday I visited Port Gocek technical services and obtained a quote for laying up and winter storage. Next door there is a new operation setting up run by Marinturk. They are commencing operating in October, have two travel lifts, one large and one small, acres of nice white concrete, and a services building under construction. Their marina with 120 berths, opening in Spring 2009, will be mainly for charter operations, and only 20 private berths, but this will allow them to let berths between charter handovers. Their quote was a bit more competitive and we may use them.
Lars left for Fethiye. We spent the afternoon removing and refitting the port light in the coachroof over the galley sink: this had sent floods of water down during the storm.
We busied ourselves during the morning, and went ashore for a final wifi session at the Can Restaurant. I got aeriated as the bill seemed too high: they had added 2 lira service, so I was partially correct, although I had failed to adjust to the high price of a glass of wine compared with beer. I left saying I would not darken their doors again, perhaps a little too precipitate a response. By the time we had had lunch we were late setting out for Fethiye, and had to motor. The windlass breaker had failed, presumably due to the drink it had on Saturday, and had to be shorted out. Bill on British Tiger had arrived at Fethiye the previous day with Angie on board , and was berthed in the marina so that he could get estimates for repair work needed to his bow. We went to say hullo, but put off having a meal out as we felt rather tired.
The following day we went ashore, and decided to get Captain Eddy, one of the agents/chandlery/service businesses, to ease our way through the check in process. It took them a while, involving a walk around several different authorities, and there were some hitches due to the wrong type of transit log being issued. The health authorities were further away. My presence was required at one office to sign some forms, so I had to go round with the chap. The disadvantage of this process was that it cost more money, and I still don't quite understand the procedure, but I did not actually have to fib to anyone looking them in the face! Our visas cost 25 YTL each, and the transit log and agency fees together amounted to 145 lira, of which 77 lira appeared to be the authorities' and 78 the service charge. While this was going on, we managed to work in a visit to the town. While Mo's priority was to get a haircut, I went to the chandlery where I bought a replacement fishing rod and reel for the one that went swimming during the storm. Hopefully it will be more successful than its predecessor at catching fish. I was also able to get a replacement contact breaker for the anchor, again a casualty of the storm, having failed when we went to up anchor when we wanted to leave for Fethiye. In the evening we went out with Lars, Bill and Angie, and ate in the covered market area. Angie and I bought some fish, which the restaurant cooked for us, while the others elected to eat meat.
We had been delighted to find Handbasket (USA, New York) anchored nearby. We met up with Jim in Almerimar where he was a bridge enthusiast, and had seen the unattended boat in Castelsardo in Sardinia. Jim and Cathy are planning to lay the boat up and put it up for sale, as Jim now feels that 10 years cruising is enough. We spent much of the day researching flight options, before going on board Handbasket for drinks in the evening.
We spent the day, it seemed, progressing flight bookings on the rather tenuous wifi link from the marina. Eventually we had the trips home to the UK from Turkey via Istanbul, out to New Zealand via San Francisco, down to Napier, and back from NZ via Hong Kong all booked up, along with a hotel in San Francisco. Jim and Cathy from Handbasket, Lars, Bill and Angie came on board for drinks in the evening. Mo was almost persuaded to join Bill and Angie on a proposed paragliding trip.
Mo woke up the following morning in denial: no way was she going paragliding! This was a great relief to me! We went up onto the Mediterranean Hotel pontoon once more to fill up with water. We knew we were going to get a flood again, and I was rigging a small electric bilge pump for the purpose. This meant that I was not alert as the tanks filled up, and rather more water than necessary found its way to the bilges. I was unable to find any trace of water around the aft tank, from underneath which the water was flowing. However, pulling out the locker contents forward revealed some damp under there. Mo was more perceptive, and found a split in the plastic tank, fortunately at the top corner near where the access hole to the level guauge sender is situated. I put some duct tape on as a temporary measure to reduce the flow of water out, and we mopped up after removing 6 buckets of water from the bilge.
Tuesday is market day in Fethiye, and Lars proposed that we all went out to the market with him. We met up at the marina bar, and progressed from there. The market is very large, and there is a wide variety of stuff available, including clothing, touristy goods, fruit and veg, etc. By the time we had finished walking around we had a thirst and an appetite, and returned via the Mulberry Tree cafe (rather Brit fare) for lunch.