of which the paragliders take off
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| Baba Dagi, 1969 metres, the mountain from the shoulder of which the paragliders take off |
Bill and Angie had booked up to go paragliding from Baba Dagi, the mountain above Olu Deniz. We had arranged to go around to meet them at the bottom, so as the projected launch time was 1130 we left Fethiye just before 0830. This would give us time to motor around, there being no wind to speak of. We anchored with a line to the shore, just outside the lagoon, and took the dinghy ashore. There was no sign of the intrepid duo and we had not received the promised text either, so we returned to the boat. The organisation of the trip had been a bit haphazard, and the truck taking them up the mountain had had a flat tyre, so it was not until 1330 that we received the summons. It was impossible really to identify which of the many paragliders was theirs. (You ride on a seat in front of the pilot, and it all appears to be well controlled.) I went back to the beach, and eventually we made contact and they came on board the dinghy, rather wet as it was steep to with some surf. After a late lunch we crossed the bay for a view of the gulley over which they had launched, then back behind Gemiler Adasi (Christmas Island) to the western end of the bay where we anchored for the night.
We had bacon and egg for breakfast, after an early swim, then took the dinghy over to Gemiler Adasi. We had not brought money, so I had to go back for the 8 lira each landing fee to see the ruins. The views from the island were spectacular, and the ruins of the churches and covered walkway dating back to the 5th Century. The largest church was dedicated to Saint Nicholas, the original Father Christmas. We returned to the boat, swam, and set off for Fethiye. We were able briefly to sail once we had rounded the headland into Fethiye bay, but the wind died quite soon afterwards.
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| Bill and Angie at one of the churches | The views from Gemiler are stunning |
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| The covered walkway for the Albino Princess The roof is still intact |
Friday morning. We set off for the Turkcell extra shop, to purchase a SIM card and register the phone. The young lady also managed to fix us up with a GPRS data capability that promised 50MB over a 7 day period, renewing automatically. This appeared to work without difficulty, once we had discovered the APN (simply 'internet') which we presumed we needed. We are now not so reliant on dodgy wifi links. Mo spent the afternoon cooking up the proceeds of our shopping trip.
On Saturday we decided to take a trip on the dolmus bus up to reconnoitre Ovacik, where Steve and family are planning to stay when they visit in 3 weeks time. We got off and checked out some of the smaller supermarkets, then found a bar/restaurant where we had some lunch. Afterwards we decided to walk down to Olu Deniz. The guy at the bar had promised that this was 20 minutes walk, but was in fact much further. Although down hill, it was also very tough walking as it was so steep, and for much of the time we were walking outside the crash barrier on whatever surface was available. We reached the beach eventually, and paid to go into the beach park area at the entrance to the Blue Lagoon itself. It was very well laid out, with paths, toilets, showers, changing huts and some refreshment facilities. Yachts are not allowed into the lagoon, because of the pollution caused. Having enjoyed an ice cream, we returned to bus stop and caught the dolmus back to Fethiye, for a fare of only 3.50 YTL.
The next day, Sunday, Bill and Angie invited us to lunch on British Tiger. After an excellent lunch, we gradually ran out of available drink until we finally retired back aboard Fuga.
On Monday, Tony and Pat on Full Flight arrived in the anchorage, followed shortly by Terry and Fiona on Roam II. We went over to Full Flight to say 'Hi' and we were soon joined by Terry and Fiona. We retreated before the situation got out of hand, when Tony started to offer to cook for us.
The following day, we did a quick round robin around the boats to invite people back to Fuga in the evening. Having assured ourselves of a quorum, we then had to go out to procure the food and drink supplies. Mo spent the afternoon cooking up a 'chilli' dish in her cauldron. The resulting evening was very successful with 9 on board for supper.
I had been building up a conscience about the generator, which we had not looked at for nearly a month, so was not unduly surprised when it died the next morning. I did not like the fact it took the RCD trip out as it did so, and was expecting serious trouble. The screws on the cover plate had disappeared, the thread having stripped, and the plate itself had somehow managed to get itself jammed in and was curiously mangled on one edge. The shutdown was however due to oil pressure failure from simple negligence. I changed the oil and the problem was resolved. Refixing the plate required an epoxy and ribbon repair, so that self tapping screws could be used as with the main control panel.
We went aboard Roam to have a nose around, as we had not seen her before. Terry and Fiona have a gem here, having found her for sale in Marmaris. However, having got the original Roam as they wanted her, there is a long list of projects on the new one.Getting the epoxy out for the generator meant that I could also have a go at the split in the water tank, and this too was bandaged up. Having got in amongst it, we also changed the engine oil and filter, which was the usual mess using the crazy oil pump that falls to bits as you use it. It was 2000 hrs when we finished.
We arranged to take Bill and Angie out for a sail, British Tiger being anchor bound pending her repairs. We set out around 1130 and motored 'just around the corner to a beach that we had spotted that had boats anchored off, but was undocumented in the pilots. It was about 2 nm SSW from Camli Burnu, just SE of Sahin Burnu. When we arrived we were invited onto the pontoon, presumably by the staff of the small restaurant there, but declined and anchored alongside a gulet. The bay appeared only to be accessible by sea, having steep cliffs leading out of it. There appeared to be water taxis running to it from the nearby holiday development on the coast between there and Fethiye. After lunch and a swim we set off across the bay towards the channel between Domuz Adasi and Kapidagi. On the way, we put the fishing lure and 'fish finder' as the new planing device is called on the line, and as we started to recover the line for our arrival, we caught a small mackerel. We couldn't extract the hooks without injuring it, so had to put it out of its misery. Angie insisted we cook it, and she and I shared it before the chicken casserole. It was getting dark as we reached the anchorage, but by the time we had dropped anchor and despatched Bill with the stern rope to find a bollard it was too dark to see anything. Bill tied the rope around a large rock.
The following morning we planned to tackle the walk in search of Lydae again, but first we received a visit from the boat from a local restaurant. We bought pancakes, bread, honey and were given tomatoes and lemons. Mo had just cracked the eggs for scrambled egg, so these had to be returned to the fridge to await lunch. We landed at Cleopatra's Bath, and tied the dinghy up. Unfortunately a squadron of mosquitos vigorously attacked, for which we were totally unprepared, and as we reached the divide in the routes we were forced to call a halt and beat the retreat back to the boat.
After a swim, we decided to go to Bornuz Buku for lunch, where we could pick up water. Roam II was there, and so too were Jamie and Liz on Esper, with whom we had corresponded in 2005 over the web site. We managed a quick drink to express our appreciation for the pontoon and water, then returned to enjoy at last Mo's scrambled egg, with bacon, tomatoe, beans and mushrooms. After another brief dip, we set out for Fethiye, British Tiger and the cats Betty and Frank. We unfortunately did not manage to catch another fish.