in WW1 now houses a replica vessel
Fuga had been laid up for the winter on the hard at Marmaris Yat Marina. We returned to her on 23rd April, and were relieved to find her in very good order. There had been some severe weather during January, and it had been quite wet. However, the covers were all in place, and the batteries full from the solar panels.
We had to attend to quite a severe 'ding' in the rudder, caused by dragging our anchor during a severe thunderstorm last September, so this had to be repaired first. We also needed to top up the antifouling. This all took a while, in amongst catching up with friends. The anchor chain had been regalvanised, so had to be recovered, along with another 30 metres to try to prevent a recurrence of the dragging problem. The mainsail also eventually re-appeared from Moby, now Elvstrom. We extended our stay on the hard by one day to allow us to finish off and do some cleaning and polishing of the topsides. We were relaunched on 28th April, and were found a berth in the marina where we could do more cleaning, tidying and preparation.
The Cruising Association had arranged a supper in the marina restaurant, which we attended the day after we launched. We continued to fill our time with a mixture of work and play. Brian and Deborah on Chinook introduced us to the Sunday market at Belidze(?). We took the dolmus from the marina, and another from the centre of town out to the market. The weather on Monday and Tuesday was very wet, so that when we wanted to check out on Wednesday there was a vast pent up demand. Having wrestled with a head caused by Brian's calvados, I failed to get out early as intended to be first in the queue. The chaos had induced one good lady, Sharon, from a US sailing yacht to set up a ticket system that she enforced by barring the doorway into the office! I was number 64, and was eventually checked out late in the afternoon. Tickets reached over 100 by the end of the day.
We anchored off the marina, and spent two days bending on the sails and doing other essential jobs. We motored over to Marmaris town, picked up petrol for the dinghy, and anchored off to do our shopping. Our final night was Friday, and so we met up in the bar for Happy Hour, and went on to eat in the marina restaurant.
We left the anchorage, and motored up until we could fetch the point and then bear away out of the bay with the wind behind us. Full Flight was in front, but we had not recognised her at this point. I was determined to get past, and tried taking her wind without success. When the wind dropped, she motored off, while we tried to catch the zephyrs that gradually filled in from the south west, nearly 180 degrees different! Unfortunately this meant we had a head wind. Full Flight had by this time made contact, but was well ahead. We tacked up the coast, and eventually made Bozuk Buku together. We anchored in the bay, which is very sheltered, and surrounded by ancient ruins. There are now 3 restaurants there, plying their trade, along with two young ladies in a fishing boat (with excellent English) selling provisions and some tourist goods.
We left the bay with a northerly breeze. Briefly, it seemed, we were flying along at over 7 knots, before it died away. We motored briefly, then a westerly breeze came in. Once again we were headed! We tacked through the gap between Simi and the offlying Nisos Seskli to the south, and then were able to go about to head north west and go between the offlying islets to the west of Simi. This took us almost directly towards Parmak Buku, a small wooded bay, which we had selected for our night's stop over. Shortly before we arrived there, the wind died again, and we motored in, but as we anchored the wind veered again to the south east: not the best as the bay is exposed from this angle, but fortunately without any strength behind it. We relaxed, and I had the briefest dip in the sea, which our log suggested was 22 degrees, but I have my doubts.
A pleasant sail, although we had to tack making the journey rather longer than the advertised 17 miles. Knidos is the site of an important settlement, and the ruins are well worth a visit although we did not go ashore. There are two small amphitheatres. The harbour is sheltered by a breakwater and we were able to swing on our anchor.
It is only about 10 miles across to Kos from Knidos, half way to Bodrum, and it is tempting to stop off for supplies en route. However Kos is part of Greece. We made for Bitez, two bays to the west of Bodrum which has the reputation of being very noisy. We stayed at anchor there tidying up for our visitor until we were able to enter the marina during the afternoon of 14th May. Sandy was arriving at Bodrum airport later in the evening. We took a dolmus outside the marina that first went to Gumbet, the first bay west, but eventually wound up at the Oto park. There is a fruit and vegetable market on Thursdays and Fridays there, and there is a Tansas supermarket right next door. We returned laden on the dolmus in time for Sandy's arrival.
Bodrum marina is now Milta Bodrum Marina, no longer Karada. The staff are exceptionally numerous and helpful: never have we seen so many security men, but the price goes with it. The bill for Fuga was 49 euros for the night, plus a charge for metered use of electricity and water. Wifi charges were enough to make your eyes water, so, having our Turkcell connection, we did without. The marina was full and hopeful visitors were being turned away.
With Sandy on board, we made a further run by dolmus to Tansas and the fruit and vegetables, and once more came back loaded up. There was just time to fill up with water, and settle the bill, before our 24 hours was up. We motored back to Bitez, where British Tiger had already arrived, with Angie on board. We soon settled into a good evening catching up with Bill's adventures in the Red Sea. While Saturday was a rest day, on Sunday we took the (turquoise) Bitez dolmus into Bodrum, and spent the afternoon exploring the Underwater Archaeology museum that is housed in Bodrum castle.
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| Inspecting the amphora recovered from wrecks | Bodrum bay from the castle walls |
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| The chapel, then mosque, damaged by the French in WW1 now houses a replica vessel | The castle grounds and exhibits are extensive |
Angie left in the morning to fly back to England, while Bill had business in town, then walked back to Bitez the long way round. He came on board for supper and a few drinks, our plan being to move off in the morning.