Back to Envoy in Marmaris

This is brief, just to let all know we’ve arrived in Marmaris and AOK.
THE JOURNEY
We left Auckland Friday 2nd and stayed a day & night in LA to break the journey and to buy some stuff at West Marine. We also had a brief night’s sleep in a hotel in Istanbul, arriving there midnight and leaving 0600. We chose this route via USA as the luggage allowance is 46kg each, and we had quite a bit to bring over having been away from Envoy for so long. Despite the generous luggage allowance we had an extra suitcase each and it cost us an extra $900 in excess luggage charges. LA airport was much better than we expected, very organized and extra security handled quickly and efficiently. On departure from LA we were sitting in the departure lounge only one and a quarter hours from leaving the Holiday Inn (and we’re cattle class). Istanbul was a different story – a total shambles. We left the airport Holiday Inn at 0600 for a 0740 flight to Dalaman and nearly missed it. Arrived at the airport 0630 and due to heavy traffic our shuttle could only get within 3 traffic lanes of crazy drivers to the Departure entrance, and we had six heavy cases. A porter materialized and was our savior, pushing to the front of queues (we said "sorry we're Australians") and the Euro 20 we paid him was money well spent. But for his help I’m sure we’d have missed the flight.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
As we approached Dalaman the Med was beautiful; flat calm turquoise seas, blue cloudless skies, and the sun reflecting off the nearby still snow-capped mountains.
A 90 min taxi ride later and we were at the marina. The marina staff were very welcoming and we checked into (a fairly scungy) room for the 1st two nights, as we knew it would take a couple of days to get Envoy organized sufficiently to sleep aboard.
Envoy was pretty much how we left her, sitting on the hard. The full cover we invested in had done its job; the cover was dirty but the boat mostly OK - dusty outside, but not too bad inside. The dehumidifiers had also done their job and the boat was dry. The batteries are in great condition having been charged about once a month. To be sure, we’re going to get the start batteries load tested. Demir Marine had mostly completed the work on the hull and were fitting the remaining seacocks including two we brought over from NZ, because in Turkey they don’t have bronze seacocks – only brass or stainless.
Yesterday we moved aboard to sleep:; the first of something like 240 nights we expect to have aboard before we return to NZ for a visit. It’s still a bit chaotic on board with workmen’s tools & dust covers but we’ve arrived! We met with the Manager of Demir - an Aussie called John – and it seems likely we’ll go into the water last week April, and all being well leave here about mid-May (Brian & Carol, our 1st guests, keep your fingers crossed). We’re now working with Demir Marine and concentrating on jobs which have to be done before we can launch and main items are finish installing seacocks, replace seals on stabilizers, fit new main prop shaft, cutlass bearing and stuffing box seals, fit new zincs, re-install the keel cooler, antifoul the hull,change all fuel filters and get fuel polishing system working so we can filter our total on-board fuel (about 3,000 litres), check steering, check bow thruster, test bilge pumps, get all three engines running, change all oil, fuel and air filters, some painting and varnishing, get RIB renovated. We've also decided to get a a full cut & polish and wax to the hull and topsides, as this has not been done for at least 4 years. Demir estimate this will take two guys about 4 days (rather them than me!) The total work list is vast, believe me, consisting of three
A4 pages, one item per line, and goes down to things like checking fire extinguishers (Kevin will be pleased), buying new flares, testing every item of equipment etc, etc. Even when we’re back in the water there are some large jobs to do, like getting the watermaker and Naiad stabilizers working.
But we’re making progress, and there are no major unforeseen issues at this point.
Aboard on the hard, we can’t use the head or shower, but we have 220v connected and all the electrics are working fine. Our fridge/freezer operates with either air or water cooling and works fine – Frank take note.
Roy – the RNZYS hat you gave me has already led to us meeting some other Kiwis.
Will give an update on the weekend.