HEADING SOUTH ON TURKEY’S WEST COAST

September is a good month for cruising in Turkey, as the temperature is a little cooler, mostly in the high 20s the sea is still a warm 22-24, and the busier season is over. The weather does start to get a bit unstable though, and as I wrote this we were anchored in Sigacik harbour in a thunderstorm and showers – the first rain in weeks.
From the cruising point of view it’s been very quiet. The only boats we see around are local fishing boats, and a few local cruisers. We rarely find another boat anchored in the same bay, or in fact anywhere nearby, and we’ve only seen two other foreign cruising boats in the last three weeks.
Usually there are small local fishing boats setting their nets or long lines, sometimes alarmingly close to where we are anchored. Once we’ve had to cut away a net from our anchor, and several times have snagged long lines. Here they mostly have wooden boats about 6-8m long powered with small diesel engines and using shaft drive. They rarely have mufflers on their exhausts, so we often hear them working during the night.
Sometimes the fishermen will try to sell us some fish, and hold them up for us to see. They have red snapper here in the Med, which look virtually identical to snapper we catch back in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf. When you order fish in a restaurant they charge by the kg and it’s generally about Lire 100 (NZ$70) per kg unfilleted.
After dropping off our daughter Amy, and Diane’s sister Sharon and her husband Doug in Ayvalik, we felt a bit sad staying there so started our journey south towards Bodrum, where we’ll meet Chris in mid-October, and then continue on to Marmaris, about 350NM from Ayvalik. Our plan is to spend a few weeks in the Gulf of Bodrum, which is great cruising, and where we haven’t spent any time since 2007.
Most of the places we will visit during the next few weeks we’ve already been to and covered in previous blogs, so we won’t repeat those details.
Our first stop was Bademli Limani, spending three nights in a great sheltered anchorage with clear water, and just a couple of other local boats.

Typical small fishing boat retrieving a net alongside Envoy anchored in Bademli Limani. In the background is an abandoned resort hotel, one of several nearby



This fisherman is pulling in his longline while Envoy is anchored in Alacati – they come very close



We anchored off Candarli for two days, where they have an impressive 14th century Genoese castle.



We moved on to Foca, where in June we had been in the company of three other New Zealand boats. Now we were the only boat at anchor for the four days there, except for a German yacht one night. Foca is an interesting small town of 15,000 people, and we explored the cobbled back streets away from the fishing boat harbour’s water-front tavernas. We had a meal at a typical basic Turkish café, and each had a plate of rice, eggplant, mince, chicken pieces and potatoes. It was delicious and cost Lire 16 (about NZ$11) each.

Traditional Turkish café in Foca



Antique shop in Foca



Archeological dig on the shoreline in Foca’s harbour



Foca is where the Turkish “Blue Beret” commandos have a training facility, and during the day and into the evening we heard small arms fire as they train.

The Kommandos training centre in Foca



Moving south we spent several nights at Sifne Koyu.
We took a Dolmus (mini-bus) into Cesme, costing Lire 4 (NZ$) per person for the half hour trip. The Dolmus system is great – they have 14 seats but often carry up to about 15 additional people jammed-in standing. Passengers just signal the Dolmus to stop and pick them up, and the driver will drop you anywhere along the route you want to get off.

The Turkish Dolmus (mini-bus) is a great transport system



Laurie finds a small friend while having coffee in Cesme



Kemel Ataturk is loved and revered by the Turks, and every town or village has an “Ataturk Boulevard”



The water in Sifne harbour is beautifully clear



TECHNICAL
All going well – nothing to report.
LOG (to 19/9/11): 139 days aboard since leaving Marmaris, 1,774NM cruised for 365 engine hours