THE GULF OF BODRUM

After going to a café in Bodrum to watch the All Blacks beat France and win the Rugby World Cup, we went to the Bodrum private hospital to have our stitches removed. As we studied a map to find the hospital a Turkish man asked if he could help us, and then guided us the few hundred metres to the hospital. We bought him a cup of tea in gratitude, but he seemed to want to stay with us until eventually he asked if we’d pay him Lire 10 to buy some cigarettes. I was happy to give him Lire 5 and say our farewells. This was rare, and usually the Turkish people are extremely helpful and ask for nothing in return.

Laurie & Chris look on as the atmosphere is readied to watch the Rugby World Cup final ashore in Bodrum



We had decided to explore the Gulf of Bodrum – an area we’d not visited since 2007.
Our first stop was the village of Cokertme, and we had a great dinner ashore in Hasam’s Cokertme Restaurant. This was a nostalgia trip, as we’d had several memorable nights here previously with family and friends. The food was delicious, but we made an old mistake of letting them organise the food, resulting in a bit too much food and cost.

Diane, Chris & Laurie in Hasam’s Cokertme Restaurant



Our next stop was the Snake & Castle Islands, which have impressive ruins dating from ancient times right up to the Byzantine period, as well as a well-preserved amphitheatre. We arrived around 1600 just as the gulets were leaving with their tour groups, so we had the area all to ourselves.

Envoy anchored between Castle & Snake Islands



Chris & Laurie in Castle Island’s amphitheatre



Cleopatra’s Beach on Castle Island is reputed to be where Cleopatra swam with Mark Anthony, after importing galley loads of Egyptian sand. Scientists have determined that the sand is of a special silica type not from this area. Chris is not usually a swimmer, but even he couldn’t resist having a dip here. All swimmers have to shower after their dip to ensure no sand leaves the beach.

Chris after swimming at Cleopatra’s Beach



Diane & Laurie relaxing with Cleopatra’s Beach all to themselves



We moved on to English Harbour, a well-hidden, perfectly sheltered bay used as a base by the British Special Boat Squadron during WW2. We visualized their camouflaged motor torpedo boats anchored in the bay, and their base camp on a flat section of ground nearby.

Envoy anchored in perfectly sheltered English Harbour



Mermaid statue near English Harbour



We had a great two weeks with Chris, and like last year greatly appreciated his assistance with numerous small maintenance jobs aboard Envoy, including the supply and installation of a new DVD player and 510mm wide flat screen. Chris’s nickname of “MacGyver” was once again well justified.

Chris with our new DVD player and flat screen he supplied and installed



We enjoy a BBQ breakfast with Chris on his last day



TECHNICAL
Nothing to report so some comments re communications.
When cruising, communication costs are significant. Typically we spend about NZ$100 per month for internet access (using USB plug-ins), and about NZ$50 per month for phone (separate phone and sim card for each country). Sure you can use free WiFi, but this involves going ashore to find out passwords, and we want to have internet access every day.
“Rebtel” keeps our cost down for international phone calls. We can speak to family in NZ for 30 minutes for a cost of about Lire 2 (about NZ$1.30). We don’t understand how Rebtel manage this, but the system works well, and we highly recommend it for international calls – see their website.
LOG (to 31/10/11): 181 days aboard since leaving Marmaris, 2,121NM cruised for 434 engine hours.

CRUISING SOUTH TOWARDS BODRUM

Just before Chris arrived we had a cold spell with temps down to about 15d, and as we cruised south from Sigacik we encountered a classic cold front with low cloud, lightning, thunder and squally showers. Since then it’s warmed up again into the low 20s with a sea temp of 22d.

Classic cold front passes across Envoy’s bow



While having a walk ashore at Kazikli Iskelesi we noticed a couple of tethered sheep, and a Turkish man told us they were his, and he was fattening them up for Kurban Bayrami. This is a highly important holiday festival for Turks - lasting about four days when the head of a family provides a beast to sacrifice, and for his family and friends to feast upon. According to Lonely Planet about 4m cows or sheep are eaten every year at this festival.

This sheep is being fattened for the festival of Kurban Bayrami



Nearby was a very rough floating platform, which a fisherman and his wife used for sleeping, with their boat moored alongside.

A home away from home



Once you get away from the tourist resorts to where real people live and work, most of the Turkish women dress quite traditionally.

This picture shows a typical Turkish lady selling her goods in a market



This picture shows the new (news reporter on the left), and the traditional (lady with headscarf on the right)



There are many barbers to be found everywhere in Turkey, and I generally pay a very reasonable Lire 12 (about NZ$8). The slightly scary part is where they use a lighted taper to burn the hair from your ears and nostrils!

Here I enjoy a haircut with a traditional razor



Like most of the year, there have been very few cruising boats around, but one day near Altinkum we anchored in a bay where a yacht, Wight Egret, flew the British flag. The next day I went over to meet David & Beverley Evans from the Isle of Wight, and invited them over for a beer. We had a great time and ended up going out for dinner a few days later, the first time we’d socialized with anyone since Sharon & Doug left six weeks ago.

Diane, Laurie, Chris, Beverley & David together for dinner



While in Didim marina we noticed a “Sailors Pub”, so in the late afternoon decided to go and have a drink. We asked the waiter for a beer and a shandy, only to be told they don’t serve alcoholic drinks. We found this highly amusing and feel sure they wouldn’t attract too many sailors. Fortunately they had another bar nearby which did serve beer.

Didim marina’s pub with no beer



After a couple of days around Altinkum with Chris we headed further south to Bodrum, and moored stern-to the dramatic looking Castle of St Peter to spend a few days watching the remaining two RWC matches. In the 15th century the Ottoman Turks gave the Christian knights the opportunity to leave peacefully with their possessions, and they wisely accepted.

Envoy moored to the Castle of St Peter, Bodrum



One day we took the 90 minute ferry trip over to the Greek island of Kos. Here we collected two alternators for the main engine – one new one ex US, and our old one repaired in Piraeus.

Chris & Laurie enjoying an ice cream in Kos



On the return ferry trip the ferry seemed to go rather close to a container ship



More about Chris’s visit on the next post.

TECHNICAL
All going well and no problems, but just one unusual event.
Envoy has a Northern Lights genset M753 used in conjunction with a Freedom Combi inverter / charger. After an engineer at Didim Marina installed a new fresh water circulating pump on the genset something electrical has somehow changed.
Previously I would start the genset, turn ON the Battery Charger breaker and the batteries would start charging.
Now when I start the genset and turn ON the Battery Charger breaker nothing happens. But if I turn ON the Refrigerator breaker, the fridge will run fine, and then the Battery Charger will work too. Nothing happens unless the Fridge breaker is ON first.
This is not a major problem, but it means I can’t run anything from the genset unless the Fridge is ON too.
Obviously in changing over a water pump nothing electrical has been changed (the only electrical aspect to the job was to remove and replace the temperature sensor wires), so this is a bit of a mystery.
LOG (to 22/10/11): 172 days aboard since leaving Marmaris, 2,007 NM cruised for 413 engine hours.

AROUND ILDIR AND ALTINKUM

Our last visiting friend for the year - Chris O'Brien arrives today. Just happens to be the coldest day so far at 15d due to a front coming through - yet another gale warning. Will get back over 20in a day or two.
Our cuts are healing and we hope to get the stitches out tomorrow.
A Turkish gentleman has left a comment on the last posting that if we paid that much money it must have been a private hospital. In fact it was the Didim Public Hospital.
Going ashore in Turkey and Greece is always a bit of an experience, and even mundane things like grocery shopping or having a coffee or a beer can become exciting, especially away from the main tourist areas. We saw an interesting-looking café in Sigacik partially built into the crumbling walls of the medieval castle. It had a décor reminiscent of Gaudi, with basic wooden furniture, the floor being a mosaic of broken pottery, and decorated with marine artifacts and shells. We were the only customers and the owners made a real fuss of us as we had our cup of Nescafe at Lire 2 (NZ$1.40 each). They couldn’t speak any English, but they showed us the huge pumpkins they grow in their garden behind the café. They also showed us an article about their café in a tourist guide, and the owner pointed to a photo of himself. His name was Captain Pasha, a retired sailor, and that explained the nautical flavour of the café.

Captain Pasha’s café in Sigacik



Rustic interior of Captain Pasha's cafe



Nearby was a derelict, rust-streaked, steel-hulled yacht, and we found out the Greek owner had been suspected of using his yacht for smuggling, so it had been impounded. The owner is still fighting a legal battle to get it returned five years later.

Derelict yacht impounded in Sigacik harbour for suspected smuggling



We often see tractors with trailers carrying people and goods around



Herd of goats on the road in Sigacik



Sadly Turkey has a major litter problem despite the provision of numerous rubbish bins



We saw this tortoise crossing our path



Sunset on Envoy in Ildir harbour



Envoy at anchor in Ildir



View from Envoy of Ildir. In ancient times there was an acropolis on the hill



After an early morning swim we left Sigacik in a cool 20dC temperature with dark grey skies, thunder and lightning bolts. All the previous night the sky had been growling with distant thunder, and the portholes illuminated with lightning. This was not close-by, but kept our attention as we know too well how a thunder storm can quickly whip up violent, unpredictable winds.
Five hours later we anchored in Port St Paul, where a boat carrying St Paul is believed to have stayed. This is not in fact a “port”, but a sheltered bay, and once again we were the only boat there.
Later we saw a large Coastguard patrol boat passing outside the bay. It was around 25m long, with a large cannon on the fore-deck, and machine guns on the bridge. It stopped about 200m from our position and the crew seemed to be looking at us. Then we saw them launch their RIB, and soon it was speeding towards us carrying three crew. Their leader, wearing a pistol in a holster politely asked if he could come aboard – who were we to refuse! He wanted to know why Envoy has so many antennas.

View of Envoy’s antennas and radomes



To explain, Envoy has a total of eleven antennas for 3 x VHF, 1 x SSB, 1 x Navtex, 4 x GPS, 1 x Weather fax, and 1 x Satphone. She also has radomes for the 2 radars. We explained that Envoy is an ocean-going vessel and described the function of each antenna. They still seemed mystified, but must have been satisfied that Envoy wasn’t a spy-ship, and after checking all our documentation they left us.
For the last week we've been anchored off Altinkum as they have many sports bars, and we were able to watch some Rugby World Cup matches. Altinkum has a great sandy beach and attracts mostly British visitors. It is south-facing so provides good shelter from the prevailing northerlies.
One day we saw a seagull on the water that was unable to fly, and decided to investigate. We took the RIB over and discovered the seagull had a long-line hook in its mouth. We weren’t able to remove the hook, but cut the monofilament very close to its mouth and saw it happily fly away. Hopefully the hook will eventually drop out.

TECHNICAL
All is still going well. The fresh water circulating pump on the generator, which was repaired with cold weld, lasted for about 70 hours before it failed again. We used an engineering firm in Didim Marina to install the new one that we’d flown out from US. It’s a difficult job due to very limited accessibility, and it took 2 engineers about 3 hours to do the job. They also patched up the failed one for use as a short term spare.
I’m going to talk about cosmetic maintenance.
The most important thing to do in maintaining your stainless steel, gelcoat and varnished teak in good condition is to regularly wash all the salt off with fresh water. Many days we don’t take any salt spray at all, but on the days we do we always wash all the salt off after anchoring, except for the hull topsides.
Every couple of weeks we spend about two hours going over all the stainless steel with a product called “Miracle Cloth”, and this gets rid of any blemishes or rust stains, and brings it up nicely.

Diane polishes stainless steel bow rails with Miracle Cloth



To get stains off gelcoat and most other substrates we use “Power Sponge” – a sponge made up of melamine microfibres, and it’s amazing to see the difference this makes compared to a normal sponge. This also works well on stainless steel.
Our windows are coated with RainX, and this is great for keeping them clear of spray (we never use the pilothouse windscreen wipers). To get any salt residue off the windows we only need to use fresh water with a lamb’s wool mitten.
When we purchased Envoy all of the exterior teak was varnished. We’ve now stripped the varnish from some areas and gone for the natural look. In other areas we’ve maintained the varnish, and find this needs to be re-applied annually. It’s not a big job – we just wash the teak, lightly wet-sand it, wash it again, wipe it over with thinners, and then apply two or three coats of Epiphanes over consecutive days without sanding between coats.
LOG (to 2/10/11): 152 days aboard since leaving Marmaris, 1,913NM cruised for 393 engine

GALE IN DIDIM MARINA AND WE SUFFER SOME MINOR INJURIES

Normally our blog is about 1-2 weeks behind real time, but unusually we’re going to report on events of today.
We have been close to the small Turkish seaside town of Altinkum, north of Bodrum for the last couple of weeks, and a major reason for this has been to go ashore and watch the Rugby World Cup in one of the many sports cafes with satellite TV. Altinkum has a great sandy beach facing south that we can anchor off, sheltered from the prevailing northerly winds.

Altinkum’s superb south-facing sandy beach on a usual day with Envoy anchored in the background



A few days ago the forecast showed a southerly gale approaching us with winds expected to be Force 7-8. There is nowhere to anchor close to here sheltered from the south, so we opted to shelter in the very good Didim marina for a few days, then we’d be able to go ashore and watch the rugby.
Yesterday we prepared Envoy for the blow with extra lines, as Envoy is facing south directly into the gale. Even though we are in a marina, there is about 150m of unprotected fetch between us and the sea wall, while Envoy’s stern is secured to a floating pontoon.
At first light the wind came up to about 35 knots. Our two bow lines stretched, and the sea was quite choppy, even inside the marina, but all seemed OK.
We went to a waterfront café, but with the gale and heavy rain the TV system wasn’t working due to power outages and no satellite reception, so we sat down to have a coffee.
The sea where we had been peacefully anchored just days before was now a mass of large breaking waves and white water. Then the lightning and thunder started, and the wind noticeably strengthened further as chairs, tables, umbrellas, signs and small trees started to blow away.
Suddenly there was a terrific smashing sound and the café’s two plate glass windows facing the sea were blown in. Di & I were the café’s only customers, and we were showered in shards of broken glass, ranging from small to rather large pieces.

Photo of the table where we were sitting after the plate glass window had blown in. In the background note the rough sea



Di received a nasty deep cut to her left arm and a lesser cut to her right elbow, as well as several abrasions on her hands and arms. I received two cuts to my right ear as well as abrasions to my head.
The café staff administered first aid with serviettes and towels to stem the bleeding, and then the owner used his car to take us to hospital. Di needed six stitches and I needed eight. We were very lucky – some of the larger shards of glass could easily have inflicted very severe injuries.
The hospital was efficient, and we were treated quickly and professionally – for a cost of L694 (about NZ$485).

Di with bandaged left wrist and right elbow



Laurie with bandaged right ear



By then the wind had abated considerably and the café owner then took us through the town strewn with debris to another sports café to watch the All Blacks defeat Argentina for a spot in the Semi-Finals. He told us this was the worst wind he’d seen having owned the café for 20 years. In the marina the wind peaked at 60 knots.
All is fine with Envoy, and we’re going to need to stay around here for a few days as we need to make follow-up visits to the hospital.

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

GALLIPOLI

As Envoy cruised up the narrow buoyed channel towards Ayvalik a RIB was heading directly bow-on towards us. When it was about 30m away we could see it was a Turkish Coastguard RIB, and the officers were signaling us to slow down. I checked our speed as 5.5 knots, and Envoy doesn’t put up any wake at any speed. We thought that being told off for “speeding” in Envoy was highly amusing, and noticed that Turkish boats traveling much faster with sizeable wakes were not approached by the Coastguard.

A Turkish-style rough and ready beach house near Ayvalik



We had originally planned to cruise about 80NM north from Ayvalik through the Dardanelles to Cannakale to visit Gallipoli, but the gale had not abated so we decided to leave Envoy in the Ayvalik Marina and take a rental car to Cannakale. The marina cost here was Euro 86 (about NZ$148) per day including power and non-potable water. In fact the gale lasted for 11 days, and although the wind in our area only reached about 30 knots, it was stronger in the open sea, and would have been decidedly uncomfortable.

Rough sea in the Dardanelles in a gale. We were pleased to have made the journey by car



The marina staff assisted us with the procedure for clearing-in to Turkey, and took me to visit the Port Police. The officer in charge, who looked very busy on his computer, asked me to come around to his side of the desk to see his screen. He was in fact busy playing a racing car game, and insisted on me watching his (lack of) driving skills for twenty minutes or so.
Back in Turkey we quickly got used to the Muslim calls to prayer again. These last about two minutes and are broadcast from loudspeakers at the top of a mosque’s minaret. They can be clearly heard in most places - the first is at dawn, and the last is two hours after sunset.
Driving in Turkey is always an experience. No notice is taken of speed limits with cars commonly driving 50km/hr or more above speed limits. Nor is there any regard for no-overtaking double lines, and vehicles overtake very dangerously, forcing oncoming traffic to pull over onto the shoulder. As we followed a car along a hilly winding road, we saw a large truck coming towards us on our side of the road overtaking another, forcing the car in front and ourselves to take evasive action. Later we saw a major accident where an articulated truck had lost it’s trailer into a roadside ditch.
We arrived safely in Cannakale and checked into the Hotel Helen – named after Helen of Troy, as Troy is close-by. This was the first time since leaving Marmaris in early May that we’d slept ashore.

This reproduction of Troy’s wooded horse was used during the making of the movie



We had decided to book a day tour of Gallipoli (the Turks call it Gelibolu), and this turned out to be the right decision as we would never have found the various interesting sites by ourselves. Our Turkish guide, Murat, was very passionate and gave moving accounts of great bravery on both sides. He described one incident where a wounded British Captain was moaning with pain in no-man’s land, and nobody could reach him due to the intensity of fire. A Turkish soldier put up a white flag of truce, walked unarmed to the wounded soldier, and assisted him to safety. We were all greatly moved, and then he asked if there were any questions. One insensitive member of our tour group replied, “yes I have one, are there many fish in the sea around here?”

Statue of heroic Turkish soldier rescuing wounded British soldier from no-man's land



Our visit was extremely worthwhile and we were deeply moved by the sites we visited, and the hardships that men on both sides had to endure. It was particularly interesting to get the Turkish perspective of this battle, and the extraordinary ineptitude of the British Command – the first fundamental mistake being landing the Anzacs about one mile north of the intended spot where there were high cliffs instead of the intended quite flat countryside.

Anzac Cove where the ANZAC troops were mistakenly landed by the British



At the time the area was only defended by 160 Turks. Most of them were killed, and the Anzacs reached the high ground on the first day. Due to lack of orders they vacated it to re-supply, and after Turkish reinforcements arrived on the second day they were never to reach it again, except for New Zealanders who later reached the high ground of Chunuk Bair for a couple of days before they were driven back.

Chunuk Bair – the highest ground – was breached only by New Zealand’s Wellington Regiment, and here is a statue of Kemel Ataturk and the memoral to fallen New Zealanders



Total casualties during the campaign were around 500,000, roughly half Turkish and half Allied forces. As Murat phrased it the Turks died in defense of their country, and the British, Australians, New Zealanders (2,721 killed), French and Indians died for nothing.

Memorial to the ANZACS



This battle was the largest that the Turks fought in modern times, and it was the event that put Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (the father of the Turks) to the fore as an extremely shrewd commander, who later founded the modern Turkish Republic. Ataturk is still revered by the Turks in a way that’s difficult for us to understand. Every single house and shop has a picture of him. Every village and town has his statue, and an Ataturk street.
The Turks highly respected the ANZACS who fought so bravely and Ataturk penned this famous tribute in 1934:
“To us there us no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets … You, the mothers, who sent your sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom … after losing their lives in this land they have become our sons as well”.

We had a great time back in and around the town of Ayvalik, and nearby village of Alibey, until it was time to farewell our daughter back to London, and Sharon & Doug back to Auckland.

Sharon & Doug, Laurie & Amy in Alibey



On Sharon & Doug’s final night we had dinner ashore, but had difficulty finding a restaurant as it was the public holiday of Ramazan Bayramy -there was a carnival atmosphere and everywhere was full. At one place three musicians were playing traditional Turkish music quiet loudly, and there were several empty tables. We sat down at one, but after a few minutes decided that the music, discordant to our ears, wasn’t for us and moved on to another quieter place, that turned out to be one of the best restaurants we’d been to in Turkey.

Laurie takes Sharon & Doug ashore at Ayvalik to catch the bus to Istanbul



By ourselves again we’re gradually heading southwards.
TECHNICAL
Nothing to report for a change
LOG (to 1/9/11) 121 days aboard since leaving Marmaris, 1,626NM cruised for 333 engine hours.