Weather is getting warmer, with daytime temp about 24d, and since we arrived there’s only been one day of rain. At this stage our blog has been mostly technical, because our whole focus is getting Envoy into the water. I left the boat for the first time yesterday, when Di & I went into Marmaris for a drink and dinner. Every day except Sunday, from 0800 to 1800 we've had various contractors doing their bits, and they want me present.
Here is a contribution from Di.
General living in Marmaris is interesting, sometimes frustrating yet hilarious and never dull. I’ve always enjoyed grocery shopping in different countries; comparing prices and products and looking at the general layout of the supermarkets and shops. In Marmaris there are two large supermarkets and both sell an extensive range of products; food items downstairs and electrical goods, clothing, toys, bedding and general kitchenware etc upstairs - it’s not that much different from home. The challenge of course is the language and trying to somehow understand what it is you are looking at. The pictures on the products are often misleading; on one occasion I bought what I thought was a tin of tuna, only to discover (before we ate it, thankfully) that it was cat food! GST on food here is 8% and goes up to 18% on some items like batteries. All imported food is very expensive; Colemans mustard $19 a jar and my favorite Costello cheese $15 for a small wedge! The local Turks mostly shop in small corner grocery stores, that are everywhere, and so jammed full of things you can hardly move. I always take my “granny trolley “ with me when I go shopping, and leave it parked safely outside any shop knowing that it will be there when I come out. The Turks love to barter, and are delighted to take advantage of a susceptible tourist, but they are honest. They have a wonderful sense of humour, especially the women - who love to play jokes. All laundry at the marina has to be weighed and is priced accordingly - $1kg if you do your own, or $3.50kg if the laundry ladies do it. After they had weighed our laundry they told me to jump on the scales as well. I watched in horror as the kilos kept getting higher and higher - surely I hadn’t been over-eating that much. The ladies were laughing their heads off; one of them had her foot on the scales!
Another surprisingly pleasant experience was going to the dentist. I had chipped my tooth, and it looked like I was needing a crown. We had often been told of the great dentists in Turkey; that they have the latest technology and were extremely well trained. It turned out to be one of my best ever dental visits. The dentist was very gentle and spoke good English, and I had no pain. What a great, quick job he did, and I’m now the proud owner of a lovely porcelain crowned tooth - all for the grand cost of $175. No wonder all the boaties in the marina are queuing up to get their teeth done here!
Eating out is fun, we’ve found a great restaurant close to the marina run by a couple who operated a restaurant in England for the last 8 years and have come home to raise their kids here. Mains range from $20 up to $30 for steak meal. Wine is a worry though, and our tongues hang out for a good NZ chardy or Aussie shiraz.
Ah well, it seems some things in Paradise are not perfect!
Technical
Some major progress in the last few days and launching looks to be in about three weeks, with departure a couple of weeks later, fingers crossed.
- Antifouling is completed (a very nice job), boot stripe to be done.
- Naiad stabilizer fins have been removed, bearings checked and greased and seals replaced. This was a major, taking three guys three days. Parts alone over $2,000. It was also “mission-critical” as the seals had to come from USA, and there are several different varieties of seals. I wanted to be sure this job was completed in plenty of time in case the seals were not the correct ones. One of the engineers will come out for a sea trial to check all OK.
- Our engine is cooled by re-circulating fresh water through a heat exchanges mounted on the keel – called a keel cooler. Our keel cooler through-hull fitting had a slow sea water leak in 2007. Demir were supposed to have removed this, reconditioned the through-hull and re-sealed it. However this was over looked, possibly as it’s in a cow of a position to get out. They’ve now taken it out (after some carpentry to improve access), reconditioned the through hull and re fitted it.
- The pump which supplies cooling water to our refrigeration had a broken outlet fitting. Demir have repaired this, along with our spare pump, which was also broken in the same place.
- Installed reconditioned sea water pump providing cooling water to stabilizers, as was leaking previously.
- The re-galvanized anchor chain has been marked at 10m intervals, and put back on board – windlass working fine.
- Steering checked and seems OK – can’t test fully until in water.
- RIB has been lifted off Envoy by a large crane and taken away for reconditioning. Tubes to be cleaned and slow leaks fixed, new set of tube covers to be made and fitted, seats to be re-upholstered, fiberglass hull to be sanded, faired and re-painted, nav lights & 12v power outlet to be fixed, hole in deck to be repaired, Yamaha to be serviced.
- A small section of the bilge, under the prop shaft has deteriorated and the gelcoat there needs renewing to prevent bilge water seeping into the hull laminate at the keel. A very difficult place to access, but Demir have removed the old gelcoat and we’re now letting the area dry before Demir lay some new glasscloth and gelcoat. Helping the drying process with hot air gun - pretty uncomfortable laying down there!
- Most navigational equipment – radars, vhfs, SSB, Navtex has been tested and OK. Only problems found are bow thruster and side nav lights not working.
- Re-provisioned our supply of flares.
- Our boat cover did a wonderful job in protecting Envoy during 27 months, and represents a sizeable investment at about $5,000. This has been cleaned, repaired and folded into newly-made long term storage bags. We also got Hashim to make storage bags for our two dehumidifiers, recondition the cockpit canopy and custom-make three large deck storage bags.
- The high-gloss varnish on our exterior teak had deteriorated, so the varnish has been stripped back to bare teak and is to be teak-oiled. Demir recommend this as opposed to varnish, due to maintenance issues in the Med heat.
- Checked and repacked our emergency “grab bag”; enough gear in there to last us several days if we ever have to abandon Envoy.
- Mounted four smoke detectors throughout Envoy and checked and agitated all extinguishers.
- Cleaned our three bilge pump pick-ups - see photo.
- Got our HP printer working.
- Checked boat deck winches (one function not working) and replaced all shock cord
Main things to be done now are:
- Get the fuel filtration system operational and start filtering our diesel.
- Get toilets and fresh water systems running.
- Main engine prop shaft and cutlass bearing still to be installed (can’t be done until bilges job completed).
- Get the three engines running.
- The gelcoat on hull, topsides and decks is being professionally cleaned, cut and polished, as not done since 2006.
All sounds simple doesn’t it, but good news is there are plenty of ticks off the list and nothing much being added.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Envoy slowly comes to life
After six solid but enjoyable days working on the boat we’re making some progress.
When we arrived last Monday everything looked basically OK, but it was hard for us to quite know where to start. Now we are pretty comfortable living aboard on the hardstand with power, water supply from a hose (but no running water on the boat yet), refrigeration, lpg stove, microwave, and all electrics operational.
Yesterday Di went into Marmaris, about 30 minutes by dolmus (bus) for about $5 return and got a new SIM card for our Turkish phone. This is Turkcell, similar to NZ Telecom. Cost is quite high at roughly $50 for an hour of local calls or $50 for 25 minutes of international calls. We’ll be sticking to Skype (free WiFi at the marina).
Di says things have really increased in price here since 2007. For example a tube of Colgate toothpaste cost $10. We might be making our own!
Been busy re-familiarizing ourselves with where everything is. Envoy is incredibly well equipped with spare parts, tools and chandlery, but you have to know where to find something when you need it. We've completed dozens of jobs and during the day it’s a bit chaotic with different tradesmen coming and going. Demir Marine employ about 40 staff and we’ve met about 10 so far. Over here they are very much specialists. They have engineers, electricians, painters, riggers and laborers without much crossover, whereas in New Zealand an engineer would for example happily paint a reconditioned starter motor. The guys are really friendly, although communication is difficult as only a few speak English.
All except one of the sea cocks are back in place, and today I checked all 15 of them, making sure I could remember where they are all located, check the installations, check the bonding wires had been connected, and that they were all in the closed position (except for bilge pump) ready for launching.
Tomorrow is a big day as the Naiad stabilizer seals get replaced (fingers crossed the seals are the right ones!) This is a big job as it involves completely removing the stabilizer fins, and if they don't go back on correctly we're gonna leak!
The hull is nearly ready for antifouling and I imagine that in another week we should have a pretty good idea of a launch date. So far there are no major unpleasant surprises (although a few minor ones) and we just need to keep working away and ticking stuff off the list.
On the social side we’ve so far met four couples we met during our 2007 cruise, and it’s been great to catch up with them again.
When we arrived last Monday everything looked basically OK, but it was hard for us to quite know where to start. Now we are pretty comfortable living aboard on the hardstand with power, water supply from a hose (but no running water on the boat yet), refrigeration, lpg stove, microwave, and all electrics operational.
Yesterday Di went into Marmaris, about 30 minutes by dolmus (bus) for about $5 return and got a new SIM card for our Turkish phone. This is Turkcell, similar to NZ Telecom. Cost is quite high at roughly $50 for an hour of local calls or $50 for 25 minutes of international calls. We’ll be sticking to Skype (free WiFi at the marina).
Di says things have really increased in price here since 2007. For example a tube of Colgate toothpaste cost $10. We might be making our own!
Been busy re-familiarizing ourselves with where everything is. Envoy is incredibly well equipped with spare parts, tools and chandlery, but you have to know where to find something when you need it. We've completed dozens of jobs and during the day it’s a bit chaotic with different tradesmen coming and going. Demir Marine employ about 40 staff and we’ve met about 10 so far. Over here they are very much specialists. They have engineers, electricians, painters, riggers and laborers without much crossover, whereas in New Zealand an engineer would for example happily paint a reconditioned starter motor. The guys are really friendly, although communication is difficult as only a few speak English.
All except one of the sea cocks are back in place, and today I checked all 15 of them, making sure I could remember where they are all located, check the installations, check the bonding wires had been connected, and that they were all in the closed position (except for bilge pump) ready for launching.
Tomorrow is a big day as the Naiad stabilizer seals get replaced (fingers crossed the seals are the right ones!) This is a big job as it involves completely removing the stabilizer fins, and if they don't go back on correctly we're gonna leak!
The hull is nearly ready for antifouling and I imagine that in another week we should have a pretty good idea of a launch date. So far there are no major unpleasant surprises (although a few minor ones) and we just need to keep working away and ticking stuff off the list.
On the social side we’ve so far met four couples we met during our 2007 cruise, and it’s been great to catch up with them again.
Thursday, April 08, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Link to map now available
If you scroll down the right hand side of this blog there is a link to a map showing Envoy's travels, using Click2Map software. On this map a blue icon shows every destination Envoy has been to since we started our journey from Ostia in March 2007.
It also shows the date and whether Envoy was at anchor or in a marina.
When you load the map by clicking on the link, on the left hand side of the map there are directional arrows and a range scale. On the right hand side you can read the destinations visited with dates. If you click on a destination the relevant tab is labelled, and you can then use the scale to zoom in on that location. What a great system and thanks to my friend Cory Dyer for helping me with setting up the link.
Technical
Demir Marine in Marmaris advised they inspected the main prop shaft (last replaced 2001) and found signs of surface corrosion. They emailed me photos of the corrosion and suggested we get a new shaft made and installed while Envoy is out of the water.
Will also need a new cutlass bearing as the old shaft was 2", while the new one will be 50mm.
It also shows the date and whether Envoy was at anchor or in a marina.
When you load the map by clicking on the link, on the left hand side of the map there are directional arrows and a range scale. On the right hand side you can read the destinations visited with dates. If you click on a destination the relevant tab is labelled, and you can then use the scale to zoom in on that location. What a great system and thanks to my friend Cory Dyer for helping me with setting up the link.
Technical
Demir Marine in Marmaris advised they inspected the main prop shaft (last replaced 2001) and found signs of surface corrosion. They emailed me photos of the corrosion and suggested we get a new shaft made and installed while Envoy is out of the water.
Will also need a new cutlass bearing as the old shaft was 2", while the new one will be 50mm.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Cruising again soon
It is exactly two years ago since we updated our blogspot, and now is a good time to look back on what’s happened so far and advise about our future plans:
October 2006: purchased Nordhavn 46 Envoy, located in Ostia, Italy
March 2007: joined Envoy in Ostia for the start of an intended 15 month cruise
December 2007: signed a contract to sell Hunt Agencies, the company in which I was a major shareholder
January 2008: cut our cruise short to return home and assist the management of the acquiring company
During 2007 our voyage took us down the west coast of Italy to Sicily and the Aeolian Islands, through the Straits of Messina and north east to Corfu, down the west coast of Greece and the Ionian Islands, through the Gulf of Corinth and the Corinthian Canal to the Saronic Islands and Piraeus and then east through the Greek Middle Cyclades and some of the Dodecanese Islands to Marmaris, Turkey where Envoy is currently located.
Envoy has been left unattended since January 2008, but we protected her with a custom-built waterproof cover, installed two dehumidifiers inside, left the batteries on charge and contracted a local marine engineering company, Demir Marine, to go aboard and make regular checks. In addition, several friends have been able to inspect Envoy and independently assure us that mostly everything is OK. Knowing that Envoy would be out of the water for at least two years we also contracted Demir Marine to renew the gelcoat and paint on all underwater hull sections including the rudder and stabilizer fins.
I retire from full-time work on 31 March and we will arrive back in Marmaris on 5 April. When Envoy is ready to cruise again we plan to cruise to the Greek Islands of Rhodes, Lindos, Karpathos and Crete, where we will stay for several weeks. We will then return to Marmaris via Milos, Kimolos, Fologandros, Sikinos, Santorini, Anafi and Tilos.
I have made an arrangement with a premium, coffee-table quality, Australasian boating magazine, “Pacific Motor Yacht”, to publish a regular column about our Med cruising adventures and our first article appears in the March/April edition. Pacific Motor Yacht has a great on-line version which is free, and uses a "flick pages" format making it very reader-friendly. Google Pacific Motor Yacht magazine for details.
Technical
If you read over our blog entry of 6 January 2008 you’ll be able to see the details of what we did to prepare Envoy for long term storage. When we return to Marmaris there will be considerable work needed to get Envoy back into cruising trim, and we estimate it will take 4-6 weeks to complete this and start cruising again.
October 2006: purchased Nordhavn 46 Envoy, located in Ostia, Italy
March 2007: joined Envoy in Ostia for the start of an intended 15 month cruise
December 2007: signed a contract to sell Hunt Agencies, the company in which I was a major shareholder
January 2008: cut our cruise short to return home and assist the management of the acquiring company
During 2007 our voyage took us down the west coast of Italy to Sicily and the Aeolian Islands, through the Straits of Messina and north east to Corfu, down the west coast of Greece and the Ionian Islands, through the Gulf of Corinth and the Corinthian Canal to the Saronic Islands and Piraeus and then east through the Greek Middle Cyclades and some of the Dodecanese Islands to Marmaris, Turkey where Envoy is currently located.
Envoy has been left unattended since January 2008, but we protected her with a custom-built waterproof cover, installed two dehumidifiers inside, left the batteries on charge and contracted a local marine engineering company, Demir Marine, to go aboard and make regular checks. In addition, several friends have been able to inspect Envoy and independently assure us that mostly everything is OK. Knowing that Envoy would be out of the water for at least two years we also contracted Demir Marine to renew the gelcoat and paint on all underwater hull sections including the rudder and stabilizer fins.
I retire from full-time work on 31 March and we will arrive back in Marmaris on 5 April. When Envoy is ready to cruise again we plan to cruise to the Greek Islands of Rhodes, Lindos, Karpathos and Crete, where we will stay for several weeks. We will then return to Marmaris via Milos, Kimolos, Fologandros, Sikinos, Santorini, Anafi and Tilos.
I have made an arrangement with a premium, coffee-table quality, Australasian boating magazine, “Pacific Motor Yacht”, to publish a regular column about our Med cruising adventures and our first article appears in the March/April edition. Pacific Motor Yacht has a great on-line version which is free, and uses a "flick pages" format making it very reader-friendly. Google Pacific Motor Yacht magazine for details.
Technical
If you read over our blog entry of 6 January 2008 you’ll be able to see the details of what we did to prepare Envoy for long term storage. When we return to Marmaris there will be considerable work needed to get Envoy back into cruising trim, and we estimate it will take 4-6 weeks to complete this and start cruising again.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Last posting for a while
Diane & I returned to NZ on Weds 23 January bringing to an end this part of our adventures with Envoy, now under a purpose-built cover on the hardstand at Marmaris, until we return to continue our Med cruise.
I have edited the previous posting re technical matters bringing it up-to-date.
Bureaucracy - there are two types of paperwork required to stay in Turkey; one relates to people and one relates to the boat. People are allowed to stay on a visa for 90 days. Before expiry, the usual procedure is to take a ferry to one of the Greek Islands to get stamped out of Turkey, into Greece, out of Greece, and back into Turkey - then you're OK for another 90 days. You normally take a ferry as opposed to taking your own boat, or you face considerable additional formalities relating to exiting your boat and then re-entering. The boat under "customs bond" in a recognised marina is allowed to stay up to two years. In our case Envoy is OK up to July 2009. Then you apply for an extension which is automatically granted, but you have to be there at the marina to apply for the extension. We explained to the Customs officer (who was very friendly & helpful) that it seemed a bit tough having to come all the way from NZ to fill out a form. His reaction was, "a lot can happen in 18 months - let's wait and see". So it's possible we (or one of us) may have to return to Turkey mid-2009 to get this extension.
We would not contemplate going back to use Envoy for a holiday prior to our return to full time cruising, as it's just too complicated to get Envoy ready for sea for a short period and then lay her up again. When we do go back we will probably stay in the Med for the months of February thru November, leaving Envoy in the water for just about 3 months at a time while we return to NZ. Anyway that is a little time off yet.
In total we spent 281 days & nights aboard Envoy, and a highlight was being able to spend a lot of that time with some of our wonderful family and friends, who all contributed to our great adventure.
Goodbye for now.
I have edited the previous posting re technical matters bringing it up-to-date.
Bureaucracy - there are two types of paperwork required to stay in Turkey; one relates to people and one relates to the boat. People are allowed to stay on a visa for 90 days. Before expiry, the usual procedure is to take a ferry to one of the Greek Islands to get stamped out of Turkey, into Greece, out of Greece, and back into Turkey - then you're OK for another 90 days. You normally take a ferry as opposed to taking your own boat, or you face considerable additional formalities relating to exiting your boat and then re-entering. The boat under "customs bond" in a recognised marina is allowed to stay up to two years. In our case Envoy is OK up to July 2009. Then you apply for an extension which is automatically granted, but you have to be there at the marina to apply for the extension. We explained to the Customs officer (who was very friendly & helpful) that it seemed a bit tough having to come all the way from NZ to fill out a form. His reaction was, "a lot can happen in 18 months - let's wait and see". So it's possible we (or one of us) may have to return to Turkey mid-2009 to get this extension.
We would not contemplate going back to use Envoy for a holiday prior to our return to full time cruising, as it's just too complicated to get Envoy ready for sea for a short period and then lay her up again. When we do go back we will probably stay in the Med for the months of February thru November, leaving Envoy in the water for just about 3 months at a time while we return to NZ. Anyway that is a little time off yet.
In total we spent 281 days & nights aboard Envoy, and a highlight was being able to spend a lot of that time with some of our wonderful family and friends, who all contributed to our great adventure.
Goodbye for now.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Final weeks in Marmaris
We arrived back here in Marmaris 14 November after a great visit back to NZ & Queensland, visiting family & friends. John & Alice had meanwhile been looking after Envoy in mainly atrocious weather with very heavy rain, gales, & cold temperatures.
On our return the weather suddenly changed for the better with very sunny, mostly cloudless days and daytime temperatures about 18dC. In fact, up to today, we’ve had only about three days with any rain, although it's cooled to about 14dC in the last few days.
When we wrote the last blog update we were deliberately vague about our future plans.
Our original plan had been to stay in Marmaris until end February, then cruise until June, lift Envoy out of the water, and then return to NZ in July. However, very recently my company, Hunt Agencies, received an acquisition offer, and during our visit to Auckland we met with the prospective buyers, and a deal was struck that subject to completion of due diligence should proceed - effective probably 1/3/08. One of the conditions of the deal is that I continue to lead the company as CEO for the next two or three years, so we have changed our plans to accommodate this and will pull Envoy out of the water on 15 January and arrive back home on 23 January. More details about Envoy under Technical.
When I do retire from Hunt by mutual agreement with the new owners, we will return to the Med with an open timetable and continue our cruising. This will probably involve going SW to Crete, through the many Southern & Central Greek Islands to Northern Turkey, back through the Northern Greek Islands to Croatia, across to Venice and then down to Sicily and into the Western Med. Our long term plan is to bring Envoy back to NZ via the Indian Ocean route.
It was great to catch up with John & Alice again before Alice left for Canada on 22 December and Amy arrived on the 23rd. Envoy was nicely decorated with a Xmas tree, decorations and lights, so we had a real Xmas atmosphere.
Plenty of activity was organized at the Marmaris marina for the cruising residents, in fact possibly too much. Di made the comment that it’s a bit like a Butlins Holiday Camp here!
Di, Amy, John & I hired a rental car for a couple of days and stayed down in Kalkan, which is one of the most picturesque of the coastal villages, being a previously Greek settlement. We had a great time there and the first night went to a nice restaurant called Ottoman. We got talking to a waiter there called Namic, and had a late night.
The next night Namic invited us all to his house for dinner, where we had some interesting conversation about Turkish culture etc. There was no “hidden agenda” to this; Namic did not have an uncle who is a carpet salesman, but is just a really nice guy.
Amy & John left on 30 Dec but it was not a sad parting as John will be in NZ when we arrive back, while Amy arrives there on 4 February for a month. John has decided to go back to Auckland Uni and do a two year Masters degree (in urban planning).
Since Amy & John left we’ve been organizing Envoy for her long time out of the water.
We have offloaded a lot of gear that has never been or is never likely to be used and making arrangements for Envoy’s storage. We have found a very good engineering company called Demir Marine owned by an nice guy called Ilhan. He has a very good reputation, and in fact he did work on Envoy for the previous owners when they were in Marmaris.
Technical – this is going to be quite detailed. If you don’t like it please switch off!
A lot is happening because we left quite a bit of routine maintenance until now, and we have a lot to do in preparation for leaving Envoy on the hard for two to three years. I am indebted to Frank Curulli for his research, thoughts, and subsequent written plan regarding storage. During this storage time Demir Marine will check Envoy every 2 weeks or so.
Envoy will be on shore power, and the battery chargers will be left on charging our AGM-type batteries. We have installed two dehumidifiers and Demir will check these and empty them of water as required. Additionally we had a full custom-designed waterproof cover made for the boat from a pvc-coated polyester fabric, which has a five year guarantee. The company making this cover is on site and undertake to check it regularly and repair if needed.
Water tanks have been left full of water with some bleach added to prevent bacterial growth.
The diesel tanks have had their diesel treated with biocide, but were not able to be left full as planned, because it was not possible to add fuel on the hardstand (a misunderstanding). Anyhow, the air breathers have been blocked off, and the tanks have good inspection ports which can be opened for checking the tanks on our return.
The diesel filters have been left and will changed before re-launching. The oil and oil filters have be changed in the three engines, the water pump impellers removed from the Yanmar & Genset and the water pumps serviced. The impellers will be replaced with new ones on re-assembly.
The following jobs were comleted:
- saloon 12v light repaired – faulty switch
- repair to fuel leak at Lugger fuel pump
- leaking Naiad stabilizer seawater cooling pump rebuilt
- 2 x alternators on Lugger serviced, and some suspect wiring replaced
- alternator on wing engine serviced
- most v-belts replaced
- all sea water hoses on Yanmar replaced
- Maxwell anchor winch removed & stripped, motor serviced and new shaft machined to replace present one showing corrosion, gearbox oil changed
- watermaker u/v filter wiring repaired
- watermaker “pickled” with chemicals for long term storage
- new flurorescent light fitted in engine room
- new fuel transfer pump installed (thanks Brian) and the old one repaired for use as a spare
- domestic water circulation pumps replaced with new ones, and old ones rebuilt as spares
- domestic water supply filters replaced
- repairs to wing engine exhaust system – new s/s elbow, hose and repair of muffler
- fitting of Teflon wear strip on saloon door to aid operation
- 2 x outboards winterized
- start battery on large rib discarded, and will be replaced later
- waterblasted all growth from hull & running gear
- identified there is some osmosis on hull which will be repaired by stripping back the gelcoat and laying up a new epoxy gelcoat. At that time all seacocks will be removed and serviced
- all equipment which uses seawater for cooling was run with fresh water by connecting a freshwater supply to the inlet of the relevant seacock
- all v-belts loosened and pulleys protected from rust
- sprayed all metal parts with WD40 (CRC Longlife not obtainable here)
- sprayed all accessible electrical parts with contact cleaner
- the keel cooler through-hull fitting is leaking sea water and needs repair. We will also check if the keel cooler should be removed and acid bath cleaned. This will be done at the time of the gelcoat repair
- heads were emptied and holding tanks filled with fresh water
- anchor chain removed for re-galvanising
- bow thruster motor removed and rebuilt, thruster gearbox oil changed
- a couple of minor blemishes on topsides gel coat to be repaired during our absence
- all interior woodwork was polished for protection
- all interior and exterior stainless steel was polished and then lightly coated with clean engine oil
- the mid aircon 110v pump was removed for checking. It is faulty and needs replacement on our return together with its 110v power supply
- props & shafts being cleaned and protected with grease
- rudder bearings & Yanmar cutlass bearing to be checked
- the stbd stern cleat, which was badly bent, has been removed, repaired, and re-installed
- mattresses were stowed vertically, and all interior drawers, cupboards, hatches were left open for air circulation
- we contemplated leaving taps in the open position to rest the washers, but decided against this, in case while work is being done the fresh water supply is activated
When we return, apart from re-commissioning Envoy we will:
- get the RIB inflatable pontoons repaired (they are leaking air), hull tidied up, navigation lights, 12v power outlet & fuel guage fixed, and the seat re-upholstered to make the RIB like new again
- repair port side for'ard saloon window, so that it opens
- antifoul the hull - probably using International Micron 66
- replace all zincs
- clean & polish the hull & topsides
- fit new bilge water high-level alarm
- galley stove to be serviced
- new roller in anchor pulpit
On our return the weather suddenly changed for the better with very sunny, mostly cloudless days and daytime temperatures about 18dC. In fact, up to today, we’ve had only about three days with any rain, although it's cooled to about 14dC in the last few days.
When we wrote the last blog update we were deliberately vague about our future plans.
Our original plan had been to stay in Marmaris until end February, then cruise until June, lift Envoy out of the water, and then return to NZ in July. However, very recently my company, Hunt Agencies, received an acquisition offer, and during our visit to Auckland we met with the prospective buyers, and a deal was struck that subject to completion of due diligence should proceed - effective probably 1/3/08. One of the conditions of the deal is that I continue to lead the company as CEO for the next two or three years, so we have changed our plans to accommodate this and will pull Envoy out of the water on 15 January and arrive back home on 23 January. More details about Envoy under Technical.
When I do retire from Hunt by mutual agreement with the new owners, we will return to the Med with an open timetable and continue our cruising. This will probably involve going SW to Crete, through the many Southern & Central Greek Islands to Northern Turkey, back through the Northern Greek Islands to Croatia, across to Venice and then down to Sicily and into the Western Med. Our long term plan is to bring Envoy back to NZ via the Indian Ocean route.
It was great to catch up with John & Alice again before Alice left for Canada on 22 December and Amy arrived on the 23rd. Envoy was nicely decorated with a Xmas tree, decorations and lights, so we had a real Xmas atmosphere.
Plenty of activity was organized at the Marmaris marina for the cruising residents, in fact possibly too much. Di made the comment that it’s a bit like a Butlins Holiday Camp here!
Di, Amy, John & I hired a rental car for a couple of days and stayed down in Kalkan, which is one of the most picturesque of the coastal villages, being a previously Greek settlement. We had a great time there and the first night went to a nice restaurant called Ottoman. We got talking to a waiter there called Namic, and had a late night.
The next night Namic invited us all to his house for dinner, where we had some interesting conversation about Turkish culture etc. There was no “hidden agenda” to this; Namic did not have an uncle who is a carpet salesman, but is just a really nice guy.
Amy & John left on 30 Dec but it was not a sad parting as John will be in NZ when we arrive back, while Amy arrives there on 4 February for a month. John has decided to go back to Auckland Uni and do a two year Masters degree (in urban planning).
Since Amy & John left we’ve been organizing Envoy for her long time out of the water.
We have offloaded a lot of gear that has never been or is never likely to be used and making arrangements for Envoy’s storage. We have found a very good engineering company called Demir Marine owned by an nice guy called Ilhan. He has a very good reputation, and in fact he did work on Envoy for the previous owners when they were in Marmaris.
Technical – this is going to be quite detailed. If you don’t like it please switch off!
A lot is happening because we left quite a bit of routine maintenance until now, and we have a lot to do in preparation for leaving Envoy on the hard for two to three years. I am indebted to Frank Curulli for his research, thoughts, and subsequent written plan regarding storage. During this storage time Demir Marine will check Envoy every 2 weeks or so.
Envoy will be on shore power, and the battery chargers will be left on charging our AGM-type batteries. We have installed two dehumidifiers and Demir will check these and empty them of water as required. Additionally we had a full custom-designed waterproof cover made for the boat from a pvc-coated polyester fabric, which has a five year guarantee. The company making this cover is on site and undertake to check it regularly and repair if needed.
Water tanks have been left full of water with some bleach added to prevent bacterial growth.
The diesel tanks have had their diesel treated with biocide, but were not able to be left full as planned, because it was not possible to add fuel on the hardstand (a misunderstanding). Anyhow, the air breathers have been blocked off, and the tanks have good inspection ports which can be opened for checking the tanks on our return.
The diesel filters have been left and will changed before re-launching. The oil and oil filters have be changed in the three engines, the water pump impellers removed from the Yanmar & Genset and the water pumps serviced. The impellers will be replaced with new ones on re-assembly.
The following jobs were comleted:
- saloon 12v light repaired – faulty switch
- repair to fuel leak at Lugger fuel pump
- leaking Naiad stabilizer seawater cooling pump rebuilt
- 2 x alternators on Lugger serviced, and some suspect wiring replaced
- alternator on wing engine serviced
- most v-belts replaced
- all sea water hoses on Yanmar replaced
- Maxwell anchor winch removed & stripped, motor serviced and new shaft machined to replace present one showing corrosion, gearbox oil changed
- watermaker u/v filter wiring repaired
- watermaker “pickled” with chemicals for long term storage
- new flurorescent light fitted in engine room
- new fuel transfer pump installed (thanks Brian) and the old one repaired for use as a spare
- domestic water circulation pumps replaced with new ones, and old ones rebuilt as spares
- domestic water supply filters replaced
- repairs to wing engine exhaust system – new s/s elbow, hose and repair of muffler
- fitting of Teflon wear strip on saloon door to aid operation
- 2 x outboards winterized
- start battery on large rib discarded, and will be replaced later
- waterblasted all growth from hull & running gear
- identified there is some osmosis on hull which will be repaired by stripping back the gelcoat and laying up a new epoxy gelcoat. At that time all seacocks will be removed and serviced
- all equipment which uses seawater for cooling was run with fresh water by connecting a freshwater supply to the inlet of the relevant seacock
- all v-belts loosened and pulleys protected from rust
- sprayed all metal parts with WD40 (CRC Longlife not obtainable here)
- sprayed all accessible electrical parts with contact cleaner
- the keel cooler through-hull fitting is leaking sea water and needs repair. We will also check if the keel cooler should be removed and acid bath cleaned. This will be done at the time of the gelcoat repair
- heads were emptied and holding tanks filled with fresh water
- anchor chain removed for re-galvanising
- bow thruster motor removed and rebuilt, thruster gearbox oil changed
- a couple of minor blemishes on topsides gel coat to be repaired during our absence
- all interior woodwork was polished for protection
- all interior and exterior stainless steel was polished and then lightly coated with clean engine oil
- the mid aircon 110v pump was removed for checking. It is faulty and needs replacement on our return together with its 110v power supply
- props & shafts being cleaned and protected with grease
- rudder bearings & Yanmar cutlass bearing to be checked
- the stbd stern cleat, which was badly bent, has been removed, repaired, and re-installed
- mattresses were stowed vertically, and all interior drawers, cupboards, hatches were left open for air circulation
- we contemplated leaving taps in the open position to rest the washers, but decided against this, in case while work is being done the fresh water supply is activated
When we return, apart from re-commissioning Envoy we will:
- get the RIB inflatable pontoons repaired (they are leaking air), hull tidied up, navigation lights, 12v power outlet & fuel guage fixed, and the seat re-upholstered to make the RIB like new again
- repair port side for'ard saloon window, so that it opens
- antifoul the hull - probably using International Micron 66
- replace all zincs
- clean & polish the hull & topsides
- fit new bilge water high-level alarm
- galley stove to be serviced
- new roller in anchor pulpit
Saturday, November 24, 2007
On Envoy - Guests: Frank & Marie
Is this for real in ancient times?????? 
Frankie in the Med !
Yo Boy!
Tenzing and Edmund !
Princess Caroline took this photo!Marie and I are close longtime friends of Laurie & Di and have spent much time boating together in New Zealand. Laurie and I have enjoyed boating for almost 30 years and enjoy nothing more than discussing boats, along with fishing and rum-and-cokes (no ice for Laurie)!
Consequently when Laurie announced his intentions of purchasing a boat and travelling the Med we were enthralled and closely followed his purchase decision. I can say that the vessel he has chosen - 46' Nordhaven - is a superb cruising boat. We spent 2 weeks on Envoy with Laurie and Di and Laurie's son John and it was both a wonderful experience and a real thrill to be invited along.
Marie and I went to Istanbul first for 6 days and thoroughly enjoyed exploring this ancient city - a bit like Rome but without the Italians! Lots of history, carpets and cats! We did a day trip up the Bosphorus and this was very enjoyable - recommended Laurie must take Envoy on this passage and into the Black Sea.
We flew to the seaside port of Bodrum to join Envoy and this was our first view of the Nordhaven. What a fabulous design for extended cruising. 2 staterooms - both with toilet and shower facilities, water maker, washing machine/dryer, DVD systems, huge library of wonderful reading material - give me the winning Lotto numbers!!!!
We cruised for two weeks down the eastern coast of Turkey as far as Gocek and had a side visit to the Greek island of Simi. I was absolutely amazed at the coastline of Turkey. Somehow we believed that any coastline on the Med would be populated with hotels and apartments everywhere. What we found in reality is the most beautiful stretches of coast that are untouched and essentially "wild". The terrain is very much like our Great Barrier Island here in New Zealand. Beautiful coves to anchor in and superb clear, blue, warm water that we have seen in photos but never believed existed in reality. We thought all those pictures of the blue Med were touched up - it really is as blue and beautiful as a postcard!
Laurie & Di are wonderful hosts and we felt very relaxed. It is very special when the guys and their wives all get along so well and it was a real bonus to have their son John with us. John is the same age as my eldest son Tony and they have grown up together from babies. John is a great guy and a full-time First Mate on Superyachts, so the Cranfield family now has three generations of mariners. John had this huge book of Su-Do-Ku "puzzles" and is a real expert. He showed me how to "play" it and it was really interesting for the logic part of the brain - I'm now trying to do these each day in the NZ Herald. Not so successful was the men playing the ladies at cards - They cleaned us out at 500 on a regular basis!
Life on Envoy seems so natural and relaxed. Laurie (The Admiral) tends to the ship every day with course/destination planning, log recording, weather information, blog notes as well as engine checks, water checks, charging monitoring, freezer temp monitoring, holding tank emptying etc! Envoy is incredibly stable with active stabilisers when under way and a displacement hull at rest - there was no rocking or slap-slap at night and we could have been on land. The coastline is so pretty and enjoyable that you could spend months exploring it. This is where the water maker and washing machine are essential and fuel is the least problem. With Envoy's massive refrigerator and separate huge freezer there is ample room to store supplies. Thus fresh water becomes the critical item. I have never tasted such pure water as that from the water maker and together with the washing machine, they virtually eliminate the need to regularly reach a port for water and supplies. I see Envoy as a true "home on the water" with every comfort of our land-based homes.
Laurie guided us to many places with ruins and it was great to go ashore and explore these. We never ceased to be amazed at the extremes of engineering feats for that period of time so long ago. Also the simple Tavernas located along the coastline were fascinating to us. We had a great night at the Ali Baba restaurant with owners Barbaross and his wife. Surprisingly the Med still has good size fish and we dined on a nice whole grilled fish with salad. We also caught 4 Bonito trolling and Marie revelled in landing some of these. I love filleting fish and these were superb to fillet. They were great eating and we had a true feast on these, always assisted by several bottles of white wine followed by several bottles of Italian red! Di and Marie excelled at dinner time and I can say the meals on Envoy were 5 stars!!!
We also visited the small Greek island of Simi. This amazed me as it is virtually all rock with no water or vegetation. Fresh water is brought to the island on a continuing basis by two rather dilapidated water tanker ships. These simply unload and return for another cargo of water - all year round. The island comprises habitation at two beautiful small ports, separated by a tall, wide ridge. The villages are simple plaster houses with a mix of well-kept homes among dilapidated or abandoned dwellings. The tide in the Med is virtually nil - about 30cm max - and therefore you have these houses and shopping strips at sea level, with boats parked along the waterfront. What an idyllic setting. We sat in the sun and enjoyed a lovely lunch. Later, Laurie and John and I did a climb up to a peak on the island. It was a fantastic view and a great experience. We had a nice dinner at a waterfront cafe at Simi, along with 15 cats - 3 generations from kittens to grandma and grandpa cat!
We experienced two beautiful meals ashore during the cruise - "My Marina" at Ekincik and "The Marina Restaurant" at Gocek. These were first class meals and absolutely superb, along with the setting - truly world-class (thank you John for Gocek).
The journey with Laurie, Di and John on Envoy was a wonderful experience for us. What a great way to see the Med and experience these destinations by sea instead of flitting from hotel to hotel as most do.
To the Admiral and Lady Envoy, sincere thanks for the opportunity and the hospitality - we loved it. To Johnny - I'm still struggling with Su-Do-Ku but my brain is getting faster!
Very Best Wishes,
Love Frank & Marie.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
End of our Med summer cruise
As I write this we are in the Marmaris marina at the end of our voyage.
Some sadness of course, but tinged by memories of all the great times we’ve had with family & friends. In a few days we return to NZ and are looking forward to seeing everybody again. Then we spend a few days in Queensland visiting Dad, Maureen & my brother Charles before returning to Marmaris to join Amy & John for Xmas.
Beyond that we will decide in the coming few weeks.
After an absolutely wonderful summer the weather is now turning distinctly cooler as its about 20d in the day time often with a cool breeze and 15d or so at night. It’s now also dark by 6 so the nights are long. Having not seen rain for months we are getting showers and even thunderstorms, and we can see snow in the 2,000m high mountains inland from the shore. Today there is heavy rain and a gale force wind, so we’re quite pleased to be safely moored in the marina. The sea is still 22d so quite warm, and we have been swimming daily.
Most of the tourists have gone, the restaurants have either closed or will do so in the next few days, and there are very few boats around. Even the Gulets are back in port in their hundreds, often moored two or three deep around the quays. On balance we preferred the warmer weather and busier conditions and, as we have stated before, it never got really crowded here.
We arrived with Frank, Marie & John in Ekincik on Sun 28th. This is from where you visit Caunos and the Lycian rock tombs in Dalyan and although we had been here before with Brian & Carol, every visit has its own special features. Normally you go up the river to Caunos, but due to heavy rain, the river was silted downstream stopping boat access. It was arranged to go by car and take a boat from upstream, which made for a new experience, and the day was completed with another fantastic night at the My Marina Restaurant. The details of Caunos and the rock tombs have been mentioned previously.
From Ekincik we headed to Wall Bay near Gocek arriving Tues 30th.
From here we did a beautiful 4 hour return walk along the cliff tops and forest to the ancient Lycian ruins at Dydae. It is remarkable with so many ruins in Turkey that no measures are taken to really protect them, and you can see wonderful rock friezes and other items just laying in the dust. There are very few birds in Turkey and we saw an example of why this is so – two hunters with shotguns and dogs were shooting all the birds they could see for food, and this is quite common around here.
Thurs 1/11 found us anchored off Gocek where we had a great farewell dinner at the Club Marina Restaurant.
On Fri 2nd Frank & Marie set off back for NZ and our final guests arrived – Tom & Dennise Thomson from Christchurch. Tom & Dennise had been in Dusseldorf attending a plastics trade fair and were only able to spend 4 days with us. Also in Gocek, John’s friend Alice arrived, so John moved ashore to do some local travelling around with Alice. On Thurs 6th we went back to Gemiler Buku – where a local couple on their dilapitated caique (dinghy) sell pancakes. There were very few people around and as we ate our pancakes we were told by Mustafa & Melia that this was their last day and they were packing up and going back to their village for the winter.
Another boat came up to us to sell us vegetables and it turned out to be Ona who we had met twice before and to whom we had given a surplus “lilo”.
Ona generously offered us the use of his car to visit the village of Kaya Koy, about 7km away, where there are extensive ruins of a 17thC Greek village.
Ona’s gesture was very touching because his car would be a very valuable possession to him, and all he wanted in return was some money for diesel.
We gave him 20 lire (about $20) and he was more than happy. The ruins at Kaya Koy (which means stone town) are extensive, covering several square km with approx 2,000 houses, two churches, small chapels and other buildings still standing minus their roofs. The Greeks who used to live here originally lived on the island of Gemiler, but moved inland about 700 AD to escape constant attacks from pirates. In 1922 they were forcibly resettled to Greece along with 1.2m other Greek speaking Christians, and 400,000 Turks living in Greek Macedonia were moved to Turkey. The Turks did not occupy the houses, partly because of a rumour that the Greeks had poisoned the water wells, so the town became a “ghost town”.
In the afternoon we explored the ruins on Gemiler Island which go back to BC times.
Later we moved back to Wall Bay arriving there by dark and the crew did a superb job of securing our stern lines to the rocks ashore in the dark.
Mon 5/11 rained all day so we stayed in Wall Bay. During the morning we saw a large Barracuda swimming around, probably about 1.5m long. A Turkish man at a nearby jetty also saw it and ran to get his rifle, although did not get close enough to take a shot. Only a few years ago Turkish fishermen extensively used explosives for fishing and you still see the odd one minus a hand or an arm.
On Fri 6/11 the morning was fine and we did some snorkelling and caught a mackerel while trolling, which was later eaten as sahimi.
Later we headed in to anchor off Gocek where Tom & Dennise moved ashore and John & Alice moved aboard. Before we went ashore for a grand farewell dinner a violent electrical storm blew up with lightning, thunder, heavy rain and 25 knot winds, which changed direction completely a couple of times. Fortunately it stopped in time for us to go ashore, where we sat Turkish style on mats in front of an open fire eating a feast and drinking (too much) wine.
We then spent a night in Boynuz Buku and one back in Wall bay before the 7 hour trip back towards Marmaris, where we spent one night anchored in Turunc Buku before coming into the marina.
This now concludes our 2007 cruising and we won’t be adding to the blog except for some photos until new plans are decided and we come back on board.
Technical: In Ekincik we had a problem with our forward head. I was having a swim and John called me to advise that marina staff noticed we were discharging sewage. At first I denied this, but it became obvious that we were the guilty party. We have a “Vacuflush” loo which is very much like an aircraft toilet. It took Frank & I a while to work out what the problem was during which we joked that whatever boat Frank is on he seems to end up with his head stuck down a loo trying to fix it! It turned out that the plastic sliding valve had not closed properly and the vacuum unit in its “hunt” to create vacuum inadvertently pumped the contents of the holding tank over the side.
We have prevented a re-occurrence of this by always keeping the discharge seacock closed except when pumping out the holding tank.
The marina authorities understandably take a very dim view of such things so we had a lot of apologizing to do.
Apart from that no real change, but quite a list of things to be done in Marmaris before Envoy sets to sea again. In particular the Naiad stabilisers’ water pump (for cooling hydraulic oil) has a leak which has steadily worsened. Added to the list a slight diesel leak (1 drip per 30-60 secs) from the Lugger’s fuel pump coming from a supply line, where none of my spanners reach the nut that needs tightening.
About 3,583 miles covered in 248 days on board with 683 engine hours.
By the time we leave we will have slept aboard for 252 consecutive nights or 36 weeks. Fuel purchased 5,977 litres.
Some sadness of course, but tinged by memories of all the great times we’ve had with family & friends. In a few days we return to NZ and are looking forward to seeing everybody again. Then we spend a few days in Queensland visiting Dad, Maureen & my brother Charles before returning to Marmaris to join Amy & John for Xmas.
Beyond that we will decide in the coming few weeks.
After an absolutely wonderful summer the weather is now turning distinctly cooler as its about 20d in the day time often with a cool breeze and 15d or so at night. It’s now also dark by 6 so the nights are long. Having not seen rain for months we are getting showers and even thunderstorms, and we can see snow in the 2,000m high mountains inland from the shore. Today there is heavy rain and a gale force wind, so we’re quite pleased to be safely moored in the marina. The sea is still 22d so quite warm, and we have been swimming daily.
Most of the tourists have gone, the restaurants have either closed or will do so in the next few days, and there are very few boats around. Even the Gulets are back in port in their hundreds, often moored two or three deep around the quays. On balance we preferred the warmer weather and busier conditions and, as we have stated before, it never got really crowded here.
We arrived with Frank, Marie & John in Ekincik on Sun 28th. This is from where you visit Caunos and the Lycian rock tombs in Dalyan and although we had been here before with Brian & Carol, every visit has its own special features. Normally you go up the river to Caunos, but due to heavy rain, the river was silted downstream stopping boat access. It was arranged to go by car and take a boat from upstream, which made for a new experience, and the day was completed with another fantastic night at the My Marina Restaurant. The details of Caunos and the rock tombs have been mentioned previously.
From Ekincik we headed to Wall Bay near Gocek arriving Tues 30th.
From here we did a beautiful 4 hour return walk along the cliff tops and forest to the ancient Lycian ruins at Dydae. It is remarkable with so many ruins in Turkey that no measures are taken to really protect them, and you can see wonderful rock friezes and other items just laying in the dust. There are very few birds in Turkey and we saw an example of why this is so – two hunters with shotguns and dogs were shooting all the birds they could see for food, and this is quite common around here.
Thurs 1/11 found us anchored off Gocek where we had a great farewell dinner at the Club Marina Restaurant.
On Fri 2nd Frank & Marie set off back for NZ and our final guests arrived – Tom & Dennise Thomson from Christchurch. Tom & Dennise had been in Dusseldorf attending a plastics trade fair and were only able to spend 4 days with us. Also in Gocek, John’s friend Alice arrived, so John moved ashore to do some local travelling around with Alice. On Thurs 6th we went back to Gemiler Buku – where a local couple on their dilapitated caique (dinghy) sell pancakes. There were very few people around and as we ate our pancakes we were told by Mustafa & Melia that this was their last day and they were packing up and going back to their village for the winter.
Another boat came up to us to sell us vegetables and it turned out to be Ona who we had met twice before and to whom we had given a surplus “lilo”.
Ona generously offered us the use of his car to visit the village of Kaya Koy, about 7km away, where there are extensive ruins of a 17thC Greek village.
Ona’s gesture was very touching because his car would be a very valuable possession to him, and all he wanted in return was some money for diesel.
We gave him 20 lire (about $20) and he was more than happy. The ruins at Kaya Koy (which means stone town) are extensive, covering several square km with approx 2,000 houses, two churches, small chapels and other buildings still standing minus their roofs. The Greeks who used to live here originally lived on the island of Gemiler, but moved inland about 700 AD to escape constant attacks from pirates. In 1922 they were forcibly resettled to Greece along with 1.2m other Greek speaking Christians, and 400,000 Turks living in Greek Macedonia were moved to Turkey. The Turks did not occupy the houses, partly because of a rumour that the Greeks had poisoned the water wells, so the town became a “ghost town”.
In the afternoon we explored the ruins on Gemiler Island which go back to BC times.
Later we moved back to Wall Bay arriving there by dark and the crew did a superb job of securing our stern lines to the rocks ashore in the dark.
Mon 5/11 rained all day so we stayed in Wall Bay. During the morning we saw a large Barracuda swimming around, probably about 1.5m long. A Turkish man at a nearby jetty also saw it and ran to get his rifle, although did not get close enough to take a shot. Only a few years ago Turkish fishermen extensively used explosives for fishing and you still see the odd one minus a hand or an arm.
On Fri 6/11 the morning was fine and we did some snorkelling and caught a mackerel while trolling, which was later eaten as sahimi.
Later we headed in to anchor off Gocek where Tom & Dennise moved ashore and John & Alice moved aboard. Before we went ashore for a grand farewell dinner a violent electrical storm blew up with lightning, thunder, heavy rain and 25 knot winds, which changed direction completely a couple of times. Fortunately it stopped in time for us to go ashore, where we sat Turkish style on mats in front of an open fire eating a feast and drinking (too much) wine.
We then spent a night in Boynuz Buku and one back in Wall bay before the 7 hour trip back towards Marmaris, where we spent one night anchored in Turunc Buku before coming into the marina.
This now concludes our 2007 cruising and we won’t be adding to the blog except for some photos until new plans are decided and we come back on board.
Technical: In Ekincik we had a problem with our forward head. I was having a swim and John called me to advise that marina staff noticed we were discharging sewage. At first I denied this, but it became obvious that we were the guilty party. We have a “Vacuflush” loo which is very much like an aircraft toilet. It took Frank & I a while to work out what the problem was during which we joked that whatever boat Frank is on he seems to end up with his head stuck down a loo trying to fix it! It turned out that the plastic sliding valve had not closed properly and the vacuum unit in its “hunt” to create vacuum inadvertently pumped the contents of the holding tank over the side.
We have prevented a re-occurrence of this by always keeping the discharge seacock closed except when pumping out the holding tank.
The marina authorities understandably take a very dim view of such things so we had a lot of apologizing to do.
Apart from that no real change, but quite a list of things to be done in Marmaris before Envoy sets to sea again. In particular the Naiad stabilisers’ water pump (for cooling hydraulic oil) has a leak which has steadily worsened. Added to the list a slight diesel leak (1 drip per 30-60 secs) from the Lugger’s fuel pump coming from a supply line, where none of my spanners reach the nut that needs tightening.
About 3,583 miles covered in 248 days on board with 683 engine hours.
By the time we leave we will have slept aboard for 252 consecutive nights or 36 weeks. Fuel purchased 5,977 litres.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
With Frank & Marie
With Frank & Marie
Couple of things I meant to mention earlier.
While we were anchored in Bozburun a fisherman motored up to us and offered us a snapper about 5 kg for sale for Lire 200 (about $200). We didn’t buy it but were impressed that there are some decent size snapper around !
In Greece & Turkey there are loads of feral cats in the streets, on the marinas and in the restaurants. Of course Di & I are “cat people” so no problem and often we’ll feed cats on the marina with a tin of tuna. Recently we ate ashore in a restaurant and we had 15 cats around our table all wanting a share.
Also one morning recently we awoke to find a cat we had fed asleep on the dinette seat. Cute as she was there was no way we could keep a cat on board.
I have mentioned before the weather is very stable and predictable in the Eastern Med. There is a weather predicting system here called the “Coptic Calendar”. Developed by the Copts – a Christian sect living about 500 BC it predicts the dates of all major gales expected during the year which are the same for every year according to their Calendar. Rod Heikell (the author of the major Med Cruising Guides) says this is about 60% accurate and in our limited experience we have found it also accurate and not to be ignored.
After leaving Datca we made our way back to Bodrum Marina arriving Weds 17/10. On the way we landed our 2nd tuna and again lost something quite big showing there are fish to be had by trolling. Since then we have had several strikes without success until yesterday when we landed 3 small tuna.
While in Bodrum we did the 1 hr ferry trip across to the Greek Is of Kos for the day so that we left Turkey, re entered and got new 90 day Visas.
Here we also met Richard & Jane from “Curved Air” who we had first met ashore on Simi. We had drinks and dinner one night and then on Sat 22nd had dinner and watched South Africa win the World Cup. That was the night our son John joined us in Bodrum so he came along too. That night the weather turned very rainy with blustery winds (predicted by the Coptic Calendar).
On Sunday 21st Frank & Marie arrived so of course it was “party night”.
But this was also the night a full gale and electrical storm arrived, fortunately not worrying us too much as we were safely secured in the marina.
Not a good intro to the Med for Frank & Marie though. The gale continued thru Monday and where just days before people had been dining under sun umbrellas on the waterfront, waves were now crashing and drenching the promenade with spray.
On Tuesday 23rd we departed Bodrum in about 20-25 knot headwinds and up to 2m waves heading for Knidos. On arrival the anchorage was safe but blustery and we were the only boat there – a stark contrast to our last visit.
We were feeling a bit sorry for Frank & Marie as the weather was overcast, showery and windy and not the idyllic scenario they had been reading about on the blog. On Wednesday 24th we went ashore to walk around the ruins of 5thC BC Knidos – which has been described in an earlier posting. While we were ashore a Coastguard cutter came roaring into the bay and after circling Envoy a few times sounded it’s siren. We guessed they were looking for someone from Envoy and I left Di, John, Frank & Marie and made my way back down to the jetty. They asked me to come aboard their vessel and said they thought we had been scuba diving (which is not allowed around much of the Turkish coast due to the historical relics laying in shallow water). With 5 of them standing around me I assured them we had not been and they eventually accepted my word, asked me to sign a statement and all was fine. At the time we had the paravanes extended out and possibly they look like arms of a crane.
Anyway all ended well after probably our 6th or 7th “encounter” with Coastguard in the Med.
Next stop was back to Pedhi on the Greek Is of Simi. I have mentioned this delightful place already on a previous posting and we had a great walk over to the very picturesque town of Simi and back. We spent 2 nights there and Friday 26th was the first time Frank & Marie awoke to truly fine weather. Frank is a keen tramper and so Frank, John & I had a quite tough 2 hour hike to the summit of a nearby hill. We also took on some diesel there as the price at Euro 1.07/litre is cheaper than in Turkey.
Later that day we made the short 8 mile trip to Bozburun, back in Turkey. Once again this has already been described. Yesterday we were in Bozuk Buku where our favourite Ali Babas restaurant is located and the owner – Barbarossa – was very pleased to see us as there were only we five and two others there. With the season coming to a close the numbers are really thinning out.
As I type this we are en route back to Ekincik.
Technical. All going well & no changes since last update. Have completed oil & filter changes on all engines while in Bodrum.
3100 miles covered in 234 days on board with 647 engine hours.
Fuel purchased 5,977 litres.
Couple of things I meant to mention earlier.
While we were anchored in Bozburun a fisherman motored up to us and offered us a snapper about 5 kg for sale for Lire 200 (about $200). We didn’t buy it but were impressed that there are some decent size snapper around !
In Greece & Turkey there are loads of feral cats in the streets, on the marinas and in the restaurants. Of course Di & I are “cat people” so no problem and often we’ll feed cats on the marina with a tin of tuna. Recently we ate ashore in a restaurant and we had 15 cats around our table all wanting a share.
Also one morning recently we awoke to find a cat we had fed asleep on the dinette seat. Cute as she was there was no way we could keep a cat on board.
I have mentioned before the weather is very stable and predictable in the Eastern Med. There is a weather predicting system here called the “Coptic Calendar”. Developed by the Copts – a Christian sect living about 500 BC it predicts the dates of all major gales expected during the year which are the same for every year according to their Calendar. Rod Heikell (the author of the major Med Cruising Guides) says this is about 60% accurate and in our limited experience we have found it also accurate and not to be ignored.
After leaving Datca we made our way back to Bodrum Marina arriving Weds 17/10. On the way we landed our 2nd tuna and again lost something quite big showing there are fish to be had by trolling. Since then we have had several strikes without success until yesterday when we landed 3 small tuna.
While in Bodrum we did the 1 hr ferry trip across to the Greek Is of Kos for the day so that we left Turkey, re entered and got new 90 day Visas.
Here we also met Richard & Jane from “Curved Air” who we had first met ashore on Simi. We had drinks and dinner one night and then on Sat 22nd had dinner and watched South Africa win the World Cup. That was the night our son John joined us in Bodrum so he came along too. That night the weather turned very rainy with blustery winds (predicted by the Coptic Calendar).
On Sunday 21st Frank & Marie arrived so of course it was “party night”.
But this was also the night a full gale and electrical storm arrived, fortunately not worrying us too much as we were safely secured in the marina.
Not a good intro to the Med for Frank & Marie though. The gale continued thru Monday and where just days before people had been dining under sun umbrellas on the waterfront, waves were now crashing and drenching the promenade with spray.
On Tuesday 23rd we departed Bodrum in about 20-25 knot headwinds and up to 2m waves heading for Knidos. On arrival the anchorage was safe but blustery and we were the only boat there – a stark contrast to our last visit.
We were feeling a bit sorry for Frank & Marie as the weather was overcast, showery and windy and not the idyllic scenario they had been reading about on the blog. On Wednesday 24th we went ashore to walk around the ruins of 5thC BC Knidos – which has been described in an earlier posting. While we were ashore a Coastguard cutter came roaring into the bay and after circling Envoy a few times sounded it’s siren. We guessed they were looking for someone from Envoy and I left Di, John, Frank & Marie and made my way back down to the jetty. They asked me to come aboard their vessel and said they thought we had been scuba diving (which is not allowed around much of the Turkish coast due to the historical relics laying in shallow water). With 5 of them standing around me I assured them we had not been and they eventually accepted my word, asked me to sign a statement and all was fine. At the time we had the paravanes extended out and possibly they look like arms of a crane.
Anyway all ended well after probably our 6th or 7th “encounter” with Coastguard in the Med.
Next stop was back to Pedhi on the Greek Is of Simi. I have mentioned this delightful place already on a previous posting and we had a great walk over to the very picturesque town of Simi and back. We spent 2 nights there and Friday 26th was the first time Frank & Marie awoke to truly fine weather. Frank is a keen tramper and so Frank, John & I had a quite tough 2 hour hike to the summit of a nearby hill. We also took on some diesel there as the price at Euro 1.07/litre is cheaper than in Turkey.
Later that day we made the short 8 mile trip to Bozburun, back in Turkey. Once again this has already been described. Yesterday we were in Bozuk Buku where our favourite Ali Babas restaurant is located and the owner – Barbarossa – was very pleased to see us as there were only we five and two others there. With the season coming to a close the numbers are really thinning out.
As I type this we are en route back to Ekincik.
Technical. All going well & no changes since last update. Have completed oil & filter changes on all engines while in Bodrum.
3100 miles covered in 234 days on board with 647 engine hours.
Fuel purchased 5,977 litres.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
On way back to Bodrum
After leaving Ekincek we went to a nice cove called Gerbeske.
On the beach there are ruins of a church and trading post from the Byzantine era which was about 6th-13th C AD. There we met a British couple who were on the boat in front of us – “Lancashire Lass” as we came through the Corinth Canal in June. Here also we got the txt reports from Amy & Frank re the All Blacks disastrous loss to France. Bugger !
Next day we spent a few hours in a superb bay called Arap Adasi.
There was a huge number of goats on the beach and the goatherd rowed out to us to try and sell us produce. In a lot of bays in Turkey there’s someone trying to sell things and we generally end up buying something, even if it’s just a small packet of dried fruit. This time we bought a nice hand woven blanket for $30. The goatherd was quite a young guy about mid 20s and every day walks 5 km over the hills each way to and from his village to tend his 300 goats and to try and sell stuff to visiting boats.
That night found us in Bozuk Buku where we have been previously of Ali Baba’s restaurant fame.
On Monday we explored the area close by and found a small and very secluded cove in which we anchored and spent a few hours cleaning the hull of the dinghy (which is not antifouled and has been towed since early July) and of Envoy. The clean and clear water was 26d so no problem to stay in for ages. Later that day we had a long walk up a valley and came across many ruins (although nothing standing very high at all) of people long gone - this was the site of ancient Loryma from around 400BC.
Prices in Turkey have gone a bit crazy since we visited Charles and Marie here 3 years ago, I guess they are catching up to the rest of the World and it’s no longer a very cheap place. We had drinks ashore after our walk in an extremely run down “taverna” (read “shed on the beach”) and for 1 beer, 1 sprite and 2 glasses of very average wine the bill was $25 which we considered a rip-off.
For example in Greece you get a litre of much better wine for the same price as we were charged for a glass. Many restaurant owners etc have told us the visiting boat and tourist numbers have reduced in Turkey this year and we think the rise in prices has had much to do with this. Also they are suffering because there’s just too many gullets, tavernas, restaurants and junk “souvenir” shops.
On Tuesday 9th we went back to nearby Bozburun, having really enjoyed our previous brief stay. Here we anchored in a perfect anchorage protected on all sides by small islands covered in ancient ruins and were hailed by a yacht called “Alcid” which turned out was owned by an American couple – Frank & Gale Adshead who had cruised with the previous owners of Envoy – Wayne & Pat. So we ended up having drinks on Envoy one night and dinner on Alcid the following night and parting as good mates.
During our stay we went ashore to do some shopping and went into a fishing tackle shop to buy some more lures (we’ve got the fishing bug !)
Shopping in these places is generally an event not just a transaction and the guys in the shop insisted we sit down for a cup of Turkish cay (tea) and a long chat. Even in the grocery stores the people are really friendly and often give you a small gift such as a free bottle of wine.
On Thursday 11th we arrived in Pedhi on the Greek Is of Simi.
This is the island we visited once before and stayed at Panormitis where there is a large Monastieri. Pedhi is a great anchorage and we ended up staying 3 nights. Here we met Mike & Betcheva Scouse from “Windsea 2” who we had previously met when Don & Peta were on board at Paxos in the Ionians. Windsea 2 is only about 2 years old, designed in England and built in Croatia. Anyhow Mike advised he had severe problems with hull flexing, deck not properly secured to hull and with the mast step so they had sailed to Croatia and spent 2 months in the boatyard having a major refit, including the deck being removed from the hull, the hull being strengthened etc. All this was done at no cost and they are now happy with the result but was no the best way to spend the summer. Mike has been a professional yachtsman and sailed in many races including the Whitbread on “Steinlager” with Peter Blake and the ill-fated 1998 Sydney to Hobart on the winning yacht - Larry Ellison’s “Sayonara”. This was the race where 5 yachts sank, 6 yachtsmen lost their lives (including friends of Diane’s brother Noel) and 55 yachtsmen were winched to safety by helo in the 80 knot winds and up to about 70 foot breaking waves.
Of 115 yachts which started only 44 reached Hobart. Larry Ellison said after the race: “Never again, not if I live to be 1,000 years old will I never do a Hobart race.” A great book to read about this is “Fatal Storm” by Rob Mundle.
Mike also had some interesting things to say about Russell Coutts who he knows very well. After NZ won the America’s Cup there were no jobs on offer by Team NZ – they procrastinated. On the other hand Alinghi offered Coutts $10m to race for them, a $10m bonus if he won the Cup and a guaranteed position in the ensuing challenge. Mike advises Coutts left Alinghi because he wanted 50% of the total revenues from TV rights and Alinghi was not prepared to grant this. Obviously they did OK without Coutts who has now joined Larry Ellison who would dearly love to win the Amcup.
In Pedhi we also met NZers Graham & Kathy and their daughter Jo on
“Red Herring 2” a Spencer designed approx 44 footer. They have been aboard for several years having sailed from Nelson. Like us they are wintering over in Marmaris so no doubt we’ll see more of them.
Twice we walked from Pedhi over to the stunning harbourside town of Simi for “essential” supplies like bacon and pork and we also found our favourite Lambs Navy Rum at Euro 11 per bottle. On Saturday we lunched in Simi and a thunderstorm suddenly hit. We later found out from Mike that at Pedhi where we were anchored winds reached 30 knots from all directions, but Envoy just swung into the wind and held fine.
Now we have come over to the Turkish town of Datca. Because our 90 day Turkish visas expire next week, we need to legally exit Turkey here, cruise to Greek waters and then re enter Turkey at Bodrum to get new Visas.
Technical. All going well and with the end of season now so close (we will go into Marmaris on about 9/11) we are leaving things that need doing until then if we can. I need to do an oil change on all three engines which I’ll do in Bodrum. It’s quite easy on Envoy as there is a central pump with a manifold through which you can drain and refill the oil from any engine and replace the spin-on oil filter at the same time.
Miles covered 2970 in 221 days on board with 622 engine hours.
Fuel purchased 5,093 litres.
On the beach there are ruins of a church and trading post from the Byzantine era which was about 6th-13th C AD. There we met a British couple who were on the boat in front of us – “Lancashire Lass” as we came through the Corinth Canal in June. Here also we got the txt reports from Amy & Frank re the All Blacks disastrous loss to France. Bugger !
Next day we spent a few hours in a superb bay called Arap Adasi.
There was a huge number of goats on the beach and the goatherd rowed out to us to try and sell us produce. In a lot of bays in Turkey there’s someone trying to sell things and we generally end up buying something, even if it’s just a small packet of dried fruit. This time we bought a nice hand woven blanket for $30. The goatherd was quite a young guy about mid 20s and every day walks 5 km over the hills each way to and from his village to tend his 300 goats and to try and sell stuff to visiting boats.
That night found us in Bozuk Buku where we have been previously of Ali Baba’s restaurant fame.
On Monday we explored the area close by and found a small and very secluded cove in which we anchored and spent a few hours cleaning the hull of the dinghy (which is not antifouled and has been towed since early July) and of Envoy. The clean and clear water was 26d so no problem to stay in for ages. Later that day we had a long walk up a valley and came across many ruins (although nothing standing very high at all) of people long gone - this was the site of ancient Loryma from around 400BC.
Prices in Turkey have gone a bit crazy since we visited Charles and Marie here 3 years ago, I guess they are catching up to the rest of the World and it’s no longer a very cheap place. We had drinks ashore after our walk in an extremely run down “taverna” (read “shed on the beach”) and for 1 beer, 1 sprite and 2 glasses of very average wine the bill was $25 which we considered a rip-off.
For example in Greece you get a litre of much better wine for the same price as we were charged for a glass. Many restaurant owners etc have told us the visiting boat and tourist numbers have reduced in Turkey this year and we think the rise in prices has had much to do with this. Also they are suffering because there’s just too many gullets, tavernas, restaurants and junk “souvenir” shops.
On Tuesday 9th we went back to nearby Bozburun, having really enjoyed our previous brief stay. Here we anchored in a perfect anchorage protected on all sides by small islands covered in ancient ruins and were hailed by a yacht called “Alcid” which turned out was owned by an American couple – Frank & Gale Adshead who had cruised with the previous owners of Envoy – Wayne & Pat. So we ended up having drinks on Envoy one night and dinner on Alcid the following night and parting as good mates.
During our stay we went ashore to do some shopping and went into a fishing tackle shop to buy some more lures (we’ve got the fishing bug !)
Shopping in these places is generally an event not just a transaction and the guys in the shop insisted we sit down for a cup of Turkish cay (tea) and a long chat. Even in the grocery stores the people are really friendly and often give you a small gift such as a free bottle of wine.
On Thursday 11th we arrived in Pedhi on the Greek Is of Simi.
This is the island we visited once before and stayed at Panormitis where there is a large Monastieri. Pedhi is a great anchorage and we ended up staying 3 nights. Here we met Mike & Betcheva Scouse from “Windsea 2” who we had previously met when Don & Peta were on board at Paxos in the Ionians. Windsea 2 is only about 2 years old, designed in England and built in Croatia. Anyhow Mike advised he had severe problems with hull flexing, deck not properly secured to hull and with the mast step so they had sailed to Croatia and spent 2 months in the boatyard having a major refit, including the deck being removed from the hull, the hull being strengthened etc. All this was done at no cost and they are now happy with the result but was no the best way to spend the summer. Mike has been a professional yachtsman and sailed in many races including the Whitbread on “Steinlager” with Peter Blake and the ill-fated 1998 Sydney to Hobart on the winning yacht - Larry Ellison’s “Sayonara”. This was the race where 5 yachts sank, 6 yachtsmen lost their lives (including friends of Diane’s brother Noel) and 55 yachtsmen were winched to safety by helo in the 80 knot winds and up to about 70 foot breaking waves.
Of 115 yachts which started only 44 reached Hobart. Larry Ellison said after the race: “Never again, not if I live to be 1,000 years old will I never do a Hobart race.” A great book to read about this is “Fatal Storm” by Rob Mundle.
Mike also had some interesting things to say about Russell Coutts who he knows very well. After NZ won the America’s Cup there were no jobs on offer by Team NZ – they procrastinated. On the other hand Alinghi offered Coutts $10m to race for them, a $10m bonus if he won the Cup and a guaranteed position in the ensuing challenge. Mike advises Coutts left Alinghi because he wanted 50% of the total revenues from TV rights and Alinghi was not prepared to grant this. Obviously they did OK without Coutts who has now joined Larry Ellison who would dearly love to win the Amcup.
In Pedhi we also met NZers Graham & Kathy and their daughter Jo on
“Red Herring 2” a Spencer designed approx 44 footer. They have been aboard for several years having sailed from Nelson. Like us they are wintering over in Marmaris so no doubt we’ll see more of them.
Twice we walked from Pedhi over to the stunning harbourside town of Simi for “essential” supplies like bacon and pork and we also found our favourite Lambs Navy Rum at Euro 11 per bottle. On Saturday we lunched in Simi and a thunderstorm suddenly hit. We later found out from Mike that at Pedhi where we were anchored winds reached 30 knots from all directions, but Envoy just swung into the wind and held fine.
Now we have come over to the Turkish town of Datca. Because our 90 day Turkish visas expire next week, we need to legally exit Turkey here, cruise to Greek waters and then re enter Turkey at Bodrum to get new Visas.
Technical. All going well and with the end of season now so close (we will go into Marmaris on about 9/11) we are leaving things that need doing until then if we can. I need to do an oil change on all three engines which I’ll do in Bodrum. It’s quite easy on Envoy as there is a central pump with a manifold through which you can drain and refill the oil from any engine and replace the spin-on oil filter at the same time.
Miles covered 2970 in 221 days on board with 622 engine hours.
Fuel purchased 5,093 litres.
More photos related to last blog posting
Laurie & Brian on summit overlooking Kastellorizon harbour
Brian with the 1st and so far only fish caught on Envoy
Lycian cliff tombs - the view from our lunch table
Diane & Carol with Fethiye carpet salesman
Brian with the 1st and so far only fish caught on Envoy
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
First rain in 5 months
After leaving Kalkan we went to a bay called Gemiler Adasi where there are numerous ruins. Here we had drinks and snacks ashore as the sun set and the following morning dined on pancakes made by a Turkish couple who came alongside in their colourful “caique” or small fishing boat (see photo posted previously). On Monday 1st we arrived in Fethiye. This is a great little town with the added advantage of a very secure all weather anchorage.
We went to visit a shop recommended by Brad & Rosie where the owner Fatima and her assistant Ozlem looked after our needs of tablecloths, cushion covers etc at very reasonable prices. There we also met some kiwis – Peter & Raewyn Kearney from Bucklands Beach with their yacht “Sallyander”.
We talked about fishing and Pete said he had caught several tuna including a 50kg yellowfin and showed us the photo to prove it. He mentioned there is a preferred method of rigging lures and the shop on the marina sell trolling lines pre-rigged which work really well. Needless to say Brian & I were off like a shot to buy a line – read on !
The next day we set off across Skopea Limani for Ruin Bay.
As we approached an island called Domuz we got a strike and Brian hauled in a small tuna. I guess only about a kg but big enough for sashimi starters for four of us for 3 nights. Anyhow this was the very first fish we’ve landed on Envoy – well done Brian ! About a mile later we got a huge strike that peeled off three quarters of the line in seconds. Brian tried to stop it by adding more drag but whatever was on the line was like a train and broke the line.
Anyway this showed us there are some big fish to be had.
Incidentally we have trolled a few miles since with no further strikes.
Ruin Bay is very atmospheric and we thought we had it pretty much to ourselves – how wrong we were ! This is the bay where there are the ruins of an ancient bathhouse – reputed to have been used by Cleopatra (that lady did get around !) After about an hour the first of several day tripper boats arrived and moored so close we had to fend one off. This only lasted for a couple of hours though and then we had this idyllic spot to ourselves, snorkelling through the ruins in warm and crystal clear water. Here we also met up again with Nick & Jo from “Kiwi Spirit” and their kiwi friends Maurice & Heather from “Baracca”. The afternoon had been clouding over and as we motored over to Baracca for pre dinner drinks we encountered our first rain since May – shock ! horror ! We had dinner ashore which included being serenaded by an elderly Turk playing his Turkish 7 string “guitar” in return for a large glass of raki (similar to ouzo).
Wednesday 3rd we cruised about 6 hours to Ekincek. This place had been recommended by Kevin & Diane O’Sullivan as having probably the best seafood restaurant in Turkey. During the day there had been extensive low cloud causing quite a dullness. We arrived at Ekincek and moored stern to rocks close to the My Marina and then the heavens opened with torrential rain accompanied by thunder and lightning plus a dramatic drop in temperature as rain changed to hail. The rain lasted only 45 mins or so but the spectacular lightning strikes continued for about 2 hours at one stage extinguishing all the lights of the village. We expected some strong wind gusts but fortunately there were none. This marked for us, the beginning of the end of the “Endless Summer”. The next day we organized a small caique with her skipper Harby for a 5 hour trip up the Koycegiz River to the small town of Dalyan where the ruins of ancient Caunos are located. Theoretically it may be possible to do this trip in your own tender but the bar at the river mouth has a maximum depth of about half a metre and there is no marked channel. Also the river runs through extensive marshlands with bullrushes and many different channels so you could easily get lost. Finally it is mentioned that the local skippers “are hostile” to people taking their own boat – whatever that means. The 5 hour trip cost Lire 300 but was well worthwhile. The river trip itself in the caique is great – the skipper had a trolling line and caught a small fish on the return journey.
The beaches on either side of the river mouth are protected as they are breeding grounds for turtles. The highlights are the ruins of Caunos and the Lycian cliff tombs. Caunos was first settled about 10th C BC ! It is now about 2 miles up river but originally the site of Caunos was on the shore.
Subsequently the river carried silt down and the river mouth moved.
There are some incredible ruins at Caunos even though so far only a quarter of the site has been excavated. In particular is a very large Theatre with seating for 3,000 patrons and a walled fortress on the hill overlooking the site.
Many of the ruins have Carian script etched into them and so far this has not been able to be deciphered. The heyday of Caunos was from about 7thC BC to 1stC AD and then the town started to suffer from malaria caused by mossies living in the swamplands resulting from the silting of the river.
So soon after then it was largely abandoned. The cliff tombs date from the 4th C BC and it is hard to imagine how the artisans of those days were able to carve such elaborate edifices in such inaccessible places.
That night we went to the My Marina Restaurant and it certainly lived up to its reputation. The setting is superb and without any of the “tattiness” that you generally find in and around Turkish restaurants. The service and the food is fantastic and with a dessert trolley to die for. This is obviously quite a famous restaurant as photos on the walls showed many famous people having dined here over the years from royalty to politicians to hollywood stars.
Many nights we were playing 500 and things were getting fairly competitive with the “girls” v “the boys” and with all “table talk” banned. In the end those extra wines that Brian & I were having started to tell and Carol & Di won the series.
On Saturday 6th Brian & Carol departed for Dalyman airport after 18 nights on board and swims every day. We had a great time together and it was sad to see them depart. We have now started on the journey to Bodrum where we meet son John and Frank & Marie Curulli on Sunday 21st.
Technical. Most of the time we cruise at 1400 to 1600 rpm with a speed of 5.5 to 6.5 knots. If we increase rpm to about 1900 we can get up to 7.5 knots but I think its not so economical and we’re in no hurry so we keep the rpm down.
On a boat like Envoy there is a lot to constantly monitor eg sufficient fuel in the “day tank” (totally filtered fuel which supplies Lugger, Yanmar & Genset), water levels and use of the Watermaker, hot water availability, battery voltages, gas bottles, sewerage holding tank levels and lateral stability – ie as fuel and water are used or if we haul the 350 kg dinghy onto the boat deck, the trim of Envoy changes and we need to pump fuel or water around to keep Envoy in level trim.
Alternator played up again but contact cleaner applied to the same plug-in pin as before has fixed. The Yanmar auxiliary engine is leaking a little sea water through an exhaust hose. Have tightened hose clips but looks like the hose will need replacing as its exhuding some red compound.
I have gone around and tested all the seacocks to ensure they still close and open – they do.
Apart from this the same issues as in last update.
Miles covered 2970 in 216 days on board with 612 engine hours.
Fuel purchased 5,093 litres.
We went to visit a shop recommended by Brad & Rosie where the owner Fatima and her assistant Ozlem looked after our needs of tablecloths, cushion covers etc at very reasonable prices. There we also met some kiwis – Peter & Raewyn Kearney from Bucklands Beach with their yacht “Sallyander”.
We talked about fishing and Pete said he had caught several tuna including a 50kg yellowfin and showed us the photo to prove it. He mentioned there is a preferred method of rigging lures and the shop on the marina sell trolling lines pre-rigged which work really well. Needless to say Brian & I were off like a shot to buy a line – read on !
The next day we set off across Skopea Limani for Ruin Bay.
As we approached an island called Domuz we got a strike and Brian hauled in a small tuna. I guess only about a kg but big enough for sashimi starters for four of us for 3 nights. Anyhow this was the very first fish we’ve landed on Envoy – well done Brian ! About a mile later we got a huge strike that peeled off three quarters of the line in seconds. Brian tried to stop it by adding more drag but whatever was on the line was like a train and broke the line.
Anyway this showed us there are some big fish to be had.
Incidentally we have trolled a few miles since with no further strikes.
Ruin Bay is very atmospheric and we thought we had it pretty much to ourselves – how wrong we were ! This is the bay where there are the ruins of an ancient bathhouse – reputed to have been used by Cleopatra (that lady did get around !) After about an hour the first of several day tripper boats arrived and moored so close we had to fend one off. This only lasted for a couple of hours though and then we had this idyllic spot to ourselves, snorkelling through the ruins in warm and crystal clear water. Here we also met up again with Nick & Jo from “Kiwi Spirit” and their kiwi friends Maurice & Heather from “Baracca”. The afternoon had been clouding over and as we motored over to Baracca for pre dinner drinks we encountered our first rain since May – shock ! horror ! We had dinner ashore which included being serenaded by an elderly Turk playing his Turkish 7 string “guitar” in return for a large glass of raki (similar to ouzo).
Wednesday 3rd we cruised about 6 hours to Ekincek. This place had been recommended by Kevin & Diane O’Sullivan as having probably the best seafood restaurant in Turkey. During the day there had been extensive low cloud causing quite a dullness. We arrived at Ekincek and moored stern to rocks close to the My Marina and then the heavens opened with torrential rain accompanied by thunder and lightning plus a dramatic drop in temperature as rain changed to hail. The rain lasted only 45 mins or so but the spectacular lightning strikes continued for about 2 hours at one stage extinguishing all the lights of the village. We expected some strong wind gusts but fortunately there were none. This marked for us, the beginning of the end of the “Endless Summer”. The next day we organized a small caique with her skipper Harby for a 5 hour trip up the Koycegiz River to the small town of Dalyan where the ruins of ancient Caunos are located. Theoretically it may be possible to do this trip in your own tender but the bar at the river mouth has a maximum depth of about half a metre and there is no marked channel. Also the river runs through extensive marshlands with bullrushes and many different channels so you could easily get lost. Finally it is mentioned that the local skippers “are hostile” to people taking their own boat – whatever that means. The 5 hour trip cost Lire 300 but was well worthwhile. The river trip itself in the caique is great – the skipper had a trolling line and caught a small fish on the return journey.
The beaches on either side of the river mouth are protected as they are breeding grounds for turtles. The highlights are the ruins of Caunos and the Lycian cliff tombs. Caunos was first settled about 10th C BC ! It is now about 2 miles up river but originally the site of Caunos was on the shore.
Subsequently the river carried silt down and the river mouth moved.
There are some incredible ruins at Caunos even though so far only a quarter of the site has been excavated. In particular is a very large Theatre with seating for 3,000 patrons and a walled fortress on the hill overlooking the site.
Many of the ruins have Carian script etched into them and so far this has not been able to be deciphered. The heyday of Caunos was from about 7thC BC to 1stC AD and then the town started to suffer from malaria caused by mossies living in the swamplands resulting from the silting of the river.
So soon after then it was largely abandoned. The cliff tombs date from the 4th C BC and it is hard to imagine how the artisans of those days were able to carve such elaborate edifices in such inaccessible places.
That night we went to the My Marina Restaurant and it certainly lived up to its reputation. The setting is superb and without any of the “tattiness” that you generally find in and around Turkish restaurants. The service and the food is fantastic and with a dessert trolley to die for. This is obviously quite a famous restaurant as photos on the walls showed many famous people having dined here over the years from royalty to politicians to hollywood stars.
Many nights we were playing 500 and things were getting fairly competitive with the “girls” v “the boys” and with all “table talk” banned. In the end those extra wines that Brian & I were having started to tell and Carol & Di won the series.
On Saturday 6th Brian & Carol departed for Dalyman airport after 18 nights on board and swims every day. We had a great time together and it was sad to see them depart. We have now started on the journey to Bodrum where we meet son John and Frank & Marie Curulli on Sunday 21st.
Technical. Most of the time we cruise at 1400 to 1600 rpm with a speed of 5.5 to 6.5 knots. If we increase rpm to about 1900 we can get up to 7.5 knots but I think its not so economical and we’re in no hurry so we keep the rpm down.
On a boat like Envoy there is a lot to constantly monitor eg sufficient fuel in the “day tank” (totally filtered fuel which supplies Lugger, Yanmar & Genset), water levels and use of the Watermaker, hot water availability, battery voltages, gas bottles, sewerage holding tank levels and lateral stability – ie as fuel and water are used or if we haul the 350 kg dinghy onto the boat deck, the trim of Envoy changes and we need to pump fuel or water around to keep Envoy in level trim.
Alternator played up again but contact cleaner applied to the same plug-in pin as before has fixed. The Yanmar auxiliary engine is leaking a little sea water through an exhaust hose. Have tightened hose clips but looks like the hose will need replacing as its exhuding some red compound.
I have gone around and tested all the seacocks to ensure they still close and open – they do.
Apart from this the same issues as in last update.
Miles covered 2970 in 216 days on board with 612 engine hours.
Fuel purchased 5,093 litres.
Monday, October 01, 2007
Origins of Santa Claus
With Peter Jennings in Finike - see text
Kale Koy and the 15th C Crusader's Castle - see text
Just as Spring started on 21/9 in NZ (not 1/9 as retailers would have you believe), Autumn has started here on that date – the “Autumn Vernal”.
It is still warm eg mid to high 20s with cloudless days & sea temp of 26d, but the days are shortening and the evenings are cooler. We still have not seen one drop of rain since 24/5. Numbers of tourists are thinning out rapidly and there are many stock clearance sales in the shops as a result
On Saturday 22nd we arrived in Finike marina. Finike has special significance for us because its here that my brother Charles & Marie kept their yacht “Acrobat” for two years and when we visited them there in 2004 this ultimately led to our plan to do this cruise. Secondly Charles & Marie’s friend Peter Jennings lives there and we wanted to meet him. Finike is a non touristy small town which in ancient times was Phoenicus but nothing remains to tell that tale. Saturday is market day in Finike so Di, Brian & Carol went to see that while I found Peter, working on his yacht in the marina. That evening we had drinks with Peter who is an ex RAF electronics engineer who has served extensively in the Middle East but after retirement bought an apartment in Finike overlooking the marina where he keeps his yacht “Friba”. We also met another yachtsman, Anton who told us that now is the time to troll for small tuna and we “should catch a bucketful“. This certainly got Di’s & Carol’s interest especially when Peter donated several lures to Envoy which we supplemented with a few from the chandlery. Since then we have towed lures for about 40 miles with no strikes and this is the first time we’ve had lines in the water (probably the last too !). The next day Peter spent a few hours with us fixing our Watermaker which was highly appreciated (see under Technical for details). Peter (see photo) is a mine of knowledge about the area as well as having a great sense of humour and we all had a great time meeting up with him.
We arrived at the Kekova Roads on Monday and anchored in a beautiful bay close to a rustic, atmospheric bar called “The Smugglers Inn”. This bar doesn’t open until 10pm and we went there after dinner for what turned out to be a very late night. When we climbed aboard the dinghy to go back to Envoy, Brian slipped into the water at the jetty – fortunately without any injury and the evening ended with four young Turkish guys coming on board for a drink. Tuesday was a slow start but Brian discovered he couldn’t find his wallet with about $1,000 in cash, credit cards and driving license in it. We thought that most likely it had slipped out of Brian’s pocket when he fell in the water and was hauled into the dinghy. We went back to the jetty and I snorkelled around in about 1 metre of reasonably clear water but couldn’t see anything (but the swim was great to clear my head !). So we theorized that it had been washed into deeper water. We moved to anchor a couple of miles away off the village of Ucagiz and arranged for a local scuba diver to do a search the next morning, then we took the dinghy to KaleKoy (ancient Simena) from where you climb precarious steps to the summit of the Castle (see photo). This castle is 15th C and built by the Crusaders on the foundations of an already existing ancient fort. The site was first occupied in 400 BC and there are many ruins and tombs dating from Lycian times in the surrounding area, including some which are submerged due to earthquakes. All of the tombs were long ago ransacked by grave robbers looting the valuables which were buried in the tombs.
That night as we all went to bed Brian told us he’d just found his wallet – under his pillow. So that was a worry behind us and we cancelled the diver.
Nearby is the village of Demre where St Paul stopped over on his voyage to Rome and where in the 4th C the Bishop of the Church was St Nicholas with his alter ego “Santa Claus”. His remains were there until 1043 when some Italian adventurers stole them and removed them to Italy where they still lie.
On Saturday 22nd we arrived in Finike marina. Finike has special significance for us because its here that my brother Charles & Marie kept their yacht “Acrobat” for two years and when we visited them there in 2004 this ultimately led to our plan to do this cruise. Secondly Charles & Marie’s friend Peter Jennings lives there and we wanted to meet him. Finike is a non touristy small town which in ancient times was Phoenicus but nothing remains to tell that tale. Saturday is market day in Finike so Di, Brian & Carol went to see that while I found Peter, working on his yacht in the marina. That evening we had drinks with Peter who is an ex RAF electronics engineer who has served extensively in the Middle East but after retirement bought an apartment in Finike overlooking the marina where he keeps his yacht “Friba”. We also met another yachtsman, Anton who told us that now is the time to troll for small tuna and we “should catch a bucketful“. This certainly got Di’s & Carol’s interest especially when Peter donated several lures to Envoy which we supplemented with a few from the chandlery. Since then we have towed lures for about 40 miles with no strikes and this is the first time we’ve had lines in the water (probably the last too !). The next day Peter spent a few hours with us fixing our Watermaker which was highly appreciated (see under Technical for details). Peter (see photo) is a mine of knowledge about the area as well as having a great sense of humour and we all had a great time meeting up with him.
We arrived at the Kekova Roads on Monday and anchored in a beautiful bay close to a rustic, atmospheric bar called “The Smugglers Inn”. This bar doesn’t open until 10pm and we went there after dinner for what turned out to be a very late night. When we climbed aboard the dinghy to go back to Envoy, Brian slipped into the water at the jetty – fortunately without any injury and the evening ended with four young Turkish guys coming on board for a drink. Tuesday was a slow start but Brian discovered he couldn’t find his wallet with about $1,000 in cash, credit cards and driving license in it. We thought that most likely it had slipped out of Brian’s pocket when he fell in the water and was hauled into the dinghy. We went back to the jetty and I snorkelled around in about 1 metre of reasonably clear water but couldn’t see anything (but the swim was great to clear my head !). So we theorized that it had been washed into deeper water. We moved to anchor a couple of miles away off the village of Ucagiz and arranged for a local scuba diver to do a search the next morning, then we took the dinghy to KaleKoy (ancient Simena) from where you climb precarious steps to the summit of the Castle (see photo). This castle is 15th C and built by the Crusaders on the foundations of an already existing ancient fort. The site was first occupied in 400 BC and there are many ruins and tombs dating from Lycian times in the surrounding area, including some which are submerged due to earthquakes. All of the tombs were long ago ransacked by grave robbers looting the valuables which were buried in the tombs.
That night as we all went to bed Brian told us he’d just found his wallet – under his pillow. So that was a worry behind us and we cancelled the diver.
Nearby is the village of Demre where St Paul stopped over on his voyage to Rome and where in the 4th C the Bishop of the Church was St Nicholas with his alter ego “Santa Claus”. His remains were there until 1043 when some Italian adventurers stole them and removed them to Italy where they still lie.
Legend has it that St Nicholas threw bags of gold down a chimney to save 3 sisters from a life of prostitution and this is where the whole Santa thing started. Turks are of course Muslim but they too have Santa complete with red costume and white beard as part of their New Year celebrations.
Thurs 26th found us in Kas, anchored in Bayindr Limani to the South.
Thurs 26th found us in Kas, anchored in Bayindr Limani to the South.
Kas was Antiphellos in ancient times and founded about 6th C BC.
Unlike Finike there are ancient ruins here including a Theatre and many rock-hewn Lycian tombs. Also quite interesting shops and bars set into colourful lanes. During our time in this area we also crossed over to the Greek Island of Kastellorizon which is only 1.5 miles off the Turkish coast. Here again there is the remains of a Crusader Castle and a town which once had a population of 20,000 but now has only about 200 with most of the residents having emigrated to Australia. There was a local wedding the next day and the town was full of Ozzy accents as loads of them had come to the island to attend it, we asked how many people were going; ‘everyone!’ was the answer ‘you too if you’re here!’ Unfortunately we had to pass as we had to move on.
Sat 28th we arrived in Kalkan and spent the afternoon ashore. Kalkan would be the prettiest Turkish village we’ve seen so far with narrow lanes and rustic old buildings with extensive plants growing over them adding to the colour.
Sat 28th we arrived in Kalkan and spent the afternoon ashore. Kalkan would be the prettiest Turkish village we’ve seen so far with narrow lanes and rustic old buildings with extensive plants growing over them adding to the colour.
It was originally a Greek village until 1922 when it was resettled with Turks.
At that time many Turks in Greece were relocated to Turkey and vice versa in a huge population exchange.
As we type this we are cruising NW up towards Fethiye.
Miles covered 2870 in 207 days on board with 591 engine hours. Fuel purchased 5,093 litres.
As we type this we are cruising NW up towards Fethiye.
Miles covered 2870 in 207 days on board with 591 engine hours. Fuel purchased 5,093 litres.
Technical: mostly going well. On our way to Finike we found the Watermaker was not working. It seemed like an electrical fault in that the main electric motor was not running. So we arrived in Finike and my brother Charles’s friend Peter Jennings said the electricians at the marina are pretty hopeless and that he would come and check out the wiring for us. Peter was an electronics engineer in the RAF so well qualified to do this. So on Sunday Peter arrived and we went through the system. The unit has a High Pressure Pump and a Booster Pump and it was the HP pump not activating. Peter looked at the circuits and then looked into the high voltage (110v) control cabinet.
I said “wouldn’t it be great if we could see a loose wire”. Peter said “here’s our loose wire” and found that a return to earth wire was very loose and had arced causing high temperature, melting of the insulation and a short.
So Peter replaced that short section of wiring and we were operational again. Obviously we could manage without a watermaker but its definitely nice to have, especially here because there is little potable water available.
What most people seem to do is use bottled water for drinking and marina water for showers, dishes etc. But we like not having to go into marinas and having the watermaker does give you that extra independence. Also Envoy uses a little more water as the toilets are fresh water flushed (which makes them more maintenance free and better smelling).
The pump which provides cooling water for the Naiad stabilizer hydraulic oil has a leak which is worsening (leaking sea water into the bilges). I have a spare and when Brian & Carol leave us I’ll replace this and get the present pump serviced.
We are very disappointed with our antifouling job done in Rome as after only 7 months we are getting considerable growth and its getting worse.
The pump which provides cooling water for the Naiad stabilizer hydraulic oil has a leak which is worsening (leaking sea water into the bilges). I have a spare and when Brian & Carol leave us I’ll replace this and get the present pump serviced.
We are very disappointed with our antifouling job done in Rome as after only 7 months we are getting considerable growth and its getting worse.
What we’ll do now is haul Envoy out in Marmaris during the Winter for a clean up and re-antifoul.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Photos
Turkish couple selling us pancakes cooked on board at Gemiler Adisi
With Brad & Rosie @ AliBaba's - see posting 10/9/07. Rather amorous waiter also !
Envoy in Tekirova
Envoy in Tekirova
Friday, September 21, 2007
Antalya
We spent 4 days in the Kokova Roads area and during that time met a charming German couple – Dieter & Anita on their yacht “La Blanche”. One night we went ashore to a Taverna with them and had some really nice fish soup with big chunks of fish in it. On Tuesday 11/9 we headed further East to a great bay called Cavus Limani which is really sheltered, has no road access so is reasonably quiet and is where Captain Beaufort once anchored. On arrival we met a NZ couple Nick & Jo on board “Kiwi Spirit”, a Bavaria 39. It turned out that Nick knew my face as he used to work in East Tamaki just a few hundred metres from Hunt Agencies’ office. They bought their yacht in Germany, launched it in Croatia and then cruised down through Greece to Turkey.
By Saturday 15/9 we arrived at our most Easterly point – Antalya. We tried to get into the old Kaleci marina right in the heart of town but this marina no longer accepts vessels except Gulets and local charter boats so we went to Setur Antalya Marina about 5 miles West of the town. On arrival we met some more NZers – David & Lindy from a steel hulled yacht – “Raconteur”.
They sailed their yacht from Whangerei via the East and in another coincidence David like myself is a Mt Albert Grammar old boy. Antalya is a reasonably large place with about 700,000 people and a very quaint section which is the Old Town. Antalya was first occupied about 7,000 years BC and the present city was founded in 158 BC by King Attalus from where the present name derives. One highlight to see is the “Fluted Minaret” built in the early 13th C and still standing proud. Another is a gate called “Hadrian’s Gate” built during the reign of Roman Emperor Hadrian about 100 AD. In Antalya we met up with our friends from Hamilton Bruce & Jill Sheridan and had a great night out in a restaurant overlooking Kaleci Harbour.
On Tuesday 18th Brian & Carol Restieaux arrived. We have done a lot of boating together through the Coastguard years and then as co-owners of our last vessel “Rapport”. With Brian & Carol we had a look around Antalya before setting off on Wednesday 19th. We no sooner cleared the Marina then stopped so that Brian & Carol could have their first swim in the 27d sea before heading for Tekirova. Here is the ancient city of Phaselis founded in 690 BC by colonists from Rhodes. The City had 3 distinct harbours, the remains of which can still be seen together with extensive ruins including a Theatre which is still used for performances, an Aqueduct erected in Roman times and various bath houses etc. In the Theatre the perimeter had some sort of green powder evident and we were told this powder keeps out the scorpions from the surrounding rocks and scrub ! Also in this bay is a nice Taverna up a short creek and where they have a small camping ground and cabins. So we naturally went ashore for a beer there and found out that next week there is a jugglers’ convention to be held here with about 200 jugglers from all over the World attending.
While there we also met Alan Holmes from Cairns on his yacht “Alice” and we did an exchange of surplus books and CDs. Alan originally comes from Brighton, England and knew the street where I used to live there. He has been living on various yachts for about 20 years including a circumnavigation but is now mostly cruising the Med.
We came further West back to Cavus Limani and have stayed here 2 nights enjoying the sunshine, swimming and walking ashore. We are generally heading West via Finike, Kokova Roads, Fethiye, Gocek and Ekincik until Brian & Carol leave us on 6 October.
Miles covered 2780 in 198 days on board with 566 engine hours.
Technical: again all going well and no major issues since last posting.
The main Alternator stopped charging and I found a slightly corroded 3-pin connector. Once cleaned up it ran again fine.
We have been looking for a large plank of wood for some time and finally found an ideal one in Antalya marina. A plank is useful for 2 reasons – one to use for getting ashore in situations where the passarelle can’t easily be deployed and two to use between your fenders and a seawall if the seawall is rough and their is a surge (otherwise the rough concrete will tear your fenders apart in no time).
During our cruising we check the engine room every 30 mins firstly using the engine room camera which depicts 3 views of the engine room on our navigation computer screen and secondly by looking into the engine room to ensure all appears & smells OK. Every couple of hours or so I also go into the engine room for a better look around and using a laser thermometer I measure and record the temperatures of the Lugger water reservoir, oil filter, alternator, generator, all v-belts, Naiad stabiliser hydraulic pump body and oil reservoir, gearbox, prop shaft and housing. By having recorded these, I now have a good data base of what “normal” temperatures are and will be aware of a problem developing.
By Saturday 15/9 we arrived at our most Easterly point – Antalya. We tried to get into the old Kaleci marina right in the heart of town but this marina no longer accepts vessels except Gulets and local charter boats so we went to Setur Antalya Marina about 5 miles West of the town. On arrival we met some more NZers – David & Lindy from a steel hulled yacht – “Raconteur”.
They sailed their yacht from Whangerei via the East and in another coincidence David like myself is a Mt Albert Grammar old boy. Antalya is a reasonably large place with about 700,000 people and a very quaint section which is the Old Town. Antalya was first occupied about 7,000 years BC and the present city was founded in 158 BC by King Attalus from where the present name derives. One highlight to see is the “Fluted Minaret” built in the early 13th C and still standing proud. Another is a gate called “Hadrian’s Gate” built during the reign of Roman Emperor Hadrian about 100 AD. In Antalya we met up with our friends from Hamilton Bruce & Jill Sheridan and had a great night out in a restaurant overlooking Kaleci Harbour.
On Tuesday 18th Brian & Carol Restieaux arrived. We have done a lot of boating together through the Coastguard years and then as co-owners of our last vessel “Rapport”. With Brian & Carol we had a look around Antalya before setting off on Wednesday 19th. We no sooner cleared the Marina then stopped so that Brian & Carol could have their first swim in the 27d sea before heading for Tekirova. Here is the ancient city of Phaselis founded in 690 BC by colonists from Rhodes. The City had 3 distinct harbours, the remains of which can still be seen together with extensive ruins including a Theatre which is still used for performances, an Aqueduct erected in Roman times and various bath houses etc. In the Theatre the perimeter had some sort of green powder evident and we were told this powder keeps out the scorpions from the surrounding rocks and scrub ! Also in this bay is a nice Taverna up a short creek and where they have a small camping ground and cabins. So we naturally went ashore for a beer there and found out that next week there is a jugglers’ convention to be held here with about 200 jugglers from all over the World attending.
While there we also met Alan Holmes from Cairns on his yacht “Alice” and we did an exchange of surplus books and CDs. Alan originally comes from Brighton, England and knew the street where I used to live there. He has been living on various yachts for about 20 years including a circumnavigation but is now mostly cruising the Med.
We came further West back to Cavus Limani and have stayed here 2 nights enjoying the sunshine, swimming and walking ashore. We are generally heading West via Finike, Kokova Roads, Fethiye, Gocek and Ekincik until Brian & Carol leave us on 6 October.
Miles covered 2780 in 198 days on board with 566 engine hours.
Technical: again all going well and no major issues since last posting.
The main Alternator stopped charging and I found a slightly corroded 3-pin connector. Once cleaned up it ran again fine.
We have been looking for a large plank of wood for some time and finally found an ideal one in Antalya marina. A plank is useful for 2 reasons – one to use for getting ashore in situations where the passarelle can’t easily be deployed and two to use between your fenders and a seawall if the seawall is rough and their is a surge (otherwise the rough concrete will tear your fenders apart in no time).
During our cruising we check the engine room every 30 mins firstly using the engine room camera which depicts 3 views of the engine room on our navigation computer screen and secondly by looking into the engine room to ensure all appears & smells OK. Every couple of hours or so I also go into the engine room for a better look around and using a laser thermometer I measure and record the temperatures of the Lugger water reservoir, oil filter, alternator, generator, all v-belts, Naiad stabiliser hydraulic pump body and oil reservoir, gearbox, prop shaft and housing. By having recorded these, I now have a good data base of what “normal” temperatures are and will be aware of a problem developing.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Brad & Rosie
Firstly a few things I meant to mention earlier.
1. Flying insects: most of the time we BBQ dinner on the aft deck as the galley gets too hot in this climate. We often BBQ after dark with the deck lights and interior lights on and thankfully we get virtually no moths, mossies or other flying bugs. I mention this because in our experience boating around Auckland you are bombarded with every type of flying creature at night and it’s such a pleasure not to have that. Here we have found the occasional wasp during the day and in some places a few flies in the daytime too.
2. Origin of Turkish flag: the Turkish flag is absolutely revered and to be seen flying everywhere. The flag consists of a crescent and star on a red background. Amy found out that the supposed origin is that one night after a major battle several hundred years ago (Turkey has a violent history) a Turkish General saw a river running red with blood with the reflection of the Moon and a star on it – and that became the flag. Talking of flags we have a huge black silver fern flag donated by Steve & Jane and which they used for the NZ camp during the Rocky mountains mountain bike race.
3. The mysterious restricted area near English Harbour: in this harbour is an area where boats are not allowed to enter, where the surrounds are patrolled by soldiers and where gunboats control the waters when the owner is in residence. Amy found out that the villa is owned and used by non other than the President of Turkey which explains the high security.
The extreme heat of the summer has reduced a bit now and the daytime is mostly high 20s. Night time is cool enough that you want to sleep under a sheet and without the cooling fan going all night. The sea is around 26d and in the last week we’ve noticed the odd cloud appearing.
After Amy left we stayed in Bodrum marina for one night and then headed south to Knidos. This is a bay with spectacular ruins detailed in a previous blog entry. The next day we had a long walk over quite a rough “goat track” to a peak with a lighthouse where we got a spectacular view of our bay and the ancient but now shallow, silted tyreme harbour. We also saw a NZ motor vessel “Pacific Memaid” – about 90 feet long and spoke with the skipper who lives on the North Shore. That night we anchored in another bay we had visited previously – Kargi Koyu. The geese remembered us and had a good feed from Envoy. Next stop was Panormitis on the Greek Island of Symi. In this bay there is a taverna and a very large monastery. Although there has been a monastery on this site since the 5th C, this building dates from the 19th C.
But it is still a beautiful structure and houses 2 interesting museums. It also houses a collection of model boats and messages in bottles. People from all over the Eastern Med have attached religious messages to model boats, put them in the water at various locations and a considerable number have turned up in this bay months or years later. We decided to go to the township of Symi about 8 km by road and we caught a bus without problems. Apart from Symi being a beautiful town we wanted to buy some pork which is very hard to buy in Turkey being a Muslim country. We were getting a bit full of chicken and lamb !
So we found a butcher and bought 7 kg in total of 3 types of pork chops.
But getting back was difficult. 3 people told us there was a bus at 1300 so we got to the bus stop at 1245. Eventually a bus came over 3 hours later at 4 pm and we had been mostly standing in the heat all that time. We tried to get a taxi but they thought 8km was too far to take us. We were glad to get back to Envoy for a swim and cold drink and noticed an Australian yacht in the bay called “Foxy Lady”. Shortly afterwards Brad & Rosie from Foxy Lady who had seen our NZ flag came over to say “Gooday” and we arranged to meet on Envoy for morning tea the next day.
Brad & Rosie turned out to be a beautiful and most interesting couple from Sydney.
Brad is nearly 70 years old and retired in the late 90s from his very successful fibreglass insulation business which he sold to Carter Holt Harvey. This is an interesting story in itself and briefly there were 3 insulation producers in Australia each protected by a process patent and these three thought there were no other patents. Brad found a fourth patent, bought that process and rapidly gained huge market share. He subsequently set up a safety equipment business which he’s now in the process of selling. Brad had done some power boating previously and wanting a new challenge decided to enter the Millenium round the World yacht race. This race attracted about 50 entrants many of whom had professional skippers and / or crews. Brad bought Foxy Lady – a 48 ft pilothouse cutter - set it up for the race and in order to qualify for entry entered a race from Sydney to Lord Howe Is which was his first ever long sail. He won that race and gained considerable experience along the way.
The Millenium R-T-W race started in Israel so Brad shipped Foxy Lady over and his friend Rosie asked if she could join Brad - and she did. Rosie had no previous boating experience and was terribly seasick most of the way.
The race visited 35 countries and once again included pro skippers and crews but Foxy Lady was the overall handicap winner. Brad keeps Foxy Lady at Marmaris where we are going to winter over and Brad & Rosie were able to give us a huge amount of information about Marmaris and the adjacent coast.
Brad still dives and as scuba diving is not generally allowed in Turkey does snorkelling. He explores most bays and says he has seen the occasional quite large crayfish and relics from shipwrecks in some quite unlikely places.
We left Panormitis and arranged to meet at and have dinner at Ali Baba’s restaurant – detailed in a previous blog. We had drinks aboard the superb Foxy Lady and a fabulous Turkish dinner. Di said that if were ever to get a yacht she would want a pilothouse yacht like Foxy Lady. The vessel is airy and spacious with plenty of space and no need to brave the elements while sailing. The winches and in-boom reefing are hydraulic and the boat has a genset, great refrigeration and aircon. No need for seaboots and wet weather gear on board Foxy Lady.
Bypassing Marmaris at this point we headed to the Gulf of Fetiye and spent one night at Sarsila Koyu or Daliman Beach. This area has numerous well known bays but as we are returning here with Brian & Carol we didn’t stay at this point but moved on to Gemiler Adasi and then to Kas. On the way to Kas the wind increased quite sharply up to about 35 knots on the stern with a following 2 m sea. We anchored in a bay to the South of Kas – Bayindir Limani - but it was too windy and rough to make the nearly 2 mile trip across the bay to Kas in our dinghy. From Kas we moved further East to the Kokova Roads. This is an area of beautiful bays, a castle and many Lycian ruins. This area has special significance for us as it was here that my brother Charles and Marie brought us to three years ago in their yacht “Acrobat” and it was then that we made our plan to cruise the Med.
From here we keep cruising East towards Antalya with about 75 miles to go but 5 days to do it.
Just as Captain Cook was responsible for charting much of the Pacific, Turkey was charted by Captain Beaufort from 1810 to 1812 and modern charts are still based on his surveys. Captain Beaufort is also responsible for developing the widely used “Beaufort Scale of Wind Strength”. This scale starts at Level O with sea like a mirror, calm, glassy, less than 1 knot of wind, no waves and goes up to Level 12 with air filled with spray & foam, visibility severely impaired, hurricane winds over 63 knots, sea state “phenomenal” with waves over 14m high.
Miles covered 2676 in 186 days on board with 540 engine hours.
Technical: again all mostly going well and no major issues or changes since last posting. The gearbox leak is no more following my fix in Bodrum.
I am starting to focus on some of the longer term issues like injectors, fuel injection pump and think about the timing of checks in these areas.
During the winter in Marmaris we’ll haul Envoy out for hull and running gear maintenance plus antifouling.
1. Flying insects: most of the time we BBQ dinner on the aft deck as the galley gets too hot in this climate. We often BBQ after dark with the deck lights and interior lights on and thankfully we get virtually no moths, mossies or other flying bugs. I mention this because in our experience boating around Auckland you are bombarded with every type of flying creature at night and it’s such a pleasure not to have that. Here we have found the occasional wasp during the day and in some places a few flies in the daytime too.
2. Origin of Turkish flag: the Turkish flag is absolutely revered and to be seen flying everywhere. The flag consists of a crescent and star on a red background. Amy found out that the supposed origin is that one night after a major battle several hundred years ago (Turkey has a violent history) a Turkish General saw a river running red with blood with the reflection of the Moon and a star on it – and that became the flag. Talking of flags we have a huge black silver fern flag donated by Steve & Jane and which they used for the NZ camp during the Rocky mountains mountain bike race.
3. The mysterious restricted area near English Harbour: in this harbour is an area where boats are not allowed to enter, where the surrounds are patrolled by soldiers and where gunboats control the waters when the owner is in residence. Amy found out that the villa is owned and used by non other than the President of Turkey which explains the high security.
The extreme heat of the summer has reduced a bit now and the daytime is mostly high 20s. Night time is cool enough that you want to sleep under a sheet and without the cooling fan going all night. The sea is around 26d and in the last week we’ve noticed the odd cloud appearing.
After Amy left we stayed in Bodrum marina for one night and then headed south to Knidos. This is a bay with spectacular ruins detailed in a previous blog entry. The next day we had a long walk over quite a rough “goat track” to a peak with a lighthouse where we got a spectacular view of our bay and the ancient but now shallow, silted tyreme harbour. We also saw a NZ motor vessel “Pacific Memaid” – about 90 feet long and spoke with the skipper who lives on the North Shore. That night we anchored in another bay we had visited previously – Kargi Koyu. The geese remembered us and had a good feed from Envoy. Next stop was Panormitis on the Greek Island of Symi. In this bay there is a taverna and a very large monastery. Although there has been a monastery on this site since the 5th C, this building dates from the 19th C.
But it is still a beautiful structure and houses 2 interesting museums. It also houses a collection of model boats and messages in bottles. People from all over the Eastern Med have attached religious messages to model boats, put them in the water at various locations and a considerable number have turned up in this bay months or years later. We decided to go to the township of Symi about 8 km by road and we caught a bus without problems. Apart from Symi being a beautiful town we wanted to buy some pork which is very hard to buy in Turkey being a Muslim country. We were getting a bit full of chicken and lamb !
So we found a butcher and bought 7 kg in total of 3 types of pork chops.
But getting back was difficult. 3 people told us there was a bus at 1300 so we got to the bus stop at 1245. Eventually a bus came over 3 hours later at 4 pm and we had been mostly standing in the heat all that time. We tried to get a taxi but they thought 8km was too far to take us. We were glad to get back to Envoy for a swim and cold drink and noticed an Australian yacht in the bay called “Foxy Lady”. Shortly afterwards Brad & Rosie from Foxy Lady who had seen our NZ flag came over to say “Gooday” and we arranged to meet on Envoy for morning tea the next day.
Brad & Rosie turned out to be a beautiful and most interesting couple from Sydney.
Brad is nearly 70 years old and retired in the late 90s from his very successful fibreglass insulation business which he sold to Carter Holt Harvey. This is an interesting story in itself and briefly there were 3 insulation producers in Australia each protected by a process patent and these three thought there were no other patents. Brad found a fourth patent, bought that process and rapidly gained huge market share. He subsequently set up a safety equipment business which he’s now in the process of selling. Brad had done some power boating previously and wanting a new challenge decided to enter the Millenium round the World yacht race. This race attracted about 50 entrants many of whom had professional skippers and / or crews. Brad bought Foxy Lady – a 48 ft pilothouse cutter - set it up for the race and in order to qualify for entry entered a race from Sydney to Lord Howe Is which was his first ever long sail. He won that race and gained considerable experience along the way.
The Millenium R-T-W race started in Israel so Brad shipped Foxy Lady over and his friend Rosie asked if she could join Brad - and she did. Rosie had no previous boating experience and was terribly seasick most of the way.
The race visited 35 countries and once again included pro skippers and crews but Foxy Lady was the overall handicap winner. Brad keeps Foxy Lady at Marmaris where we are going to winter over and Brad & Rosie were able to give us a huge amount of information about Marmaris and the adjacent coast.
Brad still dives and as scuba diving is not generally allowed in Turkey does snorkelling. He explores most bays and says he has seen the occasional quite large crayfish and relics from shipwrecks in some quite unlikely places.
We left Panormitis and arranged to meet at and have dinner at Ali Baba’s restaurant – detailed in a previous blog. We had drinks aboard the superb Foxy Lady and a fabulous Turkish dinner. Di said that if were ever to get a yacht she would want a pilothouse yacht like Foxy Lady. The vessel is airy and spacious with plenty of space and no need to brave the elements while sailing. The winches and in-boom reefing are hydraulic and the boat has a genset, great refrigeration and aircon. No need for seaboots and wet weather gear on board Foxy Lady.
Bypassing Marmaris at this point we headed to the Gulf of Fetiye and spent one night at Sarsila Koyu or Daliman Beach. This area has numerous well known bays but as we are returning here with Brian & Carol we didn’t stay at this point but moved on to Gemiler Adasi and then to Kas. On the way to Kas the wind increased quite sharply up to about 35 knots on the stern with a following 2 m sea. We anchored in a bay to the South of Kas – Bayindir Limani - but it was too windy and rough to make the nearly 2 mile trip across the bay to Kas in our dinghy. From Kas we moved further East to the Kokova Roads. This is an area of beautiful bays, a castle and many Lycian ruins. This area has special significance for us as it was here that my brother Charles and Marie brought us to three years ago in their yacht “Acrobat” and it was then that we made our plan to cruise the Med.
From here we keep cruising East towards Antalya with about 75 miles to go but 5 days to do it.
Just as Captain Cook was responsible for charting much of the Pacific, Turkey was charted by Captain Beaufort from 1810 to 1812 and modern charts are still based on his surveys. Captain Beaufort is also responsible for developing the widely used “Beaufort Scale of Wind Strength”. This scale starts at Level O with sea like a mirror, calm, glassy, less than 1 knot of wind, no waves and goes up to Level 12 with air filled with spray & foam, visibility severely impaired, hurricane winds over 63 knots, sea state “phenomenal” with waves over 14m high.
Miles covered 2676 in 186 days on board with 540 engine hours.
Technical: again all mostly going well and no major issues or changes since last posting. The gearbox leak is no more following my fix in Bodrum.
I am starting to focus on some of the longer term issues like injectors, fuel injection pump and think about the timing of checks in these areas.
During the winter in Marmaris we’ll haul Envoy out for hull and running gear maintenance plus antifouling.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Guest Blogger: Amy
Thanks again Mum and Dad for a fantastic trip! I had a great time. As promised, here are some photos:
After leaving Bodrum Harbour on Saturday morning, we anchored off St Peter's Castle and went for a swim. I think the water temperature was about 25 degrees - probably the warmest water I've ever swum in... and also warmer than the air tempertaure in London at the moment!
This is Hassan's restaurant, where we had dinner on Saturday night. The staff are so lovely and friendly there, and they seemed to know Mum and Dad quite well.
Here's Mum and I at dinner. We had a lovely outside table.
And here's Dad and I at the dinner table. You can see how Dad's keeping the kiwi colours flying at all times - the boat has a big silver fern flag on it and Dad often wears this T Shirt out.
After dinner we listened to a group of Turks having a bit of an impromptu jam in the restaurant. They sounded great, and after I took this photo they insisted on taking a photo of me, too!
After leaving Bodrum Harbour on Saturday morning, we anchored off St Peter's Castle and went for a swim. I think the water temperature was about 25 degrees - probably the warmest water I've ever swum in... and also warmer than the air tempertaure in London at the moment!
This is Hassan's restaurant, where we had dinner on Saturday night. The staff are so lovely and friendly there, and they seemed to know Mum and Dad quite well.
Here's Mum and I at dinner. We had a lovely outside table.
And here's Dad and I at the dinner table. You can see how Dad's keeping the kiwi colours flying at all times - the boat has a big silver fern flag on it and Dad often wears this T Shirt out.
After dinner we listened to a group of Turks having a bit of an impromptu jam in the restaurant. They sounded great, and after I took this photo they insisted on taking a photo of me, too!
Below is the amphitheatre at Snake and Castle Island. We went there very early to avoid the hordes, and were lucky enough to have the whole place to ourselves.
Mum and Dad at the amphitheatre
Dad and I with a tortoise that Dad spotted on Snake and Castle Island. Very cute!
Thanks for a fantastic trip Mum and Dad. Many more good times aboard Envoy to come!
xox
Mum and Dad at the amphitheatre
Dad and I with a tortoise that Dad spotted on Snake and Castle Island. Very cute!
Cleopatra's Bay on Snake and Castle Island
Thanks for a fantastic trip Mum and Dad. Many more good times aboard Envoy to come!
xox
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