Logbooks 20091. 24 June. re-launch
Phew! at last, back in the water. Whilst we managed Ok while on the hard,
boats are meant to float. the water also has a cooling effect on the boat,
the fridge in particular had to work very hard to maintain temperature.
unfortunately the compressor is right under my bunk and the heat at times
was a bit like an electric blanket - not what you need when the temperature
is already mid 20's at night. I resorted to sleeping in the cockpit, lapping
up every morsel of breeze. i was also on hand to shoo away the local cats
that wanted to climb the ladder and come aboard. Since then we have fitted
drilled a large hole and fitted a fan to draw air out of the locker with the
fridge compressor to help keep the area a bit cooler and therefore running
more efficiently.
We stayed a few days at the 'Kadir' restaurant quay to sort ourselves out and to be in reach of wi-fi. unfortunately Terry's mum was taken into hospital so we wanted to be close to email/skype contact in case we needed to take any further action. Fortunately, it looks as though her problems have been sorted with the fitting of a pace maker and as i type this she is meant to be going home today after 3 weeks in hospital.
It was also nice to be able to get into Marmaris easily on the bus - we needed a replacement propeller for the bow thruster after ours fell off shortly after being re-launched. luckily it wasn't me that had screwed it back into place!
2. 30 June. Orhaniye - Karuca Buku. 24nm
A lovely sail - beating all the way of course - to the wide open bay of Karuca Buku, now known as Davina's Bay as it was Davina that recommended it. we covered 24 miles to do what would have been about 12 in a straight line!
3. 1 July. Karuca Buku - Deliktas, nr Bodrum. 50nm
Up early to try and get to Bodrum in one go and not be too beaten up by
the Meltemi around Rhodes. The early signs were not good when we had
12 knots on the nose going passed Datca at 0600, however that soon died down
and left us motoring around the point at Knidos and into flat calm. a couple
of miles north the breeze filled in to 20 knots apparent (on the nose) and
we had a beautiful sail up the coast of Kos, meeting Divanty and
Full Flight in a bay just south of Bodrum, called Deliktas.
Actually it's another wide open bay that divanty seem to like with adequate
shelter from the Meltemi, but with a sewage plant on one headland - hence
its new name 'Smelly Bay'. In its favour, it was quiet away from the
appalling overnight noise in the anchorage at bodrum from the nightclubs.
We christened the water maker today - being out at sea where we could be sure of being in clean water. it is truly a minor miracle of being able to turn salty sea water into sweet fresh water, some 'roam2eau' get it?
4. 2 July. Deliktas - Bodrum 3nm
We've come to Bodrum as we have heard we can get our Yellow Fever jab at the port doctor for free. We tried to get it done in Marmaris, but the language barrier was against us. However, they had the serum in stock and gave both Terry and I and Davina and Ants of Divanty our jabs. We did a bit of shopping and decided to risk staying a night in the anchorage as we had done in September 2007 when we found the noise from the night clubs fringing the bay too much to take. There was a rumour that the clubs were supposed to close down at 1am...no such luck, they were still going when the Mezzuin called the dawn prayer at about 5am.
Never, ever again
5. 3 July. Bodrum - The Aquarium
it was market day in Bodrum, so more shopping then off to the popular anchorage at the Aquarium just 4 miles away. It is a very popular stop for the trip boats and finding a spot to anchor was difficult, even when we thought we were ok, the trip boats kept coming around us, disgorging their guests into the water for a swim and then laeving about 45 minutes later. at one point we were hemmed in on all sides with one small gullet swinging into our forestay. fortunately no harm done. By 6pm most had gone away leaving only those staying overnight. Its a good spot for that too, especially if you back up to the rocks, the wind goes over the top of the small hill leaving the boat completely sheltered.
6. 4 July. The Aquarium - Gumusluck
We
were recommended Gumusluck by Esper last year and had to go back as we liked
it so much. Its a virtually land-locked bay, which is unusual in these
parts. the little village spreads its small restaurants and shops along the
shore on one side, a beach at the head of the bay and a large hill to
seaward, usually with a large Turkish flag flying from the summit.
We had a good sail there too - a beat on a single tack down to the headland of ???? and then taking northwards between the Greek island of Kalymnos and Turkey.
7. 7 July. Gumusluck - Ormos Xerokambos, Leros 26nm
We were to meet up with Divanty again as their daughter, Sarah and son-in-law, Nick had kindly brought our replacement TackTick wind instrument. It was a massive disappointment to spend 400 quid on it and then to find it didn't work properly. To give Tacktick their due, the immediately sent out a replacement. So off we went (illegally) to the Greek island of Leros and the large anchorage at the southern end. Divanty are keen on these rather large anchorages - but then at 52', i guess they don't worry about being tucked up in snug places like we do. Anyway, a boozy night followed - Full Flight were also in attendance with their 4 guests on board and the next morning i had a mighty hangover.
8. 8 July O Xerokambos - Ormos Partheni, Leros 24nm
Another day of beating to windward. this time we covered 24nm to make 6nm due north! with my hangover, it really wasn't what i wanted, but after about 3 hours, the 20 knot breeze had blown away my pain .
9. 9 July. Partheni - Lipsi. 8nm
Back
to our favourite Dodecanese island, Lipsi where we tied up in the harbour
and sat out another Meltemi, this time blowing right over us on the eastern
side of the Aegean. Our new TackTick showed 36knots blowing through the
harbour. Still, no matter, we were safely tied up with all the facilities we
could want.
We went to see David and Liz's new house that is being built on the hill over-looking the harbour. the shell is finished and its easy to see it will be a lovely house in an impressive location. hopefully one day we will see it finished for ourselves. unfortunately David and Liz couldn't get to Lipsi quite so early this year and we won't see them.
The wind brings several difficulties, especially for the charter crews.
they are on holiday and want to make the best of their time and not sit
around in one place as we are content to do. one of the effects is that in
good weather many boats are happy to anchor, but when its not so good they
seek the shelter of harbours and marinas, which puts pressure on the space.
Their experience in handling a yacht may only be hours old - even if they
have sailed before, the last time may have been a year or more ago and
handling an unfamiliar boat at close quarters in windy conditions is not
easy. so perhaps, unsurprisingly we witnessed several near catastrophes,
happily most ended without too much damage. at one point there were 2
separate yachts beside each other that had caught their neighbours anchor
chain around their propellers. both eventually managed to free themselves
(no idea if any damage was done to those yachts' props), one managed to get
away, the other unhappily ran into their cruising neighbour. the port police
were called to take details
and tidy up some of the mess. some boat crews
got so frustrated at not being able to put their boats where they were
aiming, they simply gave up and motored away to who knows where.
One night the wind changed so that it was blowing broadside down the harbour. there were 2 very large motorboats in the harbour at this time (70plus feet). by 1 am, the largest was dragging their bow anchors (yes 2 anchors) and they were crushing their downwind neighbours. they didn't hesitate, started engines, dropped lines and left - nearly taking the other large motor cruiser with them as they drifted downwind and caught their anchor chain in one of their props.
At 4am were were awoken by a loud thud. we jumped out of bed and found
the single crew man of the other motorboat desperately trying to fend off by
pushing the passarelle off the dock - a fruitless task - one man and a 40
tonne boat, i don't think so! the owner-skipper tried to tighten up the bow
anchor chain to pull them off the concrete dock, but every time it slackened
off again. it was obvious it wasn't going to hold. after what seemed ages,
the skipper decided to start the engines and leave. as he was pulling away,
they realised that half their lines were still tied on and then nearly
swiped out their down-wind neighbour with that pesky passarelle! to add to
complications, they had snagged the anchor of the boat next to us. the mobo
skipper and the crew man had no means of communication and relied on us
shouting over the wind to tell him what to do. he kept wanting to drive the
anchor out while we had to tell him to keep station so as not to pick up
everyone else's anchors. our neighbours tried to tighten up their
chain, but still sagged off to leeward, so we put a line from them onto our
bow for the rest of the night. fortunately, we were still holding well.
those large motorboats really had no place on the inside of the small harbour of Lipsi. the first one couldn't lay his anchors at a good enough angle and neither could lay enough scope to hold them safely in the cross wind. if they had gone on the other side of the quay they would have been fine. boats of their size would have been perfectly comfortable. they also have a habit of running generators 24/7 which is totally unfair on their neighbours - whose cockpits tend to be right beside the exhaust and have to try and sleep with the sound of running exhaust water right beside their cabin.
10. 19 July. Lipsi - Yalikavak 31nm
At last able to leave Lipsi after the Meltemi, we set about making our
shopping list for goodies from the Calypso
Supermarket of all things Greek.
we had already stocked up with a number of 5litre wine boxes, but now we
were wanting pork and pate and ouzo etc. Although it was a Sunday most of the shops had all been open all day
without a siesta during the week and on Sundays too at least part of the day and since some of our stash was to be frozen, we thought we'd
leave it till the last minute. BIG mistake! for some reason, which we never
found out all the shops were closed, except the bakery. so all we left with
was a loaf of bread!
As with all weather in the Med, its either blowing old boots or flat calm, so we motored about half of the way over to the Turkish bay of Yalikavak and managed to ghost along at about 3knots the rest of the way. Terry had brought me to a lovely hotel over-looking Yalikavak bay for my 40th. From our vantage point high up, we'd been able to watch the yachts drift in, anchor overnight and sail away in the morning. We thought it might be nice to be one of those yachts. unfortunately there has been so much construction since we were there in 2002 that the hotel was impossible to pick out. there is also a huge new marina in the bay and rather a lot of massive motorboats. so the effect was somewhat spoiled, although we did find a good place to anchor where the ordinary Turks sat on the beach and barbequed while the slightly more well to do ones sat in a 'beach club' being entertained by loud thumping disco music and racing around on jet skis. fortunately by 9pm they had all gone home, just leaving a few boats and some beach-barbequers who unwittingly serenaded us with their guitar playing and gentle singing.
11 20 July Yalikavak - Gumusluck 5nm
12 21 July Gumusluck - Bodrum/Aquarium
13 23 July Visa run to Kos
14 25 july. Bodrum - Aqaurium
