Turkey

September 18, 2007

Position N 35 53.7' E 030 42.4' at 0400 hours UTM.

We are 36 miles off the Turkish coast and should arrive at Finike around lunch time. All well on board.

later that day.....

1000 hours and we can see the Turkish mountains ahead. We also heard a very strange thumping noise as though 

someone was beating on the hull with their fist. We scoured the boat, inside and out, to locate the cause. We then realized that there were three vessels directly ahead of us that were firing some kind of quick-firing artillery at a distant target in the water. Binoculars showed them to be three patrol boat type vessels, painted white with a broad diagonal red stripe in the fashion of Coast Guard vessels. There were rocks and a headland to starboard but we nevertheless altered course to pass between them and the hazards. The three vessels totally ignored us as we passed about three quarters of a mile off their stern. We hailed them on the radio but they did not respond. We also watched very carefully to see which way their gun was pointing and to make sure that the smoke from their exploding shells was in the opposite direction to our passage.

At 1245 we motored into the marina at Finike, Turkey and tied up at the dock at N 36 17.7' E 030 09.0'

September 19, 2007

Our first night at Finike and in the morning Annette asked me, "Did you hear the gunshots during the night?"
I had heard nothing. This is not surprising since I typically do not sleep well during the first night of a passage and tend to crash hard when we get to a marina.

The town of Finike is set upon a steep hillside with a backdrop of high mountains. The homes are stacked on the hillside, one above the other, with steep flights of stairs providing access for pedestrians. The town has a series of statues scattered along the main thoroughfares and most of the statues were of huge oranges. This is a citrus growing region and apart from agriculture, the town's "other" industry of bars, restaurants, travel agents and gift shops is centered around the marina. Unlike Cyprus, most of the vessels are sail rather than power, perhaps predictable with fuel near US$8 / gallon. There is a significant permanent "live-aboard" community, plus an ex-patriot contingent who live in the town. WiFi internet connection in the marina was free, glacially slow and intermittent. We were told that the problem is that everyone in town knows the access code to the marina WiFi and the locals spend all day downloading pirated movies and taking up all of the bandwidth. When the marina changes the code, the whole town has learned the new code within an hour and everything is back as it was.

We met fellow cruisers in quantity for the first time since our visit to Bali, Indonesia and joined one table at the local watering hole, "the Rose Garden". I had asked where this was and if there was a sign. I was told there was no sign. It is called the "Rose Garden" because it "once" had roses growing there. We met cruisers heading south though the Red Sea and cruisers who were just heading along the Turkish coast. Around 1900 hours there was a loud bang followed by the aerial explosion of a large firework. The mystery of the night-time gunshots was solved! It is Ramadan and the evening firework signals the faithful that the sun had set and they can now eat. The morning signal at 0400 hours is to signal that they should get up and fix their meal before sunrise begins the daytime fast. I always slept through both the fireworks and an hour later, when the two adjacent mosques would begin their dueling asynchronous wailing, calling the faithful to pray.
 

September 20, 2007

Lazy day; Laundry and boat chores. We wandered around town window shopping but in the evening, we barbequed steaks aboard DoodleBug for supper. Sometimes you just have one lamb kebab too many.

September 21, 2007

This morning we set sail at 0720 hours, bound for the anchorages at "Gekkaya Limani". We took on some diesel and for the next three hours this was a very pretty "motor" along the coast with winds of one or two knots. We passed increasing numbers of Turkish gulets. These are large wooden sailing vessels, schooner rigged, with curving bow and long bowsprits. I say "sailing vessels" but most of them had no sign of any sails or running rigging. They are designed and used strictly for the local tourist industry and motor from bay to bay. Our destination was some 13 miles east of the marina, in a protected bay tucked behind a couple of islands. The cruising guide warned of a power cable across one narrow entrance but stated that it was reported to have been removed. It's previously reported height was "20 to 30" meters. Since that is within the range of our main mast, we kept a careful lookout as well as a lookout for rocks in the narrow channel behind the island. Sure enough the overhead wires came into view. If they had been removed, they had since been replaced. We reversed our course and circumnavigated the island in the opposite direction to find a quiet spot to anchor in the small bay beyond the overhead wires.

We launched our dinghy for the first time this season and the outboard fired up immediately. We first visited a large sea-cave that we had passed on our approach. We were able to dinghy right inside the cave and explore it's depths. We had been inside a few minutes when a small power boat entered and took up position, partially blocking the entrance, while it's passengers slipped over the side to swim in the cave. Next a huge bowsprit appeared above the power boat as a much larger power boat poked it's bow in to the cave. All of it's many passengers were clustered on the bow taking photos.

We continued our exploration of the island and next visited an abandoned looking resort. The guide book mentioned obnoxiously loud disco music into the wee hours emanating from this establishment. It must have been a while ago, as the roofs were partially collapsed and the only sign of life were a couple of feral peacocks wandering amongst the debris. There was a truly ancient water cistern, partially roofed with blocks of limestone over a supporting arch of smaller limestone blocks. The cistern must have dated to Roman times and had been in use by the resort. We passed a power panel and I noticed that one of the meters showed voltage and there was the hum of a transformer. Those low power cables across the channel were live!

We had noticed ruins near the summit of the island and began to bushwhack through the undergrowth and over the rough limestone rocks towards the nearby peak. The views were magnificent with DoodleBug quietly at anchor in the blue of the bay below us and all of the inlets, rocks and channels spread out for our view. When we achieved our summit, slightly scratched but triumphant, we discovered we were on the wrong peak. We could now see the "correct" peak and also a trail to it's summit. We regained the abandoned resort, chased the peacocks around trying to get a photo and motored our dinghy around the island to the "ruin" trail. The ruins were much more elaborate than I had originally thought from below. They were on the opposite side of the island to the failed resort and also had a huge and ancient cistern. There were hoses and a pump indicating that this cistern had also been in use by the resort. The architecture of the ruin seemed to be a mixture of styles dating from different periods. Who had built it and why? There had been a lot of labor expended to build the various walls, and the several ancient buildings. The islet had almost no arable land except for a tiny plot near the resort. There must have been a sizeable community living at the ancient site but doing what? There was no road to protect amongst the rugged Turkish mountains. An ancient naval base? That evening the bay around us began to fill with tour boats who anchored close to the shore and ran a long line to the nearby rocks. We had anchored in the middle of the bay and were clear of everyone as we watched multiple barbeques being fired up on the various boats as their evening lamb kebabs were being prepared. Great Day. Position N 36 12.7' E 029 53.6'

September 22, 2007

This morning we moved perhaps four miles to an anchorage off the village of Ucagiz. Gekkaya Limani anchorage was just inside the east end of Kekova Roads. This is a channel behind a long skinny island just off the mainland and which provides a series of

very pretty and well sheltered anchorages. As we motored in the dawn light, we passed a large castle perched on the steep ridge of Kale Koy. We turned through a narrow entrance between rocks into the bay beyond and anchored next to an Amel54. This is the first "54" we have seen "in the flesh" and is Amel's new model. They no longer build the Super Maramu (DoodleBug is a Super Maramu, hull #331).

We dinghied over to Kale Koy, tied up to a restaurant dock and began to climb the steep pathway between competing gifts shops towards the castle. We had been warned that we would have a guide whether we needed one or not. Sure enough a young girl, perhaps 12 years old, attached herself to us. She had a basket of "crafts" such as shell necklaces and cloth bags decorated with same and which she claimed to have made herself. We reached the battlements of the castle and she made her serious pitch for us to buy some of her wares. I thanked her, said we did not need anything and gave her 5 Turkish Lira (about US$4). She was not happy with this and left muttering.

The Crusader castle walls were amazingly intact and the view across the bays and channels magical. We could look down upon the ruins of ancient Simena and see where the current crop of restaurants are built upon the ancient wharf. The old city is partially submerged with sarcophagi sticking out of the water like mooring buoys. (This of course is entirely due to Global Warming - probably due to the excessive burning of Christian martyrs by the Romans).

We next visited the village of Ucagiz on the far side of our anchorage. The approach to the piers was jammed with tourist boats - Gulets and swarms of sea-kayakers. This village is a major staging area for these tours and motor-coaches filled the parking lots waiting for the returning voyagers. We watched from a pretty little restaurant (Onur Pension and Restaurant www.onurpension.com) and enjoyed a superb lunch. I had the Sea Bream and Annette had grilled eel.

That evening we were invited aboard SV Cerise (the Amel54), for sundowners. We had a very pleasant visit with Terry and Margaret, the new owners and were impressed with the many improvements that Amel has made. We are duly envious and toy with ideas of upgrading.

Current position is: N 36 12.7' E 029 53.6'

September 23, 2007

We raised anchor at 0640 hours and three hours later, dropped anchor in Bayandir Limani at N 36 10.6' E 029 38.7' in a small 

bay opposite the town of Kas. We lazed around all day just reading, swimming off the boat and generally relaxing. This is a pretty location, with vertical sea cliffs on the far side of the bay. In the cliffs we can see caves and sarcophagi. These look like rooms carved directly into the sheer cliff face. North of us, the town of Kas plunges down the hillside to the sea, with a backdrop of dramatic mountains. By night the town is a fairy sprinkling of lights in the distance.

September 24, 2007

We have shaken off yesterday's lethargy, launched the dinghy and set out for Kas. We circled the inner harbor looking for a landing spot and had to dodge the torrent of exiting tourist boats. Finally we found a spot and tied up next to what looked like a Mongolian Yurt - a sort of tent. We later found out that this strange object contained fishing nets. We wandered the town and had breakfast at a cafe near the harbor. The waiter told us that he was a Kurd from Mesopotamia. Near the end of our meal he asked me if we could help him. He knew we are Americans and explained that since the involvement of the USA in Iraq and Iran, the Kurds, amongst others, have been flooded with funds from the good 'ol USA. Unfortunately they had been given "million dollar" notes and were having great difficulty getting these changed to smaller denominations. He and his friends had acquired 13 of these bills and if we could help him and his associates out, we could keep half off the money. Wow! 6.5 million dollars for helping someone get change. Fifty percent is very generous because the Nigerians typically only offer twenty percent. Mind you, the Nigerian hoard they are trying to launder is usually at least 40 million, so I suppose it is fair. Volume discount and everything. Now Annette and I are way too busy to bother with small change like US$6,500,000 so if anyone wants to help this fella out, just let me know and I can send you his e-mail. He at least was deadly serious and we shook him off with difficulty.

On the West side of Kas is an amphitheater dating to 200 BC that remains in remarkable condition. We walked over to view this antiquity and clambered over the "seats" made from limestone blocks to sit and view the stage. The amphitheater faces the sea and the view is unique. For hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, performances have been held here. A magical place.

In the afternoon, we toured the sea cliffs opposite our anchorage. At one spot we found a tiny beach where we were able to land our dinghy. We bushwhacked up a steep hillside until we came across a trail marked with paint flashes. The marked trail first led to a huge cave with a hidden side entrance tunnel. It was hard to tell if it was completely natural or if the entrances were man-made. After exploring the cave, we again followed the trail but decided that it was now heading towards a distant resort. As we backtracked, the trail began to climb the sheer cliff face along narrow ledges. This was exciting as the sea was now below us. We suddenly rounded a flake of rock and found ancient tombs carved in the solid rock of the cliff. The outer faces

of the tombs were inscribed in a Hellenic script. The sides had the carved shapes of pillars with the appearance of a "roof" of vega like beams. The cylindrical logs projecting from the cliff-face were carved from and an integral part of the solid rock. The trail continued upwards past another tomb and now clung precariously along a narrow ledge. Someone had hammered a steel spike into the rock and had festooned a rope handhold along the cliff, to which we gratefully clung as we edged our way. Up and up the trail led, zig-zagging amongst narrow defiles and between rock-flakes. We heard an ominous buzzing sound and after convincing ourselves that Turkey probably does not have rattle snakes, we turned a corner to find a steel tower perched on the cliff edge with buzzing power cables. We edged past this modern human artifact and found ourselves on the cliff-top next to several huge stone sarcophagi. These were easily large enough to have held the Ark of the Covenant but careful examination showed that they had already been robbed, long before Annette got there.

When we regained our dinghy, we motored over to a nearby dock and confirmed that the restaurant was open that night. Here we met with a fellow sailor, who had been in some distress last night. He is single-handing and could not find a spot that would hold his anchor. I had told him of this dock and he had gained it's sanctuary in the fading daylight. We sat and chatted with Dennis and discovered that he is a retired Turkish naval officer. We had a fun dinner while we discussed the Kyoto treaty, who are the candidates in the forthcoming US election and who will win. What the electoral procedure is regarding primaries. Why Turkish and American relations have deteriorated over the Kurds and so on. Dennis is a sharp and well informed man and we had an enjoyable and lively evening. I ate the shrimp casserole for supper and it was tasty. Annette did not enjoy the calamari and said it tasted like old rubber bands. Calamari always tastes that way to me.

September 25, 2007

This morning we raised anchor at 0845 hours and motored in very light winds to Yesilkoy Limani, a bay just across from the town of Kalkan. We dropped anchor three hours later at N 36 15.5' E 029 22.2'. The cruising guide stated that we needed to use a long stern line ashore and sure enough, that is what most vessels were using. Now DoodleBug has never used this method of

anchoring before but we were nevertheless prepared with line, chain to wrap around the rocks, wrench to tighten the shackles etc. We launched our dinghy before we go too close to the shore and then dropped anchor as we reversed towards the shore and the rocks. The first problem soon became apparent. If Annette is on the bow, testing the tension of the anchor chain with her foot, to see if the anchor is holding or merely skipping over the sea bed, who is watching the stern to see if we hit a shoreside rock? From a center cockpit yacht, the near stern cannot be seen. We had several attempts to hit a combination where the anchor held, we had enough chain let out and we had not run aground. We never could seem to get all three to work at the same time. Finally we had the anchor set and DoodleBug was blown by the wind, parallel to the shore. I got in the dinghy with my "rock wrapping" chain and Annette fed the line to me from the stern as I motored towards the shore. I pulled and motored but there was no way I was going to turn DoodleBug with a dinghy, so that the stern was pointing at the shore. Time to change plans. I motored over to a French flagged vessel nearby and asked how it was done. The couple there explained that you need a very long line. The wife rows the line ashore and then her husband winches the boat into position. We never considered "rowing" our dinghy because a) we are Americans and b) our oar was stolen in the Maldives. The Frenchman also warned me that the wind would change and suggested I simply anchor and forget the whole stern line thing. This we did.

Next task was to feed my wife some lunch and we dinghied a mile or so to nearby, Kalkan. Out of the shelter of our anchorage the seas were rough and although the chop was no more than two feet, this feels like twenty feet when you are being bounced around in a dinghy. The guide book had suggested we would find many upscale restaurants near the sea front. Indeed there were lots of restaurants but with few customers. Our waiter recommended Turkish pizza (pide) for lunch and it was quite good. We wandered the town and found it charming. It was originally a Greek town but was resettled with Turks in 1922. A 1958 earthquake flattened the town and the survivors were relocated. The old town was discovered by developers who renovated and remodeled the damaged buildings. The current town is described as being suitable for "comfortable travelers". This means, other than backpackers. We toured the many gift shops and occasionally looked at the real estate offerings. There are real estate offices everywhere. The store keepers seemed very laid back and one explained to me that the season is over. He said in another week to ten days it will start to rain. From then on winter sets in and the town is completely dead.

We headed back to DoodleBug and discovered that there were now 17 boats in the anchorage, most of them tourist gulets. They were all jammed together along the beach with long lines ashore. The only space left was around some American flagged vessel that was not using a stern line, thereby taking up an inordinate amount of prime anchorage space.

September 26, 2007

One of the reasons we did not want to fool around with stern lines was simply that we intended to leave our anchorage as close to 0400 hours as we could manage. The idea of unwrapping chain from shore-side rocks in the dark at at 0400 hours, retrieving a long line and then lifting the outboard and dinghy to stow them for passage, was not enticing. As it was, we had a huge Gulet moored across our stern and they partied heartily until the wee hours. I just wish our anchor windlass and bow thruster had been a little noisier when we left at 0430 hours and set off for Fethiye. This technique of early morning departure and then motoring, seems to be the norm for Turkish cruising. We met a couple who maintained that this was their second season "sailing" here and they had yet to unfurl their sails. The prevailing wind is from the West and since this is the direction we are heading, we might just as well motor into a very light headwind, rather than fight a strong headwind later in the day. This we did and experienced light winds of around two knots and a two foot swell. We dropped anchor in Fethiye Bay at 1125 hours at N 36 37.5' E 029 05.8'.

September 27, 2007

This morning we had caught up on some sleep and were all fired up to explore Fethiye. We had two minor errands to accomplish and one of these was to find a cardboard box in order to ship a "dragon" kite that Annette had bought in Bali and which has been

occupying our forward "V" berth. The second task was to see if we could locate a marine supply store, to sell us one or more dinghy oars and thereby upgrade our dinghy manual power system from a single oar to a pair. The missing oar had been stolen at Cocos Keeling as part of last year's Ramadan celebration. We asked at the tourist information center if the stores would be closed on Friday and if there were any holidays when everything would shut down. The "information" lady responded haughtily, "Certainly not Madam. This is not Arabia, you know!"

Everyone we asked regarding cardboard boxes directed us to the Post Office. Now we have been through this before. At the Post Office they look at you with bewilderment and then offer you a crummy mailer you couldn't fit a pair of ice skates into. Ditto on the oars. We did a lot of miming of the Olympic men's singles but nobody had any oars.

Lunch was fun. There were a couple of restaurants inside the fish market. You buy your fish, have the fishmonger clean it for you and then deliver the remainder to the restaurant. They cook it for you and charge you a set up fee which includes salad, bread and the like. It is BYOF. Annette insulted several fishmongers by carefully examining their wares and then rejecting their fishy offerings because she did not like the look of the eyes and gills. Finally she found the fish she wanted, a pair of sea bream. She also bought a half kilo of sardines and the successful salesman gave her a rag to wipe her hands on, that if anything, was more slimy than the fish she had been handling. Lunch was excellent despite the ridicule I endured from my wife because I don't eat the heads of the sardines.

That evening the anchorage was unbelievably noisy with multiple Mullah's wailing, "Get up and pray!", or whatever. Some one ran a misfiring diesel with no muffler on it around the anchorage at 0300 hours. This not only woke us up but also every dog in Turkey. The canine complaints echoed around the bay for the next hour.
 

September 28, 2007

We awoke tired and grumpy after a disturbed night. The deck was soaked with condensation and the weather forecast predicted a strong blow from the north tonight. We decided that we had already seen Fethiye and at 0725 hours, raised anchor to set sail for Gocek.

We anchored off Gocek town's beach at 0925 hours at N 36 45.2' E 028 55.9'. The spot we have selected has clear deep water behind us and both the north and west are protected by mountains. These should shelter us from the expected wind tonight.

September 28, 2007

Today I found the Post Office and mailed a batch of Annette's postcards for her. On my return, I spied a marine supply store and to my delight, found and purchased two dinghy oars! It has been twelve months since we owned a pair and we can now row our dinghy in other than tight circles.

We also found a cafe that offered free Wifi internet access and were able to check our various "land" e-mails.

The Amel54 "Cerise" was also at Gocek and we invited Terry and Margaret aboard DoodleBug for a supper of barbequed steaks. Annette had bought a five year supply of steaks from the Supermarket in Ashkelon and we needed to eat the pile down a little. Actually it has been fun barbequing for a change. The story of our "Force 10" barbeque has not been a happy one. It is a marinized version of a barbeque and is fueled from a propane cylinder. It is usually seen mounted on the side rail and occasionally the stern rail of yachts. In such a position, the merest, slightest whisper of the balmiest breeze will blow the gosh, darned thing out. Re-lighting has produced spectacular explosions, to the extent that lighting it has become the prerogative of the Captain alone. We had also bought a cutesy little tripod stand in vain dreams of carting the thing ashore onto some tropical beach, in order to barbeque a delicious meal under a star filled sky. Because of it's capricious and explosive nature, we usually kept the malicious device chained up in the side locker. We had resurrected it in Ashkelon and had several excellent barbeques with the unit set up behind the Men's toilet block. Does not match a South Pacific beach at sunset for romance but the meat got cooked and the thing stayed lit. After several successful meals we were in Turkey and it was way too far to the Men's toilet block, when the barbeque feeling stole over Annette. We set the barbeque up on it's tripod on the Mizzen deck, directly on the edge of the cockpit and on a towel, so as not to mar the gel-coat. Perfect! It has taken us four years to work this out.

That night the "blow" arrived as forecast but we were well anchored, clear of other vessels and in the shelter of the nearby hills. I would have slept right through the night, except that I had not allowed enough scope on the GPS anchor alarm and it went off around 0200 hours, as the wind changed direction and Doodlebug swung with it.

September 29, 2007

Today we did some boat chores. For me, this meant a changed fuel filter and for Annette, it was several loads of laundry. Later we wandered through town, shopping for gifts. We were attracted to a restaurant that had all sorts of ambience and truly disgusting food.

September 30, 2007

One bad meal and we blew off Fethiye. That's the kind of fickle people we are! We raised anchor at 1020 hours bound for "Tomb Bay" and began the anchoring process at 1150 hours. Our position was N 36 41.6' E 028 52.0'
The guide book insisted that we use a stern line and as all the other vessels were doing this, we rigged ourselves ready. We dropped anchor in 60 feet of water and began to back down towards the shore. Almost immediately we were in very shallow water so we motored forwards to pick up the hook and try another place. As we were maneuvering, a British flagged yacht began to anchor less than a boat's length from us. We were more than a 

little surprised, since it is sailing etiquette that a second boat waits until the first boat is fully anchored before anchoring themselves. We dropped again and backed down letting out 95 feet of chain. Again we were in very shallow water but the anchor was solidly held. I rowed our dinghy ashore with our new oars and tied off a line to a rock. We looked as anchored as anyone else but I was distinctly unhappy with the situation. The anchor chain lay down a steep slope and had been dropped in 60 feet of water. This is a scope of 1 to 1.5. We will use a scope of 1 to 3 for short periods but 1 to 5 is our normal minimum and 1 to 7 if the weather is acting up. I swam over the anchor and it looked well set. There were four other vessels anchored nearby in virtually identical circumstances. Nevertheless we dinghied ashore and walked over to a nearby bar / restaurant that had a dock. The proprietor said there was a single spot left on his dock and we could have it if we were there within the next ten minutes. By the time we returned to DoodleBug, our four neighbors had left and the wind was blowing us towards even shallower water, although the anchor had not budged. Within ten minutes we were backed down
and tied up at the restaurant's dock having picked up the last of the laid bow lines.

Later that afternoon we were astonished to find a German yacht squeezed between us and our former neighbor. He had used his anchor in the absence of a bow line but his fenders groaned against us all night as we each moved. The restaurant made up for the previous night's crappy meal with an excellent pair of Sea Bream. One of our new neighbors came and introduced himself to us. "Christian" commented that it was very unusual to see Americans cruising in Turkish waters and that his group had been discussing why there were only two people on such a big boat. We were polite.

October 1, 2007

This morning we watched a small group of goats climb down the steep hillside and attack the nearby trash dumpster. Their little neck bells reminded us of scenes from "The Sound of Music", although there was no hint
of Julie Andrews in their eating habits.

After watching the goats, we were inspired to climb the hillside ourselves in search of more Lycian rock tombs. We had a good climb; the views were fantastic; again we climbed the wrong cliff. Nevertheless we reached the
dock in safety and even passed the dumpsters without feeling a twinge of hunger. We have seen virtually no wildlife in Turkey. No squirrels. No sign of any mammal other than goats and donkeys. We have seen one or two small lizards and some frogs in Finike but that's about it for reptilian life. We have seen small fish in the waters but very few sea-birds and only a small handful of songbirds. The Bays themselves are gorgeous with tall pine
forests and steep limestone cliffs reaching right down to the water's edge. The waters have been clear and just occasionally polluted with tourist trash such as plastic water bottles.

At 1000 hours we slipped away from the dock and motored over to Sarsala Koyu Bay, anchoring at 1100 hours at N 36 39.5' E 028 51.1' Again we had a stern line ashore and managed to achieve a 1 to 3 scope on the anchor

chain. About an hour later a large catamaran anchored nearby. We were interested to see that it was flying a large American flag. There were 8 people on board but the language being used was not English and seemed like a variant of Italian. We were then amazed to note that their American flag was the Stars and Stripes on one side only. The other side of the flag was blank. One side USA - the other side white. Was this a political statement on American foreign policy?

I cleaned the propeller that afternoon, as I have been trying to diagnose low engine RPM before we arrive this season's destination of Marmaris. I have tried changing every fuel filter and although the propeller blades looked clean, I used a scuba tank and spent 45 minutes with scraper and steel wool removing residual barnacles.

In the meantime, several large power boats had entered the Bay, anchored and then discharged smaller power boats with water-skiers. These latter proceeded to run at high speed between and around the anchored yachts until late evening. We were protected from being circumnavigated by our shore tied stern-line but the nearby catamaran had no stern line and was being regularly orbited.

Dusk finally brought peace to the anchorage with bats flitting through the tree-tops. We rigged for mosquitoes with nets over the windows but were not bothered.

October 2, 2007

The guide book had claimed that Seagull Bay to the south of us was not frequented by tourist Gulets and we raised anchor at 0840 hours to check this out. There was a small dock at the head of the Bay near a huge

hillside display of a diving seagull. We tied up at this dock at 0940 hours at N 36 38.1' E 028 52.8'. We then met "Amed", the seagull artist and proprietor of the nearby restaurant. Amed said that he had created the seagull art about five years ago, as a protest against the polluting of nature. There did indeed seem to be less trash in this bay, so perhaps Amed's scheme has worked.

We set off that afternoon on a hike to discover the nearby ruins of an ancient Lycian town. The trail climbed the steep hillside through a dense stand of pines on the far side of the bay to our dock. The shade was welcome as we toiled upwards, while enjoying the views of the blue waters of the bay below. At the top of the ridge we were climbing, there was a cluster of rude shepherds dwellings. There were signs of recent occupation, although not a soul around. Our trail then crossed the shallow valley in front of us and continued through more woods up the flank of a higher ridge. Finally we reached the summit of the mountain ridge separating the different bays and on the flattish area at the summit, we found the ruins of a large stone sarcophagus, plus the rubble of several ancient buildings. The ancient town was associated with the nearby Roman settlement of Lydae.

From our summit we could see most of Fethiye Bay with its calm waters and sprinkling of the white sails of yachts. On our return hike, Annette found a large quill, 9 inches long, of what Americans would identify as a porcupine. There was also nearby evidence of "rooting" around some of the rocks. Do they have porcupines in Turkey? Nevertheless, this is the first sign of native mammal activity that we have found.

Later that evening a Finnish boat arrived at the dock and we shared a table with them for a meal at Amed's restaurant. They were a fun and lively group and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

October 3, 2007

The plan today was to sail for Kizilkuyruk Koyu, the last small bay before re-entering the "open" Mediterranean waters and heading west again. We motored off the dock in Seagull Bay at 0900 hours and passed between the island of Domuz and the mainland, through a really narrow passage. The guidebook did not actually say if this was possible and the chart was ambivalent on the issue. I was therefore comforted to see a tourist Gulet take the same route about a mile ahead of us. A quiet morning and a pretty motor with virtually windless conditions. We reached our intended destination, just over an hour later and found it crammed with other boats of all kinds. A quick look and we decided to reverse our route and try the previously passed bay of Kuecek Kuyruk. We dropped anchor at 1045 hours at N 36 37.8' E 028 52.7' and ran a stern line ashore. This time we were about 4 to 1 scope on the anchor and felt like we might be getting the hang of this technique. Of course the seabed here was nowhere near as steep as the other places we had been.

An hour or so after we had settled in, the wind began to blow. I had checked the weather forecast this morning and expected to find ourselves nicely sheltered. We were not. The wind was not particularly strong - 10 plus knots or so - but it was blowing directly along the axis of the tiny bay we were in. By 1400 hours, DoodleBug's bow was beginning to plunge to the small wind generated waves. We were on a lee shore with rocks about a single boat's length behind us and a rising wind. So much for weather forecasts. At 1415 hours we had retrieved our

stern line and raised anchor, setting sail for Ekincik Iskelesi, twenty plus miles to the west. We motored with the Genoa and main, close hauled in ten knots of wind, as we wanted to arrive while there was still light. For the first time in weeks the sky was perhaps 4/8ths cloud.

The day was very hazy and visibility was such that we could no longer see mountains that the radar showed were but 6 miles away. We have noticed the hazy skies that began as we entered the Red Sea. There we attributed most of the haze to blown sand, of which there was still lots of evidence on DoodleBug's deck and rigging. When we had made the crossing from Ashkelon to Cyprus, we were surprised at how poor the visibility was and again for the past several weeks cruising off the Turkish coast. We see a brown layered haze in the air, just as you see when you approach the Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex when driving across the Texas plains northwest of these cities. I have therefore come to the conclusion that this haze we are seeing is from European industrial pollution. We have seen nothing else quite like this in our passage around the planet, except off the heavily populated Indonesian coast. If the cause of the haze is man-made pollution, then it seems markedly worse than we would normally see in the United States in like urban areas. I wonder if this might be due to laxer emissions from power plants, plus the high use of both diesel and two-stroke engines for personal transportation. Both of these engine types have high particulate emissions. I would expect this level of haze to have significant effects on local climate, just as it has in the Los Angeles area.

Despite the haze, at 1800 hours we anchored off the town of Ekincik at N 36 49.7' E 028 33.1'. Just as we finished tidying up the boat, a few sprinkles of rain fell on the deck and there were lightning flashes off in the distance. The wind dropped away to nothing and we swung parallel to the beach in order to get the maximum roll out of the swell entering the bay. DoodleBug rolled through 20 degrees and our drinks were sliding around on the table. Fortunately this did not last all night long and did not prevent us from sleeping soundly with 6 to 1 anchor scope, set solidly in mud.

October 4, 2007

We raised anchor at 0605 hours and began the last lap of this year's season, sailing for the marina at Marmaris. 

We tied up at the dock at 0915 hours at N 36 49.2' E 028 18.4'. Again light winds but we could see lightning flashes and hear the thunder ahead of us. The strikes were over five miles distant but as soon as we had tied up the last line to make DoodleBug fast to the dock, it began to rain in earnest. We are surrounded by mountains on all sides, not to mention about another 1,500 yachts. Nevertheless, we tend to get antsy when lightning is near - due perhaps to past experiences.

The wind began to blow from the beam and with only a single bow line holding us from the dock, we began to lean heavily on the neighboring vessel, protected by our mutual fenders. I readjusted the lines and used the anchor windlass to pull us further off the dock by tensioning up the laid bow mooring line.

Around mid-afternoon, Annette was fixing an early dinner and DoodleBug gave a huge lurch. When we looked outside there was a scene of chaos, as the wind reversed direction and gusted to 40 knots from the opposite beam. Lightning crashed all around us and the sky was almost black. There had been a couple of small catamarans sailing in the approach bay to the marina and we could see that they were now inverted with various power boats in attendance. People ran up and down the dock trying to lash down escaping pieces of equipment and adjust their fenders to the drastically changed wind direction. The wind howled and moaned in the rigging for close to an hour before dying down as the cold front passed on its way.

Annette then noticed smoke issuing from the hillside just upwind of the marina and said that the vegetation was on fire. Sure enough, a half hour later, a large helicopter approached, with a fire-fighting bucket swung below. It was a type I have not seen before. Twin rotors but seemingly on the same shaft, with a vertical separation between the rotors of 5 feet or so. The helicopter had a twin tail assembly like a WW II bomber. Russian manufacture? Anyway, Annette grabbed her camera and ran the length of the very long dock, so that she could get a better picture of the helicopter and the fire. The helicopter released its load of seawater (salt water on vegetation?!) and swung back to hover directly opposite DoodleBug and a few boat lengths away, while it refilled the water bucket. It was fascinating to see this so close up and to also look down the long dock and see my wife running towards me and the soon to depart helicopter and waving her camera. Poor Baby! 

The rain settled into a steady pour in the evening and a deck inspection showed a mud flow from the base of DoodleBug's masts, as Egypt was being washed away.

We are in Marmaris! We will prepare DoodleBug to be lifted onto the hard and stored here for the winter. The events of today have confirmed what the gradually dropping temperatures have been whispering for weeks. Winter is approaching the Med with it's cold fronts and storms. We will return in Spring of next year to continue our voyage.

November 9, 2007..I wrote....

The crew of DoodleBug are back in Santa Fe while DoodleBug is on the hard in Marmaris, Turkey. Last Position of DoodleBug is at N 36 49.2' E 028 18.4'

Our 2007 season was shortened by the arrival of our beautiful grand-daughter Avey. Nevertheless we fought our way up the balance of the Red Sea to emerge from the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea. The Suez Canal transit was as miserable an experience as so many others have described, with sexual molestation of Annette by a Canal Authority employee and strident demands for baksheesh bordering on mugging. Just last week, the Suez Canal agent we had used - Felix Maritime - after prolonged negotiation by e-mail -did in fact refund some $180 of the transit fees that we were charged. By my calculation, this was perhaps fifty percent of the overcharge and the Felix agent blamed the error on the Suez Canal Authorities.

With this experience now behind us, the Med has been delightful. Our stays in Israel, Jordan, Cyprus and Turkey have all been wonderful and a stark contrast to the previous month.

We plan to return to Turkey in Spring, 2008 to resume our cruise of the Mediterranean and will probably cross the Atlantic to the Eastern Caribbean islands in November, 2008.