We had signed up for a 14 day flotilla with Sunsail in Sydney. Some of the
reasons for doing so was unfamiliarity with the Mediterranean anchoring techniques, where
to go, what to see. We were a little apprehensive about the other charterers - what
would they be like?. As it turned out, it was a very good decision and one that we
would make again. Firstly the leader of the flotilla was very good in advising where
to go, and arranging berths in harbours where none existed. Secondly, the companions
we had were great, we really enjoyed their company. If we had 'bare-boated' we would
have been on our own, and would not have seen as much.
We got our boat 'Primula' around 6pm and got all of our bags aboard. She is a Beneteau 350, built in 1989 but in quite good condition considering the life she has lead. It was very hot outside, and even more so below decks. It was so hot I had to sleep up in the cockpit. The English members of the flotilla arrived by air around midnight.
Judy, Sandra and Pat relaxing on Primula in Gocek.
(To view any pictures on this page full size, just click on it.)
We started to do our shopping at one of the supermarkets, but decided we wouldn't finish before the briefing meeting at 9:30am. This was held at the restaurant next to the Sunsail office. Here we met our crew - Aneas (Nee) the skipper, Jenny the hostess and Cenk the engineer. Nee made a very funny introductory speech, regaling us with stories of previous charterers and their misfortunes. Our flotilla was 10 boats plus the lead boat, the biggest for some time. After the briefing, we finished our shopping including 50 litres of water, and got it all aboard. We were ready to cast off about 12:30 pm.
Our first destination was Kapi Creek in the Skopia Limani, across Fethiye Bay. With the supplied charts and Pilotage Handbook, it was pretty easy to find our destination after a nice sail across the bay. (The GPS was ONLY used for confirmation. Really). This bay had the advantage of having 'lazy lines' so we didn't have to worry about stern anchors (not here, not anywhere for the entire cruise). Sunsail put on a Punch Party where we were able to mix and mingle with our cruising companions. From memory we had:
BOAT
PEOPLE
Leprechaun Nee, Jenny
and Cenk
Ananke
Tony, Judy, Alan and Sheena
Pecora
John, Ann, Graham and Carol
Zinnia
David, Elizabeth, John and Philene
Lilani
Michael and Angela
Dresina
Michael and Bridgette
Glayor
Volker and wife
Ortanca
Tony, Graham, Anne and Marie
Lavanta
Freddy and Cristel
Moon Silver Mike,
Pat, Veronica and Tony
Primula
Pat, Sandra, Paul and Judy
The Punch Party was followed by dinner at the restaurant - shish kebab, chicken
shish, spicy meatballs with starters and bread.
We had another briefing at the top of the hill at 10 am. Nee
chose the site so that we could see where we were going. This was to Coldwater Bay,
just around the corner from Olu-deniz. This was a short distance, 10 nm which we
managed to sail with a reasonable breeze. Two sailing days in a row! Nee and
Cenk helped us set our bow anchor and fixed the stern lines to the shore. The water
here too was crystal clear and very inviting. This was a popular spot, with other
cruisers and gullets taking up quite a lot of room.
Captain Noo-noo gives us the
drum. View of the Med from the top of the hill.
An early start as we were heading south to Kalkan, going via Ak Burun, the Seven Capes and Patara Beach, a distance of 31nm. Apparently offshore winds can cause quite tricky conditions here, but we had no wind and motored most of the way. We arrived in the port of Kalkan during the afternoon, again the weather was quite hot. The showers were very welcome, if inefficient. Dinner that night was in Zeki's restaurant and it was quite excellent.
Kalkan town across the quay
Some of the boats in Kalkan Harbour.
Another longish haul of 28 nm from Kalkan to Kekova Roads, east of Kas. We
had a good breeze and sailed all the way. We went south around the Greek island of
Kastelorizon on a beam reach, then headed east with the headsail poled out,
wing-and-wing. We entered the Kekova Roads about 1pm, so we found a quiet spot for
lunch and a swim. Around 6pm, we headed to the rendezvous at Gokkaya. Here we
anchored in the channel and swung free. The restaurant picked us up with their
motorboat for another meal ashore. A disco was held afterwards, but we party-poopers
went back to the boat.
We headed for the west end of the Kekova Limani to Polemos. From here we
hiked overland for about 30 minutes through pretty barren farm land populated by goats,
horses, camel and donkeys. Our objective was to reach the 'sunken city', a Lycian
town submerged by an earthquake. We were able to snorkel over paved roads and the
foundations of houses. After walking back through the farm land, we had lunch
on the boat. After a lazy afternoon, we returned to Uchagiz. Again we swung on
the anchor in the channel. I cooked dinner of pasta, tuna and tomato sauce.
We wanted to visit the Greek island of Kastellorizo, we had to change the courtesy flag on Primula from Turkish to Greek. This was done and we sailed into a delightful harbour. We were met by Angelo, the restaurateur. After a great lunch of king prawns, salad and beers, we had a quick walk around the quay. The freshly painted and white-washed buildings were really pretty. At 3 pm we decided e would head for Kas, as its a busy harbour. As we came out with our Greek flag flying, we headed east to get behind some islands to raise the Turkish flag. As we motored along, we noticed a Turkish patrol boat which seemed to be following us. We changed course south, to go around Kastellorizo and change of flags, including dropping the Australian flag. We eventually went further west around Yeoryios, headed for the coast, then doubled back east to Kas. It had taken 4 hours to cover the 4km direct path. As we arrived in Kas harbour it was full, but Nee managed to squeeze us in to half a boatwidth, next to a large gullet.
Kas is an attractive port, with many tourist shops and facilities. We
refueled because of the extra motoring we had done that afternoon,. Nee said we
should not have, as every time they refuel there, they have motor problems. (We
didn't).
We had booked to go on a half-day tour of Xanthos and Letoon from Kalkan, so left
early. We had a quick tour of the town by taxi, seeing the theatre, lookout from the
road, view of the beach, and a Lycian tomb in the centre of the town. Not much
breeze, so we motored into Kalkan, arriving around 12 noon. As first boat in, we
were closest to the quay for a raft of Sunsail boats. We had a walk around town
before getting in the bus for our tour. This was with a professional guide, so was
very interesting. Once again we saw tombs and theatres. Returned to Kalkan
around 6pm, then had dinner at Kosh restaurant.
Left early with a good breeze which held up for about two hours, then died as we
neared the Seven Capes. The motor came on again to take us up to Karacaoren, south
of Fethiye. Once again, we had "bow anchor out, two stern lines ready and
fenders all round". These were Nee's standard instructions as we came into a
bay or harbour. The restaurant there has an unusually shaped oven in the shape of a
swordfish. The meals are cooked in this oven, while the proprietor entertains the
customers by playing his violin and singing (badly).
We had another briefing in the morning at the restaurant. After that we had a snorkel around the small island off the bay. As we saw elsewhere, there wasn't much to see below the water. The bottom is quite barren with little signs of plant life or fish. We got away about 1pm and headed for our next port-of-call, Fethiye. There was a bit of breeze, so we sailed for a while. It was only 6 nm so didn't take too long. Nee arranged for us to tie up up the Hotel Han jetty, an unusually shaped one. After a quick dip in the hotel pool, we left for an excursion to Saklikent Gorge. This was about an hour's drive from Fethiye in the hinterland with 3000m mountains. The gorge itself was carved through limestone by swiftly flowing streams of ice-cold water. In places, the sky is blocked out by the overhanging rock.
Dinner was held in one of the local restaurants with a platform built over a
stream and low tables and cushions. From there we were taken to a carpet weaving
cooperative. Again we were given explanations of the whole process from wool
spinning and dying, to the weaving techniques.
Pat and Sandra, Michael from Lilani and Nee went off to go para-gliding from the top of Baba-dagi, 1969m high. From viewing Pat's video, it was a tremendous experience. Meanwhile Judy and I went to visit the Lycian rock tombs at the back of the town, and do some shopping. At the supermarket, we wanted some of the beautiful peaches that we had enjoyed during our travels. We also wanted one of the oil lamps we had seen in many of the restaurants. The store didn't have them, but offered to get them. I hopped on the back of the motor scooter and off we zoomed, through the Fethiye traffic. This was more exciting than jumping off a mountain! After visiting five shops we found a lamp at the right price, and the peaches for a bit less than the vendor wanted.
Pat and Sandra returned from their adventure about the same time as we did, so we
had lunch and at 3pm we set off for Skopia Limani. A brisk breeze sprung up, so we
had an exciting sail across Fethiye Bay. Gusts were 25 - 30 knots across the bay,
but as we got inside, bullets from the mountains were reaching 35 kts. We managed to
find a sheltered spot in 22 Fathom Bay with plenty of chain out front and a strong stern
line to a pine tree. Once again I cooked the pasta and tuna for dinner.
As we were having a flotilla barbecue that night only a mile away, we had a lazy day in 22 Fathom Bay, with a few excursions ashore, reading and writing postcards. I also prepared my special 'swaggies hat' by suspending four corks from the brim of my straw hat. Just for a special Aussie touch, I soaked the label off our jar of Vegemite and had it sewn on the front. About 5:30 we took off for "BBQ Bay", an unnamed bay west of Kapi Creek where we spent our first night out off Gocek. Once again, we anchored stern to, with our lines tied to the rocks of a pretty sheer rock face, and also tied to our neighbours.
The BBQ was prepared by our Sunsail crew, Nee, Jenny and Cenk. Cenk was the cook of the best chicken meal we had had for the whole trip. I thought my hat would be pretty special, and some people thought so but of course the crew of Pecora had to go one (or four) better. They all turned up with pirates hats and eye patches AND a plastic parrot on a stick.
After dinner, there was dancing until the stereo caught fire! There was also
a limbo contest, won by Ortanca, and a strange 'tug-o'-war' where contestants stood on LPG
bottles and tried to yank the opponent off. During all of this frivolity and
consumption of beer, wine and whatever else, a challenge was thrown out by Primula to
Pecora to a race the next day. The Aussies versus the Felixstowe Ferry racers.
After a fun night, we returned to our boats around midnight.
A final briefing from Nee, then we took off for a bit of a look at Ruin and Wall bays. We made contact with Pecora off Deep Bay, and decided to go through the gap of Skopia Limani to see if there was any more breeze out there. There wasn't, so we decided to race back through the gap, to the headland of Wall Bay. Pecora got the jump on us and had a handy lead going through the gap. A gullet coming out forced us to hold off 'til we could go around him, while Pecora managed to duck in front. We finished up on opposite sides of the channel, when we managed to get quite a lift. In fact we got about 8 boat lengths lead over Pecora which stretched to about 100 meters. This was too much for them to make up. There was some dispute as to WHICH headland off Wall Bay was the finish line, but we claimed victory anyway. This was later confirmed by Nee, when he presented us with a Regatta Winners certificate.
After all the excitement, we then went into Tomb Bay with Pecora and tied up in a
delightful bay, lined with Pine trees. There was a restaurant (of course) where we
had a convivial dinner with the Poms. The return dinghy race was also won by
Primula.
Our last real day on the water. The morning was spent lazing about, with a bit of swimming and snorkelling. After lunch we untied and prepared to clean the boat. Topsides, lockers and windows were scrubbed, the holding tank emptied and flushed with clean water, lines made tidy and everything shipshape. After refuelling, we tied up at Gocek at 3pm. More cleaning of the inside and packing of bags took up the rest of the afternoon.
That night we had the concluding dinner of the flotilla in the "Magic
Marina" restaurant. Nee made some amusing speeches and presentations to the
various boats.
Lilani won an "Evil Eye" deflector for all of the various problems that
had afflicted them. Pecora won a "Gold Can" for ???, Ananke won an award
too, as did Glayor, Ortanca and Zinnia. Primula won two awards - one for the Gunboat
incident off Kastellorizo (Greek and Turkish flags), and the Regatta Race award.
Alan and Sheena
Tony on
Ananke David and Elizabeth
(Zinnia) David &
Judy
Tony and Veronica Freddie and Cristel Volker and wife Graham & Ann
(Moon Silver) (Lavanta) (Glayor) (Pecora)
Don't hit him, Graham!That's better!
Jenny,
the hostess with the
mostest.
John & Ann (Pecora) John and
Philene (Zinnia) Judy & Tony (Ananke)
Michael (Lilani) and Sandra
Mike & Brigitte (Dresina) Anne & Mike (Moon Silver) Nee in presentation mode and receiving marine samples.
David receiving award Nee enjoying a joke and
the special swaggy's hat. Ortanca crew
members
and more of them. John receiving his award
A morning for farewells as the Pommies were taking off for the Dalyan River tour before departing from Dalaman Airport that night. We had our Avis car arrive at 9:30, so the packing of the boot began.
Pecora's crew of ferry racers Primula at the quay in Gocek.
So ended a most enjoyable fortnight. As part of the flotilla we
had enjoyed many anchorages we wouldn't have known about, secured berths in harbours that
we would never have been game enough to get on our own. But mostly we enjoyed the
company of like-minded people, who love to sail, have fun and meet people.
Particular mention should go to The Felixstowe Ferry Racers, John, Ann, Graham and Carol,
a funny bunch of Pommies whom we enjoyed verbal jousting with. Also the crew of
Ananke, Tony and Judy, Alan and Sheena, and Zinnia's crew David and Elizabeth, John
and Philene. They added to our enjoyment of the trip immensely. And of course
the whole trip was masterminded by Nee and Jenny, with the hard work being done on our
boats by Cenk while we ate at night.