On to Marmaris

Got away from Mersincik at about 0900. Took just over an hour to get the shorelines aboard and stowed. Not slick but nowhere near as chaotic as setting them up. Lindsay pulled up an enormous tangle of fishing line on the anchor hopefully saving a seabird or two.

We motored over a glassy sea up to the end of the Dorian Peninsula and round to ancient Knidos on the other side. Although it was too early to stop there, we went into the harbour to spy it out in case we need it another time. It looks interesting and well sheltered - there are 3000 year old ruins everywhere many only partly excavated. There didn't seem to be any provisions but there was a taverna.








The wind got up and blew us easily down to Palamut where we stopped for the night. The harbour is well managed with a very helpful young man speaking good English helping us in. Electricity and water were available although we only took water. There seemed to be only the smallest of mini-markets so only limited supplies. We went out to our first Turkish meal in the evening. There is loads of choice and we struck lucky by picking the one where locals and people in the know eat. It was called Merhaba and is run by a charismatic chap called Altan. His father and Grandfather were the lighthouse keeper at Knidos and he grew up winding the lamp. He had an amazing choice of starter, main and desert for 20 YTL (10 euro) a head. My octopus salad was excellent and the lamb was succulent and tender. Everything had pleasant surprises - the salad had herbs in, his home-grown and processed olives & oil are as good as I've tasted anywhere.

In the morning we set off for Datca. We needed supplies badly and this seems to be the only option on the south side of the Dorian Peninsula. It has a large harbour. We could have anchored off but as we were only planning to stay for a couple of hours, it seemed simpler to tie up to the quay. It all worked well and there was no charge for the short stay. The shopping was comprehensive with a large supermarket at the top of the hill  and a good mini-market on the quay selling fresh fruit, vegetables and the usual groceries. It also had schweppes tonic water in large bottles. Proper G&T's again at last!

After shopping, we set off with the intention of anchoring in Karaincir. On the way, we spotted a kite-surfer who was 4 miles from land and kept falling off. We thought we heard a call for help and altered course to pick him up - being very wary as his kite was still flying and we didn't want to get it anywhere near our rigging! We were almost up to him when a rib roared past and waved thanks to us - so we were off the hook. Karaincir looked good on paper but when we got there, there was a nasty swell filling the bay. It looked like a very uncomfortable night. We decided to make a dash another 6 miles up the coast to KuruKabu. It was a good decision and we had a tranquil night at anchor.

Next day, we crossed the gulf to the lovely little town of Bozburun. This has an amazingly sheltered, huge natural harbour. We decided to anchor (holding like a rock) just off the tiny port and spent 3 days there in complete safety despite thunderstorms and high winds. The town is completely unspoilt with an impressive silver-domed mosque with a loud but tuneful muezin. For a small town it has remarkably good shopping, an excellent baker and a very reasonable laundry. We made friends with a couple of live-aboard couples and had a very social 3 days.

We needed to get to Marmaris to meet some friends so we regretfully set of on Monday with the intention to stop in an isolated bay called Gerbeske creek. We tried to hoist the spinaker but it wouldn't unfurl. Eventually, we figured out that I had got it tangled up with the small halyard we use for the anchor ball. It was too hard to deal with while under way so we left it and had no spinnaker all day. We got to the creek just before 1600 and messed around for a whole hour trying to get the hook to stick with no luck at all. We now had the increasingly familiar dash for a safe anchorage! Ciftlik was 1/2 hour further on but had bad swell and is heavily over developed with a huge concrete hotel. We took the risk of going a further 90 minutes to Kadirga Burnu. Fortunately we managed to anchor with lines ashore at the head of the bay in complete seclusion. Lovely.

Actually, it was so nice that we spent another day swimming, sunbathing and enjoying the scenery. Made a nice change to be so busy doing nothing and going nowhere.

On thursday, we did the short hop to Marmaris. Its quite a big town where you can apparently buy just about anything. We decided to stay at Marmaris Yat Marina. It's reputation had gone before it as one of the best marinas anywhere. I have to say, the reputation is well deserved. The services and shelter are excellent and very reasonable. 23Euro per night for us plus metered water and electricity at cost. The swimming pool would not be out of place in a 5 star hotel. There is reasonable shopping on site and an excellent dolmus service into Marmaris Town promptly on the half  hour.

We've engaged a rigger to shorten our forestay as the mast is sloping backwards by a degree or so. This isn't dangerous but does compromise our ability to trim the mainsail for light or strong winds. As a result we are staying here until Monday or Tuesday. After that, we set off north again to explore "English Harbour" in preparation for Charlotte's visit in a couple of week's time.