Interesting Times

I wasn't intending to blog this last couple of weeks while our daughter and her family were with us. We were expecting a nice gentle potter with lots of playing in the water and frolicking on the beach - hardly the subjects of riveting reading. In the event, it has been rather more "interesting" (in the sense of the old Chinese curse - "may you live in interesting times") than expected.

We picked up everyone easily from Bodrum airport. Bus fare up there was a very reasonable 17YTL per person and taxi back for 6 was only 85YTL. We left the marina next morning intending to stop at the hot springs on Black Island but got there too late. It was swarming with tripper boats and the competition was too great. A decision was made to try again at the end of the holiday. We went off and anchored in "end bay" and did lots of swimming in turquoise water. We started the next leg at 0200 and motored to Castle Island (Cleopatra beach) arriving at 0800 and had a nice quiet explore of the ruins and swam before the hordes started arriving at 1100. Then off to English Harbour with a sheltered free mooring and a nice meal in the evening.
Next morning, we set off for 7 Islands. The wind was stronger than expected and we soon had a force 6 on the nose. After a couple of long tacks across the gulf, it was getting lumpy and the kids were getting fractious so we turned the motor on and motor sailed to cape Koyun Burun. By then we had a nasty 1 meter swell which would now be beam-on for a couple of hours. I decided to go for a bolt-hole at the South West end of Tuzla Kayu instead. We sailed the last bit into the sheltered bay with the engine on idle then dropped the sails in preparation for anchoring. I put the motor in gear but nothing happened. It was turning but producing no drive. Panic! we were about 50 Meters upwind of a reef and drifting onto it fast. Luckily with a crew of 4 we got the sails back up in double-quick time and sailed off it with only a couple of minutes to spare. We then beat up to the head of the bay and dropped the anchor close to a Gulet - praying that it would hold. Thankfully it did. When I dived to see what was happening I found that we had picked up a large agricultural sack on the prop so it was just a big lump of amorphous plastic rotating in the water rather than the finely shaped lump of bronze that should have been there. It was easy enough to clear with a knife but it left me shaking with what could have happened.

Next day we spent at Cokertme lazing around. Lindsay did some rowing, Merv did some sailing and we all swam a lot. In the evening, we ate out in the Mary Rose restaurant. The pirate with a tame parrot on his shoulder sold it to the kids. The food was good and the service friendly.

With only two days to go, we headed back up the gulf in the morning, starting at 0400 to get to the hot springs at 0900. We got there easily and for once there was very little wind or swell. For the first time in 4 visits, I felt it was OK to go stern to the concrete quay with 50M of chain out to keep us off it. All seemed OK, The anchor was well set so we paid our 4YTL and went for a swim in the cave. It was magic - gently lighted, warm fresh water and the adventure for the kids of swimming into a cave. Then L heard waves slapping outside and swam out to see what was happening.
She was confronted by Rosa being tossed around on a huge wake with the attendant having jumped aboard and trying to start the engine to get her away from the quay. Lindsay took a flying leap but by then the damage was done. Two of the three fenders we had put over the transom had exploded and we had a large area of damage where she had hit the concrete hard. We grabbed everyone from the springs and got away as fast as possible - much to the annoyance of our 2 year old granddaughter.
We are not sure how the anchor managed to go slack, we tested it under full reverse before tying up, it was good and tight when we left the boat and it was well dug in when we pulled it up. Our best explanation is that the chain got caught around a rock and that the wake dislodged it before slamming Rosa backwards into the quay.
We anchored in the bay called "The Aquarium" and called Pantaenius - our insurance company. They were great - they had an excellent surveyor called Yusuf on-board within a couple of hours who confirmed that it was safe to go to Marmaris where the facilities are much better for repair. Within a couple of days we were there and up on the hard at Albatross with work commencing. It looks like it will be a few days and over 3000 euros to fix.
Still, it could have been much worse. Without the fenders that exploded we would most likely have been holed below the waterline and had a real emergency on our hands.