Friday 15 July 2011

Serce Lamani, Bozukkale, Bozburun, Datcha, Knidos of Turkey


Friday 20th May

It was another fine and sunny day in paradise. Paul had joined us for a stay on Awatea, arriving with another big top-up of fresh Australian meat.  

After a wonderful fish dinner at La Fortune a night ago (whole fish baked in a salt crust – yum!),


Robert introduced our new guest to a Turkish shave, which has become a bi-weekly event of the boys. TL15.00 for the best shave, a great massage and a cappuccino thrown in - a real treat!!

We left the marina at 1300 hrs and headed towards the western side of the Marmaris Peninsular. 

The winds were light in the bay but picked up nicely outside. We enjoyed a good sail doing between 6-10 knots, but it was hard on all the way to Serce Lamani where we arrived at 1800 hrs. 

The bay is unique, like a chef’s hat, and once we had sailed through the narrow entrance, we found a cozy sheltered bay. We tied up to a buoy and took a stern line ashore, then enjoyed a few pre dinner drinks. Later in the evening we were fetched by the staff of Capitan Nemo Restaurant and they took us to their restaurant located at the end of the bay. 

 

It was quite small serving local quality food including the best BBQ’d prawns, which we ate while being watched by the goats and donkeys that were roaming around.  The night was quite cold with a strong breeze blowing, but all in all an enjoyable evening.


Saturday 21st May
Another beautiful day, which we began with fresh bread being delivered straight from the wood fired oven by the restaurant at 08.00hrs!
 

Without wasting much time, we soon set sail for our next destination- Bozukkale (meaning ruined castle in Turkish), which was only about 5 miles along the coast. Weather conditions meant we motored most of the way.

We reached the beautiful natural harbour and had difficulty anchoring as the seabed was full of weed. Reluctantly we decided to go to a small restaurant with a make shift jetty. We were able to tie up there stern in.  

It was the most delightful setting right under the ruins of an old citadel. After we had berthed we ventured up the headland and explored the ruins which was built some 300 yrs before Christ but is still in quite good condition. 

 
Suleiman the Magnificent was here in the 1500’s where he assembled his navy to attack the Knights of Rhodes. Today only the goats and donkeys live in these Hellenistic ruins.


That evening we had another simple Turkish meal at Ali Baba restaurant situated right under the ruins of the castle.

Sunday 22nd May
Another fine and sunny day, with the temp still below average at around 22 deg. We set off after breakfast at 08.30 hrs, and as there was no wind we motored all the way to the Gulf of Bozburun. 
 

We stooged around the gulf sailing between islands and into stunning inlets before finally arrived at the village of Bozburun. We needed some supplies ashore (mainly ice for the liquid refreshments!!!), so except for John all the crew went ashore and took the opportunity to have shaves etc. 


When everyone was back onboard we cruised down the gulf to a tiny bay where we anchored and Desmond took a stern line ashore. We were in about 30 feet of the clearest water you will ever see. Just magic! A boned out leg lamb was on the menu which we cooked outside on our electric BBQ (no gas or wood BBQ’s allowed along the coast of Turkey). The chef covered the lamb in tin foil and it was cooking superbly - thanks again to Paul for the meat!


While waiting for the lamb to cook, Robert noticed a flame coming from the tray underneath. We all just thought it was a bit of excess fat which had caught alight, but in the next second the flames were getting bigger and all of a sudden we realised that we had a problem. John rushed for the extinguisher and luckily we were able to douse the flames but had to throw the flaming electric BBQ overboard, nearly tossing it into the dinghy!! The good news was that we saved the lamb, and it was absolutely delicious! However the BBQ is resting on the bottom of “Smokey Bay”!!!

Monday 23 May 
Awoke to another day of blue skies and sunshine.  Woei Haw and John did a cook up of bacon and eggs and we then we set off for Datca. We had to motor all the way again due to lack of wind and when we arrived at this beautiful town dropped anchor in South Bay next to our friends boat Ta’B. We did the usual – headed ashore to explore the town, have shaves, get a few supplies and returned to Awatea for a swim.


The Coast Guard came along side and wanted to see our papers.  Everything was OK, except the crew list which didn’t show Robert and Paul, so we had to get an agent to add the new names to our Transit Log and get it stamped by the Harbourmaster. We duly paid the fee however the next day John checked the log and found the names had not been entered!!! Couldn't believe it!!

 

Jane and Russell from Ta’B came onboard for drinks as it was John’s birthday. We then went ashore for a what proved to be a very ordinary meal! But again, a special occasion with a group of good friends that made the night extraordinary.

Tuesday 24th May
We departed Datca at 10.00 hrs and headed out towards Knidos. This ancient city was situated at the end of Datca Peninsular and used to be a very important city for thousands of year. Now all that remains are the ruins and another restaurant.

We had a great sail, but once again the wind was on the nose. We put Woei Haw and Robert in the rib so they could take some pictures of Awatea under sail, which all turned out really good. Later in the day we sailed close to Ta’B and they also got some great shots of Awatea beating to windward.



We had left the stern door down as there was little breeze and put the rib in without deflating it. However, the breeze soon got up and the skipper realised that we had to deflate the rubber dingy and close the door as we were taking in water, all of which was done with the boat underway! Another hard mission accomplished!


The Knidos bay was rather smaller than we had imagined, and many boats had anchored before us. We had trouble getting the pick to hold, but after 3 attempts we finally were successful in securing Awatea. That evening we had roast beef for dinner and were joined by Jane & Russel from Ta’b.



















It was a very rough, and windy night – just as well we had spent the time getting a good hold with the anchor.

Wednesday 25th May
It was a windy overcast morning with patches of rain. We got away at 10.30hrs and were flying again at 9 knots. Unfortunately it only lasted about 20mins and the wind died away once again. We ended up motoring all the way back into Bozburun and arrived at 17.00 hrs.















The highlight of the journey was the narrow gap we navigated between Bozburun and Datça, so shallow that we only had a meter to spare when we passed through. A local fisherman had kindly directed us through the channel the other day, so this time we followed the tracks shown on the GPS and had no problem getting through.  Most boats elect to go a long way around into the bay and avoid this shallow gap, but yet again Awatea made another incredible passage.











Thursday 26th
We motored out of Bozburun at 10.30 hrs. No wind. At 11.00hrs a zephyr breeze arrived so we put up the sails, and struggled to sail for around an hour. Then a great breeze set in and we started to have a great sail. We sailed among a small private regatta of boats and Awatea out sailed them all. The skipper was very pleased with himself and his yacht!


We anchored back in Bazokkale and ended up at another small restaurant jetty. We told them that we would not be eating there as we had cottage pie in the oven. 


So instead we went ashore and had a few drinks at sundown and then again after dinner. The guy sold everyything there. Paul & Derek ended up buying a couple of small carpets, and we all brought some polo shirts.



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