Enkicik Bay, Turkey

Robert and Murray arrived on Thursday 28 April, a couple of days before we set sail on Awatea’s first ever sailing expedition. It was great to see them, but even better was the 20kg of fresh meat they had brought from Australia – legs of lamb. rib fillets of beef, bacon, lamb racks as well as some other goodies.  We had a great night at La Fortune, celebrating Woei Haw's birthday and a welcome dinner for the likely lads.  On Friday we stocked up with other essentials such as beer, wine, more beer and some food before spending the afternoon in Pineapple, our local English Pub at the Marina, watching the Royal Wedding.

Early Saturday we set off to our first destination - Ekincik bay.

The weather was kind to us and we hit a 20 knots breeze very soon and Awatea sailed beautifully, flying through the water at 10knts.

The wind built up very fast and soon was gusting 30 knots (captured on the wind sensor) so Captain John decided to put in a reef, which took some doing as the reefing line was trapped and the rough water made it very tough. We had to loosen the mainsail and swing it to the other end to untie the rope while she was moving at high speed at a 45 degree angle to the sea surface. After few attempts the reefing line finally freed up, and with the good breeze we soon arrived at our destination - Ekincik Bay.

We anchored in a small bay opposite the marina where we were berthing for the night while waiting for another yacht skippered by a friend to arrive. While enjoying lunch prepared by Derek, we saw there were quite a few yachts coming in so we decided to raise the anchor and motored across. The marina was incredibly beautiful, with the pontoon along it’s coast line and right under mountains covered with flowers and all the boardwalks around the marina lined with nautical ropes. We were directed to moor on the right end of the pontoon, which isolated us away from the crowd.  Thought our reputation may have preceded us but then realized it was probably allocated according to the boat size – and we all know bigger is better!!. Behind us was a small building in ruins, and there was a cable car on rails up the hill, that we later found up was a means to commute elderly or handicapped guests from the pontoon up to the restaurant.  Not sure if Robert was pleased or not when they said he didn’t qualify!

Some Germans that arrived earlier were enjoying a swim (water was still icy), while we were exploring our little piece of heaven. One of the things to highlight was their beautiful shower facilities that were done in a  nautical style. At the entrance you found wooden clogs to put on and then walked in through a big resting room into the shower area. The wall was decorated with sea shells and other items from the sea, and an amazing color scheme to complement the theme.

Mooring and use of the facilities are free as long as you dine in their restaurant, and shore power is TL25 a day and water TL10. All well worth the experience in such a beautiful setting.

On the top of the hill overlooking the bay was their magnificent restaurant, which happened to be the sister restaurant to our local in the Netsel Marina in Marmaris. We booked in for the dinner, and celebrated the first days sailing on our adventure, and finished the evening back on Awatea for a few night caps.

The restaurant didn’t have a written menu, but the waiter presented a selection of entrees, lots of freshly caught fish and made recommendations for our meals. Although the restaurant was only partially full, it did take awhile to get served, but it was well worth the wait.  A big thank you to our honorary Chief Engineer - Murray for a beautiful meal!

 
Our other friends didn’t arrive that night however we met up with them at Ortism Bay near Gocek, another 38 nautical miles away – however that is another story!