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The transport ship's arrival date changed almost daily. Eventually the date was finalised. We waited for several days in a cheap apartment in Marmaris which gave us the opportunity to explore the town. Marmaris was rebuilt in the 1960s after being almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake. In 1984 we had moored on the town quay while sailing in a flotilla from Fethiye to Datca. Marmaris is completely unrecognisable now. The souk has been converted into an enormous covered souvenir market while the front is filled with good but far from inexpensive restaurants. There are also large marinas locally with a capacity of nearly 3000 yachts which offer all yachting support. The number of chandleries exceeds anything we have seen anywhere in the world. We took a year's contract at a nearby marina. We had a few jobs done on board before going for a short exploratory cruise where we met up with a number of friends from England who keep their boats in Turkey. We only stayed for three weeks after reclaiming Tapestry and then flew home to enjoy some time on dry land.
Marmaris
When the meltemi eased at the end of August we returned to Turkey. We looked forward to a leisurely cruise around the Lycian coast. We had brought a couple of parts for fitting, but hadn't realised that we wouldn't be able to get any work done until a week after Ramadan finished, and this meant that we couldn't sail off until well into September.
When we left our marina we headed west and anchored for several days in a pretty little bay near Gocek where we enjoyed the swimming in water almost as warm as in the tropics. We moved on to Gocek before exploring many more of the bays nearby. There were Byzantine ruins in almost every bay, but on one occasion we also moored under some Carian tombs which were much older. We had been warned about how many charter boats and gulets there would be. Many of the charter boats had fairly inexperienced crews and their anchoring attempts were usually a fairly entertaining if noisy and hazardous procedure! We then headed to cruise in the area west of Marmaris where we met up with a couple of boats (Sutami, Blue Raven) who were old friends. Again it was a lovely area, unfortunately marred for us when Tapestry was broken into while we were ashore in Datca. We returned to Marmaris just as the weather started to break up to prepare for our winter haul out. We weren't alone. 60 boats checked into our marina that day and space was at a premium. It was very wet and the winds exceeded 40 knots, so we felt we hadn't missed a lot by returning a little early.
Beautiful bays full of Byzantine ruins
Looking at the Byzantine and Carian ruins
The island livestock
Bay life included water born supermarkets and regular speed boats offering ice creams!
A night out at a bay restaurant
The cruising fraternity in Turkey are very different to the sailors we have met over the last few years. Private yachts are in the minority and they are mainly sailed by an aging population of Western Europeans who wish to spend the summers pottering in the sunshine from bay to bay. Most of the "sailing" is done in the morning when the wind is almost non existent. The afternoon meltemi can be strong and it can make westward sailing difficult. We found taking a line to the shore Turkish style easy if there was no wind, but it was more difficult in a strong afternoon blow. We preferred to free anchor if possible but it could be a problem because the water is often deep and the holding is not always good. We tried mooring on the bay restaurants' jetties, but the holidaying neighbours were not always as quiet as they might have been and the meals were quite expensive.
We have found the Turks delightful and we have enjoyed the weeks we have spent in Turkey. The quality of the work we have had done on Tapestry has been very good. However we have decided that we want a bit more next summer than sunbathing along the Turkish coast. When we return we are planning to head west through the Cyclades Islands and then on towards the French Mediterranean coast where we shall winter. We then plan to head north in 2013 through the French canals and on back to England where we shall probably put Tapestry up for sale.