Up The Aeolian Coast

We're in Ayvalik, Turkey enjoying a little marina life before heading off into the wilds of Greece tomorrow morning. This is as far north as we intend to come on the Turkish coast this year. Directly to our west, very lovely in the distance,  is the island of Lesvos where we'll check in at the town of Mytilene.

Ayvalik, Turkey

Since our last update we did an Ephesus tour from Kusadasi with Laura and Mark of Sabbatical III. The tour was one of the few disappointments we've had this trip. The idea was to see and experience the ancient city of Ephesus. The day long 'tour' allocated an hour and half to Ephesus.

The "library" at Ephesus

There was about a half hour spent at what is called "Mary's house" which some have said is the house where Christ's mother lived her last days. Mary's house, sorry to say, struck me as a religious tourist trap. The rest of the day was a 'tour' of various marketing attempts to get us to buy ceramics, leather goods, etc, etc. The classic tourist BS. Even the hour and a half in Ephesus was a rush job and it seems the route through is laid out to push as many people through as fast as possible and gather up those Turkish Lira for the government. We should have known and Ephesus deserves better.

The threater at Ephesus

We left Kusadasi heading north, ever northwards, to Sigacik, which is a nice town with a nice castle and no crowds. First Light III was there and with them we were invited to help Bill & Bunny Bailey of Onset celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary. It was a great evening and many thanks to Bill & Bunny.

Sigacik home

From Sigacik, north again to Cesme, another nice town with another nice castle. And this one has a Burger King! And yes, I dragged Janet to Burger King. She didn't seem to mind too much.

Castle of St. Peter, Cesme

From Cesme we slipped over to the SE corner of the Greek island of Lesvos for a nice quiet anchorage in Ormos Tarti. Not really anything there except pretty country and a couple tavernas on the beach. We had a major thunderstorm that evening. This was a classic midwestern thunder bumper that rolled in over the anchorage out of the northwest. Big roll cloud out front followed by a cold gust front and light to moderate rain and lots of lightning. We shut down the electronics and put the computer in the oven. Then the hail started rattling down, heavy hail up to about 3/4". The sea was alive, amazing,  from the splashing of the hail and all we could do, of course, was sit under the dodger and watch and listen as the hail banged into our solar panels, dodger and nice new teak decks. That and wonder how much damage was being done. The hail lasted almost half an hour and then died out followed by the real rain shafts of intense rain and winds estimated at over fifty knots. Quite the storm and luckily we had good holding and didn't move an inch. I wouldn't have wanted go out and re-anchor in the hail! And luckily the hail stopped before the high winds began. We had NO DAMAGE from the hail. If it had been wind driven hail I believe the result would have been different.

Airstream at anchor, Ormos Tarti

Bernie and Di on First Light III joined us the second night and we had a couple  nice dinners ashore. The following day we both went over to Bademli Limani on the the Turkish coast and spent a couple more days enjoying a nice anchorage and the nice village of Bademli. No tourism here! Just a quiet Turkish seaside/rural atmosphere.

First Light III close hauled to Bademli

It looked like a Meltemi situation was developing. This is the classic Aegean summer northerly wind that can blow for days and make travel northwards less than pleasant. So we upped anchor after two nights at Bademli and motored the last twenty-five miles up to Ayvalik and what is called "the lake". The 'lake' consists of a number of almost completely land locked bays and anchorages with generally excellent shelter and holding. 

Janet above Poroselene

 The towns of Alibey and Ayvalik across from each other offer some mildly urban comforts or you can choose places like Poroselene where there is nothing but an ancient watch tower above a quiet anchorage with crystal clear water. So over the last week we've done several anchorages sitting out the Meltemi. We rented a car and visited the ancient  city of Pergamon and had the kind of experience we'd hoped for in Ephesus. We've had some nice meals ashore and got ripped off one night paying 70TL for one small fish. Oh, well…….

Ancient Pergamon above modern Bergama

Today I did the bureaucratic dance and officially checked out of Turkey. No problem and everyone was  very accommodating, even the harbor master who had forgotten his very official stamp at home . First Light III and  Onset are here and we're all getting together tonight for a major game of "Mexican Train" followed by dinner in Alibey. Should be great fun.

Talking NBA with a Turkish fan in Bergama

And tomorrow we'll take on a little diesel and head for Mytilene. Much as we've enjoyed Turkey and the Turks we're looking forward to three months in Greece. I've always loved the country and the people since being based out of Thessaloniki back in the '80s and that, at least, has not changed.

Love to all,
Bill & Janet
SV Airstream

The Ionian Coast, And A little Dodecanese

We're in Kusadasi, Turkey where the main attraction is close access to the ruins of ancient Ephesus. We have a day long Ephesus tour arranged for tomorrow and everybody says its spectacular. Actually Kusadasi itself seems a nice enough town. Its a major cruise ship and tourist destination but, at least this time of the year, it isn't a total zoo. 

Motoring towards Kusadasi

The marina is very nice and much less expensive than Bodrum. All amenities are available and there are the usual (in Turkey) very sleek and friendly marina cats so Janet can get her cat fix daily. Life back in a marina is pretty good after a couple weeks in the 'bush'. We'll be here four days and then its off to the north once again.

Cruise Ships at Kusadasi

And it has been an exciting trip up the Ionian coast which, if possible, is even more historically interesting than the Carian. From Gumusluk we edged around to the north of the Bodrum peninsula to seek shelter from a southerly wind forecast to 50 knots. In a little bay called Ilica Buku we anchored out with Mark and Laura on their boat "Sabbatical 3". There were gusts all day to over 30 knots in this protected area and the holding was not good. We dragged several times but there was plenty of room. The main problem was that there used to be fish farms in the bay and the bottom is full of old net and other crap that gets caught up in your anchor. I went over in the dink and helped a big Dutch boat cut off about a ton of net and trash that he brought up. We finally found a nice spot where there was shelter, decent holding and no stuff on the bottom and sat out a decent night.

Yeorgio anchorage, Agathonisi, Greece

Agathonisi is a small Greek island south of Samos and about 28 miles north of Ilica Buku. Its considered part of the Dodecanese group and seemed like a nice next destination with a couple good anchorages. It proved to be very lovely, quiet and unspoiled. There are only about 150 people on the island, a couple small markets, two tavernas and a creperie, of all things, to go along with the required bakery and ouzaria.  The tavernas were very good and Janet has discovered a taste for ouzo… could be interesting. We had another southerly blow through and the anchorages in Agathonisi are pretty exposed to the south. 

Beach scene, Agathionisi

We rode it out in a cove with some shelter and watched a couple charter boats get  pretty badly pounded on the quay before they moved off. All the Greeks and Turks we talk with say this is a very unusual year with all these southerly winds. It is nice not to be bucking the usual northerly stuff heading north but the nicest anchorages are often exposed to the south.

Turkey to the left, Greece to the right. The Samos Strait

After four days in Agathonisi we went north to Samos and the Posidonion anchorage on the very southeast tip of the island in the Samos Strait between Greek Samos and the Turkish mainland. Samos is a lovely, rugged and mountainous island. The Posidonion anchorage is almost undeveloped with just one nice taverna on the beach and a jewel of an Orthodox chapel above the bay.

Orthodox Chapel at Posidonion

The water is absolutely clear and the holding excellent over nice sand. Again it is exposed to the south but conditions were calm and it was a great anchorage. Mark and Laura stayed another day in Agathonisi but we ran into our friends Walter and Sandra aboard their boat "Sepia" and enjoyed a nice evening with them.

Janet above the Posidonion anchorage

So now we're enjoying beautiful days in Kusadasi. We have Mark and Laura from Sabbatical 3 and Walter and Sandra from Sepia to socialize with and a friendly cat who comes aboard as she wishes and behaves properly. Life is good!

Love to all,
Bill & Janet

Gumusluk!

Above the anchorage at Gumusluk

Pronounced "Goumoushlouk" roughly. It's the ancient city of Myndos, nice place, nice anchorage and despite the rampant tourism on this northern section of the Carian coast, it still retains the atmosphere of a Turkish sea side village. There are a couple small markets and a very nice little bakery right off the wooden town wharf. The bakery has the usual fresh bread and an exceptional assortment of baked goodies including the very best baklava we've had this trip, perhaps ever. There are also the usual restaurants lining the sandy waterfront walk but they aren' t too pushy, usually, and the food is good. 

Turkish baked goodies

This anchorage did get crowded on a Saturday with charter boats and boats from the big city of Bodrum. That led to our first anchoring cluster this trip. Some idiot on a chartered  38 foot Bavaria came into the anchorage about nine PM and just had to anchor right in the middle of the densest part of the fleet. We had been here several days and had gotten closely surrounded already that day but this guy dropped right beside us. It was over fifty feet deep in that position so naturally he dropped about fifty feet of chain. When he couldn't get the anchor set  he started dragging it around and hooked our chain. Then they tried to bring their anchor up with our anchor chain hooked on it and we started dragging. They had no idea what to do so we had to start up our engine and Janet kept us in position while I got in our dinghy and went over to their boat to help with an 'anchor thief',  a device built just for this situation. They had little English, my Turkish consists of "hello" and "thank you"  and the three women and one guy on board were pretty much clueless. I can only say that after about an hour of chaos our chain was freed and they motored off into the darkness where they should have gone in the first place and we got re-anchored and hit the sack. This was in flat calm. If it had been blowing as it had a couple nights earlier somebody would have got hurt.

And a few nights ago it did blow 30-35 knots from the southwest. This anchorage is well protected from about anything but a southwesterly. We had a few short drags that night, the first time our Rocna anchor has ever dragged anywhere, and getting re-stuck was an interesting exercise. We finally took an open mooring for the night. A big Oyster next to us started really dragging down onto the boat astern and our air horn woke them up in time to avoid a major collision. They just pulled anchor and departed.

Tourist "gullets'

Now we've been here a week.  We're having some canvas repair done in Bodrum that should be done today. There's another big southerly forecast for day after tomorrow so we'll depart tomorrow for a bay just north of us, Ilica Buku,  that's well protected from the south.

Bodrum Castle

Since our last blog entry from Knidos we've continued north to the Bodrum Peninsula and the city of Bodrum itself. Bodrum is a nice modern city with a lovely, if touristy, waterfront and an impressive 15th century fortress centered on the harbor. We toured the fortress and enjoyed a couple expensive nights in the excellent marina. We also found a pretty good Chinese restaurant that was an interesting change of fare.

Bodrum harbor

From Bodrum it was just around the corner to a nice anchorage off Catalada Island. So far it's the only place we've had almost to ourselves this trip, one other boat,  and in a northwest wind it was well sheltered, quiet and lovely. Having the kind of secluded anchorages you might expect in the Pacific or SE Asia is a rare event in the Med. There are a lot of boats here and people anchor a lot closer than is the custom elsewhere. The major stops are MAJOR stops and I think we'll be hunting for the out of the way places most of the time. The coastline in this area is infested with "holiday villages" which are concrete jungles that all look alike and bring in tourist hoards to artificial towns made over to serve them. This is a very good place to be on a boat and able to escape this stuff.

Catalada Island

Gumusluk is not one of those "holiday" places and I believe they don't intend to get that way. There are tourist places on the beach south of town but the village itself still has some character.

Woman at the vegetable market

So we'll be outta here tomorrow to sit out the southerly. We may stick around the area to have the Ullman Sails guy in Bodrum work on our genoa. I was very unhappy about the service supposedly provided by UK-Halsey Sails in Marmaris and these people at Ullman actually seem to be interested in doing a good job. Anyone thinking of having UK Sails in Marmaris work for them should think again and find someone else. And we do have UK-Halsey Sails on our boat. 

So not to end on a sour note, its a beautiful morning, couldn't be prettier, the anchorage is quiet and uncrowded and life is good. We'll take a Dolmas (small local bus) into Bodrum this afternoon to do a couple things and move on tomorrow. Whenever we leave the Bodrum Peninsula we plan to work north up towards Kusadasi. Maybe with stops on the Greek islands of Agathonisi and Samos and a couple places on the Turkish coast.

Love to all,
Bill & Janet

Cruising the Carian Coast

Three thousand years before Columbus 'discovered' America the Carian peoples inhabited this coastal area of what is now Turkey. 

Airstream at Ali Baba's wharf, Bozuk Buku

They were followed by Aeolian and Ionian sea peoples around 1000 BC. Between 400-500 BC Sparta founded several cities along the coast as colonies and the Dorian era began. Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum) in 430 BC. The Persians  moved in after the Peloponnesian War and then Alexander took it from the Persians. The Romans took it from the Greeks early in the new millennium.  With the fall of Rome the Ottoman Empire ruled until the advent of the modern Turkish state. There was an occasional war with the Greeks, of course.

Bozuk Buku

 So when we cruise this beautiful coast we are immersed in the early history of western civilization. And it easy to see why civilization got such a good start in this part of the world. First of all, it is truly beautiful in the most magnificent and inspiring manner. And I think humans respond to such an inspiration. The Doric Peninsula, for instance,  is a giant Yosemite by the Sea. 

Hellenistic era fortress walls at Bozuk Buku

 The sea is relatively sheltered and coastal communications and trade were easy compared to overland travel. The climate is true Mediterranean, not harsh but not enervating. A human can survive here year around without being ruled by the climate but has to work a little to be comfortable. There are defensible positions on every headland and many well sheltered harbors. In a time before the Med was so heavily fished it must have been an easy place to find a decent meal.

Pethi anchorage, Symi

And, in a way, nothing has changed. The last war between the Greeks and the Turks was only 90 years ago. Right now they're getting along rather well and Cyprus issue is in deep back ground mode. The area has lost none of its spectacular beauty. Coastal travel is still more fun than overland although the Turks are building good roads through the area. There are nice anchorages, the same anchorages in many cases, for us to use and we travel in boats about the same size as the ancient coastal trading craft. The fishing may not be so good but there is a restaurant on the beach in any protected anchorage. It is still an easy place to find a decent meal.

Symi town, island of Symi, Greece

So we left Marmaris on the 8th of May as planned. I got the fridge fixed and installed a new inverter, maybe the only 110 volt inverter in Turkey, and we were outta there. Since then we've anchored or Med tied in Serce Limani, Bozuk Buku, and we went over to the Greek island of Symi and anchored in the bay at Pethi. We had a lovely sail and crossed back into Turkey at the town of Datca. 

Stoa ruins at Knidos

And now we're anchored at Knidos and surrounded by the remnants of that ancient city. It's a magnificent setting for a magnificent ruin of what was, for about 500 years, a major Greek, Persian and Roman port. It's not as well known as Ephesus and it has never been throughly excavated but it may be even more interesting for all that.

Knidos anchorage, amongst the ruins of the ancient city

 Its also a lovely anchorage with a nice fish restaurant (no village)  ashore so we may suffer  along through a few more nights. Soon we'll move on northwards to the area around Bodrum and then into the Ionian.

Love to all,
Bill & Janet