October 2008 -Turkey
October 27, 2008
Hi We are still enjoying fantastic Fall weather in a Fethiye bay called Hide Park by the locals. The days are sunny and low 80's and it's jacket weather when the sun goes down. Great sleeping weather. We've enjoyed two weekly markets while here and will go again tomorrow. We've had some interesting hikes with our friends Ginger and Dick on Alchemy. We discovered the hike we did to Kayakoy last week was actually on an old Roman Road so this week we did the Lycian Way trail to Kayakoy. It was well marked and we only got semi lost twice before picking up the trail again. Last
Friday we took a bus to Kayakoy and picked up the Lycian Way trail in the "Ghost Town" to Oludeniz. Our 3 hour hike to Oludeniz turned into a 5 hour hike and this time we truly did lose the trail. We hiked for hours along a ravine, seeing Oludeniz where we wanted to go but unable to find a way down off of the cliffs. Many goat trails and bushwacking later we eventually worked our way down to the road about a mile out of Oludeniz. We were definitely ready for a cold beer and some lunch!
We met a family from Enfield, Minnesota (a tiny town near Maple Lake) living on a Turkish gullet in Fethiye Bay. They've lived in Turkey going on five years. Pastor Mike Calva and wife Mary host a Christian service every Sunday. They have about 45 people each week and the Turkish government leaves them alone so long as they avoid Turkish politics. Nice people and an interesting celebration:-)
We plan to start heading back to Kemer on Wednesday. Al is avoiding the Halloween Party at Kemer. We hope the nice weather continues so we can get some hikes in around Kekova Roads. Hope this finds everyone well and happy. Love and God Bless, Sally and Al
October 13, 2008
Hi We are still in Fethiye. Our Canadian friends Eva and Johan on "Northern Lights" are here. We've had a fun time together. Yesterday we walked 7 kilometers over the mountain to Kayakoy. Kayakoy is a "ghost town" that once was home to over 2000 Greek families. After WWI the League of Nations supervised a population exchange between Greece and Turkey. The Greek Muslims moved to Turkey and the Turkish Christians moved to Greece. There were far more Turkish Christians than Greek Muslims so many towns in Turkey were left unoccupied after the exchange. It was a beautiful walk through the woods. We walked along the ancient Lycian Way most of the time. This old cobblestone road extends between Fethiye and Antalya. It was strange finding a very typical Greek town here in Turkey. The homes were built on the hillside leaving the fertile valley for farming. The houses are very close together with winding pathways in between. The village had special significance for Al and I as we both have read Louis de Bernieres' novel Birds Without Wings. Kayakoy was the inspiration for Eskibahce the village in the novel. After exploring the village we had Turkish pancakes for lunch and took a dolmus (bus) back to Fethiye. Eva and Johan left for Marmaris today but Al and I plan to stay in the Fethiye/Gocek area for another week. Happy Weekend. Love and God Bless Sally and Al
October 2, 2008
Hi We've been out for a week now and getting back into cruising mode. We had a great sail down to Kekova Roads (about 55 nm) We motor sailed the first 24 and then the wind picked. We had a great sail the rest of the way. Friday morning we discovered the genset would not run. So Al spent the next 4 hours trouble shooting. We discovered our new starter was the wrong one plus the old one is next to impossible to take off without lifting the engine. Fortunately that put us looking more closely at the wiring. Al found two coroded connections on the starter and now we are back in business:-)
The forecast wind picked up and we were dug in tight until a gullet pulled up our anchor as he was leaving. We should have been on the look out as he had come in after dark the night before. We dragged for a bit before we realized we were loose. We moved to the western end of the anchorage and got out of most of the chop.
Sunday we motored up to Kas and anchored in bay before town. We walked to town for lunch at "Smilies", We arranged for our visa run the next day to Kasttelorizon, Greece. We've been to Kas 3 other times and never really visited the town. It's quite a lively little tourist village with lots of shops, bars and restaurants.
Monday we took the boat to the quay in Kas bay and secured her for the day. The wind was forecast to blow 20-30 later in the day and we hoped to be back before it began. We crossed to Kastltelorizon, Greece on a good sized enclosed ferryboat this time. Our last visa run was quite an adventure so we were glad to be aboard something more substantial. We did some shopping and had lunch.The winds picked up early and by noon we knew the seas would be wild. We left for Kas about 3:00 crossing 1.5-2 meter seas. We took a few rolls that made me wish we were on our own boat but in all the young captain did a nice job. We hurried back to Artemis to find her rocking and rolling against the dock. No damage as she was tied well with lots of fenders and our neighbors kept knocking them back in for us. Their boat was much smaller and looked like it would bounce up onto the dock at any moment. The forecast was for stronger winds later but we could not safely move Artemis off the quay so we let the fenders do their job. Fortunately the gribs were wrong and the winds died down about 9PM. We moved back to anchor the next day and enjoyed a day of leisure.
Yesterday we motored to Fethiye and Gocek area. We are tied to shore in a beautiful cove - Ravine Cove. Al has a sore knee and in pain today so I expect we will read and enjoy our anchorage today. Ramazan (Ramadan) ended yesterday and now is a 3 day festival for all of Turkey. There are a lot more boats out than the last time we were here. Hope all are well. We love getting mail:-) love and God Bless Sally and Al
