Gocek Bay

From Ekincik we continued east to Fethiye Bay and stopped off in Kargi Koyu - an idyllic little bay and finally warm enough for a swim! The bays round here are much more wooded and a greater variety of trees.

A good sail round into the south west corner, between the islands.

A lunchtime stop in Kappi Creek to find the geocache.

The walk up to the top was worth the view we got looking down the other side of the peninsular.

Found it!!!   Kevin and Teresa fill in the geocache log.

Afternoon sail in good winds via Seagull bay - you can see the seagull made of white painted stones on the shore - a good landmark! 

Past 22 Fathom bay and into Wall bay for the night. A good watercolour opportunity.

On anchor with long lines ashore right by the wall that gives the bay its name

Exciting moment when Teresa spots a turtle heading our way! Actually there were two of them that swam past the boat.

Treated ourselves to dinner ashore - grilled chicken that provided enough for lunch the next day as well!

A beautiful walk round the coast from Wall bay to Ruin bay in search of another geocache.

Honestly Dave I DID see a snake and it was THIS long!!! Actually much smaller than one we had seen in Ekincik that must have been at least a metre long.

A motorised wakeboard? 

Part of the ruins that give this bay its name. Apparently Cleopatra came here for a bath? She seems to have had a bath all over the place judging by the times you see this written - either a very clean person or a bit of a marketing ploy. And anyway where are the asses to provide the milk she supposedly bathed in?

A windy sail up to Gocek from where Kevin and Teresa will get their transfer to the airport. We have had such a good week with them - really good fun!

Well what can I say? no Jack Sparrow though!!

Kevin and Teresa and Dalyan River Trip

Kevin and Teresa arrive to join us for 10 days.

Marmaris castle

 Castle residents wandering round the grounds

DALYAN RIVER TRIP

From Marmaris we spent one night in a small bay outside Marmaris town and then sailed east along the coast to Ekincik. Here we left the boat on the quay and took a trip up the Dalyan river in a small motor boat. Went via this cave on the coast.

Early season so we had the boat to ourselves! A good day, picnic en route.

The blue crabs that are well known round here. This is one they had caught on the jetty but we had seen them in the shallows on the beach.

Turtles spotted by the jetty.

Up the Dalyan river which was like a maze of reed beds.

Another wild tortoise eating Oleander flowers

Next stop up river was the ancient town of Caunos and into the amphitheatre.

Further up river, opposite the town of Dalyan, are these rock tombs carved out of the cliffs.

The "gateway" in the river which they have lowered to let us through but close again to preserve the fish population.

On our way back we collected our blue crab, prepared, cooked and ready to eat. Very nice!

Symi to Turkey

From Khalki we headed for the island of Symi and stopped off in Monastery Bay in the south. A beautiful, quiet anchorage with the magnificent buildings of the monastery along the shore. Stayed a while, went round the museum and sat and sketched the tower.

On to Symi town itself in the north of the island having seen dolphins on the way. A pre dinner stop at this lovely ouzerie down the side street.

We were in Symi to see the annual celebration of the day they signed the declaration when the allies took the Dodecanese back from the Germans

Symi was a wonderful little town where the houses seem to have been built on top of each other up the slopes - very colourful.

When there is a flight of over a hundred stone steps going up out of town you just have to climb them for the view from the top! Dave assured me he had Serenity in the picture but actually she is just off to the left!

TURKEY!!!

After arriving in Bozburun in the pouring rain to check into Turkey with Saleh the agent, we were told that the offices are closed for renovation and we must go another 20NM (about 4 hours) to Datca to check in. This is Datca from our anchorage in the bay.

Back to Bozburun to sort out Turkish residency to enable us to stay longer than the 90 days on our visitors visa. Saleh now tells us that the regulations all changed in April this year and so what we had been told by people in Crete who had done it before, didn't apply anymore. What now?

From Bozburun to Sogut not far away to sample the grilled octopus at the Octopus restaurant recommended by Chris and Desi - very good! A brisk sail in with winds up to force 5-6.

We are used to seeing cats and dogs around the tavernas but were quite surprised to see a rabbit wander in when we were in "Captain Nemo"s" in Serce bay. We went over to the restaurant for a light snack as we were using his mooring buoy and didn't take enough lira for a full meal. No problem he says, pay in euros. No the euros are back on the boat too. Don't make a problem he says , enjoy your meal and pay me tomorrow! When we returned the next morning he gave us free chay and sat and chatted - yes the Turkish people are very friendly.

Leaving Serce bay with Catain Nemo's in the background.

Next stop was Ciftlik - anchored out in the bay just for overnight.

Arrived in Marmaris where we shall meet Kevin and Teresa on Monday night. Had a walk round town, braved the bazaar where everyone wants you to go look in their shop. We eventually found one that actually had a sign outside that said "no hassle" so went in. Lovely man who was friendly but not too pushy so we bought some herbs and spices. We later took Kevin and Teresa there where they bought turkish delight, nuts etc so we were given chay and sat chatting. 

This statue was one of several beautiful pieces of art around the town. The inscription says "To live like a tree in solitude and free and like a forest in solidarity"

Turkish tea "chay"

Kassos to Khalki

From Sitia we had an 8 hour sail up to the island of Kassos - the beginning of the Dodecanese for us. We moored alongside on the outside quay in Fri and we were soon joined by Thalassa who had followed us up from Sitia.

Fri was a rather small, backwater sort of place but had this huge church by the port.

The following day we left Fri to sail to Tristoma bay on Karpathos. A very roly, 6 hour crossing - a lot of swell and not a lot of wind. A difficult bay to find even when you are close to the entrance. 

A very quiet little bay with a deserted village - except for the shepherd and his wife who appeared on the shore just as Dave was showering off the back of the boat!

We had been warned about how difficult it was to get in - not to be attempted in rough seas. There is a small gap between the cliff on the right and rocks to the left but after such a choppy sea we could see flat calm water on the other side - glad Dave was on the helm for this bit!

Did we really just come through there??!

KHALKI

An early morning start saw us leave Tristoma bay for a great sail up to the island of Khalki, just to the west of Rhodes. Winds were kind and sea was calmer and the sun shone! Khalki town is a very colourful little port on the north east of the island. We moored alongside on the quay at first but were told that we would have to move when the ferry came in at 6.30 that night and 7.00 the next morning but we could stay there in between. We decided to go onto a mooring buoy and settled on the 3rd one we tried only to be told that we were too far out and would be affected by the ferry wash - so 4th time lucky!

Dave practising his best Greek on one of the locals!!

A lovely walk around the town to this church with its very ornate tower. The sort of town that makes you want to get the paints out!

The view back to town from the church - nice picture shame about the air con unit - didn't see that when I took it!

Inside the church decorated with ribbons for Easter. Beautiful paintings and lots of gold.

A window with a view! Taken from the old Khalki house museum.

Let's just go for a walk Dave said, see how far we get towards the castle he said!!

There's the castle at the top. We are not going all the way up there I said!!

Typical Greek scaffolding! Probably the same as was used to build the castle originally! And yes we did go across it, and yes we were heading up that hill to the castle!

Stopped off at the smallest chapel on the way up. We could just about stand up inside but this is the height of the door! Once inside you could almost touch all four walls at the same time.

From the entrance to the castle looking back down to the road we had walked along. The scaffolding on the right seemed to be how they conveyed the sand and lime up to the castle for the renovation works. There was a sledge which ran on this track but a small motorised 4 wheeled barrow carted the bags to the bottom of this track. A large noticeboard informed us that 800,000 euros from the EU have been given for this renovation work?!

The view from the top, as ever, made the climb well worthwhile!

The land in the distance is the island of Rhodes.

Strange flower seen on the way back down.

A much needed drink at the beach, nearly back in town.

Spot the octopus hanging up - not a pretty sight!! 

The public loo!