The Start of the Journey West
20th April 2023 - Kas Marina - Yesilkoey, Kalkan (16.6 nautical miles)
After an emotional goodbye in Kas we were on our way, the 2023 season had begun. And what a season it was going to be. In fact there would be no wintering this time. We’d leave the Mediterranean at the end of its season and head straight into the next one in the Caribbean. It all seemed fairly daunting at this point. Even leaving the relative safety of the marina after 7 months gave me pause for thought. Our trip out to Kekova had helped but the weather was not yet settled and after waving goodbye to our friends at 9:15am, we knew we were in for a rough ride to Kalkan. It was only 16nm, three hours, but we would be motoring into 25kn winds.
There was no other option, the anchorages around Kas were not well protected so we needed to get across to Kalkan and tuck in. The wind topped 28kn AWS as we rounded the corner into Yesilkoey, the anchorage across from the resort town of Kalkan. Thankfully we saw on the surface of the water that if we tucked ourselves in close to the coast we would be protected from the swell. There was only one other boat in the anchorage so when we dropped the anchor in 12.5m of water we could put out 65m of chain, no problem. We danced around quite a bit but for the two days that we sat here we were secure. The day after we arrived the chop calmed down enough for us to make the dinghy ride across to the town of Kalkan for a wander round. With its proximity to Kas we really should have come across here before but, apart from that one trip out to the breakfast place up the hill, this was our first visit. Lou and Ray had told us that there was a great Indian restaurant here so we decided to head there for dinner after sampling a few cocktails at a couple of bars along the seafront. It really was a lovely town. The curry was epic too!
22th April 2023 - Yesilkoey - Huni Hole, nr Gemiler (31.9 nautical miles)
Finally the wind had shifted round from the NW to the SE so it was time to move on. We weighed anchor at 9:30am and, knowing that the wind was going to be fairly light, we had rigged the Code 0 sail ready to go. For two hours we floated along the coast but our SOG steadily dropped and the sail began to flog so the starboard engine came on. We were heading for a little nook near the island of Gemiler. Clare and Zach had told us about this little spot with just enough room for one. Clare had called it a ‘Huni Hole’ so that’s where we were headed. By 1pm the wind had picked up enough for us to sail with the Code 0 again so managed the last 10nm under sail. The anchorage was a U shaped nook which would necessitate long lines ashore. So, on anchorage no2 we were straight back into the thick of things! We had since bought these enormous bright red strops to fling around the sharp rocks instead of our tape which was prone to being cut. Both 75m lines were no longer 75m anymore so these would hopefully be thick enough to withstand the razor sharp rock. Others had used chain but it is heavy and I typically swam out with the lines to shore or would take the paddle board. Lugging chain seemed like a recipe for disaster.
Well, we didn’t exactly pick the easiest spot to tie off to. Instead of going at the end of the U we had to tie off to one side due to the wind direction. Carl dropped the anchor in 6m of water and, as we moved backwards I flung the paddle board over the side, payed out the long lines and wrestled a strop ready to take to shore. Kneeling down on the paddle board, trying not to get tangled up in the line or drop the strop, I started to paddle to shore. I glanced up to see where I could tie to and all I saw was the surge of the water crashing against sharp rock. The water was deep all the way to the rock so I would have to fling the strop onto the rock, hold one end of the line and get off the board. Then try and tie the painter of the paddle board to something and then, find a rock to put the strop round. That was the plan at least. Unfortunately, as I tried to get off the paddle board without puncturing it on the rock, my fling of the strop was mediocre at best. It didn’t quite make it to shore, slid off the rock and sunk to the bottom, 3m down. Parking that problem for the moment I continued on with the task at hand. I managed to secure the paddle board and grab the long line ready to tie off. But was there a bloody rock suitable? Of course not. I could see nothing viable. As a last resort as I could feel Carl’s impatience growing, I clambered up the hillside to the nearest tree and tied the tape off. That would have to do. Yes, not the done thing in Türkiye but needs must. This whole saga was going on a bit. At least the boat was pinned on one side. I made my way back to the paddleboard and back to the boat to collect the other line and strop. There was definite tension back onboard Rockhopper but I dutifully tried to focus on the job at hand. Thankfully there was a more pronounced rock to wrap the strop round on that side, slightly submerged by the water which wasn’t great, but it would do. Carl raised the anchor a bit and secured us in our spot. I brought the paddle board back to the boat. It was April and the water wasn’t too warm yet. Also, due to the direction of the swell, the little cul de sac that we were in was collecting a bit of flotsam and jetsom from the sea. As Carl gave me an eye roll and stripped down to his boxers to go and retrieve the strop, I winced as I saw a manky flip flop float by. He swam out to the spot where I’d dropped it with his mask and fins and, after a few dives down, he managed to retrieve it. Anyhoo, mission accomplished. After a rocky start (pun intended) we were finally able to enjoy the beautiful spot we had found ourselves in. Carl sent up the drone and took some incredible photos.
23rd April 2023 - Huni Hole, nr Gemiler - Gemiler (1.26 nautical miles)
Removing the long lines from the ashore at 10am the following morning was considerably easier than putting them in place. Lou and Ray had messaged to say that they were in Gemiler which was just around the corner. One of their favourite spots. A fairly wide and deep channel of water separates the island of Gemiler with the mainland. It is a popular anchorage with boats positioned either attached with long lines to the island or the mainland side. Lou and Ray had opted for the mainland side whereas we scouted a spot on the island side. As we did a bit of a recce we saw close to the shore that there were some foundations from some ancient building jutting out from the shore, about a metre below the surface. We would therefore have to drop the anchor and reverse in but be careful not to go too far back. Thankfully I could see two good rocks to tie the lines to this time so hopefully far less faff this time around. When I say the channel was deep I was not kidding. We dropped the anchor in 24m of water and carefully moved the boat back. Again, I was ready with the paddle board, a strop and the lines. We managed to get the long lines attached to two rocks sufficiently apart and settled in water which was about 7m deep. The stern was only about 2m away from the foundations which I was a tad nervous about. Especially since we had no idea what the anchor was buried in and we had tonnes of chain out. That afternoon we picked up Lou and Ray to head to a little bar across on the mainland. Excuse the grid pattern on the photo - a screenshot rather than a photo!
That afternoon the wind picked up a bit and we ended up over a corner of the foundations. Luckily it was slightly deeper than our 1.3m but we quickly started the engines and took up the anchor a bit to bring us away.
As with pretty much anywhere in Türkiye there is an ancient story to tell. Gemiler island held the Byzantine ruins of five Greek churches from the 4th and 6th century. It is believed that the original tomb of St Nicholas was within one of these churches. In Turkish, Gemiler translates to the word ‘ships’ so this is the Island of Ships and St Nicholas was a the patron saint of sailors. As we found out a month or so before, his relics were eventually moved to the town of Myra, some three hundred years after his death. At the opposite end of the island to where we were there was a dock and a few gullets conveying tourists to the site. The following morning we opted to try and join the trail from where we were. There was not really anywhere appropriate to leave the dinghy, the rocks were too sharp so Carl set about creating a pulley system to convey us on the paddle board across, then move the paddle board back to the boat and away from the rocks until it was needed again. It worked a treat. We had to bash our way up through some prickly bushes to get up to the path but we eventually found it and had a wander through the ancient ruins. Beautiful! The views from the top of the island were spectacular. We also realised that we had bypassed a ticket kiosk. Ah well.
It was also a great spot to people watch, or more rather, boat watch. Anywhere in the world we have gone we always see a Bali cat going full throttle, bows out of the water, dragging something out the back. This time it was fenders and their dinghy!
25th April 2023 - Gemiler - Fethiye (15.5 nautical miles)
Our destination the following day was Fethiye. We had been there before with Ian, Liz, Fay and Derek on our way to Kas the previous year. We had liked the place quite a bit and had put it on our list to go back on our way out. The wind was due to pick up a bit over the next few days so it was a good place to shelter. We did look at staying at the Yacht Classic marina that we had tied up to last year but, as with all the prices in Türkiye, they had practically doubled so we decided to anchor out. Our friends Clare and Zach were there so it was an opportunity to catch up with them again. We hadn’t seen them since they left Kas in early April. As with all anchorages we do our research beforehand. Fethiye is a bit complicated. There is a lovely natural harbour created by the promontory that juts out from the mainland. It is a busy anchorage with several marked areas where you can anchor and areas where you are not allowed to. It seemed that the places where you were supposedly allowed to were close to the shore where gullets would lay out 300m of chain and not be too bothered if they just came and went whether you were in their way or not. We opted for a more central spot but by the time we had settled the boat was clearly not in the designated area. Nor were several other boats around us to be fair. We had heard that the Turkish coast guard might not tell you that you were in the wrong place, simply fine you and you would find out when you came to check out of the country. The boating world has many of these scare stories about. In fact, we looked over to see Clare and Zach’s boat SV Champagne in an area which according to our research was in a no go area as it was too close to the coast guard station. They had been there for a week with the coast guard boat going back and forth on many occasions with nothing said. Later we would find out that, shortly after Zach had just painted the deck of his boat, they approached and told them that they would have to leave immediately. After a week of driving by saying nothing. Anyway, that was later. We decided our spot was fine as there was weather coming our way and we preferred to be in an area with plenty of space. We were close enough anyway.
This would have been the place that we got our super duper medical done but alas, the residency card had not come through and if you wanted to do it as a non-resident it was triple the price. £1300 was simply not something we felt like spending so we decided against it. Maybe we should have bit the bullet and done it as the tests were fairly comprehensive which would have been great to get a check up ahead of our Atlantic crossing. But, we didn’t. We instead spent five days waiting out weather, drinking cocktails with friends, old and new, and having a good time.
30th April 2023 - Fethiye - Atbuku Koyu, Goçek (11.7 nautical miles)
We had bypassed Goçek completely on our way to Kas the previous year so we were looking forward to exploring the area in a bit more detail. At 10:30am we started to raise the anchor from the bay in Fethiye with some difficultly as the wind and the mud had glued the anchor to the floor. We had identified this lovely little nook to anchor in, again with lines to shore. It really was a Turkish thing. We managed a short sail with the code 0 across to our destination, arriving at said nook around 12:30pm. From our vantage point there were already a few boats in there so we opted for the scaredy cat approach and tied up on the opposite bank to the one we wanted to be in, on the outer edge. I spent a fair amount of time wandering along the shore line trying to find a rock that was attached to something. Everything that looked ok was loose. And then the cross wind picked up. We had space around us but it wasn’t ideal. The following morning we saw a few boats leave and took the opportunity to move in and secure a spot. We anchored in 26m with 86m of chain out by the time we positioned ourselves close to shore. To our port side was an enormous 78ft power cat. It was an idyllic spot. Tree lined shores and peaceful water. At least it was until a tender from a large super yacht appeared with a small boy and his bodyguard messing about on a foil board. His glamorous mum looked on from the boat. Mind you, it gave us something to watch and hey, it wasn’t a jet ski so all good!
The following morning we took the dinghy across to the town of Goçek. It was a good 2.5nm but it wasn’t too choppy. A few reviews of the town had not been kind but as usual with these things, it was subjective. We really liked it. We also found a shop selling Weetabix and Sriracha sauce (albeit at an exorbitant price) which was a novelty. We had an early dinner out there and zoomed back to the boat in the late afternoon.
The following morning our mission was to organise a pump out. We were on day 14 which was the penultimate day required by Turkish law to show that you had sought to pump out your holding tanks. Obviously we can’t go 15 days without emptying our tanks as we flush through quite a bit of water to keep the pipes clean so we had been dumping it out to sea like every other country allows but here, you had to show the certificate so we called a number to arrange for a pump out boat to come. I was not entirely sure that I was successful in getting one arranged but as luck would have it the massive power cat next to us had arranged one and we just waved them down that evening. He came along side, hooked up his hose and wrote down a random number of litres on his bit of paper which was uploaded to the ‘system’ so job done.
Lou and Ray had been at another bay in Goçek up to this point but had decided to join us in our bay. There was plenty of space next to us so they came in and we helped them with their lines. What’s more, Aquarela were on the move so Jon and Sharon would be joining us too. They weren’t overly thrilled with line ashore anchoring but we assured them that we would help them out so they came in between us and we tied them off to some rocks. The Tremendous Trio were back together again! What could possibly go wrong! In fact we were reasonably sensible this time round, we made a chilli and had everyone round for dinner. No crazy dancing this time.
4th May 2023 - Atbuku Koyu - Kizilkuyruk Koyu (aka North whale tail bay) (8.16 nautical miles)
Both Greylag and Aquarela weren’t doing the same sort of miles as we were this season having opted to winter in Tunisia this year so were on a slower schedule to us. As we left them the following morning at 9:30am we waved a somewhat teary goodbye, just in case we wouldn’t catch them again. Our destination was just outside the Goçek sailing area, in a bay called Buyukaga Koyu. In fact this bay was also called Whale Tail bay as it and its neighbour, Kizilkuyruk Koyu resembled the shape. Coming round the corner it appeared that Buyukaga already had some boats in it but Kizilkuruk (I’ll now call in North Whale Tail bay as it is much easier to type) was empty. We motored into this gorgeous bay and I could already see a post to tie one line to, presumably installed by one of the tourist gullets, and a decent rock to attach to on the other side. Inbetween the two was a sweet little pebble beach. We dropped the anchor in 11m of water and paid out 60m of chain. After attaching the lines we effectively cornered off this little beach, all to ourselves. It was (and still is) one of our favourite spots in Türkiye. We were totally on our own. At least for the first night anyway.
Aquarela and Greylag were still in the bay. Lou and Ray had gone into town to do some shopping. Little did we know the chaos that we had left behind. At midday, a squall came through and the wind picked up to a massive 50kn funnelling through that little bay and Aquarela started to drag. So did the cat next to them. A nightmare scenario when you are attached to shore. To make matters worse one of their long lines got caught round the prop so it was a frantic 20 mins. Thankfully the larger powercat was still there and had their dinghy in the water so helped them both out. Luckily for Lou and Ray, Greylag stayed put. We hadn’t seen any of it where were were so were amazed at what had happened 8nm up the coast.
The following morning the forecast was for 25kn so we were planning on staying put on the boat. As the morning wore on the forecasted wind did not appear and as we stared out to sea all we could see were boats motoring past. So sod it, we decided to go for a walk. We took the dinghy round to the other half of the whale tail and tied it to shore. There was a path up to…you guessed it, some ruins on the hill. After our first full season in the Med we had both agreed on one simple fact. We thoroughly enjoyed getting off the boat and exploring. Too many times we had been too afraid to leave the boat for fear of the anchor dragging whilst we weren’t there. We made a pact with one another to either put the boat in a marina or accept the risk and leave it at anchor. Either way, we wanted to explore more of the land rather than just stare at it from the cockpit. Today was that day. We went for a wonderful walk, got some great photos and felt so much better for doing it. By the time we got back to the boat it was still there, nothing had happened, all was good.
The wind did start to pick up a bit and we thought it prudent to fling our our spare anchor off to the side and tie it off at midships to alleviate some of the sideways pressure on the hull. Always a worry when you are attached to the shore. By the late afternoon it had died away and we decided to have a bbq on our little private beach. The beach actually was the end point of a gorge that ran back up into the hill. As we explored the gorge we picked up some driftwood to make a bonfire with later on. We collected quite a bit in the end. Once the wood was laid we went back to the boat to collect our chairs, grab a few beers and prepare our meal. We had a little gas stove so cooked up some chicken fajitas on the beach. Once the meal was finished Carl lit the bonfire. What a lovely night, with Rockhopper just off shore in front of us. Perfect.
6th May 2023 - Kizilkuyruk Koyu (aka North whale tail bay) - Ekincik (25.5 nautical miles)
We had 25nm to do so at 8am we retrieved the kedge anchor, untied the shore lines and weighed anchor. Sad to say goodbye to our favourite spot in Türkiye. Our destination was Ekincik, a fairly large bay with not much around but for its proximity to the Dalyan river. A must do according to friends who had done it before. With not enough wind we motored through a pretty rolly sea to get to the bay, anchoring in 6m at round midday. A slight swell rolled through the bay but it wasn’t too bad. After making sure that we were staying put we ventured into town. At the little marina where we tied our dinghy to a guy approached us to offer his services in taking us up the river the following day. His name was Hido and he would come collect us from our boat the next morning. As we were the only ones on the trip it was €150 for the two of us which was steep but it was for a good 6hrs out and we really wanted to do it. Remember our motto, get out and do stuff so we were embracing it. After arranging that we went in search of dinner. The heavens opened whilst we sat there having our dinner necessitating a couple of table moves under the awning of the restaurant. We hoped we hadn’t just forked out €150 to spend the day in a boat getting soaked. Hido had told us the weather would be better tomorrow but I strongly suspect he would have said anything to get us to commit.
The next morning the sun rose and it looked like we were in luck. Apparently you could take your own dinghy up there but the entrance is really shallow in places and if you do make it in, there is every opportunity to get lost in the various pathways through the reeds on your way up to the town. It also seemed like we would be taking away from the living that they guys make from it so it seemed a bit churlish to do it ourselves without learning about the area along the way from our guide. I still smarted a bit from the local guide at Ephesus who chastised me for using a guide book whilst wandering around rather than paying for a guide. “You come all this way and you don’t learn anything!”
Anyhoo, at 9am Hido picked us up in a big wooden boat, which could have seated 15 people, and took us towards the river. First he took us to see some caves, a quick pitstop on the way - click click with the camera. We then entered the shallow, fast flowing water of the river mouth, glad we had someone who knew what he was doing. The mouth of the river is a protected area for the endangered species of the loggerhead sea turtle. The nesting area is protected by various international animal protection agencies and it wasn’t long before we saw a few of the adults popping up to say hello. It was truly stunning scenary with reeds either side of the river and mountains surrounding us. Very peaceful. An hour into the journey Hido dropped us off at a dock so that we could walk to the ancient site of Kaunos, a 10th century BC sea port, now 8km from the sea. Referred to by Herodotus, first ruled by the Persians, then the Greeks, then Romans with its eventual decline in the 620s AD. I loved all this stuff! The site was peaceful, only one other couple wondering around. It’s hard to imagine the bustling sea port it had once been. By 11:30am we were back on the river towards the town of Dalyan, a tourist hotspot which even our non-sailing friends had heard of. We could see why. The river meandered around houses with wooden jetties protruding from the shore. Boats similar to ours were docked on either side of the river next to local fishing boats. Before we got to the main town, Hido steered us to a place that sold blue crabs. He pointed them out to us in a giant tank outside before showing into the shop where we could purchase some crab meat for dinner. Pretty soon we were back in the boat heading up the river with Lycian tombs carved into the walls of rock surrounding us. Closer to the main town the houses became hotels along the river and got a bit more swanky, some with dockside loungers and a pool, still with brightly coloured boats moored against the dock. We’d found the resort bit. Around lunchtime Hido steered us to the dock of the La Boheme restaurant which had a lovely terrace over the water. He insisted this was the best restaurant in town but we were under no obligation to eat there. We decided to have a wander through the town and do our usual beer stop. The town was quite picturesque and we heard more than a few English accents dotted about. In the end we decided to head back to La Boheme for lunch as it did look nice. The service and the food were excellent. Hido didn’t rush us at all, he sat back chatting to the guys from the restaurant, it was up to us when we wanted to leave which was great. When we got back into the boat he asked whether we wanted to go up to Lake Koycegiz to have a look. We wouldn’t be going far into it but it was surrounded by mountains and fairly spectacular so we opted to pay a bit extra and do it. Mmm, it was spectacular but then so was everywhere else so not sure it was work the extra €20 but in for a penny, in for a Euro! Soon after we turned around and headed back the way we came, just soaking up the sights on the way back.
By 4:20pm we were back onboard Rockhopper having had a thoroughly enjoyable day. We were treated to a lovely sunset too.
