Returning to My Girl!

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It was a great drive through the mountains back to Marmaris. We got to the marina just before lunch and drove straight up to “her”. She was looking resplendid, with full make up on, positively gleaming with her new wax job.

We checked out her new bits, the BBQ moved and a new proper gas bottle holder, 4 new solar panels, an anchor chain counter, some stainless steel work at the front to stop the anchor chipping her gelcoat and a proper gas alarm/cutoff valve. She looked in amazing good shape for a boat that had been left for 6 months.

DSC_0303 DSC_0333Then we started the process of unpacking everything, trying to remember where everything was and where everything went. We wanted to get her bottom wet a day early but they had parked another catamaran right in front of her, and a couple of small  birds had taken a look at her poor state and decided the inside of their boom was a great place to build a nest. The marina eventually gave up trying to find the owner and moved it anyway, allowing us to get back in the water on the Friday, instead of the Saturday.

Our timing was perfect as the locals say it never rains after 15th June. And true to their word, the sun’s been out ever since.

Once back in the water, we got the sails back on and got her ready to go sailing. We said goodbye to Anthony and Denise, who left us to travel around the Greek Islands and Jo and I left the marina at about 3pm after paying our 160TL to register our crew list – now there’s a trick for young players – every time there’s a crew change I need to fill out a new form and pay 160TL for the privilege.

But we were off and that was exciting!!!

The Face That Launched 1000 Quasqui

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Having had a fun night struggling with the effects of jetlag, we all hopped into our Nissan Quasqoi and headed off to reenact Troy, where Helen launched a thousand ships, or in our case a single Quasqoi (ok, so 999 short but good enough for a blog title).

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Troy had got a bit of a bad wrap but we find it fascinating, once we’d got past the Monty Python moment at the entrance with the very 21st century wooden horse. We resisted the temptation to have our photo taken in period costume but did note its suitability for an end of cruising season party.

There turns out to be 9 Troys, all built on top of one another. It was good to wander around the ruins and read all about.

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Troy done, we set off for a bit of a drive South, which took pretty much to the end of the day. Our stop was the night was Kusadasi and the Palm Hotel. The Palm Hotel required some tricky maneuvering through narrow streets and then once where the GPS said it should be a sixth sense to actually find it. Senses 1 through 5 were performing well but number 6 was on the blink hence why we checked into the Hotel Stella.

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Kusadasi was very much a tourist town with a line of cruise boats tied up at the wharf, but it was still a nice little spot and the fish restaurant was reasonable, given its location right on the small boat harbour, next to the cutesy line of small colourful fishing boats.

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Next morning, it was off the Ephesus, one of the remarkable Roman Ruin sites of the ancient world. Bloody amazing – what these romans got up to. Another Monty Python moment – the aquaducts and the sewage system, as well as libraries and splendid roads and not one, but two Amphitheatres, one of which held 26,000 Freo Dockers fans. Anthony was prepared, having done Macbeth last year, struck up a great rendition of the Ancient Mariner. Managed to get this one on video from the top of the Amphitheatre, complete with a round of applause from the rest of the tourist population.

The place must have been pretty specie in its day, marble streets leading from the port and raised walkways for the nobility. We started at the bottom and walked the 2kms to the top of the city, noting its rules and a long sermon that I’m sure Joe Hockey pinched on the need to collect taxes.

Ruined out, it was time to hit the road again and head for the thermal lakes at Pamukkale, a town we were secretly drawn to by the copious amounts of reasonable rose we were beginning to consume. The more none-secret reason was the fabulous thermal lakes that provided a stunning backdrop to the town. Some say they resemble the cliffs of Dover stuck in the middle of Turkey, but hey, I’m no plagiarist so I will leave that description for Jo to claim.

After a 200km drive into the hills and mountains of inland Turkey we arrived about 4pm and paid our admission fees and headed up the strange bluish hillocks that were covered by a thin film of running water, intermittently punctuated by thermal pools filled with Japanese tourists. In between the occasional slip, our feet got a treat wading through the therapeutic mud that lined the bottom of the shallow pools. We eventually made it to the top and looked around for the money shot. It was so stunningly different, a landscape pinched from somewhere I’d never come across before. From our viewpoint at the top we could see the storm clouds rolling in and tossed up between sheltering at the top amongst the tourist shops or making a run for it in the rain. Luckily for us we made a run for it and although drenched, we got down before the rain really set in.

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There was a nice old guy at the bottom waiting for us who had a family run hotel that had started at 70TL when we got there and by the end of the day had progressed down to 40TL (about $20) a night per person.

Our purchasing department had got a lot more sophisticated vis-a-vis hotel rooms as it progressively matured its selection criteria . Hot water for showers was quickly added to a list that contained luggage lifts, top sheets for beds, and carpet that was more or less attached to the floor, whilst the “good mojitos” item had been left off for another day.

The hotel turned out to be a real find. The hot water for the showers was a real winner, even though the power in the whole town went off and the vital shower was had in semi-darkness. The power eventually came back on and we had the most wonderful experience with the extended family eating home-made cooking (from a somewhat reduced menu) on the top floor menu.

Next day it was off to La Mischief in Marmaris. Now that was exciting!!!

Off and Running for 2014

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As the Flight of the Concords would say “It’s (Business) Blog Time” and now that I’ve landed back in Turkey its time to dust off the blog and fire away with the 2014 edition of Steve’s Excellent Mediterranean Adventure. And like every new adventure of the sailing variety, there’s the obligatory long flight, which lands at some stupid time in the morning – aka 6am in this particular case. Anthony and Denise arrived at pretty much the same stupid time the following morning and once met at the airport we all just managed to squeeze our luggage (mainly mine) into the back of our rental SUV. Then it was off to Gallipoli, our first stop on our short land based Tour De Turkey. The drive out was considerably aided by it being a Sunday along with the rental GPS which meant we only went round in the same circle the once. The rest of the drive was shared by the 3 of us, which made it bearable with our jetlagged brains. The weather wasn’t the best but we did manage to get in quite a bit of Gallipoli including the Turkish cemetery, a British one and of course Anzac Cove. We were pretty well  when we pulled up outside the Grand Eceabat Hotel for the night, which was short for The Not So Grand Eceabat Hotel. Still the Efes Beer tasted pretty good to me. 🙂 Image Image DSC_0167

Greek Ruins – Up High and Down Low

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Next morning we left our anchorage and headed for Epidhavros on the mainland. We found a spot on the town jetty and after lunch, set off for the famous Epidhavros amphitheatre, about 30 minutes away by taxi.

The theatre is generally accepted as the best preserved in Greece and it didn’t disappoint. It seats 14,000 and the acoustics are amazing. Anthony proved it by delighting the crowd and reciting the start of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

I was sitting up the top and could hear every word clearly. Unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough to hit the record button, and the moment was lost.

As well as the amphitheatre, there was a whole Greek town being excavated, along with a museum so we managed to take up the whole hour, whilst the taxi driver patiently waited for us, part of the package deal the taxis all run to the ruins.

Back at the boat, we had a quiet night before heading around the corner in the morning to find the underwater ruins that was on the tourist brochure. We had no GPS coordinates so we sent Anthony in the dingy to ask around. He found some paragliders who had seen it from the air and he soon found it in the dingy. We motored La Mischief over and dropped the anchor and then had a wonderful snorkel on the ruins. Weird.

Our next stop was Poros, one of those Greek islands that looked like a Rorschach ink blob. That’s probably not quite fair as Poros looks quite spectacular as is the approach to the island as you pass through the narrow gap that separates it from the mainland, busy with all the ferries criss-crossing the narrow channel.

We thought about anchoring but the anchorages close to town weren’t the best and we decided the town looked interesting enough to enjoy an evening at.

And it proved to be the case. The chanderly was good and we picked up a few things there. We ate at one of the restaurants near the town wall and were entertained by about 50 Russians who were having some sort of fun regatta for the week. We watched them all try and dock after their races, and then as we ate dinner, we could see their slide show and presentations. Couldn’t understand a word of what they were saying but they seemed to be having a good time.

Next morning it was u early to try and beat the weather before it came in the next day. But thats another story.

For photos of Epidhavros see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200510212550733&type=1&l=14d0be1771

For photos of Poros see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200510215790814&type=1&l=270b87f7c4

One Side of Greece to the Other

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Having popped out the other side of the canal, it was like being in a different Greece.

We immediately pulled the genneker up and sailed down the Eastern Peloponnisos towards our anchorage for the night at the SW tip of Angistri, looking across a narrow channel towards Nisis Dhoroussa. The weather had improved and we had one of those delightful afternoon sails under a bright sunny sky. We got there about 5pm and found a spot amongst a group of other yachts and power boats. We dropped our anchor in a lovely small bay and Anthony swam a line ashore so we could go stern to.

The water was soooo clear and a swim was the first order of the day.

It turned out to be a very entertaining bay as the next morning we were treated to a screaming match aboard a yacht sans mast, two boats down. The dog on board was not impressed, it retreated right to the very back of the boat. It eventually ended with the lady of the boat disappearing down below, with her parter soon pulling up anchor and leaving, no doubt to drop her off somewhere close by.

Of Canals and Bridges

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Having successfully found our way to Greece, it was time to go off and explore.

Our first destination was Levkas Canal, which cuts through the salt marsh between the mainland and the island(?) of Levkas. It also provides a useful and interesting shortcut, rather than going around the outside.

It was a bit of a hairy approach as we passed close to a sand spit next to an old fort, keeping inside a row of port markers. We were rushing to get to the swing bridge that opens on the hour and we made it with five minutes to spare. This bridge swings sideways, rather than up, creating a somewhat narrow passage into the canal behind. We were the only boat going south, but we had to pass 5 or so heading north, through the narrow opening.

We passed Levkas Marina, which is situated on the canal, where Happy Cat (another 421 we had seen in Sydney) had wintered a few years before.

The canal is marked by red and green triangles on tops of poles, with some regular bouys at the southern end. Quite a weird place.

We burst out into a wonderful cruising ground with heaps of yachts having a great sail in the brisk conditions. We sailed through the strait between Meganisi and Levkas, said to be one of the loveliest channels in the Ionian. Couldn’t argue with that.

Then it was onto Ithaca Island, the home of Odysseus. We gave the main port a miss and headed for a lovely bay around the corner at Ormos Skhoinos. It was wonderfully protected from the southerlies that were blowing. We dropped anchor in about 7m of water and had a refreshing swim, our first in Greece.

Next morning, we started our trek towards the Corinth Canal. It turned out to be quite a miserable day, with the wind howling out of the Gulf of Patras, along with a 1.5kt current. We battled to make much headway and called it a day, heading into Mesolongion, along a canal that cuts through a series of salt marshes. The entrance to the canal had some interesting fisherman’s houses on stilts.

Mesolongion is nothing to write home about – its claim to fame being the place where Byron died. We also had our first nice feed of Greek food, in the centre of town, amongst all the Uni students. We stayed there a couple of nights, waiting for the wind to die down, so we could continue our journey east.

We were med moored, with the anchor out the front and our back tied to the town wall. This was something we hadn’t done a lot of – in Croatia we would pick up lines for the front rather than use the anchor. This inexperience caused us to get up in the middle of the night in the middle of a thunder and lightening show and tighten up the anchor to stop us crashing onto the town wall. Lesson learnt, but we all got soaked to the bone, no doubt leading to my bout of “man flu”.

With the wind finally dying down, and the weather clearing a little, we left Mesolongion and headed back out into the Gulf of Patras. The wind was still on our nose, but manageable as we motor sailed the 12nm towards the Rion-Andirrion suspension bridge, the largest cable stayed bridge in the world. It was completed in 2004 and you can see it from miles away, and when you get 5nm from it you need to call bridge control to get instructions on transiting under it. Its quite a sight with four big pillars in the water. The middle section is for large ships, we went through on the south side, with tons of clearance. The funny thing is that there are still car ferries going back and forward, despite there being a bridge just there.

Once under the bridge and through the Straits of Rion, we were in the Gulf of Corinth, but still 70nm away from the Canal. So we picked out Ormos Anemokambi on the north side and dropped anchor there for the night.

Next morning, we were up early and heading for the canal, with a favourable wind for a change. We had thought about using an agent, but they wanted an extra 50 euro for their trouble and it was already 200 euro to transit the 3.2nm of canal so we gave the agent a miss.

We arrived about 1pm and called up the canal on VHF channel 11. We didn’t have to wait long as the hydraulic bridge that blocks the entrance dropped to the floor of the canal and we were off. There was a nice current running our way at 1-2kts.

What an amazing experience going through this narrow canal which is only 25m wide. The side tower 80m up at its highest point and there is 6m of water under us. The ancient Greeks and Romans tried to build a canal here but failed. Instead they used to drag ships across the isthmus on paved roads. Octavius dragged his ships across here when he was in pursuit of Marc Anthony. It wasn’t until 1893 that the Greeks finished off what a French company started.

At the eastern end of the canal, there is another hydraulic bridge, which dropped down to let us through. We then tied up to the wall next to the canal authority on the south side and paid our dues. Too easy.

And then we were off to explore the Aegean Sea.

For photos, see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200510221590959&type=1&l=0bd2bd843c

Off to Greece – Attempt Number 2

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Having successfully extradited ourselves from Albania, we once again turned south into pretty much the same conditions as before. But at least they weren’t getting worse and we’d had a break and a good nights sleep.

It soon became obvious that we weren’t going to make landfall in Corfu in daylight so we decided to press on and head for Preveza down the mainland coast a bit. We worked out we could get there about lunchtime the next day, which was pretty good.

So after dodging a few ships in the tight channel between Corfu and the Albanian coast, we sailed up the marked channel that took us into Preveza at about 11am. We were happy to get to Greece.

We passed Cleopatra Marina on the other side of the estuary (as this is the site where Marc Anthony got his arse whipped by Octavia and had to flee with Cleopatra back to Egypt).

We found a spot on the wall at Preveza and then proceeded to check into Greece. We found the Port Authority, which was a good start and when we had filled in some paperwork, they showed us on a map where to find first Customs and then the Police.

Customs was about a kilometre away and they grumpily filled in our paperwork so we could get our 30 euro transit log. Then it was off to the police station 3kms away to get our passports stamped. Once we found the police station it took us a few attempts to find the right department. They were quite happy to let us wander around the building, past cells and offices with people in casual clothes, not many people in uniform. Once we had located passport control, they seems a little interested in our visit to Albania – wanting to make sure we had just 3 people on board and not another 30 Albanian refugees.

Passports stamped, we headed back to the Port Authority to pay another 15 euro for our Crew List to be stamped. Then it was back to the boat to explain to Denise why we were gone so long.

By this stage La Mischief was being blown onto the wall and it was time to find a safer spot to spend the night. Preveza has a small marina so thats where we headed for 14 euro a night for a good night’s sleep.

With La Mischief sorted it was time to go explore the town and get some SIM cards and groceries. We walked into town to find everything shut. No worries – its probably their siesta. So we hunted around to find some opening hours and found that all shops shut at 2pm on Mondays (and Wednesdays and Saturdays).

 

Don’t they know there is a financial crisis on. So we had no choice but to buy our SIM cards the next morning, before leaving to explore the Ionian Islands of Greece.

On to Corfu (Or Maybe Not)

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After picking up our discount tax-free diesel, we continued our journey south towards Corfu. Our late start meant we would be out 2 nights, arriving in Corfu the morning of the third day. 

Leaving the Gulf, the winds were initially good and we looked set for a nice first night of sailing. There was no moon but otherwise we made steady progress through the night. The morning started okay as well,albeit the wind a little on the nose.

Then it started to build and we started to have to tack our way south along the Albanian coast. By 3pm it was getting to resemble a washing machine as we reefed down and started to struggle to make head way.

We were passing Vlore at the time and the weather looked a bit ominous so we made the call to go and have a look at Albania. The bay looked really protected and a lot more attractive than spending a night battling into a strong headwind, current and swell.

So in we turned, straight over a disused minefield that the guide book said was okay provided you didn’t try and anchor. We didn’t try and anchor. Instead we headed for Vlore, where we could check into the country before we coud head to Albania’s one and only marina 7nm away. Now I’ve got to say that Vlore Harbour has seen better days. In fact, Albania has seen better days. Anthony informs us that 70% of Albanians recently lost their entire life savings through some pyramid selling scheme that scammed them.

We finally got someone on the radio who told us to pull onto the crumbling jetty between the ferry from Bari and a tug. We made sure we had lots of fenders out to keep us off all the jagged bits.

Eventually a guy jumps on board and we start filling out forms. It turns out he is a shipping agent who disappears with our passports and forms. He comes back after a while nd asks for 75 euros for his services. We eventually get him down to 70. Bit hard to negotiate when he has your passports. He takes the money – no receipt, no paperwork exchanged. Welcome to Albania!

Then we head for the Orikum Marina, the only real marina in Albania. Its now getting dark so we charge over there, both engines running. We get there just on dark and tie up stern to. 14 euro a night is pretty good. /and the internet is not bad either. Other than that, its pretty quiet.

Next morning, we are up early and on our way. We have to head back to Vlore to check out. We get close and call up the port captain who refuses us entry. Umm. We sy we will stand off waiting for authority and he eventually calls us onto the jetty, where upon our agent reappears and clears us out. This time we get some paper work. And we are off once more to Greece.

Montenegro the Magnificent

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Don’t you love the way “Montenegro” sounds – so exotic, so James Bond. Everybody we talked to said we must go to Montenegro. So who was I to argue.

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So after a practice run with Anthony and Denise (and Brad and Bec) up to Otuk Sunj and back, we had a farewell dinner with Brad and Bec (who were heading off home), we said our goodbyes (including the formal ones to the Port Master and Police) and cast off bound for Porto Montenegro, some 28nm away.

At first we had a lovely sail down the coast until we were about 5nm off turning into the Gulf of Kotor – the “Fjord of the Adriatic”. This magnificent series of three large basins is surrounded by mountains indescribably picturesque rising up from the sea to 1700m.

From here the wind whistled through the mountains, hitting 40kts at times and always on the nose. After turning the corner into the Gulf, it took a couple of hours to get across to Porto Montenegro.

Porto Montenegro gets the prize for the flashiest and best marina we have ever visited. We arrived at the change over to low season so it was 60 euro a night instead of double that. The marina sent a girl down to organise the check in to Montenegro – so easy. Then she organised a hire car for 45 euro a day so we could have a good look round as the wind was still up the next day.

The hire car guy dropped it off right at the boat and did all the paperwork right there and then. We were starting to like this place.

Having the car for a day was a real boon. There’s no need for a GPS – the country is so small and you can get lost for a little while but not for long. It was fantastic to get up into the mountains, the views are spectacular – just not so good getting down again. On our way down from the mountains, we took a road with 28 hair pin bends – one after the other. I’d done driving by the time I got to the bottom.

We’d booked in to get some duty free fuel (half price, thereby paying for our visit easily), but the fuel dock was having some maintenance done so we couldn’t get it until 2pm.

So we took the opportunity to do some more sightseeing – this time by boat. We checked out of the marina early and headed into the inner bays, where we went and saw the twin islands off Perast where there are two churches, one on each island. These islands are man made, evidently from the good people of Perast either dropping stones or filling captured pirate ships with stones and sinking them on the reef. Don’t you love a good pirate story. The churches’ construction was started in 1630 and the twin islands are well worth a visit. We also dropped by Kotor again, this time to see it from the sea.

Back at Porto Montenegro, we stopped off at the chanderly to buy some Nespresso coffee capsules, something we couldn’t get anywhere in Croatia, before filling our tanks to brimming and heading off south, towards Corfu and the Greek Islands.

For pictures of Montenegro, see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200410823066058&type=1&l=e048eda94e

Dubrovnik – Take 3 (subtitled Brian plays Lets Stick Together)

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We made it back to Dubrovnik as darkness fell and kept going to Cavtat, as some weather was coming in and it was close to the airport for drop offs, as everyone was heading off (bar me). In their place, Anthony and Denise were arriving to help deliver La Mischief all the way to Turkey. 

Cas left early the next morning to spend a day in Rome with her good friend, Steffi. Mark, Leanne, Bec, Brad and I decided to head off to Dubrovnik and do the chair lift to the top of the mountain that backdrops the town. Quite spectacular. We met Anthony and Denise coming down as we were going up – they were spending another night in the old town before joining us the next day n board La Mischief.

We had just enough time to go up the mountain, have a quick bite to eat and a beer, before hopping on the ferry back to Cavtat so that Mark and Leanne could catch their flight to Athens (and then Santorini).

Next day, Anthony and Denise made their way down to Cavtat and onto La Mischief. There wasn’t a great deal of time to get settled before we all hopped on a bus and heading into Dubrovnik once again – for dinner and a free Brian Ferry concert.   The Excelsior Hotel was celebrating a milestone in Dubrovnik and they had organised a free Brian Ferry concert in the main square. Unfortunately, they hadn’t quite organised the weather and about half an hour before it was due to start, the heaven’s opened with a ripper of a thunderstorm.

All hell broke loose, but eventually the rain stopped and Brian started about an hour late. It was well worth waiting for. Mr Ferry can be a bit hit and miss but tonight he had a great band and he was on song. The rain started again about half way in and umbrellas went up everywhere. A nice couple standing next to us lent Brad and Bec their second umbrella so we were good. Lets Stick Together rocked the square away and he had the place jumping by the time he had to stop at midnight. And what a great place for a concert.

For pictures see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200377235586392.1073741879.1620379103&type=1&l=46419b614a