SV Ostinato: Just Where Are the Gates of Hell?

May 28 - Karacaoreu - After the blow, the winds died to nothing giving us a quiet night to rejuvenate. We arose early, even though the gulet captain had indicated he had no intentions of departing until 10....obviously, he was heading south with the wind. Since he was the last into the marina, which meant his anchor was on the top of the heap, no one was going anywhere until he decided to depart. At 0600 our ears tuned in to the sounds of engines beginning to rumble. A peak outside was rewarded with a vision of the gulet's passerelle lifting off the quay and lines quickly slipping aboard. We wasted no time....breakfast can wait. Ostinato was next off the dock. All went fine until the last 10 feet where King discovered we had one boat's anchor and another's chain. After a bit of pirouetting and dunking and rolling of our anchor, King tied a line to it so he could at last tip the chain off the end of our anchor. The wait was just too much for one yacht who slid out of his berth the exact moment we became free. More dancing took place before we could slip behind her and reach freedom. Ahaaaa. All of that before a cup of coffee!

The heading was NW. The wind was, of course, from the NW. No matter, that's why they make engines and we were early enough that we would be at anchor before the wind reached its full force. We decided to do a stop in Karacaoreu, a place we had anchored on our way down the coast last October. We arrived just before lunch, and the hordes of day tripper gulets out of Fethiya. What were we thinking? The good news is they departed mid afternoon and the rest of the evening was spent in a quiet (no tourist discos) setting, surrounded by ruins ashore and a brilliant night sky. The bad news was, a strong roll resulted in white caps in the toilet. You can't have it all.....

May 29 - The roll were still going strong in the anchorage so it was a sunrise up and at it kinda day. Next stop Fethiye. This is one of the special places we have looked forward to

The grand opening of the Pork Shop! Lucky us!

since our arrival in Turkey. In 1995 we joined friends, Bob and Jean Parker, and spent a little time in the area sailing on SY Patient Lady. It was our first trip across the pond and nurtured the seeds for our current life. The Lycian tombs that overlook the anchorage is a sight I never forgot. It thrills me as much today as it did 20 years ago. While the tombs, thankfully, look just the same, the city in no way resembles the sleepy little fishing village we visited. Tourism has found Fethiye. After a few days at anchor... and a few ham sandwiches from the "Pork Shop".... King found a hotel dock that would let us tie up to make repairs to the sugar scoops that took a beating in Kalkan. This was a priority and it was a big relief to learn there was no water penetration, all cosmetic.

Before

After.....
All better. King does good work!

June 7 - After making Ostinato look pretty again, we had time to do a little land cruising. Thanks to the well planned itinerary David on MV Amusant laid out last fall, we really did a good job of visiting the major archaeological sites on Turkey's west coast. Now was our chance to see a few that were inland. First stop, the white travertine pools of Pamukkale (cotton castle) and Hierapolis. Our hotel was directly across from the main site so while King took a big nap after our arrival, I could sit on the balcony watching the

Sue taking the "cure"

people slowly make their way down the mountain side, many stopping to take a dip at each pool. Bright and early the following morning the hotel owner arranged for his "cousin" to drive us to the top entrance of Hierapolis so we could begin at the top and walk down. A wise man.

King had decided to leave his camera at home (his history of phones and cameras near water is not the best), of course, this meant that the batteries in mine died within ten minutes of our arrival. It's OK. King was able to sniff out new ones once we got through the necropolis. Obviously, the special healing waters of Pamukkale didn't take care of everyone who visited. The necropolis is huge! To our surprise, Hierapolis, even for those who survived the healing waters, was pretty big. It doesn't get way enough press. We pounded up and down the hillside from 0900 till 1300 before I could no longer talk King into taking one more step. This meant that I was not going to find Pluto's gate or "The Ploutonion" as I had hoped. I had read somewhere that it was rumored to be "the Gates of Hell" and I wanted to take a peak .....hmmmmm..... maybe it's a good thing we couldn't find it! It was hot so the stroll down the travertine rocks was refreshing and I hoped that it might cure any germs that might be laying about my body.....so far I haven't come down with any new illnesses so ......it worked! That night we found a Turkish/Chinese restaurant (an interesting combo) and I enjoyed the best chicken soup I have ever had.

June 9 - We had 2 sites to visit today so we were on the road by 9. Laodikeia (Land of Kings) was the first site on our list, and only 10 miles down the road. The interesting

Afrodisias was a major artisan city in 600 BC

thing about this location is they are actively digging and reconstructing the site. That also meant that much was roped off. after an hour, we were off to Afrodisias. Just across the road from the site, we stopped for a bite to eat. The place could seat 500 people but the masses from the buses were missing in action so we ate alone....it was less than fabulous. As soon as the meal arrived, three cats magically appeared. One sidled up to King and another to me....such easy marks. Nothing shy about these guys, we feed them what scrapes were left that we thought they might eat but as soon as we left our seats to pay the bill, they were up in the middle of the table clearing all remaining tidbits we hadn't fed them under the table. Dishes clanged, glasses fell over and silverware flew to the floor. No one seemed alarmed, apparently all part of the routine................

Afrodisias has one of the best preserved theater in Turkey

Thanks to "Gladys", my name for King's GPS, we ended up taking the scenic route home. No 4 lane highways for us....Nope. We toured every small village and vegetable stand between Afrodisia and Fethiya, The 4 hour trip took 6 but as a consolation we stopped for a lovely dinner out in Gocek.....and a stop in the marine store. I'm thinking that getting lost was planned.

June 13 - 21 We have a couple of weeks to kill before we can check into Greece (the Schengen problem) so we decided to spend a bit of it in the Gocek SEPA (Special Environmental Protection Area) - Over night anchorages included: Gocek Bay, Boynuz Buku, Round Bay Kapi Creek, Kizilkuyruk Koyo but we stuck our noses in many other beautiful anchorages which tend to be steep sloped with deep, crystalline waters.....including a few that Cleopatra is said to have spent some quality time with Anthony. We did our first tying to the rocks routine and, even after several opportunities to practice the art, have decided that we like that even less than med mooring. The water is still cold so we have not been swimming as much as I would like. I did dangle my feet off the end of the sugar scoop when I felt a need to cool off until a fish decided that my big toe looked like fish food and took a big bite! The best part of the week was when Barbie and Vince, on SY Horizon, found us! Barbie and Vince were part of the small group we were with when we tried to get our Turkish residency permit last October. We enjoyed their company for 3 wonderful days of non stop talking, swimming and eating before they were off again to return to Finike. Not nearly enough time.

Barbie and Vince on SY Horizon join us in Round Bay

An early birthday dinner with Barbie and Vince in Gocek

Our last night in the area was spent in Kizilkuyruk Koyo. It is described in the pilot as "good shelter from the prevailing winds". However, nothing was mentioned about the roll that sneaks around the corner making your night something akin to an amusement park ride. We arrived early and every type of seagoing vessel, power, sail and gulet came and went throughout the day. Many left late afternoon but more arrived to take their places. King had slipped lines over a couple of rocks behind us in a V shape and we had our anchor secure (which has not always been the case!). All week the winds have died to nothing by 1800 and we were ready for the quiet. However, that was not to be the case tonight. We jerked and heaved all night. With the cleat just over our bed, at times the lines shrieked, sounding like they would rip the cleat out from the topsides......the next morning found the only causulty of the night was our lack of sleep. The anchor was hoisted at sunrise, 0500, and we pointed Ostinato west towards Ekincik Limani.

The man has no limits!

Looks a bit like a bonfire.

June 23 - Oh no! 65! It's finally happened....I've reached Middle Age. Thank you Social Security for all of your lovely letters welcoming me to this auspicious group. We spent the day in Ekincik Limani, a quiet bay just east of Marmaris. King decorated the boat and baked me a cake....from scratch! What a clever man!

June 24 - Off to Marmaris to meet up with "The Other Ivor" and Denise. They arrived last night from Ipswich bringing boat goodies King had ordered. The wind was mild until about 1000 and then you could see a line of white caps marching toward us in surprise attack. We realized quickly that we would not be able to hold our course by powering through it so we raised the sails and tacked our way into Marmaris. What was to be a short trip ended up taking the full day. We finally screamed into Marmaris' well protected bay about 1500 and anchored just off the Bazaar. By then, we had already heard from "The Other Ivor" who had somehow charmed his way onto gullets to use their radios to hail us several times. By the time we arrived, he and Denise had already located a restaurant for dinner and a place to secure the dinghy.

The next morning Bill and Bunny on American SY Onset laid their anchor down behind us. While there are a gazillion American flagged boats in Turkey, it is unusual for any of them to actually have an American aboard so when one pulls up and speaks English its something to get excited about.

The Other Ivor and Denise join us for a few days in Marmaris

In only 2 days we were able to visit almost every store on "Marine Store Alley" in Marmaris, resupply the fridge and do lots of window shopping. "The Other Ivor" and Denise abandoned their apartment and went for a sail about the bay since it was still blowing a hooey outside. The following day they returned and, along with SY Onset, we motor sailed to Bozburun, arriving in plenty of time to explore the tiny village before dinner. We walked from one end to the other, checking out restaurant menus and the sidewalk offerings of the tiny shops that lined the waterfront. As you went by each restaurant someone would come out to charm you into eating with them. I was apparently window shopping a bit more than the rest of the group and got separated, making me an easy target. While the others quickly drifted away at the final restaurant, I got the grand tour, was shown the menu on the board and each piece of meat/fish that would be used to prepare it, shown a "private" parking spot that would be made available for our dinghy and, the piece de resistance ....where I could take a shower before dinner! Now, I wasn't sure what that said about me. It had actually not been an overly athletic sail that morning. Did I smell that bad? We ate on the boat.

May 28 - Ivor and Denise caught the early dolmas back to Marmaris the following morning and we departed for Knidos......or so was the plan. The winds were already up by the time we headed out of the anchorage at 0900 and built.... and built..... and built. Knidos was not possible, maybe Datca. We started the tacking routine. It continued to build. By 1500 we threw in the towel and started looking for an anchorage that could give us some protection. While Datca was in sight we would not make it there tonight without a lot more pain. We headed for a small indent in the coast line at Degirmen Buku. No relief from the wind but it got us out of the worst of the wave action. No competition for a spot to anchor tonight. We slept the night with the anchor alarm on.

Ostinato leaves her shadow in the crystal waters of Knidos

May 29 - We arrived in Knidos to find it jammed packed with gullets. As we entered the anchorage, many were pulling their anchors to leave so by the end of the day the anchorage had turned into the beautiful, serene place that I remembered from our visit last fall. We stayed 2 days in this magical place, with its pristine water and ancient ruins surrounding the entire anchorage. Each day the anchorage cleared more. By the time we hauled anchor there were only 5 yachts at anchor and 4 at the tiny restaurant dock.

A view of the theater in Knidos at anchor on Ostinato

June 1- Off to Bodrum to pump out our very full black water tanks and to begin preparations to depart for Greece. Only a few more days!! Or so I thought. We had a romping good sail into

Ostinato prepares for her pump-out in Bodrum

Bodrum. Although we departed before 0700 the winds built early. By 1000 they were blowing 20 knots on the beam. The marina in Bodrum was doing a student placement experience during the summer for teenagers. The poor kid that drew the short straw and was stuck at the black water pump-out was not amused at his plight. Once our blue card was scanned (to prove we had pumped out) we sailed to the next bay, Gubet, hoping to get away from the crowds at anchor, and the expensive marina (150 € per night). We passed by a partially completed marina and motored to the head of the bay to anchor. King quickly met our neighbors and learned where the dolmas could be picked up so in no time we were off for the short ride across the hill to explore a little of Bodrum. Later that night, we were sleeping quite soundly (me with earplugs to keep out the all night thumping of the hotels discos) when King hears a pounding on the boat. It's 0400! We have swung into our neighbor and our dingy is crashing into his boat. We move quickly to pick up the anchor and resettle Ostinato away from anyone else without becoming entangled with the markers that outline the hotels swimming areas.....in the dark. Where are those damn things! By the time the anchor was back down, I was wired and sat in the cockpit keeping watch until sunrise. At sunrise, we realized that we were surrounded by boats on moorings. This wouldn't work with us at anchor so we once again hauled anchor. The next spot appeared to work for most of the day but just about the time I began to relax, I looked out and we were barreling down on a 80 ft motor yacht. YIKES! Up the anchor came again and once settled, King went back to the young Turk whose catamaran we had hit earlier and said "YES, we would like to take you up on your offer of a mooring ball for the night". All was quickly arranged and everyone in the anchorage got a much better sleep that night.

Since our arrival in Bodrum, the meltimi has begun to blow....it was as if the switch was turned on July 1 and someone neglected to turn it off. The owner of the mooring ball returned to reclaim it 2 nights later so we moved to the Gubet town quay....no power, no water but also, no dragging. King worked on the wind generator that died in the "Kalkan incident" and I enjoyed a great book.

July 7 - After ten months it's finally time for Ostinato to leave Turkey so after a quiet night at anchor in Aspat Koyu, we did a quick sail north to Turgutries where we planned to check out of the country. Not knowing what the current Greek meltdown would bring we decided to stock up on fuel (including jerry cans) and add on a few food items before we depart for the Greek Islands. The goal is to spend all your cash before you leave. We believed that we had accomplished an all time record by spending all but 5 cents but later we would find Turkish Lira stashed in our Euro baggie.

Prices of marinas during the summer will take your breath away but it is convenient to customs and immigration and provided an opportunity to get out "Little Bill" to remove the layer of salt that, due to lack of rain, had encrusted Ostinato from bow to stern. AND we slept with the air conditioner on.....ahaaaaa.

July 8 - Goodbye Turkey.........hello Greece!