Onwards from Bencik to Marmaris via......

Tuesday 17 March Bencik to Orhanye


Blue skies and light winds accompany us so we opt to practice our MOB on the way and Richard throws over a fender while Pippy turns the boat and goes back and retrieves it! Mission acccomplished we continue past Marti Marina up the harbour to tie up on a delightful, if a little rickety looking, pontoon on the south western side of the bay alongside Deep Blue. The ruins of the Byzantine Fort on the island on the way in provide a startling reminder of the history around here.

Who should we see already tucked up in this bay but the red half tonner yacht (Penelope) owned by Sepp and Troudy who we have first seen in Kos Marina and encountered again alongside in Datca. We all have drinks together for happy hour and find them a really interesting couple. Over the Ouzo bottles, we find out that Sepp is a mining engineer and mountain climber (having been the first to conquer and name the mountain of Koh-e-Kesnikan in the Hindu Kush in the 60’s). They live in the USA near to the Grand Canyon. They hunt and shoot and are the original adventurers, having sailed their yacht in the Med for the past 35 years from January to May, including when they had a small baby. Sepp is 73 and Troudy 66, so there is time for us yet!




The next morning we are up early to wave goodbye to Penelope as she sails onwards. We four are going tramping today and head up into the mountains, taking a good 3 hours to climb over a high ridge and around the valley to the other side, emerging close to Marti Marina where we walk to for our supplies of bread etc. It is pouring with rain by the time we arrive so we pause for coffee looking out over the many masts towards our mooring on the other side of the bay.






By the time we return to our boats the sun comes out and we decide to throw the lines and make for our next anchorage which is not very far away. Selimiye is the bay where we first met up with Rupert on Rumpus almost a year ago now. As we sail into it we find that the facilities have improved immensely with a new pontoon around the perimeter of the tiny harbour and quite a few boats safely tucked up there. And... who is already in residence on the outside of the pontoon but Penelope, so we are once again all together for happy hour where we exchange yet more sailing and outdoor adventure stories before we settle in for the night which turns out to be a little windy.

By the morning Penelope has shoved off over to the other side of the bay where there is more shelter and we are being blown onto the pontoon, so we decide to move on to our next port which will be Bozburon, but not before we stock up on the delightful village bread that we recall from our last visit here.

Thursday 19 March Selimiye to Bozburun

We leave together with Deep Blue and head out of the sheltered harbour into fairly fresh conditions around the point. We tack our way south east outside the islands of Kameriye and Koca rounding the point past Atabol Kayasi beacon and Kizil Adasi, turning north again up the harbour towards Bozburun. The wind is gusting over the top of the hills ahead of us and we are some way ahead of Deep Blue when we are hit by a violent squall with 43 knots of wind. Fortunately we have the sails down and are motoring at the time, and we hope that Deep Blue sees it coming and has time to get their sails down too.

It is some time before we are tucked up on the town quay but we do get a very friendly welcome here from the locals who are delighted to see their first cruisers of the year. We eat out at the Friendly Cafe which is about to have a name change as has new owners. It is absolutely freezing cold and we tuck up gratefully into bed this night listening to the wind howling overhead from our sheltered berths. Very early the next morning we hear a commotion outside and pop our heads up to see two enormous fishing boats tied alongside and a bit of a commotion happening around there. It transpires that these boats are from Istanbul, rarely call in here, are unloading a huge catch of tuna, and all of the locals are in a buying frenzy as the prices are amazingly good. The sun is out, the wind has eased and everywhere we go we see people walking, running, riding bicycles and carrying huge tuna fish home, with smiles of absolute delight on their faces. All the restaurants are stocking up on tuna for their summer supplies and all the local cats are in a frenzy as the cleaning and carving up goes on.




We watch the commotion, enjoy coffee at a local cafe and head out around midday for our next anchorage of Serce which is just over the hill from Bozburun by road but we have to sail south west to round the point at Karaburun, then south east and north east to the sheltered inlet of Serce.

An amazing sight of snow clad mountains greets us as we sail north east towards Marmaris. No wonder it has been so cold - they do not seem that far away but do make for a wonderful sight against the hazy blue sky.

Serce

As we round the entrance to this harbour we are amazed to see Penelope tucked in there in the south western corner.

Sepp has warned us about mooring in here as the sea bottom is littered with abandoned moorings. Deep Blue briefly tangles with one but manages to free their anchor. The Matelot crew launch the dinghy and check out the bottom with snorkel and mask before dropping the anchor after seeing what has just happened to Deep Blue. It takes us quite a while to set our anchors and tie ashore for added security as there is some wind predicted to come in from the south east.

We enjoy a great night aboard Deep Blue with the Penelope crew in attendance.

The next morning there is a gale prediction and the general consensus is that we will stay in this harbour until it passes over. Matelot is taking a few gusts side on and we get blown quite close to Deep Blue and closer to the shore. We decide to move and swing on the anchor which we drop further out and away from the other two boats and well clear of the laid moorings. The wind is gusting in from the entrance to the harbour so we set out a second anchor with quite a lot of fiddling around and Richard rowing it out in the dinghy to drop it. Ten minutes later the wind direction changes and comes from the south west, spinning us around so that the two chains are threatening to wrap around each other. We hastily pull up the second anchor and sit there observing. We are sailing around a bit on the anchor and although we have dropped well clear of the moorings, are soon nudging up against a buoy, so we pick it up as decide it is safer on the bow of Matelot than under the keel.

Earlier in the day Pippy goes ashore for a quick explore around the abandoned restaurant and comes back to Matelot reporting on a scene of total destruction. Apparently this is what happens when people do not pay their tax in Turkey. There is a lot of rubbish and broken stuff lying around and it is pretty sad to see.

Penelope and Deep Blue all come on board for a quick happy hour before departing back to their boats as the weather deteriorates in the very dark night.




This is how we spend the night as the gale rages, hitting its peak around 5.30 am, alternatively straining on the mooring and then on to our anchor, but we feel much more secure being held this way. We keep the chart plotter on anchor watch, but it does not go off at all during the night. Nevertheless we sleep on and off, fully clothed and ready to hit the deck.

Serce to Marmaris Sunday 22 March

We follow Deep Blue out the next morning, saying our farewells yet again to Penelope. We definitely are heading in different directions now so may not see them again. Our sail to Marmaris is a little frustrating as we watch Deep Blue pull up their spinnaker and sail straight to their destination as Matelot has to tack downwind taking very long boards. We hit speeds of up to 10.2 knots in the fresh conditions. Deep Blue reports also making 10 knots in an exciting spinnaker run which leaves them glowing with pleasure as they leave Matelot far behind for once.

Arrival Marmaris around 4pm average speed 8 knots.