Birthdays!....

Mmmmmm.. the Lemon Drizzle cake is a real hit!


Both Cap’n Buck and Pippy have birthdays coming up pretty soon. This year Cap’n Buck has a big one…

24 April and Pippy’s birthday finds us still in lovely Kas and rocking and rolling worse than ever as the weather continues to defy the forecasts and the strong westerly sends a surge into the harbour. It is nerve wracking getting on and off the boat now as the gangway slides sideways and up and down as we clamber over. Pippy falls and makes it on hands and knees in one incident, helped by Andy pulling her from the quay. In another attempt earlier she leaps off sideways as the gangway disappears in the opposite direction from under her, makes it to the quay but trips and dives for the crotch of a total stranger standing nearby, who is very understanding about it all! How embarrassing. Richard is much more steady on his feet thank goodness.

Deep Blue puts on a surprise birthday breakfast and Brenda has baked a lemon drizzle birthday cake decorated with candles. For those who don’t know, this is quite an amazing feat in a yacht gas oven. We are spoilt with home made muesli, fruits and yoghurt and Pippy is given some lovely gifts, including a really funky photo of herself cleaning the topsides, and a book “The Lycian Way” which we can pick up and use as a guide for on-shore walking when we are cruising this coastline. It includes 530 km of walking track from Fethiye to Antalya. How lovely it is to start the day in this way so far from home and family.

During the day we all visit the weekly produce market and stock up on wonderful fresh fruit, veg, nuts and other goodies. The value is amazing and the experience of shopping in this way is something we have grown to really enjoy for its diversity and contact with the generous and friendly local people who sell their wares in these markets. This is as much part of the experience of being in Turkey as visiting the ancient sites.








Later, Richard surprises Pippy with dinner out with Brenda and Andy at the Dolphin Restaurant up the hill overlooking the marina. It is great company and a wonderful meal of sea bass baked in herbs and cream, presented in the huge baking dish after a mezze of calamari and other Turkish delights. We are served the juices as fish soup before we tuck into the fish itself and soon find ourselves completely replete from the superb food, but this is not the end as it is all followed by a chocolate gateaux birthday cake of indescribable richness and more candles to blow out!



We slowly wind our way home through the narrow cobbled streets, past the old Lycian tomb and down the hill where all the funky shops are. Brenda and Pippy stop to try on some local fashion creations along the way…



It has been a lovely day and Pippy is going to have to work overtime to match this for Cap’n Buck.