Swinging at Anchor near Downtown Marmaris

Marmaris Harbour Wed 1 April

Wonderful news!..... Harper Lilly Buchanan was born yesterday - 31 March and mother and baby are doing well. We wish this morning that we were not quite so far away but the photo from Matt brings us much closer to home. What a thrill.

Morning is calm anchored off downtown Marmaris. We eat our breakfast on deck watching Marmaris mirrored across the water, go about its morning business in the warm sunshine. The buzz of it is comforting and somehow familiar. We set up our priority list for the day and head for the shore in the Matelot tender.

We have discovered that Marmaris is the very best place to get anything done on the boat and there are plenty of places to choose from. It is a fascinating town with a fantastic food market each Thursday, an interesting bazaar, and lots of fascinating shops.

Today we are looking for a new mattress for our for’ard cabin (the old one has a dip in the middle) and a Turkcell mobile data modem so we can download weather reports on board.

Jobs all achieved we see Deep Blue anchoring alongside later in the day and we all get together for sundowners before DB heads off to Rhodes the next morning.

Thursday dawns with rain after thunder and lightning during the night but thankfully no wind. We are spending a few hours stern to on the town wall each day to get shopping and mattresses loaded. We are so close to all the chandlery outlets we get lots of odd jobs attended to and feel happy to get them ticked off.

Pippy loads up with strawberries the size of apples, spices, nuts and tons of other fruit and veg from the market and we are almost ready to leave. A mishap occurs while we are off the boat for half an hour. A large wake hits us and throws the boat back towards the wall. Our wooden gangway becomes the buffer and catches under a steel ring, splintering in several places. We had lifted it 2 feet clear of the wall before leaving but obviously that was not enough! A small price to pay and the boat is not damaged, but we are soon back on our anchorage where we prefer to be.

Friday 3 April

Another glorious morning with warm balmy temperature at last. Pippy pots the basil plants purchased at the market and we breakfast on deck drinking in the view of the surrounding mountains with an indescribable feeling of wellbeing as we start the day. Richard repairs the gangway while Pippy prepares topsides for a cut and polish from the dinghy with the “Grunt” products brought from NZ which do an amazing job – much better than anything on offer here in the Med. By day end one side of the boat is polished and we enjoy lamb curry on board. The last of our business is finished here and we are off tomorrow towards Dalyan.

During the afternoon, Richard rescues a floating feather duvet belonging to another boat at anchor and we meet and chat to a young German man about his passage to here from NZ.