Alanya

Pooh Bear and the Honey Pot



We are looking forward to seeing our friend Hasan Kakmaz and the progress on the new Alanya marina. We motor sail all day into a light breeze and arrive at the entrance at 6.00 pm – tie up to the wall and are immediately invited to join in a celebration on the marina in one hour’s time. We are surprised and interested to find that the Vasco Da Gama Yacht Rally boats are here (around 10 of them, - website address is www.vascodagamarally.nl) and we are a part of their celebration dinner.

Hasan is very busy with the investor-owners of the Marina but once he has time to relax we enjoy a wonderful reunion with him and renew our friendship. Much of the marina complex is still to be completed with concrete frames in place for what appears to be most of the buildings, lots of work to do yet. Tomorrow we plan to haul out here – the hardstand is pretty much complete – and attend to rudder repairs and new antifoul.

On the Hard Stand again:

Matelot comes out of the water looking very clean and in great shape. The chip on the rudder definitely needs attention and takes a couple of days to stop dripping and dry out.


This sure brings back memories...!






While we wait for our paint to arrive we take a rental car and pop back to Bodrum and Kos Island. The modern, mostly 2 lane highway is laid into a landscape of fertile valleys, shimmering green fields of wheat and high snow capped mountains which all make for a panoramic drive. It is great to see our friends and Kos Island and Bodrum again and they are both in full summer mode.











Try riding a bicycle with a cask of wine held in each hand hanging from the handlebars. We stock up in Kos!





Richard with Bodrum Castle in the background...








We round a corner in a small country town and this is what we see....!




Ataturk and a massive waterfall just out of Antalya....




Back in Alanya, the EMYR Rally boats are arriving from Kemer and the partying starts all over again. With typical Turkish hospitality all boats in the marina are included in the functions which include a cocktail party, a sit down banquet in Alanya city and a final pot luck dinner held right beside our boat on the hard stand.


We have a wonderful catch up with our Group Leader Bodil and her husband Ole from last year....



We are all partied out by the time we say our farewells to Hasan and watch him sail away in Ibis II, our home for more than a month on the rally last year.






Hasan sails away on Ibis II....





Pippy polishes the stainless steel on the bow....

Before we know it the painting and polishing is finished and it is time for us to relaunch Matelot today 25 May 2009. Tomorrow morning we are being picked up by a bus at 5.30am outside the marina gates for a tour of Cappadocia and Mt Nemrut too we hope. …..back Sunday.





Back in the Water we go.....! Just need to get the washing in first!

Antalya

Panoramic view from Antalya looking towards Taurus Mountains.



The sea is very rolly as we sail on to Antalya and Pippy is lurched against the switchboard, accidentally turning off the central navigation – all the nav instruments. Quickly turning it all on again, we find we have lost our depth-sounder which although we are in very deep water, usually still gives some sort of reading. Due to this we change our plan of going into Kaleici Harbour (the small ancient harbour right in downtown Antalya) where the depths vary quite a lot. We cancel this plan and head instead for Setur Antalya Marina, the new marina in the port area of Antalya where depth is not an issue, but unfortunately it is quite a distance out of town. We are soon tucked up in here and ride the ‘dolmish’ into town to meet up with Deep Blue. It is a mind bogglingly slow trip and the driver lets us off in a strange place where we have to walk another 2km to the harbour. Not to worry, we are charmed as we cut through the narrow streets of the old city and really envious of Deep Blue when we see where they are moored right in the middle of this gorgeous city.


Whose ice cream is it anyway?

Antalya Museum is the big attraction for us here as we have heard it is one of Turkey’s best and we are not disappointed as we spend most of the following day exploring the halls with their magnificent exhibits from ancient times, some of them dating back to 8,000 BC. Hard to pick from the ancient coins, clothing, pottery, carpets and stunning range of huge marble statues, but the favourite is probably the Hall of the Sarcophagi with many exhibits recently recovered from overseas where they were stolen and taken to.








Typical of the many fabulous exhibits at Antalya Museum




Matelot spends two nights in Setur Antalya Marina (Celebi Marina) which is very nice with great staff, luxury showers, washing machines and internet, but the travelling and expensive taxis soon get to us.



Images and reflections of Kaleici Harbour





On our second night we sleep on board Deep Blue in the city, then move Matelot into Kaleici Marina, squeezing in alongside Deep Blue. We love waking up in this magical old harbour where pirates have probably moored in times past. The view of the snow capped mountains in the distance, the old castle wall, the clear blue sky, the flowering bouganvillea and blossom trees, the murmur of the city around us, the many men we see in this place who truly resemble pirates – not bad! We are lucky to fit in here because it is usually too full of trip boats and gullets to take any visiting yachts. We wander freely through the old city, soaking in the atmosphere.

Monday 11 May. The time really is upon us for Deep Blue and Matelot to go their separate ways. We are planning to make Alanya, and a reunion with Hasan our next stop, while Deep Blue now have Jonathan and Jane, friends from the UK on board and are heading back towards Kekova Roads for a nice cruise with them. We enjoy a final farewell dinner at the fantastic Otantik Hotel, a boutique hotel and restaurant in the old city. The food is top class and the ambience in the open courtyard lovely. All this for much less than it would cost in NZ. We can highly recommend this restaurant. There is much fighting talk over dinner about setting up a starting line tomorrow and having a race to see who gets to their destination first! Lots of gauntlets are laid down!


A last dinner out together....




We are pretty organised and keen to get away the next morning, so we throw our lines around 7.30 am when DB are just getting started for the day. Before we know it we are out of the harbour but embarrassed to admit that 30 minutes later we notice what has to be Brenda’s white bra and panties hanging from the flag halyard, where our Squadron pennant should be - and was there when we went to bed last night. We wondered why people were laughing and waving as we departed the harbour!




They really have got us good this time! We turn around and go back for a boat hook swap of items once DB has exited the harbour, say more goodbyes, then lay Alanya ETA 10 hours away as we watch DB disappear into the distance.

Aurevoir Deep Blue....

Old Guys Rule!!!

Sheik Richard on his 70th birthday!!!

A Birthday to Remember!!!

It is time to depart Finike, where we have spent 5 nights waiting for the weather to improve. Matelot now has some patches on the main where the shrouds and spreader have been chafing and making holes, and we are 700TKL worse off, but have a main sail which will now withstand the wear and tear it is going to get in those places. We have shopped at the weekly market and stocked up on fresh provisions again.

We get away around 3.00pm and spend Wednesday night 6 May in the lovely anchorage of Cavus Limani anchored in the NW corner of the bay, where we all crash early after a couple of big nights out in Finike, the last night being a very entertaining and delicious dinner on board Lola K with Eric and Susan.









Richard’s 70th birthday dawns clear and calm. We breakfast on board Deep Blue where Richard is duly made a huge fuss of and blows out the candles on the fruit cake (his favourite), which Brenda has made for him. She is truly amazing.



















11.00 am sees us head north east towards Kemer as phone calls and messages come in and we hoist the spinnaker for the second time on board Matelot, enjoying a clear run towards Mt Olympus on our port side.



Wow this is truly Richard’s favourite thing to be doing.





Soon the wild and deserted nature of this coastline is replaced by huge hotel resorts packed side by side. This is the beginning of the Turkish Riviera which will continue from here to Antalya and then onwards along the 100 km coastline to Alanya.

We check out the ancient harbour of Phaeselis for a suitable anchorage for the night, but very quickly decide that we will sail on to Kemer as there is a fresh breeze blowing and it would not be nice to be caught on this rocky shore in the night. As we round the point into Kemer anchorage, we sight Lola K already swinging at anchor. We have the makings of a party on board Matelot, and we are going to celebrate. Six on board for dinner that night makes for a great birthday celebration with lots of fun and laughter and a few headaches the next day. Richard’s 70th is suitably celebrated.






As our guests depart later that evening, two things stand out; the numerous discos thumping their music against one another on the shore and the stifling smell of sewage effluent. Someone is pumping out into this idyllic bay. Perhaps it is coming from the shore, or perhaps from the numerous gullets moored nearby, but with no tide or current to take it away, we wonder the next morning at the people swimming, waterskiing etc while enjoying their dream holidays in the sunshine. There are several resorts here – best that they don’t know! The crystal clear Mediterranean waters give nothing away.

To our extreme astonishment, at around 10.00am a large gullet, with quite a few guests on board, anchors off our bows right between Deep Blue and us (not much room!) and then goes stern to until it is alongside and between us. The skipper appears to be talking on his cellphone while he conducts this manouvre and minutes later he departs from the boat in an inflatable, leaving his crew in charge of it. We pretty quickly decide to move on, but Deep Blue are not ready to go yet so they remain to endure the huge boat drifting on top of them, struggling to maintain their position and fend off. We sail on and marvel at the backdrop of huge mountains towering over us. Antalya here we come. ....