Gazipasa

23 NM south east of Alanya Marina we sip on a refreshing cold beer and watch the sun go down.

We had planned to leave Alanya last Thursday 4 June, but changed our minds when we heard that the opera Aida was being performed at Aspendos on 12 June, and a group were organising a bus from the marina. We cannot not miss this, as it will be a once in a lifetime experience.

To fill in the time before then, rather than sitting in the marina, which is still in construction mode, we take a side tour along the south east coast.

On arrival in the undeveloped harbour of Gazipasa we watch the sun go down in very still conditions and much later, see a huge fishing boat come in and unload massive tuna fish the size of small whales into the back of a refrigerated truck bound for the markets.

This morning we take in the view of the high sea wall on the south western side of the harbour, the ruins of ancient Selinus on the hill-top towering over us from the south east, majestic mountains to north east and a row of brightly coloured fishing boats tied up to the sea wall on the northern side. We are anchored out in the middle of the harbour in turquoise water and alternate between cool swims off the stern, reading and eating. We can hear the sound of the surf on the beach outside the harbour entrance and of course, the wind, which has come up overnight and is sufficient that we will not leave the boat to explore ashore until conditions calm down a little.

We plan to return to Alanya Marina next Thursday and may explore a bit further south east along this coast if conditions are suitable.

The view from Ancient Selinus is well worth the climb... That is SY Matelot in the middle down there.




Tuesday 9 June…

Well here we are still in Gazipasa two mornings later. It is our third morning of waking up to still calm conditions and within one hour experiencing 20 knot south easterlies until early afternoon when it all dies down again.

Monday morning is particularly fierce and we have five huge fishing boats jostling for space in the harbour while it passes over, which is does around 2.00 pm. Several small maintenance jobs are attended to on board while we wait for the wind to ease, keeping a sharp eye out to ensure that we are not dragging our anchor.

Later we row ashore and go exploring, - a little further than the bar ashore which we located yesterday to sit and watch the sun go down over a cold beer! We head 1 km straight inland then take a right hand turn to cross over the river. It is another 1km approx back to the base of the hill where the track to ancient Selinus begins. We follow an overgrown (with wildflowers and weeds) ancient stairway right to the top. It is an aerobic walk, which we both welcome after our slothful non-activity of the past few days. We are the only ones on the site and have not seen anyone else up here since we arrived. Selinus was founded by Antiochus IV several centuries BC and occupied since then by Romans, so we are walking on the path travelled by very ancient feet before us. The view from the top is breathtaking in all directions – the Mediterranean stretching out to the south and west, the fertile valley and mountains behind us, the sea a long way below us!

On our return we once again stop for a refreshing cold drink in the bar which appears to be in the grounds of the local tourist hotel. Nevertheless it is a lovely (if a little rustic) spot to sit and watch the sun go down. We take a welcome swim on our return the boat, the heat and perspiration of the recent walk to Selinus still fresh on our bodies.

We are somewhat saddened by the amount of rubbish which floats around the harbour on a regular basis. We think it comes down the river then gets washed into the harbour. Plastic bags and bottles, newspapers, other packaging from all manner of items floats past us. We do a couple of rubbish sweeps in the dinghy, filling up huge black plastic rubbish bags, but it appears to be a futile exercise as it is all back the next day and the locals don’t appear to be very interested in cleaning it up.

The mystery of where the huge tuna are coming from is possibly solved on Wednesday when we take a short cruise 5 miles down the coast, to find a collection of what we later find out are called “fish ranches”. Apparently the tuna are caught alive and put into these pens where they are towed around and fed until they are fat and ready for the market. They have to be towed around as the tuna do not survive being penned up in still water. We discover later there are quite a few of these fish ranches in the Gulf of Antalya. We anchor off the lovely sandy beach, swim and relax and watch the huge fishing boats working them.

Soon it is time to return to Alanya Marina. The wonderful gracious staff at this marina welcome us ‘home’ again and we count down to our next experience… the Opera Aida at the ancient theatre of Aspendos