First Leg Marmaris to AyvelikMarmaris 29th April – 23rd May
We returned from sunny, warm UK to drizzly, cold Marmaris in the early hours of 29th April. What a disappointment after the wonderful weather we had enjoyed in England in one of the best Spring times I have seen in many years. The countryside looked stunning, initially with all the blossom that covered the trees and blew around like confetti, and then later the beautiful shades of green from all the new leaf that replaced it. England did indeed seem to be a most beautiful ‘green and pleasant land’ this April, and our niece’s wedding day on 28th April was indeed one of the most lovely days we had during our stay at home.
Two days after our return to Netsel marina Matapan was lifted out of the water for her annual re-paint above and below the water line. Over the last couple of years the amount of varnish on the hull has been gradually decreasing and has been replaced with white paint, which is much more forgiving in the Mediterranean heat. So this year saw the final transition from part white and part varnished hull, to completely white topsides…
Photo Geoff painting topsides.
There has been a flurry of – opening parties and re-opening celebrations in and around the marina as Marmaris springs back to life this month, in eager preparation for all the tourists who flock, mainly, from UK.
Photo Marmaris
We took a little break from painting and polishing to take an organised trip to deserted village of Kaya Köyü, which is near Fethiye, and was settled in the 18th century by Greeks. They were later forced out by the Turks during the population exchange of 1922. Apparently, it is on this village that Louis de Berniers based his book - Birds Without Wings. This settlement is one of the largest ‘ghost towns’ with almost 1000 dwellings. A short climb to the top of the hillside on which the town was built gave us lovely views over the valley and out to sea.
Photo of Koya Koyu
We relaunched Matapan on 13th May. We then had to sort out the problem of the leaking water tank. With some help from another yachtie – a steel boat owner, Geoff managed to get a new flexible water tank fitted inside the old stainless steel one. Thankfully this worked beautifully and whilst we have lost a little water capacity this solution has saved a huge job, trying to remove the old tank. During the next week we got the boat ready for sailing and were all set to leave Netsel by 23rd May.
23rd – 25th May Netsel marina to Pupa bay
Our first trip was no more than 3 miles, down to a little anchorage further round Marmaris bay, called Pupa. Here we met up with our Finnish friends on their boat ‘Miss Sophie’ and spent a very pleasant afternoon together. We waited here for news of UK friends Jan and Colin, who keep their boat ‘Sun Dancer’ in Fethiye, as we had planned to meet up and sail in company for a few days.
Photo Pupa
25th – 27th May Pupa bay to Turunç
We made the short trip across Marmaris bay to Turunç on Monday morning and met up with Jan and Colin in the early afternoon. Meeting up in Turkey had been our plan for some three years – so we had lots to talk about and we spent the rest of the day eating, drinking and chatting!
The following day we dinghy-ed ashore, got a few provisions and enjoyed lunch in one of the beach bars.
Photo Turunç bay
27th – 29th May. Turunç to Serçe Limani
We left quite early and after an hour’s motoring we managed to get the cruising chute up for a while, till the wind died. When it returned it was a headwind that was too close for us to sail, without help from the engine! Eventually we found the tiny opening in the rocks that led to the delightful, fjord like bay of Serçe where we were totally protected on all sides from the wind. We had no choice but to pick up one of the buoys that have been laid by local restaurant owner Hassan! Such buoys are usually free but you are expected to eat at the owner’s restaurant – in this case captain Nemo’s! We also met up here with our wintering friends on ‘Cougar’.
29th – 30tht May Serçe Limani to Bozburun
After two nights in this idyllic little anchorage we decided to move on to the gullet-building centre of Bozburun. All three boats, Sun Dancer, Cougar and Matapan enjoyed a lovely, if sometimes slow, sail all the way into Bozburun Bay and we managed to get some rare photos of each other, sailing! Sadly, however we were unable to open the ones we received of Matapan!
Cougar peeled off into one of the little anchorages while Sun Dancer and Matapan continued up to the top of the bay, and anchored just outside to the little harbour and town. We spent a couple of days in this delightful anchorage and enjoyed a good fish meal at one of the harbour restaurants.Photo of Bozburun
30th May – 3rd June Bozburun to Symi
We motored the 3-hour trip across to the Greek island of Symi. Pedhi bay anchorage was quite busy and here, we met up again with Cougar. On Sunday morning we took the local bus into Symi town to explore and stock up on pork goods ….. and Greek wine. In the evening we shared a meal on board Sun Dancer, which was to be our last one together as they would be making their way back eastwards now to Fethiye bay and we would continue northwards.
Photo of Symi town
On Mond
ay afternoon we watched Cloud 9 and Arctic Blue and Mai Tai (friends we wintered with in Marmaris) sail into the bay and we decided to stay on an extra day to meet up with them. We had a leisurely meal ashore at the only taverna in the village and on our return to Matapan we found that in the strong wind that had come up, our anchor had dragged. Unfortunately for us we were now stopped right by the stern of the water carrier ship that docked every evening at the small jetty at the head of the bay. Geoff stood anchor watch for a while, not wanting to have to re- anchor in the dark, but at about 2.30am the water carrier flashed us to move out of the way. By this time all was quiet and we were able to move without any problem.
Photo Pedhi Bay
3rd – 8th June Symi to Datça
The next morning we decided it was time to move on and again, and motored the fairly short distance back across to Turkey, to the little town of Datça. We had intended to stay only one night but on trying to leave and head west the next day we went straight into headwinds and rough sea. As we are doing this trip for pleasure, not punishment we decided it was pointless to continue and enjoyed the downwind sail back to the anchorage at Datça, where all was calm!
Photo of Datça market
We explored the little town, which had an attractive waterfront with its many restaurants, cafes and bars and found water to top up the tanks and a laundry service. The Saturday market was a riot of colour and completely took over the town! On looking through the Rough Guide we found that a two km walk out of town would take us to a little village called Eski Datça. This turned out to be a delightful little place full of restored stone houses, quaint little arty shops and a very old mosque. We stumbled on a small café where a display of silk spinning was in progress for a tour group and cheekily joined in!
Photo of silk spinners in Eski Datca
On our return to Datça we found that the Saturday market had all but taken over the town and spent a couple of hours wandering amongst the many and varied stalls.
8th June Datça to Kos
We made an early start and this time got round the Datça headland easily but with no wind at all. We motored all the way to Kos and got in by early afternoon. We found a berth in Kos marina for one night and took the opportunity to give the boat a good wash down, fill up the tanks with water and top up the batteries from the shore power. Here we met up with friends Chris & Ivor on ‘Cariad’ who, like us, had spent last winter in Marmaris.
Photo of Hypocrates tree in Kos old town
9th June Kos to Gumersluk and on to Cukurcuk
We left Kos around mid-day anticipating a short afternoon sail to a little bay on the Turkish mainland, which had a good write up in the pilot book. It turned out to be a lovely sheltered bay but packed already with anchored boats all on top of each other. We decided to continue up the coast to the next anchorage, some 15 miles away. We managed to sail / motor sail for most of that trip and eventually found ourselves in a tiny bay, which was filled mostly with fish farm! There was still room for us to anchor and we ended up on our own there for the night, except for the fish farm minder in his little shack on the shore!
Photo of Cukurcuk ( Fish Farm Bay)
10th – 19th June Cukurcuk to Samos ( Pythagorio)
Once again we had a headwind, up to 25 knots at times, and we had to motor all the way across the Ancient bay of Latmos and on to the Greek island of Samos. From here we had a long trip northwards and would need to wait for favourable winds. We ended up waiting 10 days! In the mean time however our friends Pauline and Gordon on Crazy Dream arrived and joined us in the anchorage just outside the town harbour. Together we explored the town and enjoyed several ‘gyros’ lunches and delicious iced coffees (frappes). Later, we hired a car together to explore some of the rest of this quite surprising little island.
Pythagorio
We had a two day car hire and went, first, across to the north coast to Samos town to the archaeological museum. We were quite amazed at the quantity and quality of artefacts from the 6th – 8th century BC, that it now housed, following the excavation of a massive site on the south coast called Heraion.
We then went along the north coast and into the mountains, which gave us some splendid views and dramatic scenery. We found a delightful little taverna in a little village called Pnaka and enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the coolness of its vine covered terraces and babbling spring water fountain.
Photo Pnaka taverna
We drove back towards Pythagorio via the east coast and Lidl’s !!! Here we stocked up on beers and wine and pork goodies. On day two of our tour we first went west to Heraion to see the remains of what had once been one of the biggest temples to the goddess Hera in 5th century BC. Samos was, at that time an important island and to show off its wealth had built this huge and much acclaimed temple to Hera. Excavations were still in progress with many students busily employed digging up new sites. We then continued north into the mountains again and took a very scenic circular route back to Pythagorio.
Photo of Exploring Heraion in the sun
19th June Pythagorio to Poseidon Bay
Finally the weather forecast showed a favourable, southerly wind, which would take us northwards. We motored some 5 miles round to the eastern most bay on the island just for one night, and enjoyed the quiet and peace of this charming little anchorage.
20th – 21st June Poseidon Bay – Kusadasi ( Turkish mainland)
We perhaps left a little too early for our promised south wind as it did not really kick in until we neared our destination! We checked into Kusadasi marina for 2 nights and after washing down the boats enjoyed a swim in the pool.
We set off, the next morning, to Ephesus - a site not to be missed when in this part of Turkey, but with up to 4 cruise liners in Kusadasi each day we knew we had to get there early to beat the crowds!
We arrived at 9.00 and though Geoff and I had visited this site many years ago it lost none of its grandeur for being re-visited. It was still as breathtakingly stunning as ever. As we made our way from the top entrance we could enjoy some of the early sites in relative peace and quiet! This would not last so we made the most of it while we could! A new site, just before the Celsus library itself – imaginatively called the ‘terraced houses’ has now been opened and this alone would have been worth the return visit. With amazingly meticulous restoration of marble panelling, beautifully preserved mosaic floors and superb frescoed walls this site gave a wonderful glimpse of life for wealthy Ephesians over 2000 years ago.
Photo of terraced houses at Ephesus
22nd June Kusadasi to Alcati Marina
We made an early start for the trip up to Sarpdere anchorage and had to motor the first few hours. In a strengthening wind and rolly seas we managed to motor sail after a while. In strong winds we decided against the anchorage and continued to Alcati marina, situated at the head of a deep bay. We were given a berth along side the outer wall which was effectively still a building site. In the strong wind the marinero took our stern line first and the transom swung into the concrete key, scraping the paint at the corner. We expected a significantly reduced marina fee as we had neither water nor power and had a huge digger beside us pouring gravel into the roadway and covering us in dust. We finally negotiated a reduction but remained very unhappy with the berth. Later that evening we managed to get ourselves moved to the hoisting dock and managed to get the boat washed down to remove some of the dirt and dust. Could not wait to get away from this awful place.
23rd June Alcati to Khios
Another early start and once we got out to the open sea and clear of the land we managed to sail for some of the way. As we turned into Khios channel with the wind behind us we motor sailed into the marina just outside Khios town. This was yet another unfinished Greek project (of which there are so many!), it had been taken over by local boats and used a ferry graveyard. The only room for visitors was along the outer wall. We finally rafted up alongside Crazy Dream in the last available slot.
24th – 25th Khios
We walked into town to explore the busy, non-touristy town of Khios and shopped for provisions. The weather was becoming rather unsettled so we decided to stay another day. Good move as it rained all day!!
Photo Storm clouds over Khios
26th June Khios Marina to Kardhamilia anchorage (north Khios)
Enjoyed a downwind sail with the cruising chute in a southerly wind, to the north part of Khios island. We had a quiet afternoon in this pleasant anchorage and enjoyed dinner on board.
27th Kardhamilia to Plomarion ( Lesvos island)
We motor sailed the 30 or so miles to Lesvos, in company with Crazy Dream, in calm seas. We berthed on the town quay in Plomarion harbour, bows to with a stern anchor - a manoeuvre we are not much accustomed to performing but we managed it in the end – with a little help from our friends!
Photo Plomarion.
28th June Plomarion
We explored this delightful little town during the morning and found a lovely, very traditional Greek town square, shaded by a huge chestnut tree. We had drinks here and later came back for an evening meal.
29th June Plomarion to Gulf of Yeras.
We left the town quay and headed eastwards to find a nice anchorage. Eventually we came to the smaller of Lesvos’s two large lakes / inland seas and anchored in a delightful bay called Ormos Kavourlimini. We had the place almost to ourselves and enjoyed a BBQ with our friends P & G. Lovely evening.
30th June
The beautiful anchorage was totally ruined by the arrival of a huge powerboat, which completely obliterated the view to one side and broke the peace of the place with its noisy generators. Only one thing to do – we had to move!
Photo large powerboat spoiling view in a beautiful bay
We gently explored the Gulf of Yeras, sailing with just our headsail up and found a quiet place in the SE corner, for a lunch stop and a swim. We then headed back and anchored in Skala Loutra, a little hamlet near the mouth of Gulf of Yeras. We stayed here for 2 nights and while exploring the village we found a museum dedicated to the refugees – who were expelled from Turkey in the population exchange of 1922. The curators opened up specially for us and we spent a pleasant hour in this purpose built, beautifully appointed museum each trying to make ourselves understood with minimal Greek and a spattering of English!
Photo Skala Loutra
2nd
July Skala Loutra to Mytilini
We motored all the way to Mytilini and after checking in with port police, proceeded to the ‘unfinished’ marina on the far side of the harbour. This must be one of the most finished ‘unfinished’ marinas in Greece. It is virtually ready to open – but because of some bureaucratic dispute the gates remain locked, the offices empty and little local boats come in and fill up the spaces! Visiting yachts moor for free but with no electricity or water (well, no water, officially at least!).
Photo of Mytilini marina
That evening we went into town and hired a car for 3 days to explore Lesvos with P & G. Later we all joined Shironn B (German friends of P&G we first met in Samos) on the quay in the marina for a joint BBQ!
4th –9th July Lesvos Island
Our first day’s exploration took us to Kolpas Yeras (where we had anchored a few days ago) and then on to the little village of Paraskevi. This was the location of a 3-day long festival to the bull! This being the first day the bull was paraded through the streets with a huge garland of flowers round its neck and silver painted horns and hooves! The bull looked none too impressed with its regalia and one suspects he might have realised what was going to happen next! On the second day of the festival the bull is sacrificed and on the third day it is cooked and eaten! We didn’t stay around for days 2 and 3!
Photo of Bull Parade in Paraskevi.
We then drove on to see the famed ‘Petrified Forest’ on the far west side of Lesvos. This was disappointing to say the least as not only was it all fenced in as part of a National Park / museum, but the few bits if trunks that did remain were much smaller than we had expected. We drove on to the delightful village of Sigri, on the tip of the west coast of Lesvos , which was also a lovely, quiet and well protected anchorage.
Photo of Sigri
Day 2 of our tour took us northwest towards Molyvos on the north coast of the island. This
delightful little town is perched on the side of a cliff with an imposing castle at the top. We walked down the tiny cobbled streets, shaded by trained ivy and vines and full of little shops, cafes and tavernas until we spilled out to the little harbour at the bottom of the hill. This was a charming town which despite heavy tourism had not lost too much of its character. We then drove back towards Mytilini via Skala Kalloni where we met up with s/y Koala (friends from Kalamata , two years ago) and enjoyed long drinks and a chat with them before heading back to Mytilini.
Photo Molyvos
Photo Shady cobbled streets of Molyvos
For our 3rd excursion we headed out to Polichnitos, which has a thermal spring nearby. We embarked on an 8km walk, designated in the guide book as ‘easy’ but which we found not quite so easy in the heat of the mid day sun! However we completed the circular walk, which ended at the thermal spring and treated ourselves to a session in the 42 –44 degree ‘hot’ pool!
Photo Easy Walk
in the mid day sun!
Photo G. in the hot baths
On our return to town we stopped at a small private museum, which housed some quite amazing works by Picasso, Matisse and Chagall amongst others! A fascinating find and well worth the detour to find it! We spent several more days in Mytilini exploring the town with its lovely Ottoman buildings, some beautifully restored, others desperately needing attention. We spent our last afternoon at the castle that overlooks the town and finished off at the fisherman’s café on the pier where the beer is said to be the cheapest in Greece at 2 euros!!
Photo Castle at Mytilini
Photo View from the fishermans’ café
After a last minute shop at our favourite supermarket AB and having stocked up on wine, bacon, pate and pork chops we were ready to head east for Turkey.
10th – 12 th July Lesvos to Porosolene Bay (near Ayvelik)
We motored the 19 miles to Porosolene bay, just north of Ayvelik and anchored off the south shore. The following day we moved to a more sheltered part of the bay and swam, lazed and read till evening, when we shared BBQs with Crazy Dream.
Our chart showed that the large pile of stones on the top of a nearby hill was in fact ‘ancient ruins’! We decided to climb the hill and have a closer look at ‘the ruins’! The path ran out fairly soon and we scrambled over rough, scrubby ground full of thorny gorse type bushes. We eventually made it to the top via a most circuitous route and arms and legs all scratched….. but the views were lovely! The ruin was no more than a large pile of stones with no access inside, or to the top! We made our way back on a more direct, but just as prickly, route along a dried up riverbed.
Photo Porosolene climb.
13th July Porosolene Bay to Alibey
It was just a short distance to Ayvelik bay – which is almost completely enclosed and accessed via a dredged channel. Alibey lies just north of the channel and is a charming little village that was Greek, until the population exchange of 1922 and still has a Greek Orthodox church – albeit now closed and dilapidated. We anchored off the town and dinghy-ed in to explore this quaint little village. By evening it had undergone a complete character change and had become a buzzy Turkish tourist place full of waterside restaurants and cafes.
Photo Alibey
14th -July Alibey to Ayvelik
We motored across the bay just 2 miles to Ayvelik marina and booked in for 1 night. We had several ‘jobs’ to do which included washing the boat, filling with water and sorting out tickets for my bus trip to Istanbul and Geoff’s visa run on the ferry which goes daily from here to Lesvos. In addition to all that our Turkish phone which we can use to access the internet on our computer had failed and needed repair. This would eventually take the most time of all and only after several calls to the Turkcell Help line did I manage to get someone in the local Turkcell shop to understand what was needed!! After all this we managed a brief walk around the back streets and bazaar to explore this very Turkish town.
Photo Ayvelik
15th – 17thJuly Ayvelik to Kumru Buku
After a busy morning we left the marina by mid afternoon and motored 3 miles south to the protected anchorage of Kumru Buku where Matapan and Crazy Dream were the only two boats in the bay. Sadly the water was not very clear and before long a dreaded jellyfish had been spotted. Further sightings in the afternoon confirmed that this was not a good place to swim!
We explored other parts of the bay by dinghy, but found the shore too muddy to land on. We then had to have one person on board on jelly watch while the other swam! P&G joined us for our last BBQ together as they would now head back southwards.
18th – 19th July Kumru Buku to Porosolene Bay
We left Kumru Buku in search of jelly free swimming areas! It seemed likely that the warmer, sheltered waters of the inland sea would be attractive to them so we headed out of the channel and went to one of the many anchorages around the islands. Mosku Adasi was our first stop but that was quite noisy as several Turkish tripper boats anchored there too, After lunch we decided to move on and eventually returned to Porosolene Bay where after several attempts to get the anchor to hold we had the bay almost to ourselves. We enjoyed a couple of peaceful, lazy days here, swimming and reading in this protected jelly fish free bay!
20th July Porosolene bay to Alibey
The peace was broken by howling wind early in the morning which increased to 30 knot gusts.
It was time to get back to the sheltered water of Ayvelik bay. We motored back to Alibey and anchored off the town quay as before. As it was our wedding anniversary we treated ourselves to a fish meal in one of the tavernas along the waterfront. A bottle of wine with our meal made it a very expensive treat!!
21st July – 8th August.
We returned to Ayvelik marina with winds still gusting around 30 knots and were pleased of the help from marineros to get into our berth. From here I would return to UK for 10 days, to take part in a fund raising event in memory of my sister, and Geoff would stay here with the boat in the marina. During the time I was away the meltemi blew almost constantly, only dying down a day or two before her return. We were both pleased that Geoff had elected to stay at the marina during this time, rather than be out on anchor. During his stay in the marina Geoff repaired the ‘ding’ in the transom, fitted our ipod and connected it to the radio speakers and got to know Ayvelik pretty well.
Photo Ayvelik bazaar
The memorial climb to Scafell Pike was a success and we were all pleased that it had raised a lot of money for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.
Photo of Scafell climbers
Photo of view from Scafell
I returned to Ayvelik on 2nd August and brought our friend, Mary, to stay for a few days. We had a couple of days to explore Ayvelik, which unlike most other Turkish towns we have visited is not full of European tourists. It is in fact a very Turkish resort and it was enjoyable to be able to walk along the streets without being hassled and to eat as Turkish holiday makers do in ordinary Turkish eateries!!
Photo Turkish restaurant with Mary
We then spent a few days out in the anchorages with Mary, in quiet, sheltered bays with just gentle breezes blowing, before returning for one last night to the marina in order to see our friend off on her homeward journey. By the morning of 9th August it was once again blowing a hoolie!!! We delayed our departure from Ayvelik to head southwards, until 11th August, when the wind was forecast to die down somewhat!
Summer Cruising Log
2nd Leg Going South11th August Ayvelik marina – Bademli
After almost a month in Ayvelik marina Matapan finally set off again as we began our return journey southwards. We had to motor the first couple of hours in lighter winds than we had expected but then the wind kicked in and we managed to sail the rest of the way. However we had confused seas, which gave us a lumpy, rolly, down-wind, sail to Bademli. We found a good spot to anchor in and were just going to settle down for a peaceful afternoon, when Geoff while checking the bilges, found a huge, dead cockroach!!! Panic stations! We have always been told that if you find one ‘roach there will surely be others……….. We emptied out all the food lockers, and the under floor storage areas…. Thankfully we found nothing, but just in case …. We laid several ‘roach hotels' in various locations and stayed vigilant for next few days. Thankfully nothing else appeared anywhere and I guess we were just very, very lucky on this occasion.
12th August Bademli – Eskifoca
The south end of Bademli anchorage was a lot more attractive than the north where we had stayed and it was tempting to stay here another day. We decided against that however and once we had cleared the land we got a good west wind and managed to sail all the way to Eskifoca. We anchored in a bay just north of the town, behind a gravel spit. The anchorage was full of tripper boats but by early evening they had all gone and we had the place to ourselves. From this quiet little spot we could see hundreds of little coloured tents all over a hillside that indicated, surely, a full scale Rock Festival must be going on. Luckily we were up wind of it all and thankful that we probably wouldn’t hear much of it from where we were.
Photo of Rock festival
At about 11.30 pm the wind suddenly came up and was gusting 30+ knots. Our anchor started dragging and in moments we were in just 2 metres of water, heading for the shore. We got the anchor up and then had to manoeuvre the boat in the pitch black moonless night, around the gravel spit and around several small islands as we made for the main harbour. We finally found a safe place to re-anchor and after dragging twice more on the steeply sloping sea bottom we finally got the anchor to hold, with 50 metres of chain out in 5 metres of water. Thank goodness for chart plotters, without which our predicament would have been far more difficult! By this time it was 3.00 am and the rock concert was in full swing! It sounded as though it was in our cockpit! But at least it kept us awake on anchor watch. An hour or two later all went quiet and we finally went to bed!
Photo Eskifoca town
13th August Eskifoca to Oinoussa
By the time we woke at around 10.00 the wind had gone down a lot. The prospect of another night with the rock festival was not very inviting so we decided to take a chance and head for our next destination, Oinoussa island, off Khios. The forecast Force 6 from the north was actually a Force 2 from the west when we got out to sea so we motored a lot of this trip. We anchored inside Mandraki harbour, which was mainly full of motorboats. The waterfront looked very quiet though quite pretty as all the lights came on in the little town. We decided an early night would be a good idea after last night’s escapade but, at 11.30 live Greek music from a waterside taverna blasted out across the water for several hours!
Photo Harbour at Oinoussa (Greece)
14th August Oinoussa to Sarpdere (Turkey)
We managed to sail all the way to Sarpdere under cruising chute. By the time we got the anchor down in the north part of this quite attractive anchorage we found that the wind had gone from north to south here and was blowing straight into the bay. It was a light wind so we decided to stay put, as the south part of bay was already quite full, and we took a chance on it not blowing up over night.
15th - 16th August Sarpdere to Samos (Poseidon Bay)
After a slightly rolly night as with the swell rolling into the bay, we left quite early and headed for Samos. The sea was a flat calm for the first few hours but then wind gradually filled in from the north and we sailed the rest of the way, once again under cruising chute. As we approached lovely Poseidon Bay we saw several Turkish tripper boats piling out of the bay heading back to Kusadasi. Luckily when we actually got into the bay there was plenty of room to anchor and we found ourselves a good spot, not too far from the shore. Having made good progress so far, we afforded ourselves a rest in this delightful bay and stayed two nights. During this time we met up with s/y Divanty, whom we had first met at the regular winter Sunday lunches in Marmaris.
Photo Poseidon bay.
17th – 18th August Poseidon Bay to Pythagorio, (Samos Marina)
We motored the short distance from Poseidon bay to Samos marina, just outside Pythagorio and booked in for 2 nights. This would allow us to fill up the water tanks, wash the boat down and charge up the batteries AND to stock up at Lidl!!! Sadly the Samos Lidl did not have any cartons of rose wine that we had hoped to find there but we still managed to stock up on white wine and lots of pork goodies!! In the evening, we walked into Pythagorio and found the town celebrating an ancient feast of the goddess Hera -, with a procession along the main street, followed by poetry and modern dance performances on an outdoor stage set up by the harbour area. Very enjoyable. Sadly we had not taken a camera and so could not capture this spectacular event.
19th - 21st August Pythagorio to Agathonisi Island
We were now back in the Dodecanese island chain and would be visiting some of the smaller islands we had missed on our journey north, earlier this summer. We left Samos marina around lunchtime and managed to sail all the way to the tiny island of Agathonisi. With a rising wind behind us we had just the Yankee up and cruised along nicely for about 3 hours. We found a good spot to anchor in the main bay by the village and then rowed ashore to explore the tiny village – it didn’t take very long! After a very nice meal at one of the waterside tavernas we returned to the boat expecting a peaceful, quiet night. Wrong!!! Live Greek music started up around 10.30 pm from one of the bars, and continued until 3.00 am! We stayed here 3 nights – fortunately there was no more late night live music! We walked up to the ‘chora’ (hilltop village) for some beautiful views, and later, watched with interest the large number of ‘detained’ illegal immigrants at the local police station, on the hill. These people had been picked up on the shores around the island and presumably were now waiting to be returned to Turkey, where they had come from.
Photo Agathanisi anchorage
22nd - 23rd A
ugust Agathonisi to Lipso
We left the anchorage by mid morning and sailed, under Yankee, all the way to Lipso. We decided to anchor in a bay outside the main town and whilst it was quite secure it was not very comfortable in the strong wind that blew up in the afternoon and evening. The following morning we moved round to Lipso town and found a little bay quite close by, in which to anchor. We rowed ashore to explore this quaint little town and harbour and enjoyed a tasty lunch in a waterside taverna.
Photo Lipso doorway
Photo Lipso t
own
24th August Lipso to Leros
It was a very short trip down to the tip of Leros Island. We motored around Ormos Partheni to look at the anchorage and whilst it was very protected it had little to offer ashore and was full of fish farms. We decided to continue down the island to the main town of Lakki, and anchored in the bay just off the town quay. In the evening we dinghy-ed ashore to explore this rather unusual town which had been built by the Italians in Art Deco style. Some of the buildings had been very well restored but sadly others were very dilapidated, with crumbling facades and peeling paintwork. The whole place had the feel of a disused film set – not Greek at all!
Photo Art Deco church in Lakki Town
25th – 27th August Lakki ( Leros) to Kos
After a rolly night in the anchorage we decided to move on to Kos Island, some 30 miles away. We had to motor for the first two hours until the wind came up. Once clear of Leros though we were able to get the cruising chute up and enjoyed 3 hours sailing down wind to the northeast corner of Kos Island. That just left us with 1.5 miles to do under engine to get to Kos marina where we booked in for 3 nights. The place was really buzzing as the Under 20’s European Volleyball Championships were taking place in the grounds of the marina. We stopped a couple of times at the centre court and watched some very exciting games. Having been in touch with friends on Crazy Dream who were in Turkey and Vonasi who were on Kalymnos Island, we arranged a meet in a small bay just outside Bodrum for the weekend.
28th – 30th August Kos to Aspat Koyu
We enjoyed a short, fast sail across the bay to Aspat Koyu and found Crazy Dream already anchored in bay, Vonasi arrived a little later. After swims and lunch on board our own boats, we all met up for drinks and snacks on board Crazy Dream. When we had finally exhausted our supplies of booze and snacks we each returned to our boats to sleep it all off! Crazy Dream left the next morning but as neither we, nor Vonasi were in an hurry we stayed on in this pleasant anchorage for another 2 nights. On Sunday Geoff and Chris played at dingy sailing in Vonasi’s little tender (which has a removable sailing rig) which was great fun.
Photo Geoff dinghy sailing in Aspat Koyu
31st August - 4th September Aspat Koyu – Kos marina
As we were now going to sail in company with Vonasi as far as Nysiros we returned with them to Kos for a few days. We booked back into the marina but Vonasi went down to the town quay, for free! We met up each evening for meals on each other’s boats or ashore. We hired a car for one day and drove along the north coast and up into the mountain villages. After exploring one or two deserted villages in search of a quiet taverna for lunch we eventually had to retrace our steps to Pyli where we were lucky enough to arrive just ahead of a German tour bus!! On the return trip along the south coast we stopped at not one, but three….! Supermarkets! Champion, AB and finally ….. Lidl!! Still no cartons of rose wine here either … which was disappointing but that didn’t stop us from stocking up with lots of other goodies! The car was piled high with shopping as we drove back into Kos town!
Photo A Lid
l shopping trip!
Waiting for strong winds to die down meant we stayed an extra couple of nights at Kos. On our last evening we were invited to a party, on board ‘Souris Rose’ (friends of Claire and Chris). This was a lovely, traditional style, wooden motorboat owned by a quite eccentric couple who entertained us, and several other of their friends, on the aft deck of their luxurious boat. A very entertaining and enjoyable evening!
Photo Anne-Marie & Geoff on Souris Rose
5th – 7th September Kos to Nysiros Island
It was 25 miles to Nysiros. We had reasonable sailing breeze for some of the trip but had to motor sail as well. We finally got a good close reach with 17/18 knots of wind and reached a speed of 5.7 knots with just the main and staysail up. We were greeted by the harbourmaster in Pallon harbour and berthed bows to on the quay with a stern anchor (not our favourite way of berthing but it went quite well!) Vonasi arrived shortly afterwards and we all had drinks and dinner on board Matapan. The following day we took a walk around the tiny village and along the beach, which didn’t take very long at all!
Photo Pallon harbour
We hired scooters that evening and after an early meal we drove into the main town of Mandraki. This was an attractive little town and, after wandering along its quaint little whitewashed streets, we stopped in the main square to listen to the open-air performance by the local youth orchestra. The next day we set off bright and early to explore the island. First stop was back in Mandraki, to explore the castle we had noticed last evening and enjoy the view. We started out on the footpath but as the hillside got steeper and the sun got hotter we decided to abandon that idea and went by scooter along the main road. Not very much remained of the castle except some gigantic, volcanic stone walls, but the view was splendid.
Photo Mandraki town
We then drove on to Emborio, a tiny village set high on the hillside where many of the derelict houses have been bought up by foreigners or Athenians and are being restored as holiday homes.
Photo Hillside village of Emborio
We found one taverna with a balcony which over looked the volcano caldera floor and decided we would stop here for lunch. We then went down to explore the caldera floor with its many vents and blow holes blowing out steam and condensed sulphur – amazing and very smelly!!
Photo Blow holes in caldera floor
We continued on to the top of the mountain to the very picturesque village of Nikia. From here we could look right down on the whole crater of the volcano below and could see how the original eruption (some 23,000 years ago) had blown out the middle of the island. The views all around were spectacular. We then drove back to Pallon and returned the scooters. A great day out!
We waited another day, for winds to decrease, before parting company with Claire and Chris and setting off to Datca.
Photo Nikia
Photo view
over the caldera from nikia
8th – 9th September Pallon to Datca
We extricated ourselves successfully from the harbour quay, without picking up anyone else’s anchor and had a down wind sail as far as the Datca headland and then reached down to the town itself. We anchored in the north bay and stayed a couple of nights in order to renew our Turkish transit Log.
10th – 13th September Datca to Orhaniye
We enjoyed a beam reach from Datca all the way up the gulf and then changed to the cruising chute as the wind went round and we managed to sail all the way to Marti marina. We then continued down the creek to the tiny village of Orhaniye and anchored behind the Byzantine fort island! It was an idyllic anchorage!
Photo Anchorage at Orhaniye
We dinghy-ed across to the island and Geoff climbed up to the top to look at the remains of the fort (such as they were) while I stayed in the shade! WE then took a fairly long dinghy ride up to Marti Marina to see some friends and had lunch with them. Just as we were about to leave the heavens opened and we had torrential rain and a thunder storm for some 30- 40 minutes – we had left our hatches open on board Matapan ……! We had visions of a very, very wet boat. Eventually it eased and we made a dash to our water laden dinghy and got back to the boat. Luckily, a neighbour had kindly closed most of the hatches…. so things were not too wet inside. That night was very stormy, with torrential rain and squalls gusting to 40 knots. Our anchorage was very protected and the sea remained quite calm. But it was a very noisy and disturbed night.
Photo Storm over Orhaniye
The following morning, after bailing out the dinghy, we left the anchorage and motored further down the bay to Orhaniye village and moored to a restaurant pontoon (these are free to use as long as you eat in the restaurant). We spent a couple of nights here and topped up with water, charged batteries and cleaned the boat.
14th – 15th September Orhaniye to Symi (Pedhi Bay)
Last stop in Greek waters! We had to motor all the way to Pedhi bay on a calm, flat sea with no wind at all. The main purpose of this visit was stock up with Greek wine at the little wine and spirits store in Symi, who will deliver to the harbour at Pedhi. Once we had collected our order early on 16th September we headed out to try out another anchorage on the island that had been recommended to us.
16th September Pedhi Bay to Panormitis Bay (Symi)
We got a fast and exciting sail down the east coast of Symi with just the Yankee sail up and gusts of up to 25 knots as wind tumbled down the high mountains. We managed a speed of 7 knots at times! As we rounded the headland the wind changed and we motored into the big bay of Panormitis. What a surprise! We had expected just a quiet bay with a little monastery on the hillside – this looked more like a full-scale hotel resort, with a huge ferry and a fast cat at the quay side.
Photo Monastery at Panormitis
We rowed as
hore to explore this strange place which seemed part monastery part hotel accommodation but as it was mid afternoon, everything was shut up for siesta …. Even the one taverna in the bay! The following morning we went back and found the monastery and two museums open and a bakery. After an hour or two wandering around the very interesting museums, we bought some bread and rowed back to the boat, just as three ferries arrived and hundreds of visitors poured off them! It seems that this monastery (Archangel Michael) is a big tourist attraction and a place of pilgrimage for Greeks
17th – 18th September Panormitis to Bozuk Buku
We had to motor the 12 miles to Bozuk Buku due to very light winds, and arrived in the early afternoon. We berthed on a restaurant pontoon (free berthing provided you eat at the restaurant) and after a lazy afternoon, we went ashore to Sailor’s House Restaurant for our evening meal. The pontoon was pretty full and so the restaurant was quite busy. There was an impressive buffet of mezes (Turkish starters) of which you could have as much as you liked! The main courses were also good. However, it was a fairly expensive meal at 100 TL for the two of us, but this did include a bottle of expensive Turkish wine.
Photo Overlooking Bozuk Buku anchorage
The next morning we went ashore for ‘chay’ (Turkish tea) and then took a walk out from the back of the restaurant, along a river bed and up towards some reported, old ruins. After about an hour in this stark country side inhabited only by goats and donkeys we gave up on finding any substantial ruins and headed back to Sailor’s House. We decided to stay in Bozuk Buku for another night but, as we wanted to swim and enjoy the clear blue water, we decided to go further up the bay and anchor. After an hour our so of trying to find a good spot and getting the anchor to hold we gave up and returned to one of the buoys off Sailor’s House pontoon! This meant another meal in Mustafa’s expensive restaurant though we chose more carefully this time!
Photo Geoff exploring Bozuk Buku
19th – 20th September Bozuk Buku to Ekincek
It was quite a long trip to Ekincek (our half way stop to Fethiye Bay) and we managed to sail or motor sail most of the 33 miles, with moderate wind from the north giving us a beam/broad reach and then later an easterly wind gave us a reach almost to Ekincik. We berthed at My Marina. This was not in fact a marina, but once again, a restaurant pontoon – only this one was pretty up-market and very expensive! We shared a table that evening, with the Swiss couple berthed beside us – whom we realised we knew from Kalamata, and had an enjoyable if expensive evening! The next morning we motored the 1.5 miles to Ekincek bay and anchored there – for free!
21st September Ekincek to Fethiye (Yes Marina)
Another long day’s sail (by this year’s standards anyway!), so we left quite early, expecting to motor for a while. To our pleasant surprise we had a good breeze within an hour and managed to sail for about 2 hours. The wind then died and we motor sailed pretty much the rest of the way to Yes Marina (Fethiye) where we met up with our friends Jan and Colin on their boat Sun Dancer, with whom we had sailed at the start of the season. It was an evening of much eating and drinking and catching up!
Photo Fethiye anchorage and Yes Marina
22nd September – 9th October Fethiye Gulf
We spent the next two and a half weeks in this idyllic area, mostly in company with Sun Dancer exploring some of the delightful anchorages in the small bays around Fethiye Gulf. This Gulf is some 12 miles wide, and around the western edge, in particular, there are little creeks, bays and inlets where a boat can anchor, with such names as Tomb Bay, Pillar Bay and Cappi Creek! We were spoilt for choice! As this was Sun Dancer’s home territory we followed their advice as to which were the best spots. But first, before we could enjoy these delightful anchorages, which are nearly all in very deep water, we had to master a different anchoring technique …that of anchoring in very deep water (30 metres) and then dragging the anchor uphill till it bites and then tying back to the shore with a long line from the stern!
Photo Matapan tied back to the shore!
Our first attempt was in Boynuz Buku! With Jan and Colin’s help and a lot of anxiety from us we finally got ourselves secured at both ends, “trussed up like a chicken” …. as Geoff muttered several times during the operation. It felt wrong not to be able to free anchor and let the boat swing to the wind. However, after a few attempts we got better and less stressed about it all. Fortunately the winds stayed very gentle and we never experienced any problems with cross winds. We enjoyed lazy days, reading, swimming, occasionally a little walk ashore, great company and good food on each other’s boats.
Photo Boynuz Buku
Needless to say, once we had found a good spot we tended to stay put for several days, until we needed to re stock for food or water really! On our first return to ‘base- camp’ as it were, at Yes Marina, we explored Fethiye town a little and visited the famous Lydian ‘Rock tombs’ that tower over the town, cut out of the high cliffs above.
We also experienced the wonderful Fethiye Fish Market where you can buy your fish from one of many stalls and then you take it to one of the many little restaurants to have it cooked, and served to you with salad and bread for 5 TL! We shared a Mahi- mahi which was beautifully cooked and served. Excellent!
Photo The fish market and restaurants
We hired a bike for a day – not a moped but a proper trail bike! A YamahaXT 650! Geoff was in his element! We spent the day riding around the Fethiye area and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Photo Man on a motorcycle!
Photo View of Fethiye town and bay
Our next sortie into the bays took us to Pillaried Bay, so named for the several pillars situated around it – presumably where boats once tied up to. This too was a delightful anchorage and from here we went ashore and walked along a wooded pathway along the ridge and out to a headland for some lovely views.
Photo View from the headland at Pillaried Bay
Our next bay was to be Tomb Bay but when we arrived it seemed very full and there were no good spots left to anchor so we continued on and headed back for Boynuz Buku. Here too, our favourite spot was taken and we ended up on the shady side of the bay, where we lost the sun by 5.00 and in the morning it did not get warm till after 9.00! After a couple of days two spots on the opposite side of the bay became free so we moved across to the sunny side! That was much better!
We stayed here until we ran out of provisions, and the weather threatened to become a little unsettled for a few days, so we sailed back once more to Fethiye. We hired a car for one day and drove to Dalyan, which is situated at the mouth of a large delta. Here, we hired a tripper boat for the day. Our boatman first took us past the rock tombs, then to explore the ruined city of Caunos, perched on the side of a mountain. This site has been quite well excavated and from the top you could see the marshes nearby that had once been the harbour.
We then went on to a lovely sandy beach, stopping en route to see locals enticing the turtles to our boat with crabs.
We then had a wonderful lunch – of mezes and chicken or meat balls, before continuing up the river to a huge lake. It was rumoured that the film - The African Queen was shot here and it did seem entirely possible as our boat made its way through the many narrow channels bordered by tall reeds. It seemed almost maze like, but clearly the boatmen all knew their way around…. We were returned safely to the quayside at Dalyan from where we headed back to Fethiye.
The next day was market day in Fethiye. What an amazing sight this was! A huge market set up on both sides of the canal with big shades that were strung up and criss crossed the water and seemed to go on for miles! We spent a couple of hours just in the clothing section alone and found one or two bargains!
It was almost time to head west, back to Marmaris. We said farewell to our friends on Sun Dancer, who were off back out to the bays! and headed for a little bay called Kizilkuyruk right at the western edge of Fethiye Bay. From here we would set off early in the morning and make Turunc Bay (near Marmaris) by mid afternoon, after motoring in a flat calm all the way.
10th - 11th October Turunc to Pupa Bay
It was just a very short trip across the bay to get to Pupa anchorage where we thought we could just have another day or two relaxing in the autumn sunshine before having to go into Netsel marina and begin the long list of boat jobs that awaited us in the next week or two.
12th October Pupa Bay to Netsel marina
We motored the couple of miles up to Netsel marina, filled the fuel tank and were shown to our winter berth on D pontoon. For the first time in 5 years of sailing on Matapan we will not be wintering on board this year. Instead of playing on boats this year we shall be playing at houses in Woodbridge!!
