Eastern Med 2015

Israel, Northern Cyprus, and Turkey

Day 734 – 736 – 28 – 30 Apr, 2015
Leaving the Suez Canal and over to Herzliya, Israel And then all of a sudden after a year of research and four months of travel across the Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez, and the Canal… we were in the Mediterranean Sea! The beginning of our dream to cruise the Turkish coast, explore the islands of Greece, and more!

We sailed overnight from Port Said at the top of the Suez Canal over to Herzliya, Israel. As soon as we entered Israeli’s economic zone waters (not the closer-in territorial waters) the Israeli navy were contacting us on the VHF. We provided all our information and they kept track of our approach. At about 5 miles out, the navy sent a boat to circle us and ask the same questions again. They requested that we put up our New Zealand country flag and then they headed back to port. They were waiting for us as soon as we entered the harbor and asked about four thousand questions until they were satisfied and directed us to immigration, which was an easy process. We weren’t expecting that, but go figure. Once checked in to Israel we made our way to the marina office and got a slip assignment. They are VERY full here and we wound up on A dock squished amidst big-boy motor yachts. The marina is lovely and there is a modern mall (with supermarket!) behind.

Day 737 – 758 – 1 – 21 May, 2015 – Herzliya (or Hersliyya, or Herzelia, or…) Israel
We rested up a few days and had a chance to visit with Dan, a former client of mine. We decided to rent a car and tour around much of Israel, leaving Jerusalem for a separate mini-trip using public transportation. You don’t need, or even want, a car in Jerusalem.

See our inland adventures in Israel in the Destinations section!

We were sad to leave Jerusalem with so much left unexplored, but we were invited to join in a Shabbat dinner in Tel Aviv that evening. It was lovely to spend a relaxed evening with new friends and Roger looked quite dashing in his yarmulke.

Our new friends came to visit with us the following day to see the boat. They are very interested in sailing, and want to buy a boat of their own soon. Happy to encourage anyone into this fantastic lifestyle!

We have a few days to rest and provision up before the next good weather window to sail north. If we can find a place for the boat, we might come back to Israel for the winter months, but with all the marinas packed, it may not be realistic. We’ll see… just put it out to the Universe and let it guide us to what is in our best and highest good, paddling downstream.

We thought we’d leave out on Wed 20^th May, but decided to wait an extra day as the GRIBS showed it to be more favorable. Wednesday evening there was a white wine festival on the Marina/Mall promenade and the marina office sent over entrance tickets for us. So why not?!!! We had a fun evening sipping too many different wines and soaking up the alcohol with a variety of artisan cheeses and crusty bread, while listening to the live bands under the stars with a cool breeze blowing. The next morning, when we considered needing to leave that evening, we thought better of having consumed what for us was a lot!

When we said our farewells to the folks at Herzliya marina, they gave us warm hugs and said they hoped we would return. They also gave us a few lovely gifts… Herzliya marina baseball caps, a marina flag and a really nice bottle of red wine (safely stowed under the floor boards in the galley, our makeshift wine cellar).

Day 759 – 761 – 21 – 23 May, 2015 – Herzliya to Karpaz Bay, Northern Cyprus
With 230 miles to go, we set out in the evening for Northern Cyprus. The winds didn’t turn southerly as predicted, and the swell was on the beam, making for an uncomfortable motion (especially after too much wine the previous evening!) The second night was calmer than the first, protected in the lee of Cyprus island. We squeezed in between the end of the Karpaz peninsula and a few islands off its tip, and we arrived in the late morning to Karpaz Gate Marina without incident.

Day 761 – 769 – 23 – 31 May, 2015 – Karpaz Gate Marina, Northern Cyprus
A week in Cyprus – Saturday/Sunday –The marina staff were excellent and they did all the check-in for us just as they said, “hassle free” and at no cost… although we arrived on a Saturday. The marina itself is almost new, having opened in 2011. Due to its very out-of-the-way location, it is almost empty, which is a shame except that we like it quiet. They are also offering great deals on berths for longer stays of 6 months or a year. This might be an interesting option for wintering over. We’ll see.

Day 769 – 770 – 31 May – 1 June, 2015 – Northern Cyprus to Alanya Turkey
We had a lovely, clear, calm sail and motor-sail (the winds died in the early evening) from Northern Cyprus to Alanya Turkey. 24 hours and zoom… we’re in Turkey!

Day 770 – 780 – 1 – 10 June, 2015 – Alanya Marina, Turkey!
The service helping us get situated in the slip was excellent. Once tied up, we checked in with the help of an agent. I don’t know that we could have figured it all out on our own, and from what we hear the authorities don’t speak English, so it was well worth the money to have assistance. Alanya is much more built up and touristy than we had imagined. It’s a beach resort town with predominantly northern Europeans with an ever increasing number of Russians.

 We arrived on Monday morning and were ready to take the marina shuttle to the market on Tuesday. What an awesome market! We haven’t seen better quality produce anywhere! We didn’t need too much, but somehow as usual, we wound up with as much as we could carry. Beautiful tomatoes that actually smelled and tasted like tomatoes… peaches, strawberries, cherries, gorgeous lettuce, and string beans that were crisp and sweet… yum! Wednesday we took to bus to town and walked up to the top of the fortress to the Alanya castle. It was good exercise, and the view was spectacular, but the ruins weren’t well preserved. In the evening, we went with our neighbors to a local restaurant called “Old House”, where they know the owners. We sat in the garden patio and enjoyed an array of meze dishes. They don’t have a menu here, you get a choice of two things that they are serving that evening. It is truly an effort of love. Everything, including the house wine, was superb.

We decided to book a tour online for 3 days inland in Cappadocia, a place listed in the guide as one of the top 19 experiences in Turkey. We’d leave Friday morning and return Sunday evening.

Day 780 – 781 – 10 – 11 June, 2015 – Across the Antalya Gulf, to Cineviz Limani bay
We left Alanya and sailed/motored across the Gulf of Antalya to a lovely little bay on the west side, south of Kemer. We thought we’d stay a day and rest, but at the last moment (11AM) we decided we’d leave right then to head around the corner and over towards Finike Marina so that we could see some of the ancient ruins in the local area.

Day 781 – 786 – 11 – 16 June, 2015 – Finike Marina

Our decision to come into Finike marina for a few days turned out to be a potentially deciding factor in our plans for this upcoming winter. The marina is nice and inexpensive (relatively), the location is beautiful, and the staff is very friendly and efficient. Apparently, Finike has a wonderful little micro-climate (it’s the breadbasket of Turkey) and is a great place to spend the winter with a good cruising community. We have stayed almost a week and have enjoyed the local town, much better than being in a tourist location, built up with resorts, high prices, and loud tourist boats. Here in Finike, an agricultural working town, almost no one speaks any English, some speak German, but not much, and everyone seems friendly. The weekly market is astounding! The produce, cheese, olives, etc…  is fantastic. Also, I made a trip to the chemist to remedy a minor UTI, and bought antibiotics, and vitamin C all for 24 lira (about $9 USD). We are getting completely ripped off in the US.

We rented a car for a day from noon Saturday to noon Sunday. On Saturday, we ventured about 30km west to Demre, to see the church of St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) and the ancient city ruins of Myra. It was amazing to see the necropolis at Myra with tombs carved out from the shear rock face.  We rented an audio guide for both places and I was quite confused at the church in Demre, as the narration didn’t seem to have anything to do with what we were looking at. Turns out the program on my handset hadn’t been recorded properly, and in fact, there were no cubist paintings to be found anywhere in the church of St. Nicholas!

On Sunday morning, we drove 30km north into the beautiful mountains to the ancient city of Arykanda one of the Lycian cities in the region. This is a bit out of the way and there was no one else there. We had the place completely to ourselves. It was a huge site with a well-preserved theater, necropolis, odeon, gymnasium and baths (large and small), as well as holy temples and a stadium. Coming from the US, where “old” means a few hundred years, sites like these from the 5-6^th century BC are simply amazing!

We drove back to turn in the car by noon and to join the weekly Sunday BBQ at the marina. Unfortunately, no one told us that the social scene is much diminished in summer and no one showed up for the BBQ except us! Still, we enjoyed a lovely lunch of grilled chicken, corn on the cob (amazingly good from the market) and cut up veggies.

Monday I went into town to pick up a few provisions and then Tuesday we set out for points west with the intention of likely (you know we can always change our minds, and often do) returning late in October for the winter months.

Day 786 – 788 – 16 – 18 June, 2015 – Finike Marina to Gokkaya Limani (bay)
We motor-sailed 15 miles west and squiggled our way around small islands back into Gokkaya Limani. A stunning setting, with clear blue waters and scrubby rock-strewn hills, we anchored amidst a few boats. Shortly thereafter boats started to arrive left and right… Gullets (local Turkish day boats or overnighters), charter boats and yachts. It was PACKED! Music, laughter, water pull toys (think speedboats pulling screaming tourists on inflatable rafts and rings), and even a little local boat outfitted with an ice cream cooler, peddling popsicles to the tourist boats. Despite it being somewhat of a madhouse, we stayed two nights and really enjoyed it… Swimming and relaxing and viewing the goings on.

Day 788 – 790 – 18 – 20 June, 2015 – Gokkaya Limani (bay) to Kalekoy

We motored only two miles to reach our next destination, Kalekoy in the Kekova Roads. What a beautiful, romantic, quaint place. You can only get to the tiny hamlet of Kalekoy by boat and it is comprised of a handful of pensions and restaurants, plus a wonderful castle/fortress on top of the hill with beautiful sarchofagi dotting the hilltop to the east. This is part of the old Lycian civilization and the area was originally called Simena.

Across the bay to Kekova Island there are the remains of what they call the “sunken city”, but most of what you can see is just the remains along the shore. Still, we delighted in our little “Joy ride” along the shore in the morning, followed by a walk up to the castle and around the ruins. We anchored right in front of the village the first night, but the local tourist gullets were put out and had to maneuver around us. So the following morning we moved into the bay behind Kalekoy, which was more protected from the winds and seas. We had a backside view of the castle and were happy to be there since the wind picked up.

Day 790 – 792 – 20 – 22 June, 2015 – Kalekoy to Kas
It was a short run from Kekova Roads (Kalekoy) up to Kas (pronounced “cash”) and we anchored in a protected bay on the eastern side rather than trying to stern tie in the tiny and packed harbor, or go to the very expensive Kas Marina (94 euros/day). Since the bays are so deep in the Med, one has to anchor and then stern tie to a rock or tree on shore. This was our first time trying it and with a cross breeze and tourist boat who dropped anchor right in front of us, it was a challange. It took about an hour to get situated. I think this is going to take some practice! The bay was lovely and we anchored there two nights. A tourist “gullet” pulled in beside us and stayed the evening. The captain had a nifty little device, a flying drone, which entertained us as he flew it flawlessly around the entire bay. We were astounded at how stabile it was and the range it had. The following morning, as we were going for a Joy ride to see a bit of Kas, we stopped over and asked him about it. He said he’d send photos if we sent him an email, which we did. The photos are awesome! The drone costs about $1000, but he said it was totally worth it. For his business, we can see what a benefit it is.

Kas is a sweet little tourist town. Small, with lots of quaint streets and shops. It is much nicer than the ultra-commercial built-up resort area of Alanya. Still, after a few hours of walking around and a trip to the supermarket, we headed back to the boat for lunch and didn’t feel a need to spend any more time there.

Day 792 – 798 – 22 – 28 June, 2015 – Kas to Batikkaya Buku and Fethiye
Onward westbound (or rather northwestbound)! It was 50 miles up to the large bay by Fethiye. We picked a calm day so we weren’t pounding into the prevailing winds and seas coming down the coast. We lucked out and made it into the bay just as the winds were picking up. We anchored in a little bay in front of a beach lined with beach chairs covered in pink and lilac cushions. Despite the number of chairs, this place looked more like a little campsite than a resort and aside from kids splashing and laughing in the water, it was peaceful. It took a bit to get the anchor set. At the end of the day lots of tourist gullets came and anchored to let their bright pink (sunburnt) guests swim, fish and sunbathe. All but one boat left in the evening and we had a quiet night… well, except for the mozzies.

We stayed two nights and then moved into the harbor next to Fethiye. This is a nice little touristy town with lots of quaint little shops and restaurants. We met some nice Kiwi folks on another NZ boat anchored next to us and enjoyed socializing with them. We walked around town and up to the Tomb of the Kings carved out of the hillside.

Tuesdays and Fridays are market days, with Tuesdays geared for tourists and Fridays only local farmers selling their own produce. I went with the other two ladies from neighboring boats on Friday to find a magnificent market… huge and packed with amazing fresh produce. I bought a huge watermelon after getting a taste and deciding it was too good to pass up for only $1.75! Fitting it into the ‘fridge was another story altogether.

Day 798 – 806 – 28 Jun – 6 Jul 2015 – Fethiye to Skopea Limani and Göçek
Just 15 miles across the large bay is Skopea Limani, on the west side including groups of islands and inlets… Prime cruising grounds. Unfortunately, also packed with boats stern tied and parked one next to the other. We spent the first night in Yassica Adalari where we picked up a mooring. Our friends were in a bay just west and the following morning (my birthday) we meandered in and tied up alongside them for a cup of coffee/tea before continuing into Göçek, a little bay tuned for superyachts on the NW side.

We walked around the nice but touristy little resort town, upscale and tuned for the high-end marine market. Instead of opting for a more expensive lunch, having just bought expensive deli items for birthday dinner at home, we had a lamb kebap sandwich, which was tasty but nothing special. Special was the fresh homemade goat’s milk ice cream cone we had for desert!!!  We browsed the marine stores and found some new cushion/chairs (like the pool lounge chairs that one can position at several angles to provide back support) and decided they would be a comfy and welcome addition on board and we bought them for our collective birthdays since I hadn’t gotten Roger a gift for his 60th (because he wasn’t acknowledging actually having a 60th). 🙂

We left the very busy bay by Göçek on Tuesday, the day after my birthday to find a quieter spot, though I wouldn’t have minded another opportunity for goat ice cream! Off we went back to Yassica Adalari, but picked up a mooring on the south side off another island. Nice breeze, calm waters and new cushions to sit on! Life is good. While anchored at the south end of Yassica Adalari, we were visited by the ice cream boat… what an enterprising idea for an area packed with yachts and gullets during the summer. A little speed boat equipped with an ice cream cooler goes from boat to boat selling ice cream! Anchored a few days later near Seagull bay we were paid a visit by the market boat… really a very well-stocked supermarket afloat. We enjoyed purchases from both of these boats, but skipped the souvenir boat.

Day 806 – 810 – 5 – 10 Jul 2015 – Skopea Limani (seagull bay) to Marmaris
We left Skopea Limani at first light and headed NW 40 miles up to Marmaris bay. We anchored between Pupa Yat Hotel and the Marmaris Yacht Marina, where we stayed a night and then headed into the Marina to do some boat repairs and health screening. The marina was jam packed… really, like a boat ghetto with barely enough room for fenders between boats. Our next door neighbors, Juergen and Ossa on “Luna” a 57-ft Beneteau that they just purchased, were lovely and we hope to stay in touch with them.

We had a great experience at the Marmaris Devlet hospital (government/state hospital) which was very inexpensive and provided excellent service and care. Suzanne, a translator for non-Turkish speaking patients was awesome and led us through the process as well as making appointments for us. I’d recommend that hospital above the private one which was soooo much more expensive!

We got our boat parts and got everything fixed and ready to roll in a few days. Marmaris wasn’t particularly appealing, but it certainly is the place in Turkey (besides Istanbul) to get parts and repairs needed.

Day 810 – 814 – 10 – 14 Jul 2015 – Marmaris to Datca/Knidos peninsula
We left Marmaris bay and worked our way about 10 miles along the coast to the protected little Gerbekse anchorage. There were goats along the shore and some calves and a donkey too. Aside from some late-night drama from the cat anchored next to us, it was a nice little place. Roger swam ashore to tie lines to some rocks. We both like swinging free on anchor better than parallel parking and stern-tying “Med style”, but it wasn’t an option in this narrow little bay.

The following morning we continued west and then north at the end of the peninsula. Symi in Greece was on our port side and Turkey on the starboard. We anchored in Kuruca Buku, just 10 miles east of Datca. It was windy and we had a hard time setting our anchor… it took 3 tries. The French boat anchored just upwind from us started dragging and instead of picking up the anchor and resetting it, they just drifted until they were close to us and the rocks, then dragged their anchor over our chain and way too close in front of us. This boat sure didn’t know what they were doing. Roger was up all night checking the wind direction and anchor set, so we decided to head over to Datca the next morning, where it looked like there were better anchoring options. We might be here a week or more until the Meltemis (summer winds) settle down enough for us to get around the end of this peninsula and up to Bodrun peninsula. We’ll either check out there and check into Greece at Kos, or we’ll continue north and check into Greece at Samos.

Day 814 – 14 Jul 2015 – Datca, Turkey to Kos, Greece (Yippee, we’re in Greece!)

See Greece 2015 – part I to continue the voyage!