Moved on by Coastguard, Animal Rescue and fascinating Fethiye

After a pleasant few days in Sarsala Koyu we dropped our lines and motored the short distance to the small town of Göcek.

It might be a small town but it had a big harbour with plenty of room to swing at anchor which we happily took advantage of. Anchoring close to shore with a long line mooring still doesn’t feel natural to us!

Really Göcek is one massive marina (there are actually six of them spread along the water’s edge.) Unfortunately, a lot of the foreshore is fenced off as a result which we thought spoilt the ambiance.

It also means that if you anchor out, the choice for spots to leave your dinghy is limited. We were very fortunate that the guys at the fishing cooperative let us park on their rather ramshackle dock when we went ashore.

The whole Göcek area was declared a Registered Area of Special Protection in 1988 to help protect the surrounding glorious bays, rocky islands and coves which has meant the town itself has no multi story buildings and all development has been reasonably low key.

There is a pedestrian only shopping street with some tourist shops but also with a couple of supermarkets and lots of eateries and cafes.

We were feeling excited as we had just heard that we were about to receive our first boat visitor since taking ownership of Sunday! My sister Julia had made the decision to travel to Turkey from the UK while she could and was arriving in a few days to stay a week on the boat.

So we spent our short stay in Göcek researching the best way to to the airport, possible places for tying up the dinghy late at night and potential sightseeing opportunities.

The following day we headed for the port town of Fethiye and on the way poked our nose into some lovely bays that potentially could be somewhere to take our visitor.

The entrance to Fethiye is relatively narrow considering the massive harbour within. As we went in there was a massive hotel on one of the headlands that looked completely empty, obviously because of the Covid restrictions.

We anchored where the cruising guide book told us – way out of the way of the commercial boats and the marina arms but we hadn’t been there long before the coast guard boat was circling us and telling us to move! Even though we were hundreds of metres away from the Coast Guard mooring we were anchored in line with it and I suppose they thought in an emergency they might hit us – I really don’t know how this could possibly happen but we didn’t argue and anchored further out.

Finding a place to park the dinghy was much easier than in Göcek – we tied up between a couple of fishing boats at the quieter end of the waterfront – not far from the old quarter.

As we drew up a waiter from the nearby juice bar who spoke perfect English after living in the USA for many years, helped us tie up. We got to know “Ryan” quite well during our visits to his cafe where the best tasting and most refreshing juices were served (and some great food too!)

Our first walk through the maze of shops in the fascinating old quarter convinced us that this was a much better place to bring my sister after her late night flight especially as our dinghy was quite safe outside the juice cafe.

The following day we were delighted to see the “other” Sunday who we had last seen in Kargi Koyu was once again anchored close by.

We had a great catch up dinner on Aussie (the other) Sunday and were delighted to also meet fellow Aussies Catie and Michael of S/V Alys who had been in Turkey since 2018 and were full of ideas on what to do and where to go in Fethiye.

The following day Catie and the two Sunday crews hit Fethiye- first stop the chandlery store! After a good browse round and the purchase of a roll of webbing on an easy-to-feed-out wheel for long line mooring was purchased, we hit the amazing fish market.

It was quite a spectacle to see the huge variety of fish and seafood laid out on wet slabs on four sides of a square with individual fish mongers lined up behind selling their wares.

Brittni and Ryan from Aussie Sunday had brought with them their animal carrier back pack that they use to rescue street animals and take them to vets or shelters whenever they see a creature in need.

Just a couple of days before they had seen a tiny little sickly kitten in the fish market and now they were hoping to capture it and get her/him examined and desexed by a vet.

The little cat was very determined not to get caught but one of the cafe owners in the fish market kindly donated a fish and Ryan and Brittni successfully captured her. To find out what happened visit their video channel (see link below).

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=dbcnDRynZYA

Catie then took us to her favourite cafe Mozaik where we had a delicious lunch before more shopping and a walk round the delightful old town of Fethiye.