Despite his dramatic slip on the rocks ( see previous post) Jonathan was not about to give up on the lovely anchorage in Karaloz Liman on Kekova Island – however, after an influx of wasps, the right decision to evacuate was made as the persistent buzzing around our heads was driving the crew mad!
While pulling up the anchor I was literally swarmed by the little critters. It got so bad that my great-niece’s boyfriend had to squirt me with bug spray while I heroically operated the electronic anchor winch!
Finally we were away from the buzzing hordes and we motored gently back to lovely Gökkaya Liman – the first bay in Kekova Roads that we had taken my great niece and her boyfriend to.
The following day we headed for Kas just a few hours sail down the coast to give our guests a couple of days in a more urban setting before they left Turkey to head back to England.
Fortunately, while in Finike a week earlier, we had negotiated a year’s contract with Setur Marinas which enabled us to stay for a certain amount of days without payment in any Setur marina in Turkey. We also organised for Sunday to be lifted and stored at Kas Marina while we spent a few months away to attend our daughter’s wedding to her lovely Dutch partner and also do some land travel (Covid permitting).
So we were able to stay in Kas “for free” in comfort and our guests were able to enjoy the delights of the beach club just a few minutes walk away where they could swim in the pool and in the sea, and lie on sun beds and drink cocktails for a couple of days. As residents of the marina we were entitled to a generous discount off the entry fee.
The entry into the marina was so easy and smooth – most of the work was done by the efficient and capable marina employees who picked up the mooring lines that were threaded through a chain on the seabed, attached them to a long line on board Sunday and then gently manoeuvred us in.
We were very impressed by the marina which was very clean and well kept. There are several restaurants, a pub with a blues band several nights a week and even a supermarket within its precincts (much better to use than risking Corona virus from the tourists in town)
We had a couple of pleasant meals out in the town (sitting outside of course) and Jonathan and I started to organise the process of readying Sunday to leave and looking at possible flights to The Netherlands.
All too soon it was time for our guests to return back to England and rather than send them off in a taxi we decided to make a day of it and hired a car to drive them to the airport in Antalya. The trip was an enjoyable opportunity to see a little more of the interior of Turkey.
Once our guests had left we seriously go down to the getting our boat ready to leave and organising our trip to The Netherlands. It was quite an anxious time as we were concerned that the influx of travellers (particularly from Russia – 40,000 just in the first two days of Turkey opening up to tourists) would bring more Covid cases and subsequently possible closure of borders between Turkey and other countries (particular The Netherlands!) We were terrified that we wouldn’t make it to our daughter’s wedding which would have been heartbreaking – especially as along with her partner’s parents, we were the only guests.
The heat was relentless while we were working on the boat which made it all the more exhausting but thankfully we were able to swim in the clear cold water (the entire marina appears to be fed by icy streams off the mountains behind) in a roped off section off the hard stand area.
We also organised for some of the bigger jobs like taking down the sails and cleaning, drying and folding them ready for storage down below, to be done by the workers from the sail loft.
As the saying goes “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” so we decided to have a day off and hire a car to do some exploring on land. Watch this space to hear more about an amazing day.
Salty tales from Bali Hai on Sunday 