Category: Retirement on a boat

Day two of our road trip in Turkey aboard our van Frieda: after a cosy sleep despite the chilly weather, we met Jan and Jack for breakfast at their incredibly cute lodgings in Selçuk, Turkey. The breakfast was sumptuous – lots of different cheeses, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, local honey, jams, preserves and copious amounts of…

The last day of the year started ridiculously early with a drive to Izmir Airport to farewell our daughter and son-in-law who were returning to the Netherlands after a busy Christmas holiday with us in Turkey. We arrived in plenty of time for their early morning flight and after sad “goodbyes” we left for the…

Time was short as our daughter and son-in-law (Hannah and Pieter) were leaving Turkey on New Year’s Eve so we crammed in as much sightseeing and cultural experiences as possible in the short time we had left. One day we went to Bodrum – a lovely harbour town a couple of hours drive south of…

Our Christmas decorations aboard S/V Sunday were complete except for one nostalgic item – the sweet fragrance of a genuine Christmas tree. On our travels around the Didim area we had seen plenty of the hardy little pines so beloved of Europeans at Christmas and decided to try and find somewhere to stop and find…

Although we had vowed to have joint birthdays from now on, our yachtie friends at Didim Marina had other ideas! On Jonathan‘s special day we started the celebrations with a sumptuous breakfast at the Yacht Club restaurant with our sailing buddies and next door neighbours, Sue and John. Jonathan opened some of his presents and…

We had encountered plenty of snow on our drive through Europe from the Netherlands to Turkey but once we crossed the border it was rain and more rain that we had to endure. It poured all night and after a broken sleep due to the incessant drumming on our roof, we left our slippery and…

We had diverted to Hainburg an der Donau in Austria on our road trip between Turkey and the Netherlands in order to fill up with water. Finally successful, we had a good night’s sleep outside the local sports centre. We woke to freezing temperatures – the pond which we had camped next to was completely…

This is a hard blog to write because it’s about me having a significant birthday – something I’d rather not talk about too much! However, I had such a wonderful shared celebration with Jonathan (who is three weeks younger than me) that really I cannot pretend it didn’t happen – so here goes! We were…

Back at Didim Marina after the most fantastic trip of South-East Turkey with a group of fellow yachties, we were happy to find all was well aboard S/V Sunday. There was no time to get back into the daily rhythm of life aboard however, as we were booked to fly to the Netherlands in just…

Our tour of south East Turkey was drawing to a close but there were still some fabulous things to see and do. We left the incredible and innovative Museum Hotel in Antakya and drove for around 50 minutes to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea near Samandağ (the medieval port of Saint Symeon). It was…

It was a lovely drive from Gaziantep to Hatay, Turkey’s southernmost province – bordered by Syria to the south and the east. Out of the minibus windows along our way we gazed at vast fertile plains that extended as far as the eye could see – with mountains looming in the far distance. Antakya, the…

Our visit to the mysterious tumulus and the ancient heads on top of Mt Nemrut left us feeling intrigued and slightly overwhelmed – quite sure that we had seen the very best that South East Turkey had to offer. However, the following days were equally fascinating and just as enjoyable. The next adventure began with…

Each day of our tour in South-East Turkey was simply amazing. Every place we visited was fascinating, beautiful, or spectacular – usually all three. In addition, we managed to tick off several places on our bucket list – one being Mount Nemrut, surely amongst the most dramatic ancient sites we have ever visited. On top…

After leaving atmospheric Mardin in South-East Turkey, we travelled onwards to what has been described as the world’s oldest place of worship – Göbekli Tepe – a mysterious Neolithic archeological site that dates back to between 9600 and 8000 BCE – 6,000 years older than Stonehenge and 7,000 years older than the pyramids! Excavations of…

Just imagine that your family had lived in the same modest house for generations. One day your father starts some renovation work – when he starts digging he finds what appears to be the remains of a staircase. Soon it is apparent that there is something significant down there and he digs down further. Archeologists…

Even though we have been travelling more or less full time for six years we never quite get used to saying goodbye to our friends and family. However, the sadness we feel at the parting of ways makes reunions all the sweeter – especially when you meet people again who you last saw in a…

The ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey draws massive crowds of visitors – both local and international – every year. I have read that this might partly be because the ruins are easy to access from Izmir airport and Kusadasi, a nearby cruise ship port, but that seems a far too cynical assessment to me.…

How lucky we were to have brilliant weather for the short voyage with my sister Julia who was visiting our boat Sunday from her home near London, England! We set off from Didim Marina with our sailing buddies Sue and John on S/V Catabella. The weather was glorious and the sea calm and a wonderful…

It really is a small world, especially when it comes to the yachting community! We had been anchored in Yalikavak for a couple of days when a beautiful Amel ketch called S/V Dusk came into the anchorage. It turned out that this lovely boat belonged to Tracey and Steve Bell from South Africa. After a…

Before leaving the picturesque village of Gümüşlük, we were determined to walk across to the other side of the isthmus and up the hill to see the remains of the ancient city of Myndos. The walk across the isthmus didn’t take long and once there, we were captivated by the gorgeous little bays with gin-clear…

Kıyıkışlacık and the enchanting remains of ancient Iassos in Turkey would remain in our memories for ever! Our next few stops were less exciting but nevertheless enjoyable. We sailed back down Asin Körfezi, a small gulf at the eastern end of Güllük Körfezi and made for an anchorage in Çam Limanı, a very large bay…

What a fascinating place Iassos is! Located next to the charming village of Kiykislacik, the site holds endless surprises. We had loved wandering around the 4th Century BC (and earlier!) ruins on the perimeter coastline of Iassos but we hadn’t yet walked up to the remains of the medieval castle built by the Knights of…

It always intrigues us that there are so many ancient sites in Turkey that you scarcely hear of but when visited reveal fascinating surprises and mind blowing history. The site of Iassos is one such place. Originally on an island but now attached to the mainland, it has been settled since the Early Bronze Age.…

We left Bodrum vowing to return as there was so much more to see there. For now we we were pressed for time as our fellow travellers and cruising buddies Sue and John had a flight to catch to the UK and needed to get to Didim where they were going to leave Catabella. They…

To our great relief, we had managed to get our anchor down in the Gökağaç anchorage at Yedi Adlari – despite both our ignition and the anchor hand controller being out of action. We had also managed, with the help of John from S/V Catabella, to shut down the engine (and the dreaded alarm mentioned…

In my last blog I described the atmospheric beauty of ancient Knidos which lies at the very tip of the Datça peninsula in the south-west of Turkey. It was such a buzz being anchored in this harbour where many thousands of merchant vessels and warships had been anchored before us, over the course of more…

Saying “goodbye” is never easy, especially in these Covid times when future meet ups are uncertain with lockdowns and cancelled travel arrangements possibly occurring at the drop of a hat. However, we felt very grateful that our daughter and son-in-law had managed to leave the Netherlands and visit us for two weeks and we have…

It is said that “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good” and the scary events caused by the Meltimi wind in Datça (mentioned in my previous blog), proved this to be true! Apart from the fact a drowning woman was saved, we also met some great people through the series of events caused…

It was such a great relief to have our daughter and husband safely with us on board Sunday after an anxious wait beforehand wondering whether new travel restrictions would be initiated or their PCR tests returned positive. Their arrival had been quite dramatic with terrible bushfires along the coast and lots of smoke and ash…

What a week of highs and lows – of excitement and anxiety, of pleasurable anticipation and indescribable horror! We were eagerly waiting for our daughter and son-in-law to arrive from the Netherlands but we weren’t allowing ourselves to get too excited as we have become used to arrangements being cancelled or rules changed at the…

There’s a lovely anchorage in Bozburun so it beats us why people prefer to Med moor (where the anchor is dropped and then the boat is tied to land). We are grateful for this however, as it leaves all the more room for us! More of a village than a town, Bozburun can be reached…

It was great to be on the road again for a day’s exploring before picking up John from S/V Catabella who was due to arrive at Dalaman airport that evening. We decided to head for some interesting spots well in range of the airport as we didn’t want to find ourselves miles away in a…

The early morning peace at our anchorage outside the Turkish Riviera resort town of Marmaris was shattered by the blaring of horns, tooting, sirens and loud music very close by. A fire boat was spraying water and several vessels were moving in procession with a large Coast Guard ship leading the way. We weren’t sure…

After our exciting Med mooring experiences in the Göcek National Park we left for Marmaris and were looking forward to the sanity of swinging at anchor. We left early (for us!) to take advantage of the relatively light winds and smooth seas as it was predicted that the wind (which at this time of year…

I’ve ranted about “Med mooring” before and I know in very deep and crowded anchorages it is a necessity but I will continue to absolutely abhor this way of securing our boat! For the uninitiated, Med mooring is where you anchor in (usually) very deep water and then reverse towards land, stretching back on your…

It was time to move on from Kas so we fuelled up, emptied our holding tanks and left town! As we motored past the beautiful little Bed and Breakfast where we had enjoyed a delicious spread the previous day, we were amazed to see the figure of Aysun, the very generous owner who had presented…

Lockdown in Turkey has meant we haven’t been able to realise our plans to travel – during the cooler months – to various locations inland. There are so many wonderful places to explore in this amazing country so it has been slightly disappointing. Restrictions have been loosened now however, and we are back travelling over…

Arriving at Uçağız, the small fishing village in the heart of the landlocked bay of Kekova Roads felt a little like visiting an old friend. We have anchored close to the village more than half a dozen times and always feel so comfortable and welcome when we go ashore. Covid has really hit this little…

A week after full lockdown in Turkey finished and Covid restrictions had begun to lift, the engineers at Finike marina started to put our hydraulic passerelle (gangplank) back together. For many weeks it had been propped up with an ingenious steel bar (which we hadn’t asked for but appeared after they had removed the hydraulic…

Thinking about what to write in this week’s blog there didn’t seem much news to recount but on second thoughts, there have been at least three events of importance this week. The first is that Turkey came out of full lockdown which means we can walk freely, get boat work done (our gang plank –…