Rob and I departed Marmarin Marina on Easter Sunday, 23 April 2000. We headed east with an overcast sky with the potential of rain. Well, rain it did and there was thunder and lightning right behind us! Fortunately, it did not catch up to us. After all our hard work, it would have been disaster if we were hit by lightning!

It was great to be on our way and having everything is such good shape, clean and tidy. While underway, we checked our equipment…sails, radar, auto pilot and GPS. Everything worked perfectly.

We found a good anchorage in Ekincik with calm waters and a pine forest right off our deck. Such a wonderful feeling to be back in nature and not in the marina! We had a lovely dinner cooked on the BBQ and savored every moment.

The next day we took the dinghy to explore the mouth of the River Kizilkaya . It is spring here and the wild flowers are profuse in the green, green grass and on the rocky banks. This was a very peaceful little ride that we both enjoyed immensely.

After our river exploration, we continued east with the sun shinning on us. We motored all the way to the bay of Fethiye finding an anchorage at Kapy Creek. Nice little setting with a restaurant and fishing huts. We took a walk up the hill in the afternoon, again enjoying all the wild flowers and the magnificent scenery. We met up with a farmer who invited us into his house. He wanted us to see how his wife made carpets with the hope we would buy one. It was amazing to watch her work. We have seen many carpets here in Turkey, but never quite grasped the actual way they are made. We sat and watched her knot bits of wool so fast making the pattern as she went along. This was a very impressive experience as it gave us both a new appreciation for these beautiful carpets that we have seen while here in Turkey. No, we did not buy one as we purchased a Turkish carpet in Istanbul. It was tempting though!!

We spent the next day exploring the many anchorages of this beautiful bay with steep red cliffs and high mountains. We picked Deep Bay for our nights anchorage. It was very protected and we had it all to ourselves!

It took us a couple of days to get back to Marmarin Marina to have the new engine adjusted after this use on the "shake down" cruise. We spent the morning there, then took off west and headed for Bodrum.

We arrive in Bodrum after three days of solid day sailing and motoring. We are excited to get here as we are meeting up with Maureen and her nine-year-old son Fergus, friends from Australia we have not seen for four years. After a bit of provisioning, checking email and other town errands, Maureen and her son Fergus join us and we take off heading north west along the Turkish coast. We are headed to Kusadasi, where we plan to go inland to see the ancient city ruins of Ephesus. Winds are very light so we motored most of the way.

This coastline is not as interesting as we have experienced previously. We see many developments of "Holiday Villas" all looking exactly the same and all empty. We wonder how anyone is making money, as there are hundreds of them.

We anchored the first night in a lovely land locked harbour with a small village. We found a peaceful, natural anchorage the second night and the third night we are in Iassos. This is an ancient port with some wonderful ruins to visit. The village is very small and quiet, its main industry is fishing. We got some fabulous prawns that were delicious! We were planning to continue sailing north, but the winds came up heavily. So Maureen, Fergus, Rob and I all took the bus to Selcuk for an overnight trip to see Ephesus.

Ephesus is the best preserved classical city on the eastern Mediterranean and one of the best places in the world to get a feel for what life was like in Roman times. The area was prosperous from 600 BC to 600 AD and was occupied by peoples before the Romans came. The ruins we see today are Roman and held a population of about 250,000 people. You can feel the elegance by walking on streets of marble, seeing highly decorated columns, and intricate architecture. We were imagining all the tourists there with togas on.

Maureen and Fergus stayed in Selcuk to further explore this small, but interesting town and then continue on their way to Italy. Rob and I took the bus back to Sea Fever to get on our way the next day. There was not too much wind the following morning, so we went across to Gulluck to check out of Turkey. Once we were checked out of the country, we could continue our journey west and enter Greece. All went well and we did a 12-hour sail to the Greek Island of Samos.

So as I write this, Samos is where we are. I shall miss Turkey. It is a wonderful country with a fantastic landscape and a history that would take years to learn and appreciate. We never tired of visiting ruins and this springtime allowed us to see them at their best. The people are kind, friendly and helpful. There was not one time when we felt threatened for our safety or be stolen from. The food is good and the wine not too bad. I will miss being there for a while I think.

We are headed to the Greek Cyclades Islands, where we will meet with some good friends from California.

Our Adventure continues……

Written 8 May, 2000