Back to being Pontoon Rats

Over the next week we slowly made our way back West to Marmaris, visiting various bays and inlets, some new, some old and along the way bumping into some of the Rally participants.

We left Finike early Sunday morning feeling a bit sad to be leaving all our new friends and acquaintances.  We motored to the harbour of the small village of Uçağiz along Kekova Roads, anchored and basically crashed for the rest of the day.  The next day we explored this quaint village and some of the ancient ruins peppered throughout.  In the afternoon Breakaway appeared, anchored nearby and invited us for sundowners later on.  

It was good to chat and hear all their stories.  Barbara and Richard have had their boat for 30 years and sailed it from the US, through the Panama Canal, across the Pacific to New Zealand, PNG, Australia, Southeast Asia, where they were caught in the Boxing Day Tsunami off Phuket, then across the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean where they have been based for several years.  So there are lots of stories and much experience to gain from them.  Like all the yachties we have met they are generous with their time and help.

Breakaway under Spinnaker

From Kekova Roads we sailed about 18nm and tucked into a quiet cove near Kaş for an early night.  The next day we tacked back and forth along the coast to the pretty anchorage of Yesilkoy where we met more CA Rally participants, Reg and Nicky on Blue Velvet of Sark.  These two ex-RAF pilots have owned Blue Velvet for 8 years and done 19,000 nm on this very sturdy ocean going Rustler 42.  They are a lovely couple who are incredibly helpful and generous - More sundowners and great conversation.

Blue Velvet zooming along - once we clocked her on the AIS going 8.3 knots!

Sunrise coming out of Yesilkoy

But then some choppy seas - view from the aft cabin

Thursday was another early start for the long 40 nm along the notorious Seven Capes to Fethiye.  The passage was dead quiet and we ended up motoring most of the way.  So much for notorious.

Calm seas and blue skies along the Seven Capes

 We spent two nights at anchor in Fethiye relaxing and doing some minor repairs.  Sunday we had a great 16 nm sail tacking across the Gulf to a little anchorage of Kizil Kuyruk.  Here we did the uniquely Mediterranean mooring technique of putting lines ashore on our own.  Because the anchorages are often little coves that are very deep (a bit like fjords) it is necessary to anchor fairly close to shore and tie two lines from the stern of the boat onto rocks so that the boat is secure in a triangle of anchor points.  We did this once on the rally but had the whole fleet helping us.  This time we were doing it on our own.  

The process is quite an athletic feat.  While Bob is at the wheel I go forward and drop the anchor leaving out about 40 m of chain.  Bob reverses to set the anchor then I climb down the swim ladder (others have been known to dive off their boat but I am not quite that agile) and Bob hands me the first of the shore lines which I hold in my hand while swimming about 25-30 m to shore and tying it to a rock.  Then I come back for the second line and repeat the process of tying to another rock about 45 degrees in the other direction.  

As this was our first time doing this procedure, we had to do some fine tuning so we ended up re-laying the anchor and shore lines.  I certainly got in a lot of swimming! Climbing on the rocks was a bit tricky as they can be quite pointy (being volcanic stone) and covered with sea urchins.  I make sure I wear goggles so I can see what is underwater and swim shoes to protect my feet.  I must admit we felt pretty pleased we did this and a lot more confident to do this in the future.

Monday was the 38 nm back to the Yat Marine, five weeks after we left.  The seas were very rolly and we had some close encounters with Turkish war ships.  When we got on shore we still hadn’t gotten our land legs after 8 hours of rocking and rolling seas and found ourselves swaying in showers.

Another beautiful sunrise

Turkish warship on exercises

Rolly gray seas

So we now are tucked up at the marina for the winter where we will be amongst a handful of live aboards, easing into the rhythm of the marina, living the life of Pontoon Rats– winter boat repairs and maintenance, canteen lunches with the workers, learning more Turkish, reading and of course planning more land travel.

Sunset at the marina