The CA Cruise – Kekova to Finike

We left Kaş for Kekova Roads, perhaps my favourite place to date.  We anchored in Pölemos Bükü near the Apelai Restaurant, a rustic family run eatery, which did a fantastic job feeding all of us that evening.  There were only 4 of the family to feed about 40 hungry yachties.  Several of the group spent the afternoon peeling potatoes and acting as tournant chefs to help out.  It was a fun night with great food.

A fun night at the rustic Apelai Restaurant

The next morning we walked along the Lycian way to a small bay and snorkeled over a sunken city.  The area had been hit by a massive earthquake in the 2^nd Century AD and many of the buildings sunk into the sea.  We followed the foundations and walls of building with broken terracotta pots lying on the sea bed.  Fantastic.

That afternoon we sailed up the roads with a lovely following breeze to anchor between Kale Koy (ancient Simena) and the pretty little village of Uçağiz (ancient Teimiussa).  The next day we walked up the hill to explore the Crusader castle.  The views were stunning.  The ridge top was a huge necropolis dotted with large stone sarcophagi.  The castle overlooked the entrance to Kekova Roads and was a strategic site for the Knights of Rhodes.

Bob at the necropolis

The castle walls overlooking the entrance to Kekova Roads

Olives ripening amongst the sarcophagi

The sunken city of Kale Koy

The next day we did another short sail to a quiet bay on the eastern end of the Roads, Gokayya Liman.  This was the site for the much anticipated pirate night.  Everyone got into the spirit of the night.  Just on dusk each boat crew approached the beach in their dinghies in full pirate regalia with many a ‘Ah hars and Ho Ho and a bottle of rum’.  After a delicious pot luck dinner we sang sea shanties and other ditties.  There were several from Wales amongst us and they couldn’t be stopped, singing all their favourites in Welsh.  It was a fantastic night with an orange harvest moon rising as we made our way back to the boats.

Bob hamming it up with Peggie

Pirates!

The next day we sailed to our final destination, Finike Marina.  We had a lovely 16 nm sail with 8-10 knots of wind 40 degrees off our bow.  That night we had a BBQ on the pier and a warm welcome by the marina manager.  Finike is surrounded by spectacular mountains which are snow covered in the winter but has a mild enough climate to be the Orange City of Turkey.  To celebrate the fact, the marina gave us litres of freshly squeezed orange juice with a generous dollop of vodka for good measure to start our festivities.

The next day was a bus trip to more Lycian ruins of Arykanda followed by a great lunch of fresh trout at a riverside restaurant.

The view from Arykanda

The ruined buildings of Arykanda

Another amphitheatre on a mountainside

A great setting for lunch

 The final day of the rally was a morning outing around Demre to the Lycian/Greek ruin of Myra and the church of St Nicolas, a sacred site for the many Russian tourists.  The church was built in the 6^th Century.  It contains the original tomb of St Nicholas and has beautiful frescos and mosaics.

Rock tombs of Myra

Mosaics in the Church of St Nicholas

Frescoes

The last night was the much anticipated and feared Talent Night.  Bob and I had been practicing our 3 minute skit but we are no entertainers.  I am much more as ease talking about my research in front of 200 international academics than getting up in front of 40 yachties to do a song and dance routine.  Fortunately with the good bonhomie of everyone and a few glasses of wine, no one was nervous.  There were some very clever, talented and funny acts – poems, songs, and dance – and lots of laughter.  Bob and I held our own (ie we didn’t make complete fools of ourselves) with our yachtie rendition of ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’ complete with pith helmets.

So ended our two week Lycian Coast rally.  It was a great experience for us.  It really boosted our confidence in this sailing caper.  We met fantastic people and made some good friends who we suspect will continue to pop in and out of our lives as we all sail around this big blue planet.