First Outing of the Season

On Monday we went sailing or rather motoring.  It was the first outing for the season and a very pleasant day.  One forgets just how nice it is to be out on the crystal blue water under the bright Mediterranean sky.  

Nine of us on four boats decided to have a pot luck lunch in Gerbekse Bay, about 12 nm from Marmaris.  It was quite an international group as most of our cruiser get togethers are.  The Commonwealth was well represented with a Scots, several English, an Irish, two Canadians, a New Zealander and us Aussies.  We headed out of Marmaris Bay in the early morning mist into what was promising to be lovely day but with very little wind.

Heading out of Marmaris Bay

So we motored to Gerbekse Bay just enjoying being on the water.  We anchored with the bay to ourselves, save a small fishing boat and the goats with their tinkling bells along the cliffs.

Gerbekse Bay

Little Liz and Onyx at Gerbeske Bay

Ian, the Glaswegian, picked us up in his swish runabout and hosted the pot luck lunch on his very nice 54 foot Jeanneau.  Ian’s cockpit could easily fit all 9 of us.  (Our cockpit would be a squeeze with 6 people.)  We had a great lunch with great company.  Canadian Phoebe’s beef stew was a real hit.  

Reg and Paul relaxing after lunch (you can just see Songster in the background

Repleat, we headed back to the marina about 3.30.  We had just a bit of wind to allow us to sail for about 45 minutes.  Nothing beats putting up the sail, turning off the engine and having only the sound of the water flowing past the hull and the wind in the sails – bliss.

Sails up heading back to Marmaris

The route

On the way back I was stuck at just how big Yat Marine is.  There are well over a thousand boats here at this time of year.  There is space for about 700 boats on the pontoons and an equal number that can be on the hard.

The forest of masts and boats at Yat Marine

It was a great day and we are looking forward to lots more sailing this season.