When we awoke in Marmaris back on the 17^th May, the forecast was still for southerly winds, albeit with squalls, rain and thunderstorms.  And stronger  winds due for the coming weekend – maybe even a southerly gale. 

So we agreed on getting out of south facing Marmaris on the Wednesday, and covering the 40 miles around to a sheltered bay at Dirsek around on top of the peninsular under which Marmaris lies.  This bays north /  south axis should provide great protection from southerly winds, especially if we can tuck up at the head of the bay to sit out the gale.  Some time at anchor and out of a marina was also appealing.

Before we left Marmaris there was one last task to fulfil – if possible.  We needed to get our Turkish Cruising Permit updated correctly before we could think of presenting it to Turkish officials at our port of exit.  Unless we could present it - we could not get the invoice for the dinghy stamped and reclaim the 300 euros in VAT already paid.

To cruise in Turkey one needs to purchase a 12 month Cruising Permit on arrival, and one is supposed to list all your ports of destination and have them stamped by the issuing officials, and then get it updated at each port as you move along your route. 

Naturally, we’ve not done this. 

We entered Turkey at Finneke last July, which is only 40 miles west of where we parked the boat at Kemer.  So logically on our permit we only had Kemer listed as our port of destination.  But when we left Kemer this trip to head westward (again past Finneke) and towards where we are now, I never thought about getting it updated.  A dumb move.

That morning on the local radio net, another cruiser relayed the tale of someone who had not got their permit updated correctly, and was now facing a 600 euro fine from customs officials.  Sue and I looked at each other when we heard this, as whilst it’s not normally vital to formally clear out of Turkey (ie one could simply sail away), but we did want to do it right and get back our paid VAT.

So anyway – the story on the net told us the customs guys at Marmaris were new, and therefore religiously applying all the rules.  So after hearing this, we’d almost decided to forego the 300 euros and head over to Greece – but after all – it is 300 euros.    

So I thought I’d give it a go by visiting the Marmaris Harbour Master early today.  We find harbourmasters are usually nicer more mature people than the younger uniformed custom guys.

True to form, turns out this is true in Marmaris.  The harbourmaster Memet, complete with Abu Pasha moustache, was firm in letting me know it was HIS harbour, and HIS decision on accepting or changing a wrongly completed permit.  So scribble and stamp, stamp, stamp – a handshake and a big smile - and we were legal again.

So I wandered back to the boat feeling pretty chuffed to regain the chance to reclaim the euros when we finally do exit Turkey (now again undecided – maybe Dacha or Bodrum), and joined Sue in a quick food shop.  Paid our Port Marmaris bill (82 euros for 2 night, water / electric / wi-fi included).  And headed out for the gunkhole to sit out the forecasted bad weather.

It was sunny when we left, and the winds were a solid south easterly as we beat over to the bays mouth off of Marmaris towards the open seas.  But as we exited the narrow mouth the winds went soft, and we had to use our engine to continue heading south towards the first southern cape, where we could turn westward and then slide along the bottom of the peninsular which stretched out westward before us. 

Sods law rules.  Our earlier and firmly forecasted south easterly, which should have given us a nice beam reach along the bottom of this east / west coastline, turned SW almost exactly as we did. 

Meaning we were now heading straight into it.  Not really the best point of sailing when you are in a hurry!

The winds continued to build and reached a steady 25 knots with higer gusts.  It created a very lumpy sea, so we crashed into it under engine with a bit of help from the full main, so as to maintain the 7.5 knots boat speed we needed in order to arrive before dark. 

We crashed our way westward for just over 3 hours, with the bow heaving up and crashing down, a lots of flying spray rattling on the spray hood.  Still sunny though – so good cool sunbaking weather at the helm – as it was too windy to keep the bimini up. 

By 1530 we came to the end of the peninsular where we could then turn north and take the lumpy sea on our beam.  There is a God, as the wind backed round to the south as we turned, so we ended up with a rollicking sail running directly northward before the new wind.  With our 120% genoa poled out with our full main, the boat went relatively quick - but felt very very stable.  Good to prove that sail combo for longer distance offwind work.

Took us maybe 90 minutes at 8 to 9 knots to get to the top of the peninsular, so we could then turn eastward for the one last mile to Dirsek Bay. 

We dropped sails and slid in to its protected water about 1800, just as the sun began to dip behind the surrounding hillsides.  As stated, it’s a long skinny bay about half a mile long, facing north / south.  In its most southern tip it is protected all round by high scrub covered hills, and a small shore side restaurant with a short jetty nestles right in the most southern corner.

We found two other ex Kemer yachts at anchor in the head of the bay where we found 20 / 25 metres of water.  ‘Asher’ and ‘Ginny’.  Plus maybe half a dozen Sunsail yachts tied up off the restaurant jetty, and one Gullet.

Looking NW - 

Looking SW -

We anchored relatively close to shore in only 15 metres of water and settled down for an evening on board.  As we went to bed the signs of bad weather from the south first appeared as clouds whisping over the hilltops.

Quiet first night as we were tucked close in, and the few gusts that came in tended to come over our masthead.  By morning the sun had begun to peek out for short spells, and a bracing / cleansing swim woke us up proper.  Not the warmest water just yet but lovely.

Mid morn we took the dinghy ashore and climbed one of the surrounding hills using goat tracks to get a few photos plus work off some fat.  Hot and sticky as we climbed.  Very barren scrub and only wild life seen were goats (who avoided us) plus a pretty little tortoise valiantly trying to climb up (or down) the track. He was a shy but heavy little ******.  Plus saw some brilliantly blue flutterbyes – we’ll have to get a reference book.

Caught up with guys off the ex Kemer yachts for a short lunch at the restaurant.  It has a regular shore side Turkish menu, you know, kebabs, chicken, calamari etc.  But it was expensive by Turkish standards.  Otherwise all fine.

Clouded up and a spatter of rain came through mid arvo, and around 1800 just before we were due on Ginny for evening refreshments, we found ourselves dragging our anchor under the building northerly winds and heading slowly shoreward towards the rocks.   Northerly?  We had southerlies forecast!!

We believe we dragged because of the combo of bad holding ground (rocky bottom), which combined with wind onto our high freeboard and our light weight, causes Swagman to move around at anchor more than most other yachts.

Anyway, repositioning ourselves further out only took minutes, but it’s this kind of thing that really makes Sue want a heaver and more stable yacht.  Mr Oyster, one day soon, you may have another client…..…..

Drinkies over, we retired on board a bit happy to heat up and scoff last nights frahita leftovers, but what with gentle northerlies keeping us stationery, and with Boticelli blasting from the stereo, and a background of English chatter coming from the restaurant maybe 100 metres away, we had a very pleasant end to the evening. 

More rain and gusts to 20 knots early hours of the night.  With 50 metres of chain out we did not drag, but as the wind swirled over the hillsides Swagman did circle its anchor a few times, so the rumble of it being hauled over the rocky seabed did wake us both and more than once.  At 0500 the wind built to gust of over 25 knots so Swagman began to hunt back and forth a bit too much for my liking.  So I up I got, coffee made, and watched the sun coming up whilst on anchor watch. 

The plotter has confirmed we’ve not moved anchor since resetting, but boy can the boat hunt back and forth when it blows.  Have to try and find a solution, or work out where to get the dosh for that big Oyster!

Since getting here I’ve busied myself doing small boat chores, but I know Sue is getting marginally stir crazy sitting in this bay with no sunshine.  And the boat constantly moving around is not relaxing.  So on Friday we aimed to hoist sails and cruise further into Korfesi Gulf – the area of sea we’re now in.

There is a bigger but still north facing bay at Orhaniye located maybe 12 miles east of Dirsek, which appears from the chart to be also protected from southerlies.  But most importantly, we could see it has a small village, a marina or restaurant jetties if we want to use them, and possible more LIFE than exists around Dirchek.

So after our now regular morning dip, we hauled anchor quickly and headed off along the top of the peninsular going eastward into the Korfezi Gulf.

Despite overcast sky it’s an impressive bit of coastline to skip along, between several off lying rocky islands and the mainland shore. 

Its clear from the ruins you can see on the islands that they were one inhabited, but no longer.

Got into the bay at Orhaniye and as we motored past Marti Marina to anchor at the head of the bay, we ran into (again) Robin Leigh (but spelt correctly this time).  There are 3 restaurant jetties plus a small Sunsail private marina all tucked up this end.  The anchorage area is relatively small – space for maybe 20 boats as some parts of this area a very shallow.  We anchored in company with half a dozen others in maybe 8 metres of water, perhaps 40 metres from the rocky shore.

Spend some of the afternoon ashore with Robin and Charles, and agreed to join their boat tonight for a pot luck type evening meal.  It was set for 1800.

But at 1700 the boat took a big lurch to one side as the southerly wind kicked in hard.  She spun round (slowly now due to drogue so read below) to face a wall of wind and water.  Inside an hour, we had winds averaging 30 knots with gusts up to 40 across the anchorage.  All the boats, both at anchored and tied up to the jetties and marinas, heaving and moving about before the growing gale. 

(Insert picture of Sunsail Jetty)

We’d taken a suggestion from the guys off Ginny and added a drogue to our anchor chain just below the waterline.  And it works to keep the boat more steady. It seems the drag of the drogue when the wind pushes the bow around is enough to slow down the boat swing, and allows the stern to catch up.  We’re still moving back and forth, but then so are all the other boats in this kind of wind force.  Several other yachts upped anchor to reposition themselves out of danger, but the wind continued to build.

By 1900 the wind was a steady 35 knots, with gusts we recorded over 60 knots.  In the shallow bay (remember 8 / 10 metres deep) foaming waves were appearing.  The bay is not as well protected as Diresek was, as it has a flat valley at its south western head.  The southerly gale blew in across this valley, was turned by the hills, and swept across the anchorage with some force.  You can see the valley from this picture taken earlier in the day.

During our little storm, often little mini tornados were formed.  They drenched us with spray as they blasted over the boat.  Several RIBs were overturned on the backs of anchored yachts – and we even saw one airborn at deck level with its painter bar tight, in one set of gusts.

In these conditions, we decided it was not too prudent to leave the boat.  We’d anchored close to the shoreline, on which waves were now crashing like surf on a beach.  The noise through the rigging and adjacent pine trees was impressive, and the antics of all the boats in the bay, was better than watching TV.

This picture of the Sunsail jetties just before duck does not do the weather justice. The boats on the end were ramming the jetty in reverse.

The gale continued until late.  Max gusts we recorded were 64 knots.  That’s a lot of wind.  By 2300 the gusts were becoming less frequent, and by 0030 it all eased.  I crept into bed and joined Sue’s buzz saw impersonation – absolutely knackered.

The bottom here is fortunately mud and shale, so really good holding.  We pout out nearly 40 metres of 10 mm chain and the 45 kg Delta helped by the drogue held us firm.  Moved back maybe 10 metres through the blow as the anchor buried itself deeper and deeper – it felt very secure.

I’m now finishing this off early Sunday morning as we sit still under overcast sky – but in an absolute calm.  Boat covered in red rain dust which must have arrived as we slept, so add big clean off to Sunday chore list.

The suns up, so guess today will be a lazy one and we’ll head off the port of Dacha tomorrow – and in the meantime catch up with Robin  Leigh  and fulfil the rain-checked evening meal.

I’m sorry this entry is so long.  Did warn you it can get boring.

Bye

JOHN