Up early for our last day of passage making after a bad night’s sleep. Strong gusts of wind kept funnelling into the bay and we knew from the pilot that the holding was poor. We were OK but 3 of the anchored boats in the bay had to re-anchor in the night. The sky was overcast and it was gusty as we motored out and turned south east towards Turkey. We had hoped that we would have a final glorious sail into Turkey but as we moved along the coast the wind followed us round and was on the nose all the time so we put the motor on and resigned ourselves to bashing into the waves. At 8.50am we lowered the Greek flag for the last time and raised the red Turkish flag – we were in Turkey!
Once we turned east we were able to put 3 of the sails up and beat along the coast, motoring occasionally when the wind dropped. John saw 2 flying fish – why do I never seem to see them? Then we were becalmed, put the engine on and motored round the corner into Marmaris Bay. Wow – spectacular or what. Numerous gullets – large wooden Turkish tourist boats, hundreds of yachts, the odd small cruise ship, big power boats – it was like a different world. We carefully motored through the small gap at the mouth of the bay, praying we wouldn’t meet a cruise ship coming the other way and scuttled round the corner, east towards Yat Marine, the other big Marmaris marina, looking for a place to anchor for the night. Finally arrived at the anchorage outside the marina and made hard work of anchoring in 12 metres. Had to pull up the anchor and move because we were indecisive and parked too close to another boat – we were tired and it’s hard to make the right decision when the anchorage is not clear in the pilot book so you are not sure of the depths. We were just making tea when the bloke from the next boat arrived for a chat and a G & T – a marine surveyor called Richard who turned out to be a mine of useful information. Then early bed – our last night at anchor – not peaceful as gusts of wind kept howling down from the bay and rocking us around, and the nightclubs from Marmaris and the nearby shore seemed to be vying with each other to make the most noise. Great!
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| Leaving Pethi with Turkey in the distance |
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| Yellow Q Flag to show entry into Turkey |
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