WE'RE OFF!!

On Saturday I walked past the dinghy only to hear a loud "ppppfffffsssss". Our trusty Mailspeed Marine dinghy had finally exploded along one of its seams. This was just typical as only two days earlier I had put its new green anti-decay cover on. A quick inspection showed the problem to be terminal so we hurridly ordered a new one.

So, after waiting for four days for a new dinghy to arrive it finally appeared in Kaş. I moved it onto the boat and blew it up whilst Gill went to try to start the normally tortuous check out process from Turkey. Ten minutes later we hear that the Port Police will be round an hour later and we must be ready to leave there and then. Panic ensued.

We made it though and as we left all our great European and Turkish friends were there to wave us off. Very emotional it was too. Gifts were received and our bicycles which went on general release at the end of B Pontoon were snapped up in a trice.

Anyway, we are now anchored in a large bay just west of Kalkan. We had a good sail most of the way, tacking westwards along the coast. After our tea tonight, courtesy of Joy the Turk, will be up tomorrow probably to do our first overnighter of the passage, aiming for Simi before the strong winds come in.

The main thing is we have broken our ties with shore life and are on our way. Antigua here come.