ALANYA
Our stay at Alanya Marina where we had wintered Makoko was somewhat lengthened by Dave being injured in a motor scooter accident which resulted in bad lacerations all over his body and stitches in his leg and groin. Avi his mate who was driving suffered a compound fracture as his leg was crushed by the bike when it hit the curb. At one stage there was talk of amputating his leg; he is still in hospital as it got infected. So Dave was very lucky even though he looked much worse at the time of the accident. It was very difficult for him to do the jobs one has to do before setting off after wintering as he had scabs on knuckles, knees and elbows and stitches in his leg, groin and in a place that rhymes with Botham but is not bottom (begins with an S).
![]()
![]()
We finally left Alanya on the 8th May. After a long 13 hour motor/sail we arrived at Genovis Bay one of our favourite places and spent 3 days relaxing (a euphemism for cleaning an, polishing Makoko inside and out. Then onto to Kekova Roads where our anchor dragged in a heavy wind in Ucagiz Bay, a bit of a drama in the middle of the night. We picked up our friends John and Annie from Sydney at Kas, provisioned at the spectacular Friday market, enjoyed a gozleme and then set off for Kalkan so I could buy a locally made beautiful cotton outfit from a little boutique where I had bought an outfit 2 years prior. Our friends were desperate to visit Bodrum which although a beautiful setting has become a bit too touristy for us.
Then it was time for Greece We crossing over to the Greek Islands of Simi and Kalimnos. At Vathi a gorgeous fjord like tiny little fishing port we caught up with Eleni our Australian Greek friend who owns a small hotel and restaurant; we were shocked to find that she had been in a car accident 18 months ago which severely damaged her leg so now she has to use a walking frame; nevertheless she still does the cooking and we enjoyed some of her wonderful traditional Greek dishes and left laden with some made olive oil and sweet fruits, a real delicacy.
After prolonged goodbyes we set sail for Patmos tied up to the fishing dock and after the numerous harbour officiasl applies the complicated formula which seems to involve length, weight beam ,pi, epsilon and the first number you think of other than on a leap year when it is the second number we paid 1 euro 67cents for the privilege. Doubtless it would help with the Greek deb even if it doesn’t pay their wages! We climbed the steep 3 km hill to visit the Monastery of Apocalypse where St John received the divine revelation.
Heading north to Samos, we anchored in a little bay near the non touristy fishing village of Poseidon; nets everywhere and tiny cottages lined the shore; no shops; one tavern and bar.
We then crossed back to Cesme on the Turkish coast to drop of our friends. Cesme is a very pretty little town nestling around an old medieval fortress. Unfortunately the new marina has taken up the whole of the harbour so we had no option than to pay an exorbitant 73 euros for the privilege of fancy boutiques and restaurant. But on the other hand the Turkish economy is not crippled by debt.
Dave and I decided to sail further north rather than leave Makoko in the expensive marina while we visited Cannakale/Gallipoli.
Our first stop was Mitilini on the Greek Island of Lesvos.
We had just entered the outer harbour at 1800 hours in a dying breeze and a setting sun when we were hit by an incredible thunderstorm with lightning, hail and a 50 knot wind; as there was no visibility we just went round in circles for half an hour till the front passed. Having come from Turkey we had to go through the lengthy process of getting a Greek transit log to entering the EU; what a palaver, going from the port office to customs to the harbour police then back to the port office who wrote an invoice then to a bank to pay the bill then to the harbour police to pick up the document Dave reckoned he wore out a pair of tyres on our collapsible bike as the offices were spread from one side of the harbour to the other a distance of about 3km travelled three or four times from office to office, no wonder the country is going broke! Furthermore the offices typically shut at 1pm until 5pm and we had to be off the quay by noon or suffer a daily charge.
Mitilini is a bustling Greek town with palatial merchant houses around the harbour.
Good sailing winds made a quick passage to Ayvalik Peninsula. Avyalik Limani is a large inland sea lake; here we enjoyed the serenity of a quiet secluded anchorage in Komu Koyu Bay. We stocked up on fresh fruit and veg, olives and cheese at incredibly low prices at the local Saturday market at Alibey which was a Greek town until the resettlement in 1920’s. We enjoyed a typical traditional mezze lunch at a little restaurant on the quay before heading NW to Kucukkuku, a large fishing village on the Turkish coast. We squeezed in between a super yacht and a derelict ferry stuck out on the end of a mole piled high with fishing nets.
