Karpaz Gate Marina, Northern Cyprus

Turkish & TRNC Flags

We have made it to our free berth at Karpaz Gate Marina towards the northern tip of North Cyprus, or to give it it's full name, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. (TRNC for short) We left Fethiye about a week ago as the weather had started to deteriorate and we decided to just come straight here and get ourselves sorted out. We first had to go to Girne in TRNC to check in, as for all intents and purposes this is a separate country, although one only recognised by Turkey! Southern Cyprus belongs to Greece and is part of the EU. Relations between the two are strained and have been since the 1970's. The UN police the 'green line' which divides the country.

Karpaz Gate Marina (look for the yellow boat)

We left on the back of bad weather as after that the wind died off completely and we didn't want to have to motor the 250 miles to get here. At Turkish diesel prices it would have cost us about $600! As it turned out we needn't have worried, the forecast winds of 25 knots continued to build to gale force once we were out at sea, and we had 30 -45 knots behind us for the first 30 hours. Not a comfy trip! Neither of us got any sleep as the boat was rolling so much as we surfed down huge waves, in fact I even fell out of the sea berth at one point because we were getting thrown around so much! By the time we arrived in Girne we were both battered and exhausted. We anchored outside the breakwater and Alan went off in dingo to check in . He returned to say we had to go into the marina as they wanted to inspect the boat! The marina gave us a special rate of 25 Euro a night. However as we were on the fuel dock with no power or water it wasn't much of a bargain! We spent the first night going to bed very early and catching up on some sleep. 

Girne Old Harbour

The next day we went into Girne to look around. It's a very historic place, also called Kyrenia. Place names in Cyprus have both Greek and Turkish names which can be very confusing, so Girne is the Turkish name and Kyrenia is the Greek name! However the first thing that struck us was that all vehicles were a mixture of left and right hand drive and everyone drove on the left due to previous British colonialisation!

We did a quick tour, Alan got scalped by a Turkish barber who lured him into his shop and despite my protests gave him a short back and sides, circa 1950 and reminiscent of Dad's Army! I am calling him Sean until it grows back!

.

We did the compulsory supermarket shop and were surprised to see lots of British goodies like marmite, Heinz baked beans etc. Another colonial legacy no doubt!

We had planned to leave that afternoon and anchor out again, but we were still both very tired and didn't fancy a rolly night if the wind shifted so we forked out another 25 Euro and left at 7 am the following morning, having had nobody come anywhere near the boat to 'inspect' it! The last leg of the journey was 50 miles which we had to motor as the wind was on the nose and we also had a 2 knot counter current, so despite doing 7 knots through the water we were barely making 5 knots over the ground. The last short leg took 10 hours and we started to wonder if coming such a long way for a free berth was really worth the bother! The shoreline showed hardly any signs of habitation so it is clearly not a built up area of the island.

KGM entrance - work in progress everywhere

The marina sent out a RIB to guide us in and there were lots of hands to help us reverse into our berth. The marina is all sparkly new, as it only opened in June and there are about 50 boats here in a marina designed for about 400! Works still continue though and the planned resort and hotel haven't even begun to be built yet.

No Electricity or Water until the rewiring is finished

Sadly, in August a worker was  electrocuted on one of the docks due to faulty wiring so the whole marina is being re-wired, so for now no power and no water (it uses an electric pump) but at least it isn't costing 25 Euro a night! The Wi- Fi isn't great, as it is designed to be boosted from the power points for each berth (which aren't working) They tell us next week one dock will be ready and we can move then, but we gather from some of the longer term residents that they have been hearing this for some time! The mini mart is not open and the village is 3 miles away uphill with no public transport, the nearest ATM is 40 kilometers away, so we are really very isolated. However we did know this before we arrived and figured as we would be leaving the boat it didn't matter anyway, and by the time we return it should all be sorted! The restaurant is open, but quite pricey, especially by Turkish standards, $9 for a burger and $22 for a steak, lamb chops are $15. I dare say we will try it but we won't be eating there regularly! The marina will take a grocery order and the restaurant will obtain the food for you. They also have a deal on car rental which is $50 for one day or $80 for 3 days, so we will give that a go. We may try and share the car with some other cruisers.

Anyway, we have plenty of jobs to do, so the isolation isn't really a problem, at least it's harder to spend money:) The weather is fine and sunny, the country side beautiful and the water so clear you can see the sand grains on the bottom of the harbour, most unusual for a marina! We will get Sunflower settled into her new home for the next 5 months before heading off in 4 weeks time for adventures of a different sort!