Our phone finally 'ran out of water!'!!

Gocek from the anchorage

Our phone finally 'ran out of water'! We had bought a Turkish SIM for our mobile when we arrived and you may remember they told us in the shop it would 'run out of water'. Well 2 weeks later it did indeed run out of water or at least stopped working. We took it to a Turkcell shop in Fethiye where a woman spoke good English and apparently the Turkish phone system won't allow a non Turkish phone to work for more than 2 weeks unless you pay 100 lire tax to have it registered, or you could buy a local phone for 120 lire which is what we did!

We have been attacked by boat gremlins! and have been through a spell of things breaking down. First it was the propeller on our outboard motor (rubber isolator slipping), so we had to order a new one. Then the regulator on our engine alternator broke down, we have ordered a new one of those too. Meanwhile Alan has fitted an old spare we had,  we ordered a  new one from Blues marine in Gocek, the next town along from Fethiye and at the head of our beautiful bay. Then last Saturday as we were coming into this anchorage our engine over heated, luckily we had just attached to a mooring ball, so the next day Alan was able to check it out and discovered a broken water hose. It was lucky it broke when it did and not on a 9 hour motor trip to Marmaris! The temp in the engine compartment was 50 degrees C so we had to wait 24 hours for it to be cool enough to work on!

The next day the water maker sprung a leak! It soaked the carpet in the store room but luckily none of the stored clothing got wet. We store all our winter clothes next to it. We had to remove everything stored on top and luckily the problem was some loose connections, easily fixed, and it's so hot that the carpet dried out in no time!

Today we have to replace a broken zip on the cockpit curtain, so I hope nothing else breaks down! Luckily we are in a place where we can get spare parts. It's just strange that all these things seem to happen together!

We have had some respite from the intense heat. We have a bit of a breeze which doesn't feel like it's coming from a hairdryer! So while it's still in the mid 30's it feels more comfy. The water temp is 30 degrees so it's like getting into a warm bath! Not all that refreshing, but at least you can stay in it for ages and not get chilly!

We went to Gocek a few days ago for fresh supplies and to collect the spare parts we had ordered. It's a quaint little village with loads of marinas and more boats than I have seen together in a long time! It's very pretty as it isn't built up, and it's surrounded by wooded hills. We went ashore and discovered loads of supermarkets including a Kipa (Turkish Tesco!) as well as a myriad of chandleries including a West Marine store that had only just opened. West Marine are a huge US chain of chandleries. We knew they had branches in Istanbul and Marmaris and that was the main reason we were going to head for Marmaris, but now we don't have to unless we want a change of scenery.

Connecting the new Rocna 25

Before we left the US we bought a new Rocna anchor from West Marine. This is a New Zealand anchor which we had been lusting after for a while. We then discovered that some Rocnas had been made in China and were sub standard. We saw the 'made in China' on our anchor after this had come to light and after we had left the US. We contacted Rocna as they were offering to replace all sub standard models. 

The new, 'improved', anchor

However as we are now in the Med they told us we could exchange it at West Marine in Marmaris. Alan spoke to the manager at the new shop in Gocek and we forwarded the relevant emails and he said no problem he would change it for us. This is so much more convenient as the dinghy dock at Gocek is a trolley trip from the shop, whereas in Marmaris the WM is a taxi drive from the waterfront. We are also on a mooring ball at the moment to it's easy to take our anchor off and replace it with our spare while we do the exchange.

The propeller arrived but they shipped the wrong regulator, so we will have to return in a few days time!

 

Meanwhile we have discovered an easy anchoring option which is not anchoring at all, but picking up a mooring ball! Because the water is so deep close to all the shoreline and islands, the Turkish method is to drop anchor in deep water then reverse at a high rate of knots, hoping the anchor snags something on the way then tying a long line ashore. This allows more boats to anchor together as you are not swinging around. However it does have some disadvantages; with only 2 people it is tricky, especially if its windy as once the anchor is down the boat will swing into the wind and possibly away from the shore. One of you (OK Alan) then has to hop in the dinghy quick smart (or swim with the rope) and clamber over rocks to tie on the line. The council has installed bollards on shore to tie a line on or else use a rock. It is forbidden to tie to a tree as they were being damaged by the ropes. Also because the boat is not pointing into the wind, you don't always get a breeze or you get wind gusts on the beam which heel the boat over.

The line from the stern to the peg on shore

The mooring balls eliminate the need to anchor and it's possible to swing into the wind. However this is a bit anti social as that takes up more space than tying up. We usually try and find a ball that means we will point into the wind anyway as at this time of year the wind comes from the same direction most of the time.

We have been gorging on all the wonderful soft fruit that is available now. Turkey is a major cherry grower and their cherries are fantastic; huge, black and sweet. We bought a couple of kilos from a farmer who sells to Marks and Spencer, although at about $2 a kilo I think we were getting them a bit cheaper than M&S customers! Peaches and apricots are also in season so we are getting plenty of vitamin C. The fruit is so flavourful, I expect because it is just picked and hasn't had to travel in refrigerated trucks for weeks.

We have a list of projects to do before our guests arrive, but the heat does rather sap our energy. So I expect we will have a hectic time just before they arrive doing all the things we are too hot to do now! Speaking of which, time for a dip.....