Exciting times around Fethiye....

Yes we seem to have spent a lot more time than we planed around the Fethiye- Gocek area.

We have been moving between Fethiye and Gocek Bay (Skopea Limani), with the occasional day trip to the anchorage in Gocek, to pick up supplies and boat items.  There is a fully stocked floating shop (including ice creams) that comes around to all the anchorages so in theory you would never have to leave the bay!

The temperatures have still been in the mid 30's but with a large swimming pool out the back it has not been too uncomfortable. I think we are getting acclimatised. It helps that the humidity is generally below 50%. Now towards the end of August the nights are getting cooler and we often don't need the fans.

Just another day on the water....

 We have spent quite a bit of time discovering the delights in Fethiye and surrounding areas. It is an amazing area, surrounded by high mountains (snow covered in winter) and with a very wide cultural mix. It is possible to experience everything from tourist beaches (mainly white, tattooed British) through to a small Turkish farming village, all within a few kilometres.

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.....

Fethiye Fun....

ECE Marina with the town of Fethiye behind

We are now back in Fethiye 4 weeks after leaving Cyprus. The reverse journey only took 2 days last October! We like Fethiye very much, not sure if it's because it was our first Turkish port when we arrived last year and we spent 4 weeks here then and got to know it, or whether its' the mix of Turkish and touristy things we like.

We enjoyed the preceding 4 weeks mooching up the coast and exploring new anchorages but we had 2 serious missions to sort out now. First was a visit to our lovely dentist (Mr Seven Stars as his name translates into in English) He made a crown for Alan last year at a very reasonable price and now it was my turn as I could feel a cracked filling.

Alan had some work done as well.

His surgery is a brief walk from the marina and lovely and bright and airy, it has a Zen calmness about it when you walk in, as does he. This was such a contrast to the dentist Alan saw in Cyprus for his root canal treatment. There the dentist was a very young woman with rooms in a private hospital, there was always a long wait, phones were ringing and she always seemed to be doing a dozen things at once, people would walk into the surgery and chat away while she worked on Alans tooth. We have never had to wait for Mr Seven Stars, in fact we wondered if he ever had any other patients! He remembered us from last year and after a quick check up told us he could repair the filling. 5 minutes later he had finished and charged us $15! We gave him a $20 note (well actually a Turkish equivalent) but he didn't have change so insisted on giving us $10 back! We felt awful, so as soon as we had change we took him back the $5, and yes he did have another patient:) It almost makes you want to have more dental problems!!

Our next mission was to apply for our temporary residents permit. Since last year Turkey has changed their immigration rules, several time actually. But for us, the biggest impact was that instead of getting a 90 day visa and being able to renew it, now you could only be in the country for 3 months out of a 6 month period. They then changed the rules for yachties and said you could have residency if you had a marina contract, which is why we booked into the marina in Finike for the winter. 15 days after we had booked and paid for the marina they changed the rules yet again and said for yachties as long as you had a cruising permit (which is compulsory when you arrive by yacht anyway) you could get a residents permit, no marina contract or proof of income required! We decided to take advantage of this before the rules change again and have applied for a 2 year residency. This will allow us to come and go until 31 May 2014, should we choose to stay that long.

Applying for the permit was an interesting process, and thanks to some yachties who had already done it and documented the process, much easier than it might otherwise have been. We had to get a tax number which meant a trek to the tax office, not something we were looking forward to. However it was a fairly pleasant experience compared to a similar trip in either Aus or the UK. The office was out of town but on the water front of the huge Fethiye bay, so nice water views:) Although the building was typical government issue it all seemed very laid back, no queues and helpful staff, who were anything but overworked. Perhaps the Turkish civil service could be a good job?:)

Now we have a tax number we can open a bank account if we want to, the banks here are paying 10% interest and that's after tax has been automatically deducted. We are also now eligible to buy a house, so watch this space.....!:)

All we have to do now is wait 2 weeks and return for our passports and visa! While we are waiting we have retreated to the beautiful bay area outside of Fethiye to relax and get some jobs done. At least that was the plan until the weather kicked up a notch. It is once again in the high 30's with 40 degrees forecast for the weekend. There is little or no wind so we have no energy for much else except eating chilled watermelon and jumping in our lovely big salt water swimming pool several times a day!

It's too hot to cook inside so the BBQ has been getting a work out, as have our fans and squirty water bottle at night!!

It's very tough here, there are always interruptions; the ice cream boat comes by, the pancake boat floats by with an elderly couple who make pancakes to order, there is even a floating mini market and as if that wasn't enough we have to dinghy all the way to the end of our little fjord if we want fresh hot bread every morning! It's going to be a long 2 weeks:)

Hot n Cruisin at last!

 

A fan and a squirt - heaven

Wow, who turned the heating up!!! One minute we have a pleasant 26 degrees and a nice breeze at night then all of a sudden it's 40 degrees, day and night!!! It was so awful, when the breeze blew it was like standing in front of a fan heater! The last time I experienced heat like this was in Ayers Rock and it was a really dry heat, so the sweat evaporated instantly ALSO we weren't actually out in it that much as we had air conditioned vehicles and hotels and restaurants! Here the only escape was to jump in the sea which was about 29 degrees. That was fine until you had to get out then it was suffocating heat again, it was hard to breath! at night it was brutal. Impossible to sleep even with nothing on and fans at full bore. We resorted to a squirty bottle of water and were spraying ourselves every 5 minutes to get some evaporative cooling. It was far too hot to do anything and everything inside the boat was really hot too. I picked up my shampoo bottle in the shower, it was hot and the normally thick creamy contents just ran out.

In retrospect our anchorage probably didn't help as we were surrounded on 3 sides by steep rocky hills which as well as blocking the breeze were also storing all that heat and radiating it out at night. We couldn't stand it any longer and left to go to Finike where we have booked a marina for next winter. It was such a relief to be out on open water where although there was no wind to sail at least we had a bit of airflow from the boat moving through the water.

We anchored outside our next winter marina and we dingoed ashore to look around, have some lunch and get supplies. The temp had dropped to a survivable 33 degrees although it felt hotter on land. The marina is fine although not as shiny as the Cyprus one since it was built in 1992. Finike seems very pleasant and is definitely not a tourist town, very much a working town although there are a few hotels and a beach around the bay. At least it won't close down during winter! The supermarket gave us a free lift back to the marina with all our shopping including an 11 kilo watermelon!! (the smallest one they had) I think I need a bigger fridge!:)

We were very hot and sweaty when we got back to Sunflower so decided a quick dip would cool us down. We were anchored in shallow water and the water temp was showing a respectable 27 degrees so we both jumped in. The water felt lovely and warm going down but as I bobbed up it suddenly became icy cold. This is odd because normally the water is colder deeper down. We were a bit puzzled and then realised we were anchored in front of a river outlet which was pouring it's icy water (from the high mountains surrounding Finike) into the ocean, and fresh water floats on top of salt water, so we had about 3 -4 inches of icy fresh water on top of the normal sea water. It was a very odd sensation having a warm body and very chilly top bit in the water. We had a very bracing but brief dip and emerged quite quickly!

A Tewksbury in motion

That night I had a lovely sleep and didn't sweat (or squirt)at all! The next morning we went on to the fuel dock and then headed about 15 miles east to a place called Kekova Roads which is very picturesque with lots of lovely anchorages and then next stop Kas. We decided not to get our residence visas here as it takes about 10 days,( we didn't want to wait here that long as we will be spending plenty of time here in the winter) so we will return to Fethiye and apply there and also go back to the nice dentist we found there as I have a toothy problem. No pain but a bit has broken off.

It is still hot, in the 30's, but bearable, especially if you're not ashore. The spike in temp wasn't local either as we heard from a friend in Fetihye it was the same there. They also just had an earthquake there, apparently they're very common in Turkey!

We have been in Kekova Roads for several days now which is very beautiful. Kekova is a 4 mile long island which acts as a wave barrier to the coastline behind it so it is very calm in here and there are lots of little inlets and anchorages with only a few crumbling ruins and goats for company.

A ruined castle at Kekova Roads

We had arrived and got anchored and only had one other boat for company. But by evening time the anchorage had become very crowded and lots of Tewksburys were around the place. They have the silliest little anchors and usually drop miles out and reverse ashore where they tie a rope to a rock. It had got very hot and steamy again and lightening was flashing in the distance. I hoped a storm would cool things down a bit. However we didn't get any rain but about mid night the storm was passing by and we got big wind gusts from all over the place and mayhem in the anchorage ensued! Boats were dragging all over the place particularly the Tewksburys! Their method of tying ashore means they don't swing to the wind, and they are such huge behemoths with high sides and lots of windage, we assume being hit by a wind bullet of about 30 knots beam on might have caused their ropes to break. Anyway there were about 4 of them lumbering around in the pitch black with this gale blowing, an Italian and Norwegian yacht were tangled together and we had an English boat who had anchored far too close to us now nosing our rear end.

We were swinging in all directions as the wind swirled around the hills on all sides of us. The English boat kept shining a spotlight on us in case we got too close and a poor Swiss boat was yelling at a Tewksbury who had decided to anchor inches away from them, the next morning we discovered all aboard this particular Tewks were drunk. The wind kept up until about 3.30 am so nobody got much sleep, to make things more uncomfortable the really hot wind was blowing so even at 4 am it was about 39 degrees outside and even hotter in the boat, impossible to sleep! Last night we almost had an action replay as we were surrounded by thunder storms, although this time we got some rain and minimal wind and thankfully the temp dropped to a positively chilly 25 degrees! At last a good nights sleep:)

Next morning there was a coast guard boat in the anchorage and they were boarding all the Tewks, so we wondered if the Swiss had reported the drunken captain.

We are moving today a few miles down the road to another anchorage and then Kas, Fethiye and Marmaris. We are wondering if it might be a bit cooler further north, also the prevailing winds in summer blow from north to south so it might be best to motor north before we have strong winds on the nose and then we can get blown back south. Can't believe John and Christine will be here in 3 months time!

First weeks in Turkey....

It is now about 2 weeks since we left our marina berth in Northern Cyprus, and we are now relaxing on anchor in Turkish waters! We had good winds and were able to sail for 6 hours out of the 9 hour (40 mile) journey, the only problem was our steering was so stiff the auto pilot wouldn't work! (we hadn't set up the windvane self steering as we had not anticipated being able to do much sailing!) The steering usually stiffens up after not being used for a while, but this was really hard and showed no signs of loosening up. So we had to hand steer for 9 hours! Very tiring as we were hard on the wind and it was all a bit frisky! Poor Alan ended up doing nearly all the work as it was too hard for me. Anyway we made it to Turkey and the anchorage just as it was getting dark, and slept really well.

Next morning we had to complete the entry formalities into Turkey. We were anchored off the small town of Tasucu which operates a ferry service to Kyrenia in Northern Cyprus and so is an official port of entry. Checking in involves going firstly to the harbour masters office to purchase a Transit Log, then you have to take the Transit log to the health service for a stamp, then customs for a stamp, then immigration/police for a stamp and return all stamped copies to the harbour master! Money also has to be paid to immigration for your 90 day tourist visa. Fortunately being a small town the distances between all the authorities was not huge, although we did take a taxi to the hospital as it was uphill and very hot and we would probably have got lost anyway. We managed to complete all formalities in about an hour, which seems to be some sort of a record from what we can gather from other cruisers.

We had lunch and then caught a Dolmus (minivan public bus) to the next town inland called Silifke where we understood there was a Turkcell shop. We wanted to buy a SIM card for our phone and to buy time for our Turkish dongle so we would have internet. The Dolmus are fantastic, they are a fixed price, run every couple of minutes, stop anywhere you want and are very cheap! We had used them in Fethiye last year, but mainly for short trips, this journey was about 10 kms and cost about $1 each.

This area is very much off the beaten tourist track, although Tasucu caters for local Turkish tourists, hardly anyone speaks English, menus are all in Turkish so one has to muddle through. In the Turkcell shop their English was not much better than our Turkish, so Google Translate was resorted to with some hilarious results. We are still trying to work out what “your phone has run out of water” means:) Still we managed to do what we wanted and now have internet on the boat and a working phone (although we will need to top it up with water obviously!) Everyone was very friendly and did their best to be helpful, so after a quick ice cream it was back on the Dolmus.

The rudder stuffing box gets a little grease.

We got back to Sunflower, and the afternoon breeze had come up, so trying to get aboard as she was pitching back and forth was a bit of a challenge especially as we are somewhat out of practice. Still we made it and motored to a lovely calm anchorage where we chilled out for a few days. This was after poor Alan had to dive head first under our bed, to grease our stuffing box! Your guess is as good as mine! In the hope this would fix our steering problems, luckily it was a stuffed stuffing box and after greasing, oiling, lubing and swearing at it, the steering now works like a dream.

This part of Turkey has been home to civilization for about 5000 years. There are ruins everywhere and even some of the ancient names evoke thoughts of myths and legends. Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Taurus mountains. Our cruising guide gives a quote which says:"when God created Hell he wasn't happy, so he created Mesopotamia and added flies"! We have had a few, but not too bad and it certainly isn't anywhere near the 40 degrees it can reach here in summer.

Sunflower anchored in Aydencick harbour

We have spent the last week or so taking our time to meander around the coast stopping wherever we could, the landscape is mountainous down to the sea in most places so finding safe anchorages can be a challenge, but we have found some lovely spots. One which was especially nice was Aydencick it had a most delightful little harbour, where we anchored in the middle and rowed dingo ashore. The harbour was a really pretty little place full of local fishing boats and seating all around with a covered rotunda and palm trees and flowering plants. 

Dee, Mehmet and the mosque

At night it had lovely blue lighting. We were met by Mehmet who spoke English and directed us to a lovely cheap restaurant, the bank and a proper supermarket.(supplies were getting quite low) It was only a very small town but the locals were very friendly and mostly farmers. We bought the most fabulous strawberries, so sweet and tasty. 

There is the most amazing mosque which dominates the main street and with its twin minarets and shiny silver roof can be seen from quite a way off shore.

 When we asked Mehmet about it he offer

ed to show us around inside.

 We were very surprised as in Morocco only Muslims were allowed inside mosques. He seemed shocked by this and said anyone was welcome in a Turkish mosque. 

We were introduced to the Imam who was proud to show us around. It was gorgeous inside and Alan took some great photos. So having done our bit for Christian/Muslim relations we pottered off to lunch!

Despite enjoying the small harbour, being so small we felt like we were in a bit of a goldfish bowl, so left to find a more deserted anchorage nearby so we could prepare for our overnight voyage and to find out why the water maker has ceased to function! I had planned to do laundry but will defer that until we solve the water maker issue!

Luckily the water maker was an easy fix (loose wire) Blame the chap who installed it, (oops no that was Alan!:) I prepared some meals and we left at 6 am for our 140 mile leg across the Gulf of Antalya. 

We could have cruised around the top of the horse shoe shaped bay, but it would have taken a long time and we were keen to get to Finike where we will be spending the winter to check out ourmarina choice and sort out our residency visas.

We knew we would be motoring most, if not all of the way, as unfortunately this time of year there are set wind patterns so we are battling wind all the way as we travel west. The trick is to motor while there is no wind so the seas are flat and you are not battling into the wind. We must have timed it just right as the seas were dead calm. We decided to put out our fishing line (having, a) located it and b) dusted the cobwebs from it:) We then promptly forgot all about it. I was on watch at dusk ( about 8.30 pm here) when the line went off, I quickly roused Alan and he started reeling the line in. It took about 15 minutes and we wondered if we had snagged some rubbish (or a body?) but it was a fair sized tuna! I was ready with both the camera and fish catching towel (a patented Sunflower fish catching technique:) I managed a very bad shot of Mr Tuna before he made an amazing escape, got off the hook (literally) and we watched several yummy dinners swim back into the deep! Very disappointing, but I at least have photographic evidence of the one that got away!

We managed to motor for 24 hours of our 25 hour trip! A wind aberration around 1.30 am allowed for an hour of sailing before the wind died off again. We are now anchored in stunning surroundings, in a lovely bay with mountains all around. There is even a cable car going up to the highest mountain, Tahtali, this is the longest cable car in Europe and the second longest in the world! We plan to visit it while we are in the marina, although it snows up there in winter, so maybe spring might be a better option!

We had our first swim yesterday as the water temp had reached an acceptable 25 degrees. It was lovely. Just as we were getting ready to dive in, a local boat with a single chap who spoke some English came along side and handed over a big bag of tomatoes, peppers and an unknown herb, as a present from his garden:) How lovely! They went very well with the BBQ steak we had for dinner last night. What friendly locals, how could you not love it here:)

We have never seen so many turtles as we have since we arrived in Turkey, their little heads bob up everywhere. We saw a big one dive down as we were anchoring yesterday and have seen him bobbing around the anchorage during the day. We will have to see if we can find him when we go for a snorkel. There are a lot of turtle nesting grounds around here and it is lovely to see so many of them, maybe it's because the Turks don't eat them like they do in the Bahamas and the San Blas, which are the only other places we have seen the very occasional live turtle.

A couple of  Tweksburys

We have company in our anchorage of at least one or two Gulets, the local Turkish 'pirate boats' ( well they do look a bit like it) Which bring out tourists for 2-3 day charters. We have been wondering how to pronounce Gulet, we had been calling them 'gullets' which doesn’t sound very nice so we decided to check it out properly. The u has the German umlaut or 2 dots over it which means it's pronounced like 'ewe', or as our phrase book puts it, like in Tewksbury! For some reason we both thought this was very funny, so from here on in Gulets will be referred to as 'Tewksburys'!

Varnish #$%^&*()_

Sorry it's been a bit quiet recently but we have been engaged in the tricky logistical endeavour of trying to varnish the whole boat (well almost) whilst still living aboard!

Since we have had Sunflower, the bathroom (and shower room ) has been varnished twice and the galley once as well as the cockpit, but all at different times and in one case while we were on the hard in Grenada and renting a small cottage for a few days. We have never attempted anything on such a big scale before. There wasn't really anything wrong with the varnish except for the grab rails and hand rails which were very black and worn looking, it just all looked a bit tired and dull. Considering we have lived on board for 9 years and never touched it it really isn't surprising:) So when we reached Key West in early 2010 we bought lots of varnish and have been carrying it around with us ever since. With lots of prospective visitors this year and next it seemed like a good time to use it!

We started small with the guest bathroom and dressing area and then moved on to the main salon and did half at a time before moving on to the cockpit which I thought would be the easy bit (I was a bit wrong there!) .

Before we could even start work for the day we had to remove all the seat cushions and backs, remove the carpet, take things off the shelves and store them, remove cupboard doors and catches, remove any fixtures and fittings including lights and speakers; cover everything in drop sheets and then reverse the process (at least partially) when we're done for the day so we have somewhere to sit! Meanwhile all the shelf things were stuffed in bags wherever we could fit them.

I have never been so dusty, sticky (I'm not the tidiest painter and get varnish all over me) and achy in my life. When this is over I never want to see another paint brush or varnish tin in my life!

When we finally finished down below it did look lovely. I used a rubbed effect finish so it's not shiny, but has a lovely honey coloured, mellow sheen, and at night it glows:) It has really brought out the lovely New Zealand wood grain and colours, I also polished all the brass knobs and they look like gold (bear with me while I wax lyrical for a moment!) although I know they will tarnish up again really quickly, they do look very nice now.

We are just finishing the cockpit,(so the carpets are still up) so still have to cover everything down below to prevent too much dust and flying varnish (yes, Alan laughed at me too until he flicked his brush by accident and the varnish 'flew' through the air, and luckily landed on a drop sheet!) However the 'easy' cockpit wasn't very. We used a different varnish, a high gloss for exteriors and it's much thicker and stickier and takes much longer to dry and was harder to apply, so getting in and out of the cockpit without touching the handholds or doorway is a tad tricky!

I used a roller for the first time (a small one like for doing behind radiators) and it worked a treat on flat surfaces, no brush marks and so much quicker! Even so it has been a very tiring 5 weeks and feels like sooooo much longer! I have never ached so much!

As we have almost finished I have done a through clean and washed all the seat covers and cushions, the deck and cockpit curtains and bimini! (our canvas awning over the cockpit) which was covered in a considerable amount of red dust,blown down from the building site next door. They are building a 5 star resort and beach club to accompany the marina, they want it opened by next year, so work goes on 12 hours a day 7 days a week. We had a building site next door last winter in Morocco as well, I swear next winter I want a marina with a building site free zone and no dirt!

The marina is very quiet now as many boats have left and only a few are occupied. I think only about 7 boats will be staying on for next year (although new ones may arrive) and not many of them will be occupied either. I can't wait to get away and feel the wind and waves moving us along. I am really looking forward to exploring the Turkish coast line and finding some wonderful anchorages.

Alan has been under the boat and cleaned 7 months of grass and slime from our bottom. The engine has been checked and the sails pulled out and all instruments checked and working, so we are good to go.

We will be leaving on Thursday which means our last night here will be the 30^th which is our wedding anniversary, so we will be able to have a nice meal at the restaurant. Much nicer than being underway which has happened on one or two occasions. Our first port of call will be a little place called Tasucu on the Turkish mainland, north of here and only about 40 miles away so a nice day sail (or motor) Once we have completed the entry formalities we can take our time cruising along the coast. Our first guests aren't due until mid September so we have plenty of time to check out all the nice places to take them. It will be so lovely to get away from other boats and dock lights at night and the general hubbub of marina life. I can't wait.....

The website will have small update tomorrow...

Back on Sunflower

Sunflower still in the same spot where we left her!

It's hard to believe it is over four weeks since we got back to Sunflower! We made it back to Cyprus with all our baggage (including a 42 inch cardboard box containing a new water maker membrane and 17 kilos of hand luggage instead of 8!)and no major dramas. The only mini drama was Alan got a toothache the night before we left, so the first thing we had to do when we got back was arranging a visit to a dentist and hiring a car to get there. Famagusta is our nearest big town and it's an hours drive away, so we needed a car.

Sunflower was in great shape, just as we left her. Even some of my house plants survived! Alan had rigged up this self watering system which worked quite well. They aren't looking too healthy, but I think that’s due to lack of light rather than lack of water, anyway I will manage one small pot plant at least until it grows enough to take some cuttings:)

 

The whole island looks like this.

The trip to the dentist required a root canal, which the female dentist performed on the spot. She looked about 15 and had hair falling over her eyes and jeans that looked like they had been sprayed on, but she seemed to know what she was doing. She put Alan on a course of antibiotics and told us to return in a week. Unfortunately the infection hadn’t cleared up totally, so she packed the tooth with more antibiotics and we had a third appointment for a week later! At least Alan no longer looked like a hamster with his cheeks stuffed full of nuts and he no longer had any pain. On the third visit all was well and she put in a permanent filling. However three lots of car hire weren't in the budget but the total bill for the 3 visits was about $100, a bargain!

Cyprus seems to be a very different country to the one we left at the beginning of December. It was all burnt dry by the summer sun, the only green to be seen were the ancient gnarled olive trees, everything elsewhere was brown, dry and dusty. Now with all the winter rain the countryside has burst into lush greenery. The fields are waist high with all manner of wild flowers and different grasses. There are a hundred different shades of yellow flowers, with white pink and lilac thrown in and then my favourite; the red splash of bright poppies. The trees are in bloom too, with blossoms, drooping yellow mimosa and a spectacular purple bloom I have never seen before. It makes such a difference and it is such a joy to drive around the countryside. Less than 4 weeks ago we were in wintry snow clad Newfoundland, then we moved to England where spring hadn't quite sprung and the fields were all still brown and the trees still bare ,to here where all is a riot of growth.

Apparently they had a bad winter here with lots of storms and rain, but now the weather is really pleasant. The days are generally bright and sunny and about 21 degrees although the evenings are a lot colder around 10 degrees.

We have decided on a big spring clean and are trying to get rid of some 'stuff'. With all the toing and froing to the dentist our plans for a big varnish session was delayed but is now underway.

Since we have been away a new gym has opened at the marina (free to us berth holders) However it is a bit of a scary looking place with mirrored walls and space age machines. There is also a personal trainer available, although whenever I have peeped in he seems to be on his lonesome on his lap top. I had thought I might give it a go, but it all looks a bit intimidating, we'll see...

The torture room

The Mini Market is run by Angel.

 There is also a splendid looking 'pirate ship' playground for kids, although it is still roped off. We have also had an invasion of huge palm trees which have been planted in profusion around the marina and look like they are still settling in. However the best news is that the mini market has finally opened! Hooray! Now we can buy fresh bread, cheese and dairy products, dried and tinned goods as well as limited fresh produce. Fresh fish and meat are also available. We have tried the mince, chicken and steak as well as sea bass which was really excellent. The prices seem on a par with the big supermarkets which is also a pleasant change.

The police station at the north end of Cyprus.

We have had some wonderful travels and experiences over the winter, however it is nice to be 'home', even though she does need a coat or 5 of varnish:)