Datca to Yalikavak - Turkish west coast.

Current position at anchor in Yalikavak Bay: North 37*07'061 East 027*16'218

Previous anchor Position at - Kefaluka Beach: North 36*57'862 East 027*17'140 - anchored in 17 feet with sandy bottom and tourist resorts ashore.
Bitez Village: North 37*01'468 East 027*22'843 - Great spot to visit Bodrum by Dolmus, anchored in 30 feet sand good holding.
Kalaboshi Bay: North 36*41'054 East 027*34'419 - Beautiful little bay with lovely restaurants ashore, anchored 10 feet in sand.
Datca Town: North 36*43'201 East 027*41'369 - Good town with all provisions, water on dock, anchored in 30 feet sand & weed.

The last ten days we've spent slowly cruising our way up the Western coast of Turkey. We're currently anchored in a beautiful little bay with clear water and a great swimming beach with hiking trails leading into the hills behind. Last night we had the bay to ourselves which has been a first in Turkey so we plan to make the most of it and spend a few days here! Today we'll take our dinghy across to the southern side of the bay to the marina off Yalikavak Village to take a look around and pick up some provisions.

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Bozuk Buku

Current Position at anchor: North 36*34'497 East 028*00'651

Three days ago we upped anchor and said goodbye to Marmaris harbour heading just 20 miles west along the coast to the beautiful anchorage of Bozuk Buku. A deep bay cut into the spectacular rugged mountains, we anchored in 30 feet in a sandy patch between the sea weed that coats the bottom and relaxed into a few days of Hiking, swimming and reading. We'd almost forgotten what it was like to be away from civilisation and to just take it easy for a few days.

At the entrance of the bay stands the huge remains of a citadel high on a hill so yesterday we packed a lunch and went ashore to hike along the rocky donkey and goat trails to do some exploring. The views from the top were beautiful and we found a great spot in the shade of an olive tree to take a break and eat our packed lunch. It's quite surprising how clear the water is here in Turkey, a beautiful deep sapphire blue colour that really stands out from the dusty brown of the hills. The temperature of the water still holds a lot to be desired though and back at the boat it took an inch by inch process to finally get into...very refreshing after a long walk though!

Tomorrow we plan to leave here and head up the coast to the town of Datca to pick up some fresh provisions and then carry on to the historic site at Knidos the following day.

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Marmaris Harbour, Southern Turkey

Current Position at anchor: North 36*51'023 East 028*16'062

Sorry for being pretty slack at keeping up with updates over the past couple of weeks but we're back on track after a quick visit home by me and then a family visit topped off with a bout of the flu that knocked us down for a couple of days! On my return from the UK we sailed Blue Moon 50 miles west along the coast from Fethiye and are now anchored in Marmaris harbour off the town Quay.

My mum flew in for a visit staying at a local hotel here in Marmaris so we enjoyed a week of exploring (mostly shops and markets...mums favourites!) and have gotten to know the main town and it's smaller neighbouring villages almost by heart. We spent one day on a jeep safari which resulted in us getting soaking wet, thanks to the Brits with water pistols, but found it a great way to see some of the country side we tend to miss with our usual short excursions on foot from the boat.

Marmaris is a lot more touristy than Fethiye with rows of hotels fringing the harbour beaches, but it still holds a lot of the Turkish charm. With small winding alleyways snaking their way around the old castle that sits over the harbour and creating a labyrinth of tiny shops selling anything and everything. From fake designer clothes and bags to Turkish trinkets and carpets It's all available and if something your looking for isn't at hand it can all be found for a price!

Pretty cafes with a blissful aroma of Turkish coffee wafting out onto the street are dotted everywhere and a great place to try out the hugely popular apple tea or just sit and watch the games of dominoes that seem to be continuously taking place. The harbour wall is packed with traditional Turkish wooden sail boats called 'Gullets' that shine with all their brightly varnished hulls and take tourists by the bus loads on tours of the bay.

It's also been great while we're here to catch up with some friends, Mark and Nicole, that we haven't seen since Oman on board their yacht 'Sea life' for a lovely Roast dinner (proving that Aussies can cook a roast as well as us English!) and to swap Red Sea Stories and plans for the trip across the med.

In a couple of days we plan to up anchor and start slowly cruising up the west coast of Turkey before jumping over to the Greek Islands next month. Not sure yet where we'll stop but we'll keep one eye on the weather and the other on our cruising guide and take it from there!

Taking some down time!

Just a quick update as Blue Moon is still at anchor in Fethiye but Jimmy is currently alone onboard. I've flown home to England for a week to attend my Grandmothers funeral and will return to Turkey on Wednesday. My mum has flown out to Marmaris in Turkey just 50nm from Fethiye so on my return we'll sail around and meet up with them for a week. Jimmy is hard at work repairing winches and generally getting the boat back in shape for this season!

Fethiye ~ Turkey.

Current Position at anchor: North 36*37'434 East 029*05'764

Well we made it to Turkey arriving yesterday afternoon in Fethiye harbour on the south western coast and are really loving it! We can't believe what the landscape looks like - high mountains all around (even some with snow on the caps)and pine trees covering the hills - the smell is wonderful - we both thought we lost our noses in the desert so it's a treat for the senses and so beautiful. Blue Moon is happily sat at anchor in 40 feet of water, Fethiye is a natural enclosed harbour so it feels like we're on a lake high up in the mountains!

We spent today walking around the town getting our bearings, it's a pretty big place with lots of great Cafes and Restaurants and little back alleys of shops to get lost in. The people are really nice and very laid back and it's great not to get hassled to buy things at every turn! The temperature here is a lot colder than we've had for a long time so we're getting used to wearing long trousers and fleeces again. The good thing is summer is coming so it's just going to get warmer each month but to be honest it's quite lovely to wrap up for a change! We plan to stay here for a week or so and then hop along the coast to the bigger town of Marmaris to the west, our visa lasts for three months and if our first stop is anything to go by we'll probably stay and cruise the coast for the duration.

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Suez transit complete ~ We're in the Med!

Current Position @ 13:00 GMT: North 31*23'486 East 032*19'428

We have just completed our transit of the second half of the Suez canal and are now very happy to say that we are officially in the Mediterranean Sea! We left Ismailia Marina at 5am this morning and we were lucky to get another really nice pilot so easy going the whole way. It's now 3pm and we are making our way through the shipping anchorage just outside the canal entrance with 352 miles to go to Fethiye on the south western side of Turkey. We're in company with one other yacht called 'Equinox' from Scotland who are heading West of our destination to Rhodes in Greece. The weather looks pretty good although it's hard to get a good prediction in the Med but fingers crossed we will finally be able to switch of the engine and just sail (hopefully we haven't forgotten how to do this as it's been so long!).

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Suez Canal, Ismailia - Egypt

We're currently tied up to the Ismailia Marina half way through the Suez canal and waiting for good weather in the Med to keep going. Our trip up to Port Suez was pretty eventful with oil rigs and heavy shipping to contend with along with 25 knots of wind right on our nose. On arrival at the Port Suez yacht club we were met by our agent from Felix Maratime and the measurer was scheduled for the same afternoon. All went very smoothly until the question of fees arose and then as always in Egypt everything became very difficult.

Baksheesh is a way of life here and everyone is constantly asking us for money, whether it's buying groceries at the supermarket or catching a bus 'everyone' wants a tip. However they also try to sneak in extra costs when they think you don't realise and this is what happened with out canal transit fees. Jimmy had already worked out with the measurer how much the cost would be but when Felix came back with the bill an exta $50 had been added on out of nowhere. After a lot of arguing and many comments about how they didn't like Americans the agents finally agreed to the correct price and we made our transit the following day.

Our pilot was a really nice guy and we actually enjoyed the first half of the canal with a relaxing atmosphere. Arriving at the Ismalia marina however, he did ask for extra money of which we expected and so we gave him $10 and he left with a lot more ease than other pilots!

Jimmy's birthday was on the 20th so we took a trip into Cairo to see the Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum. We spent two nights in a great hotel called 'City View' overlooking the museum and enjoyed wandering the busy streets of Cairo and generally taking a break from the boat. We had a really nice taxi driver from Ismalia 'Mohammed Imbaby' come and pick us up on our last day and take us to the Pyramids and then back to the marina. Now we're waiting for the weather to calm down so we can make our transit through the second part of the canal and then on to Fetiye in Turkey some 375 miles away.