If you've just come in.....you're late!! Go back to 14th July's log to see the start of this delivery!!
01/08/08 Frank left the boat around 0700 to make his way to Paphos airport and return to the UK. By 0730, the skipper on the glass bottom boat was getting ratty about moving, especially when we told him the police wouldn't let us go until later! We again held off whilst he slipped out, cursing and saying he'd be back in 10 minutes. By 0845, we were ready to go, Pannikos was onboard for the final leg, along with his daughter and a friends son and we let go the stern lines and wound in the anchor......which was fouled on a mooring chain! A quick text book release of the offending chain and we were on our way. Light winds meant we couldn't really sail, but we did attempt full sail and cruising chute in rotation as a demonstration for the non-sailing Pannikos. His daughter and the other youngster were interested in learning knots and other bits and pieces, so we passed the time with them until we arrived in Latchi at 1500. More fun and games here! There was no berth for Pannikos's new toy, so we again rafted up alongside a battered old steel tub and went along to the harbour master's office. We discovered that we had to go through all the rigmarole of clearing in at customs, police, immigration yet again! It's the way in Cyprus, we were told (it's deterred me from ever going to the island again!). A berth would be made available for us tomorrow morning as an ancient wooden replica boat was being removed from in front of the police cutter. Pannikos took us to a restaurant for dinner, and told us that all food and drink was on his bill until Monday.
02/08/08 Happy Anniversary to Clive and Barbara (50th) During the night, our bodged gangplank disappeared from the battered old steel tub and we were unable to get ashore! Had Pannikos, wanting to keep his bar tab low, removed it under cover of darkness? The replica boat was towed out of the harbour and we motored around and tied up in front of the police cutter. A lone policeman asked what we were doing, and when we told him we were staying there, he made a phone call which resulted in about eight cops turning up - all ranting that we couldn't stay there and would have to move 'somewhere else'. We returned to the wall next to our original berth, only to be told we couldn't stay there either!! We weren't going to move the boat again - it's Pannikos's problem now, we want to go and our flights are booked for tomorrow. Rob met up with Pannikos in the back room of the restaurant where the whole family had emptied their piggy-banks to give Rob his money for the boat.....now it was scary carrying so much cash around! It also transpired that our flights were not from Paphos airport as thought, but from Larnaca, a two hour drive away! Furthermore, it wasn't a direct flight to Rhodes.......we had first to go to Crete!! It was getting better by the minute!
03/08/08 We packed the remainder of our gear, including the 5kg or so of pig leg which Rog was now hoping to get through several airport and ferry port x-ray machines! Rob and Pannikos exchanged more money after an instructional tour of the boat and at 1245 our taxi turned up to take us to the airport at Larnaca. So that's it, delivery from Barcelona to Cyprus complete, around 1,860 more nautical miles entered in the log book - and Rob is now boatless!! Lifejacket gas cylinders and pig leg through the first obstacle at the airport but EPIRB and battery jump leads were 'fingered' in hand luggage and had to go in the hold. A pleasant flight to Iraklion, Crete, then an onward flight to Rhodes, arriving there at 2130. In Crete, we had phoned Suzanne whom we knew from Marmaris but lives in Rhodes to ask about hotels, and she had kindly said we could stay at her house overnight.....but she did sound as if she'd had a drink! At Rhodes airport, we phoned again for directions and by now she'd had a few more drinks, but we got the address and jumped in a taxi to Rhodes old town. Vehicles are not allowed up some of the narrow cobbled streets, so we had to search on foot and in the dark for her house, which we found open with lights on, but no Suzanne. We dumped our bags in the courtyard and went off for a drink in town, returning some while later and shouting her name up the stairs. A woman put her head out of the window and asked who was there......"that's not Suzanne" we thought.....damn, we've got the wrong house - and Rog had been inside and used the loo earlier!! All was well though, the lady turned out to be Suzanne's Mum, Brenda, and she made us welcome whilst we tried, without success, to get hold of Suzanne on the phone. We shared a bottle of Bacardi and coke until Suzanne returned in the early hours.
04/08/08 It was 5.30am before we all retired to bed and at 9am we were on our way to the ferry port to buy tickets for the 4.30pm catamaran to Marmaris. We didn't know there was an earlier ferry at 10am, or we could have brought our bags with us and caught that. No matter, it gave us a day to wander around the shops and have a leisurely breakfast. Rob also opened a Greek Bank Account and got rid of all the euro's he had been carrying around, taking a weight off his mind (and out of his pockets.) Thanked Suzanne and her Mum and walked out of the walled town to get a taxi to the port for the ferry back to Turkey. Renewed our visa's on entry and queued at customs....oh, oh, search time - me first, and the big block of cheddar bought in Tesco's Brighouse went un-noticed, but you just knew what was coming next!! Roger's bag was opened, trotter spotted and the customs guy hits the roof as a whole leg is hoisted from the bag. Piggy had been discovered! Well, this chap then goes off on one and continues searching, throwing the bacon Rog had bought in Rhodes on the deck in disgust. The lady following caught the backlash too and had her tinned peas confiscated during a heated argument. Then the next lady had a jar of beetroot hurled across the customs hall to smash all over the floor as the customs chappie lost it entirely!! You couldn't write a comedy script like this, (try to imagine an apoplectic Turkish Basil Fawlty - and you'll get the picture), the shouting could be heard across the other side of the car park where Paul was waiting to drive us back to the marina. So, after a short drive back to the marina, we were met by an excited Astrid who had dinner ready for us onboard Storm Dodger and we sat and exchanged news of the last few weeks. We all stayed on Storm Dodger overnight, I could go back to my own boat tomorrow!
Click Here for our route over the last couple of weeks.
Or click Here for photo's of our time onboard Slip Anchor.
05/08/08 Took my bags back to Rhumb Do and opened all the hatches, then we all caught the dolmus into town for breakfast in the Pineapple before going shopping in town. In the evening, we went to the Orange Bar for dinner, and back to Storm Dodger for our nightcap.
06/08/08 Happy Birthday to Leah, nine years old today. We all went to the waterpark in Marmaris for an afternoon of slides and swimming. Later, we had a beer during Happy Hour, a meal in the restaurant and a Bacardi onboard Rhumb Do before turning in for the night.
07/08/08 Said my farewells to Rob as Storm Dodger sailed to Gocek to meet other friends and to drop him off closer to the airport, then had a relaxing day bringing the log up to date and sleeping! Hopefully, Rob, Karen and the children will be out here again very shortly with a bareboat chartered 'cat' to see if Amy's sea-sickness can be overcome.
08/08/08 Interesting date? The start of the Olympics and another baking hot day here in Marmaris Yacht Marine. Early evening saw the return of Storm Dodger to the marina and Roger, Astrid and myself adjourned to the bar for a meal and a pint.
12/08/08 All quiet on the western front. Not a great deal happening now, boats come and go with each day and one or two of last winter's liveaboards flit in and out. Spent the morning onboard Bon Bon out at anchor, giving advice on how to change the inhaul of their in mast furling system. Whilst in Cyprus, I collected an e-mail from someone in UK who had read of my depth sounder problems, and he has the part I need, which is good news. Ann also sent me a text to say my original sounder has now been repaired.......so now I have two! Ann will be flying out for another holiday next month and will bring the units with her.
14/08/08 Haircut day! Normally I have it cut onboard Storm Dodger or in the marina barbershop but this time decided to try one of the Turkish barbers in town whilst there shopping with Astrid. OK, sit down.....quick as a flash, my t-shirt is off.....then he cuts my hair, then my arms are up in the air and he's shaving under there too. Next my ears are filled with hot wax - yeah, that stung when he ripped it out!! Scissors are manoeuvred around my nostrils and finally a shampoo before he tells me he has two Russian girls upstairs and would I like a massage? (I think he was joking about the girls!) A pint of cold beer for me and an apple juice for Astrid - all included in the price of 20YTL (about £8) is certainly better value than the UK barbers. Met up with Roger and Jordan afterwards and went to the Taj Mahal for a curry.
15/08/08 Temperatures are remaining in the forties (touching the fifties in nearby towns) whilst all we hear of in the UK is rain and high winds. I'm sure that if we had some rain here, everyone would be sitting on their decks to enjoy it. Kev and Karen onboard Nisroc have finally left the building and sailed to Rhodes and Gocek - that's one less winter liveaboard remaining. My own 12 month boat permit will soon come to an end and I will have to check out of Turkey for a while - maybe whilst Ann is visiting.
16/08/08 Harry, (Nightbird) Paul, Toni and Jordan (Zachariah) and myself were all invited to dinner aboard Storm Dodger. Later in the evening we all went around to Nightbird for drinks - and all finished up swimming off the pontoon in the early hours of the morning - the water surprisingly very warm!
17/08/08 After last night's fun and games, Harry, myself, Roger and Astrid met up in the marina bar for happy hour, then caught the dolmus to Marmaris to try out the Pierre Loti restaurant which we have heard much about since arriving here, but not yet visited. The food was plentiful and good.....but the service was a bit 'iffy'. Nonetheless, we all enjoyed it, and I would go there again. Caught the midnight dolmus back.
19/08/08 Roger was due to collect Liam and Mary (Happy Daze) from the airport this morning but yesterday fell down a hole and badly hurt his shoulder and knee - and he wasn't drunk! He was paying a bill at the time, so maybe it was the size of that which made him fall over? So, no beers for me last night 'cos I had to drive to Dalaman for the 0315 arrival of the Belfast flight. Astrid came along to keep me company and we've never seen the airport so busy - it must be the main tourist arrival time, and we had to wait over 90 mins for Liam and Mary to clear baggage retrieval, immigration and customs. After coffee/chat with Liam and Mary, we returned to the marina, arriving back at 0700. At 1630, I again joined Astrid for another trip along the same road, past Dalaman, to collect Leah who had been staying onboard Nisroc in Gocek bay, and returned at 2000, bringing back Leah, Aiden and Caitriona who were now going to stay on Storm Dodger for a few days. Roger, still unable to do very much, elected not to join Liam, Mary, Astrid and myself for a meal in the Orange Bar later in the evening.
20/08/08 Another day of taxi driving, this time to the Hetman Hospital again.....for Leah to have foot treatment, (Roger refusing to have his arm seen to!) followed by a drive over to Orhaniye before re-tracing our route and going to Çinar restaurant for a late lunch.
22/08/08 Panic Stations!! An early morning phone call - "We're sinking!" .....had me onboard Storm Dodger shortly after 6am. The gas alarm had sounded earlier and when Roger investigated, he found a hose detached from the oil heat exchanger and around 18" of water in the engine room. Both bilge pumps were busy pumping out the sea water when Mehmet (who had done the engine work) arrived just before 8am. Now we have to wait and see if any serious damage has been done to electrical equipment, or whether sea water has made ingress into the gearbox sump.
24/08/08 Disturbing news today that several boats, including friends Eeyore and Happy Daze, have been robbed whilst at anchor in Orhaniye. Seemingly, it isn't the first time this has occurred in that anchorage and is an alarm call for us all......not all the Turks are honest!! As a point of fact, because the boats were at anchor and not tied up alongside, the police were not interested and the incident was dealt with by the coastguard - making it not a case of theft but one of piracy on the high seas.
25/08/08 Luckily, all damage has been avoided onboard Roger's boat, the gearbox oil has been changed as a precaution and no obvious electrical problems. Normal service resumed with our usual trips to Orange Bar or similar. Roger, Astrid, Paul, Toni and Damien ended up on my boat after the restaurant this evening and the bacardi and cokes took a bit of a bashing through the night - not often do we see the sun rise whilst still 'partying'.
26/08/08 Fell into bed about 0730 for a couple of hours sleep! Roger finally went to Hetman Hospital because his arm is still hurting......now it's in a sling,...... fractured, damaged ligaments and swollen joint......three weeks rest ordered by the doctor!
31/08/08 Nothing much happening over the last few days, it's still extremely hot and humid and the indicated temperature shown on various web sites (including the indicator at the bottom of my log page) always seem to under-read by a large margin. We tried the Pierre Loti restaurant again - enjoyed the food but the service still leaves something to be desired. Last time we ate the soup before the bread arrived, this time we ate the bread before the soup arrived! I attempted to renew my berthing agreement yesterday and again today, but was told the marina was full and that I would have to leave. What? That's stupid, I'm already here in a berth, how can it be full? Anyway, I have to leave it until Monday, then see the office again.
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