05/09/09 Over the last week, Roger and I have sailed with Nadja and Eli every day - using every combination of sail in varying wind conditions.....and sometimes, (reluctantly), using the engine. Our ports/anchorages included Nisos Simi, Nisos Tilos (Livádhia), Nisos Rhodos, Bozuk Bükü (twice), Dirsek Limani, Orhaniye, Kuruca Bükü, Ova Bükü. Today marked the end of Nadja and Eli's holiday and after putting them ashore in Mandraki Harbour, Rhodes for their homeward flight to Germany, Roger and I again put to sea for our trip 'home'. It was a good sail to windward, tacking just four times to our destination of Simi for fuel and supplies, then motoring back to Turkey and the anchorage at Orhaniye.
06/09/09 After spending the night at anchor, we moved the boat back onto the pontoon at Kadir Restaurant and I collected all my things and moved back onboard Rhumb Do, - nice to be home!
07/09/09 Roger went into Datça by bus and booked Storm Dodger (and me) back into Turkey.
08/08/09 Caught the dolmuş into Marmaris to renew my Turkish transit log which expires in about a week's time, and contrary to what has been said on YBW Forums about the harbourmaster there, I had no problems whatsoever. As my boat is under 10 tons, I don't require an agent and did the whole process myself in one hour, including the walking from office to office - total cost 110 lira.
12/09/09 Our second day of heavy rain! A thunderstorm rolled into Keci Bükü early yesterday afternoon - and it continued until late this morning. I took down my sun awning when it dried and folded it up, replacing it with the bimini top. A worrying phone call from my brother late in the evening, about Mum's health, made sudden changes to my plans and I would have to fly home to the UK. As it was unsafe to leave the boat at Kadir's restaurant I decided to sail around to Marmaris Yacht Marine and hope that I could get a berth there for a few weeks. Roger kindly offered to accompany me and we cast off just before midnight and made our way down Hisaronu Korfezi.
13/09/09 A moderately rough passage (we expected worse) under engine and genoa saw our arrival in Yacht Marine just before 10am and the big rush to get to the airport for my 5.45pm flight to Manchester, arranged on-line by Jordan during the night. This turned out to be a catalogue of disasters! Firstly, I was unable to access any of the flight details or print off my tickets, then the taxi didn't turn up and on phoning, they insisted that a booking hadn't been made (I did it myself not an hour earlier), so the hire pool car was commandeered and Don (Northern Shadow) agreed to drive me to Dalaman. At the airport it transpired that there was no flight to Manchester until 0545 the following morning! Obviously a breakdown in VHF radio communication between Jordan and myself! Anyone who has experienced this airport will know that it isn't the place to spend 14 or so hours waiting especially when you have already been up all the previous night, so a hotel was needed and Don took me back into Dalaman town where I booked into the Dalaman Park Hotel for the night.
14/09/09 A taxi back to the airport at 3am and a worrying period whilst the Thomas Cook rep tried to find my flight booking, then it was check in - my newly purchased duty-free goods disappearing somewhere in the departure lounge - obviously needed more by someone else, so I hope they like whisky. Arrived in Manchester at 0830 local time and Clive was there to meet me and drive home in the morning rush hour. Went to see Mum.
15/09/09 Sadly, my Mum passed away this evening around 6.10pm
20/09/09 Mum had a good long life and will be remembered by most for her very infectious laughter. We received a lovely letter from her friend (I won't give her name) and fellow Burma Star Association member, which gives an insight into how others thought of her;
16.09.09
Dear Clive, Ian, Barbara & Family,
I can’t tell you how sad I feel hearing of the passing of Elsie. To you all I believe she was the very best and dearly loved Mum, Mum-in-Law, Grandma and Great Grandma any Family could have. To me, even though we only knew each other for a few years, she was a special and very dear friend – as she was to many other people too – mainly the old “Burma Star Family.”
What good times we all had together, Elsie always being the life and soul of the party – last to bed and first up in the morning – bright as a button – bless her! When we shared a room on our many weekends away, we’d stay awake for hours talking about our early years, our husbands and children, good times and not so good times, laughing and crying together. How she loved her precious Syd from a very early age, how she followed him around until he was posted overseas – always with you Clive. I’m sure we must have kept other people awake but never got any complaints! She was like a second Mum to me, we got on so well together and I always tried to be there for her as she meant so much to me, and the happy memories of her will stay with me for ever, but I’ll never stop missing her.
I know you all will have your own special memories of Elsie, of the life she enjoyed so much and hopefully they will ease your sorrow. She loved you all and was very proud of you. I’ve told the sad news to the few remaining friends we had in the ‘Burma Star’ but it’s very unlikely that any of us will be able to be with you all to say ‘goodbye’ in the way we would have liked – which we deeply regret. I personally will be thinking of her and hoping she is now re-united with her Syd – the “love of her life” as she always called him to me.
Sincerely,
21/09/09 Mum's funeral at 11.00am. Thank you to all who attended, travelling from the Midlands, Kent, Glasgow, the Lake District and Manchester. Thank you for the flowers, cards and charity donations and a big thank you to all the staff of St Albans Nursing Home in Knott End-on-Sea, who had looked after Mum for the last three and a half years.
22/09/09 Clive and Barbara drove me to Manchester airport during the afternoon and I caught the 7pm Thomas Cook cattle truck back to Dalaman.
23/09/09 Arrived back onboard just before 5am local time and had a sort of lazy day deciding on the programme of jobs that I now need to do if I want to leave Turkey this year! Temperatures here are still in the mid thirties (contrary to what the AccuWeather thingy at the bottom of log page shows), so it's back into swim shorts and flip-flops. At Happy Hour, I caught up with various friends who are now in the marina - Storm Dodger, Luturna, Destiny, Esper, Roam II, and Northern Shadow.
24/09/09 First on the list - fix the toilet! The pump had become defective during the night sail from Orhaniye to Marmaris Yacht Marine, so I stripped it down and cleaned out all the calcium deposits, fitted a new non-return and joker valve and re-installed it in the system.
25/09/09 A fire on a yacht just outside the marina today had most liveaboards crowding onto Alpha pontoon to watch - the fire brigade on shore powerless to do anything about it other than wet down the trees and buildings close by and the actual boat fire being left to the coastguard cutter, with a helicopter dumping water on it for over an hour. The boat was worth several million Euro's, had recently completed a major refit and was due to leave tomorrow for a six month charter season in the Caribbean. The dense cloud of smoke from the fire was seen (and smelt) in Marmaris town and was still burning late into the evening.
26/09/09 The boat involved in yesterday's fire has now sunk......just 4 or 5 metres of it's bow still showing out of the water. I have arranged for my boat to be lifted out of the water in Marti Marina for a hull survey and to re-antifoul in preparation for heading eastward - it's much cheaper to haul out in Orhaniye than Marmaris, so I will sail tomorrow and make my way back to Keci Bükü.
27/09/09 Attended the boat jumble in Netsel Marina (didn't buy anything) before heading back to Yacht Marine to sail back to Orhaniye. However, best laid plans and all that......the winds were up to almost 25 knots in the marina and would obviously be much stronger out of the shelter of the bay, so I delayed sailing until almost 5pm. Astrid was coming with me for company this time, I think mainly to conquer the sea-sickness malady on a smaller boat, and although the wind had indeed dropped in the marina, we soon ran into F6 plus. Nonetheless, it was a beam reach at first, then close reach, and we made good progress with a reefed genoa.
28/09/09 After rounding Karaburun, we were into a 30 knot headwind, coupled with a bumpy sea and it was then slow going until we entered Hisaronu Korfezi and the last leg to Keci Bükü, finally dropping the anchor off Orhaniye at 0300 hours. Weighed anchor again at 0900 and motored over to Marti Marina where the boat was lifted out immediately. The next few hours were spent in the hands of the surveyor and I now await the outcome of his survey. Astrid caught the dolmuş back to Yacht Marine - but as I've just booked a lift out for Storm Dodger here, I guess it won't be long before I see them again! To give an idea of lift out prices for an 11 metre boat......Netsel Marina - 571 euros, Marti Marina - 274 euros, Marmaris Yacht Marine - 900 euros (yes, that's right - nine hundred!)
29/09/09 A day of scraping and sanding the hull.......if only we could buy the stuff that barnacles stick themselves on with - we'd have a real 'superglue' then!! Finished up looking like a 'smurf', covered from head to foot in blue paint - and more to come tomorrow. The surveyor returned to carry out moisture tests on the hull (all clear) and also checked the emergency steering was working properly.
30/09/09 Happy Birthday Angie! Storm Dodger arrived and was lifted out of the water. I continued with the scraping and sanding of old anti-foul - it's like working in a bee-hive, there are dozens of wasps and bees swarming around me whilst working and a young teenager was killed in Marmaris today when the van transporting hives, in which he was travelling, was in collision with a lorry which burst the hives open and the angry bees stung the trapped youngster to death before rescuers could free him.
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