Reality?

Back to Gocek.
The first photo is the Carrefour floating supermarket being stocked for the day. It does a circuit round the bays so people can buy their supplies without coming into town.

The second one is the start of the fleet of day trip boats leaving Gocek this morning. Big business and a relaxing way to see the bays and islands.

The third is our not-at-all guilty pleasure at the marina beach for the afternoon. A morning of cleaning KJ in 40° left us in serious need of lying on a beach. The fact that it features fine white sand, good loungers, two freshly laundered towels per person, and a regiment of eager waiters lifts it somewhat above the Ballygally experience.

Stings in tails

The photos are of the relaxing evening at anchor in Round Bay for our last night of 'freedom' before returning to the marina in Gocek to prepare to return home.

The very hot weather however created very high overnight winds. So for the last relaxing night the skipper found himself clutching a cushion and an anchor alarm for the night watch in the cockpit. Bed at 0600 was very welcome. A doze on the marina beach at the end of the day was as welcome as it was inevitable.

Close shaves

Having relaxed in our quiet anchorage overnight, the morning was equally quiet except for a few Turkish families on the nearby beach. Lunchtime brought an English yacht and a Turkish gulet, both of which puzzled us by anchoring rather close by. They hadn't thought about swinging circles, nor had they allowed for change of wind direction, so when it inevitably came as the land breeze changed to a sea breeze, they swung towards us, and an emergency engine start and reverse of KJ escaped the gulet by inches. They immediately raised their anchor and sailed away.

We motored round to Tomb Bay, (the two photos - note sleeping crew), where the skipper had his traditional final Turkish haircut and shave. Two close shaves in one day.

The biggest soda farl in the world

One of the pleasing features of calling in to different islands, towns, bays and tavernas is the never-ending varieties of bread. Some is open textured and dries out in hours; some is moist, yellow and begs for some butter. Today's contribution from Ciftlik on the Turkish coast was this whopper, straight out of a wood fired oven and too hot to hold. It is the closest thing imaginable to a norn iron soda.

Today's journey was less of a triumph than yesterday's. Longer, tougher, rougher, but with less good sailing wind, it took 8 hours for the 40 miles. The second photo is the view over the stern from our anchorage in Round Bay near Goçek. Peace and quiet with a great view and the prospect of star watching with no light pollution.

Spectacular sailing

It was time to leave Europe this morning. Farewell to various people and then the formalities. Amazingly the process went like clockwork, with smiling helpful officials and no queues.

The sail was the most challenging so far with very brisk winds and more rolling swell than expected. (The next bit is for sailors) It involved every point of sail, multiple gybes, goose-winging, gybe preventer, and constant adjustments. By far the most technical sail this year. The really pleasing bit was to be the only yacht we saw all day actually sailing. All others were motoring. We averaged 6kts over the whole trip which may not sound much but felt it. (30 nautical miles in 5 hours).

Ended up in Ciftlik, with good old-fashioned rickety jetties.

Crew resigns over Europe decision

The skipper's decision to stay another night in Europe has led to the crew's dramatic decision to quit.

"I think we've had enough of these tavernas with their local food, the beautiful harbours with fishing boats providing a picturesque backdrop, and romantic images of donkey transport evoking memories of a long-ago honeymoon."

The skipper's arguments about weather forecasts and dangers of being driven onto the rocks fell on deaf ears.

"We've had enough of these weather forecasts. We said we were going to Turkey and it's time to go. Predictions of gales and rocky lee shores are simply part of project fear."

The skipper has ordered an ouzo and stands firm.

When will you Symi again?

The houses that stretch up over the hill to the right in the first photo continue into the houses pouring down over the hill on the left in the second one. The main town here stretches up over the hill into the bay (Pedi) where we anchored last night. Today it is the main event. Sunday in town.

After musing a few days ago about the tricky business of anchoring, we were told today of a hazard here we were unaware of. We are (reliably) informed that there are still a dozen cars on the seabed in the harbour after the floods last November, not to mention assorted fridges, cookers, and household paraphernalia. Who knows what we'll raise with the anchor!