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June 2003 Newsletter |
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Hi Everyone: West Coast of Turkey Greetings from the crew of SV Two-Step, now cruising the Ayvalik Archipelago, an idyllic group of rocky islands with forested coves and an inland sea located just north of Izmir, on the west coast of Turkey. |
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Setur Ayvalik Marina Today we are moored at the Setur Ayvalik Marina, one of a chain of modern Turkish marinas found along this coast where Two-Step is tied 'bows-to' a brand new pontoon, her stern tied to a 'lazy line' which was handed to Paul as we approached the dock by the marina attendant who directed us right to our slip in his dinghy. After handing Paul the lazy line for the stern, the man raced to the pontoon and leapt out to take the bow line I handed him, and in no time our lines were made fast. After cruising in Greece where there are few marinas, we are enjoying the good service and excellent facilities for yachtsmen weıve found in Turkey so far. Cost: $12 US per day. (Electricity and water is metered and charged separately. There is a self-serve launderette, clean showers, shaded patio with picnic tables, the townıs largest grocery store is right on the premises so you can wheel your shopping cart right to the slip, and thereıs a fuel dock. For diesel, weıre paying about $1 US per litre.) Ayvalik is a lovely mix of modern and Old World Turkey with itıs nearby fishing port at the main waterfront, itıs cobbled streets where horsecarts are still used to transport goods and supplies to workshops right beside high-tech cell phone centres. And the people are delightful. |
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Northbound through the Dodecanese Islands of Greece
We cleared in to Turkey at Kusadasi on May 21 coming from Greece. Last winter while we were home editing Season Two of our TV series, Distant Shores, we stored Two-Step in the boat yard at Kos Island Marina. We launched her on May 14 with the help of our German friends, Gisela and Eckard, who travel aboard SV Karin, their Tayana 37, and a few days later we sailed in company, island-hopping north through the Dodacanese Islands of Greece to the fairy tale port of Pandeli on Leros with itıs windmills and Crusader castle on the hill where we rented scooters and filmed around the island. Our next stop was the quiet little fishing port on Agathonisi 16 nautical miles to the northeast where we tied alongside the ferry dock. The ferry comes to this remote island just once a week and only stops there on demand. From Agathonisi we continued northwards starting with light winds and had a lovely 34-mile sail through the strait between the Greek island of Samos and the mountainous Turkish mainland where we said goodbye to Europe and began new adventures in Asia Minor when we reached Kousadasi that afternoon. |
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Clearing in to Turkey Clearing in to Turkey on a sailboat can be quiet a production since there are about 8 different offices to visit in a specific order. When we visited Turkey briefly last fall, clearing in at Bodrum, it took us the afternoon and part of the next morning. One of the offices was for the Medical Officer to receive a clean Bill of Health and we were a bit anxious about what this might involve. 'Any sick or dying aboard your boat?' the man asked. 'No, Sir,' Paul replied. That was it. We passed the test. No visits to the boat. No physical examinations. The document was stamped and we continued on to get our Visas. Members of the EU pay a nominal fee for a personal visa for Turkey. When we as Canadians were charged $45 US each we balked. 'Americans pay $60 US,' he told us and with a friendly wink added, 'For you my friends, special price.' (Both official prices.) The visas are good for 3 months. The transit log for the boat, which cost $30 US, is good for 1 year as long as the boat stays in Turkey. Therefore, at the end of 3 months, sailors take a ferry over to Greece, get their passports stamped, then take the ferry back, reenter Turkey and purchase a new 3-month visa. If you sail out of Turkey with your boat, you must clear out on your departure and you forfeit the boatıs transit log which means you must purchase a new one each time you reenter, hence the ferry rides to renew personal visas. |
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Setur Kusadasi Marina There is a lovely Setur marina at Kusadasi just north of the cruise ship harbour. It has all features including a swimming pool but one thing we really appreciated is that they have a member on staff who will do all the clearing-in paperwork and running around for you. The fee is $25 US. (All marina and port fees are quoted in US dollars due to the wild inflation in Turkey.) It is an optional service. You can do all the legwork yourself if you wish but since we had a weather window the next day we were glad to pay the price so we could use the time to refill our water tanks, provision at the Migros grocery store right on the premises and relax at the marina after our sail rather than running around this busy touristy town. The main attraction is that Kusadasi is near the amazing ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus where in 1000 BC the Ionians replaced the Anatolian mother goddess cult established here, with a shrine to Artemis, goddess of fertility, lter replaced by the Roman shrine to Diana, her equivalent. Christianity arrived with St. Paul in 53 AD who stirred up the Ephesians, causing a riot. The silversmiths, who made a tidy profit selling silver shrines of Diana to pilgrims, werenıt keen to have their religion challenged. |
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Sigicik & Ruins of Teos On May 23 we left Kusadasi under gray skies with a rare south wind to carry us north to Sigicik. In the summer months the prevailing wind in this region of the Aegean Sea is a strong northerly wind called a 'meltemi' . It blows strongest in July and August and since we were there early in the season our goal was to get as far north as possible before the north winds got too strong and consistent, then head back south through the Greek islands with the winds comfortably behind us. We didnıt know if weıd be able to get as far north as Istanbul but we were game to try. The Sigicik marina is still under construction but it is a very secure harbour. There is power and water at the docks and showers available. Theyıre small but clean with plenty of hot water. You can tie alongside or drop your anchor and go bow- or stern-to the dock. The fee was $12 US per night. The harbourmaster, Nusret Ohrili, who speaks many languages, was friendly and accommodating and drew us a map of the local foot paths so we could find the ancient ruins of Teos, first established by the Minyans and later, around 700 BC, became one of the great Ionian cities. It was an important centre of the Actorsı Guild of Ionian and home to the once-magnificent temple to Dionysus, god of wine and the arts. We had a lovely walk through old olive groves and, in a quiet field full of brilliant wild flowers, we came upon the temple. Such a lovely way to discover this ancient site - no bus loads of people, just us with the sounds of the wind in the trees and the waves on the distant shore. Nusret invited us, the crews of Karin and 9 Swedish boats to a stay another day and have a BBQ together but the south wind was still blowing so we were all anxious to ride it north. It was a tough decision to leave. 'Ah well,' Nusret said. 'Iıll be seeing you all again because you have all tasted the water here. Itıs magic you know,' he said with a smile 'and the legends are true that if you drink it you canıt help but return to Sigicik one day.' We all sadly said goodbye. It was a brilliant day at sea but throughout the morning thunderclouds began building over the land and we watched them grow with apprehension. Our next stop before Ayvalik was Cesme but who knew, maybe weıd be back in Sigicik sooner than we thought... |
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Thanks for keeping in touch. We love to get your news and will keep you up
to date on our continuing adventures. Warm regards, Sheryl and Paul Aboard SV Two-Step Ayvalik, Turkey |
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