November 2004 Newsletter

Before beginning this fall cruise of the Lycian Coast, we flew back to Canada where we were home from September to mid-October to complete post-production on the final episodes of season 3 of the series. Two-Step awaited our return in Rhodes, Greece, where we had left her in the care of friend, Thanos Sotiriou, the charter base manager at Mandraki Harbour who is a great fan of Distant Shores (the series airs weekly in Europe on Travel Channel as well as in Canada on Canadian Learning Television) and he helped us out in so many ways while filming episode #39 on Rhodes and Symi. We we got back to the boat we also had fun re-unions with beautiful Greek-Australian friends, Chrissy Arvanitis and Irene Zifias and their kids, who star in the Rhodes episode demonstrating how to harvest and eat raw sea urchins! Don’t miss this episode!

Before clearing out of Greece to head to Turkey we stocked up on all our favourite wines, European cheeses, chocolates, salamis, smoked salmon, pork chops and bacon. Most Turkish people are muslim and don’t eat pork, so pork is hard to find and when you do it’s very expensive in Turkey. In Rhodes there are 3 huge grocery stores that we’d recommend for provisioning - LIDL, a discount cash & carry store which is good for wines, meats, cheeses and most packaged and canned foods, as well as a large SPAR and a CHAMPION hypermarket for other specialty items like Italian coffee, brand name cosmetics, and the like. In Turkey there is a high tax on imported goods sold in stores so before leaving Europe stock up on any EU products, especially boat spares, that you might need during your time in Turkey.

Most cruisers hire a taxi to transport their supplies back to the boat but since we had rented a scooter for sight-seeing, we decided to imitate the Greeks and use it as a grocery-getter. It’s amazing how much stuff you can carry on one of these babies! Check out the photo of Paul in front of Fort St. Nicholas on the quay in Mandraki Harbour. He’s got a case of wine at his feet, 24 cans of beer in his backpack, lightweight groceries on the handle bars as well as stuff stowed in the space beneath the seat, and the duffle bag on the aft carrier is full of salami, smoked salmon, and cheese. It took a few trips, but in one morning we loaded Two-Step with our winter supply of 48 X 1-litre boxes of “Chateau de Cardboard”,($1 US each*) plus 36 X 750 ml bottles of vintage Greek, Italian and Australian wines ($2 to $3 a bottle), each one we later encased in a clean gym sock to prevent breakage and stowed beneath the bunks, as well as 36 X 1-litre boxes of long-life fruit juices and about 45 kilos (100 lbs) of other specialty groceries.

On Saturday October 30 at 2:00 p.m. we cleared out of Greece and set sail for the port of Marmaris in Turkey which we could see from the dock the whole time we were in Rhodes. The distance is only 24 nautical miles (nm) but the two ports are world’s apart. There wasn’t much wind so we motorsailed the whole way which took us about four and a half hours. Although we’d had many wonderful experiences in Rhodes, It felt great to be out on the sparkling sea once more. We arrived at Netsel Marina http://www.netselmarina.com in Marmaris at around 6:30 p.m. It was almost dark and that night the clocks went back an hour making the days even shorter, a big change from summer cruising!

I won’t go into the details of clearing in to Turkey since I’ve discussed it in past newsletters but there are many offices to visit and as Canadians we were required to pay 45 euros* or US dollars* (the better deal with the current exchange rate) per person for a 90-day visa (it’s less for Europeans and Americans. Check Turkish embassy web site for your home country) and 30 US dollars* for a transit log for the boat, which is good for a year so long as the boat stays in Turkey.

We spent a couple of days catching up with friends and work contacts in Marmaris which had been our base earlier in the summer when we filmed episodes #36-Turkish Lakelands, #37-Marmaris, and #38-Turquoise Coast. During this fall visit we checked out another marina, Marmaris Yacht Marine, http://www.yachtmarin.com, a lovely resort marina further out of town with good winter rates (96 euros* per month for our 10-meter boat; water and electricity extra), a pool and gym, high speed wireless internet and an active live-aboard community (a Hallowe’en Party was taking place when we arrived). We both agreed it would make a great base for the winter when the weather closed in. However, the weather was still beautiful - sunshine and 25 C temperatures and higher - so on November 1st we set off along the coast to continue our cruise. Along the way we re-visited some of our favourite anchorages in Ekincik near the Dalyan River, site of the ancient city of Caunos, and in Skopea Limani where we did a wreck dive (both places are featured in Distant Shores #38 - Turquoise Coast), now empty of boats in the off-season. When we passed Karacaoren and we entered exciting new territory.

The Lycian Coast of Turkey starts at the Dalyan River and includes the rugged coastline as far east as the port of Antalya, about 150 nm Our first stop was at the town quay in Kalkan (drop your anchor and go stern- or bow-to the quay. 20 million TL** per night, 5 million TL for water, 5 TL for electricity) and our plan for the next few weeks was to travel about half-way to Antalya, as far as Kekova Roads.

Rod Heikkel, the author of the Imray pilot “Turkish Waters and Cyprus Pilot”, 6th edition, describes the Lycian Coast of Turkey as follows: “In ancient times it was a coast feared by ancient mariners, and even today this coast is not a friendly one to sailors. It presents a hostile aspect from seaward but also some of the most majestic, almost primeval, scenery you will encounter in Turkish Waters.”

The Lycian Coast is named after the ancient Lycian cities established on this shore. The Lycians are thought to be an indigenous Anatolian race that appeared in this region sometime around the second millenium B.C. They were honoured by the Romans for their skill in battle and were skilled sailors and shipbuilders as well. They are renowned today for their funerary architecture -beautifully carved rock tombs and sarcophagi which still stand in such numbers that some of the locals use the empty tombs on their property for storage sheds, but with the respect shown by all Turkish people for past cultures and civilizations, they rarely deface the tombs, even if they’re using them for other purposes. The Lycian tombs and sarcophoghi dot the hills surrounding most anchorages along this coast and are sometimes seen in the water by the shoreline.

This leg of the voyage will documented on DVD on Distant Shores Volume 5

Click here to check out our DVDs for more cruising adventures and tips!

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