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It was a close call to get to Turkey to meet
the Lehecka family—friends visiting from America:
Tod and Bonnie with their three kids—Riley,
16, Alex, 14, and Meris, 11. We got launched—went for a massive grocery and duty free booze shop and were off and out
of there for an overnight sail with cases of beer on the deck and tools
still out from a plumbing fix.
We arrived in Turkey at a port called Kas. A
smallish scenic tourist town with a quaint little town quay. Our first
attempt at stern tying which as all Europeans know North Americans are
generally pretty hopeless at as we don't usually do it. You have to drop
your anchor way off the dock, then back up in a nice controlled fashion
(Margarita doesn't like to back up in a straight line) and hand whoever at
the dock two stern lines to tie up nice and close, at which point you
should have your anchor set and pulling at a good angle. Med people can't
understand why we have trouble with this, and we have heard local marina
people waiting patiently with a line in their hand shaking their head
watching a yachtie struggle saying "he must be a good skipper no, he has
sailed half way around the world!" Unfortunately it turns out the harbor
was shallow enough and the water clear enough to see the bottom so we
spent at least half an hour in our sleep deprived state trying to see
exactly where we could lay our anchor without fouling anybody else's——the
harbor was full and it was a tight criss-cross of chain. We actually did
a flawless job—we have not been able to repeat it since—and found out
later that nobody cares where they lay anchor—they just chuck them
down!!
The Leheckas arrived a few hours later and PARTY
TIME began. We often say that people don't realize that we are not just
out here playing non stop and kicking back, and sailing around the world
can be a lot of hard work and stress. However for the next 10 days we
made up for all the ocean crossing and struggle up the Red Sea beating
into headwinds and hitting reefs and boat work. It was a blast. We really
enjoyed the visit (and not just because they brought us our long lost mail
from Male). Kneeboarding, swimming, cruising around ruins, throwing water
balloons at tourist boats (we couldn't resist), having competitive
ping-pong tournaments at hotels, and just having fun. The
kids had a great time having three extra kids around all the time, and the
days were never long enough!! Turkey was very good to us. The people were
extremely friendly and open. If you ask directions anywhere they are
likely to leave whatever they are doing and walk you right there. The
weather sunny all day long, the water sheltered with dozens of protected
anchorages to pick from and lots of history and ruins to explore when you
feel like it. Luckily when our friends had to go we had Douglas's
birthday to enjoy so the playing didn't stop there. We hired a skiboat
for an hour and got all three kids up on skiis and we bought a used
windsurfer—something we have been holding back from doing as it is one
more thing to clutter up poor Margarita. We left with very fond memories
of cruising Turkey. Beautiful clean, clear water, picturesque little
bays, dry hilly islands covered with olive groves and wild sage and
oregano, their scents wafting in the warm breeze, and goats gathering at
the water's edge to drink from natural springs that seem to be
everywhere. Scarf clad women with long baggy pants come rowing out to the
boat to sell herbs and honey, scarves and carpets. The carpet shops are
everywhere and very addictive, they are such wonderful colors and
designs. Unfortunately our experience with the medical world was not so
positive. We went to a thoroughly modern hospital to have a mole taken
off Bronwen's knee, and paid $140, the stitches CAME UNTIED before the
wound was properly closed, and the hospital lost the pathology records!!
We decided with our vast experience now we could have done better on the
boat.
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