Gokova Korfezi with Friends!

Having spent a couple of days in Gokova Oren Marina, getting the feel of the place and its small town, we set off on the 27th August to explore Gokova Korfezi before our friends, Peter & Micaela join us on the 3rd September.

Gokova Korfezi, now a designated nature reserve, is a long and much indented gulf with Bodrum being at its entrance on the north side. Our pilot guide says there are many beautiful anchorages, and we were not disappointed. We will let the photos do most of the talking…for now!

English Harbour

Sogut Limani

Cokertme

We stopped here not only as it afforded fabulous shelter from the gathering north westerlie winds, but also because it is said to have a couple of fabulous if not a little quirky restaurants. As we arrived, the winds were gusting 20 knots, not a great time to practice our anchor with a long line ashore technique with just the two of us on board, but luckily one of the more enterprising restaurateurs came to our rescue guiding us to a buoy which he rapidly fixed to our bow and then promptly spun us around with the bow of his dingy and attached 2 more buoys to our stern, expertly done if not a bit bewildering for us!

Dinner was manic, the restaurant was packed and having had our starters and were deciding what we would have for our mains, we were told that they had run out of food. A little later when the fireworks went off in very close proximity to us did we learn that it was in fact the Turkish Independence Day!

Finally on the 2nd September we made our way to Bodrum,

The  Approaches to Bodrum

Having queued in the middle of the manically busy harbour for 45 minutes for a much needed 18€ waste pump out, we spent the afternoon giving Seaclusion soem TLC before Peter & Miceala’s arrival the following day and then spent the rest of the day wandering into town for a nose and a well deserved glass of vino and some food. We decided not to indulge in a late night at the world famous Halikarnos night club, although the laser show was worth a look from afar.

Bodrum by Night

The following day saw Peter & Micaela safely on board, the afternoon was spent happily wandering the streets of Bodrum, watching the sun go down over a cocktail on the beach with our chairs periodically sinking and almost toppling over much to our amusement, and then finding (literally as even our taxi driver got lost taking us there) a fabulous restaurant above the town with great views of the bay.

Bodrum

The following day we set sail in search of a peaceful quiet anchorage away from the noise of Bodrum and its Halikarnos nightclub. It was a wonderful downwind sail and we even had ourselves a mini race with another yacht, catching up with him nicely, until we reached the point that the rules of the road dictated we crossed behind him to pass so as to not take his wind. But as we did he changed course and  unfortunately it was not until we had passed him that we spotted the very fine fishing line off his stern. It would have been nice had he waved at us or something, sadly no and it was somewhat inevitable that we would have an issue!

We finally stopped in a deserted bay called Alakisla Buka with nothing around us except a couple of gulletts and a campervan on the beach, and just for a change we found an area shallow enough for us to free anchor in! Having safely dropped our pick we jumped in the water, and soon saw the mess of fishing line around our prop and rudder, but as light was fading we decided to leave it til the morning to resolve.  Dinner and wine was flowing that very balmy evening and our wows were forgotten.

Introducing Peter & Micaela (not that it is their first time aboard Seaclusion)

The following morning however did see a slight sense of humour failure from both David and I, as we got out our emergency dive gear, not used since the oxygen tanks was last refilled in Greece, only to find the dive shop had left an extra nozzle in it and with us not having the necessary equipment to remove it, rendered it useless!. There was nothing for it but for us to take it in terms to free dive under the hull and cut away the line bit by bit. Luckily some Turks from neighbouring boats came to our rescue and an hour later we filled our rubbish bin with the stuff, we must have taken his whole reel with us!

All sorted, we then headed back to Cokertme again, with enough wind to push us along nicely, this time attempting a long line ashore in a gusting wind on our beam, which meant that I couldn’t hold Seaclusion’s stern in place for long, each time swinging away just as David was an arm’s length away from the shore, the long line dragging him back out again. 3 attempts later, with David, who is no Michael Phelps, close to having a heart attack, we finally made it.

Later that evening, we all clambered into the dinghy to make our way to our favorite restaurant, a little earlier this time, hoping they would not run out of food this time! We were in luck and we even got to have the battle of the puds, 2 of us being sacrificial lambs tried the local delicacy which turned out to be melted nougat heavily disguised as cocoa powder, not again…. the other 2 having a wonderful Germanic homemade cheesecake! Lots of giggles then ensued as we once again clambered back into the dinghy, this time not quite so elegantly after the vino, and David then expertly negotiated through the numerous buoys without getting them wrapped around our prop, back to Seaclusion!

The following day we had another wonderful sail across to an area known as Seven Islands, the winds increasing as the day progressed to the point a reef was most definitely needed as we navigated our way through these tiny islands to North Cove, where a lovely young man helped us onto a buoy and then took our lines to the shore, securing us safely in a 20 knot cross wind! All went swimmingly well until he left us to help another yacht and the line under most pressure went twang and snapped, almost landing back on the boat! It didn’t take long for him to come to our rescue again!

Once again, all safe and secure, he then whisked us off across the shallows and mud banks to his restaurant so we could use his WIFI to get in touch with Steven before his departure across the Indian Ocean, which is going to take him the best part of 3 weeks without contact!

North Cove Seven Islands

A real family affair!

We went back later for dinner, and found ourselves to be the only occupants, a far cry from the peak of the season when you would have needed to have booked. We took the opportunity to introduce Peter & Micaela to a Shisha, or hubble bubble pipe as I call them. We then joined in with the family having a giggle watching a drunken elderly gentleman who had arrived in the bay 3 months ago, never left and came to the restaurant every night for his obligatory raki or 5, and then zoomed around the bay in circles searching for his boat, which given on this night there were only 3, gives you some idea of the state he was in!

The following day called for our lovely chappie to climb up the rocks to free our lines and off we went.

Finally the winds were gentle enough to give the guys some helming lessons, Peter first, as we crossed the bay back to Oren for a waste pump out (54 litres, mostly belonging to Micaela, lucky girl) and then back across to English Harbour. Peter’s helming however was rather short lived as the winds once again gusted up to over 20 knots and I took over!

As we approached the lovely calmness of English Harbour, where all the boats seemed to be, I wonder why!  The lack of Turkish sailing etiquette came to the fore again, as we were royally carved up in a race for what appeared to be one of the few remaining spots for a long line ashore! Despite this, we did find a spot that was calm enough for the paddleboarding lessons to begin!

Peter’s Story!

Hoorah, I can do it, he says!

And the inevitable result!

Micaela’s Story

Exhausted by their efforts, they were soon glad when sunset arrived with some vino and homecooking!

The following morning we left our little haven and did a drive by of the President Holiday home, taking surreptitious photos, well that was until their police boat did their own drive by with hard glares, me having pegged down below to hide my camera and the evidence, but making sure that Micaela’s camera was in full view, just in case they decided to confiscate one. Well that is what friends are for!

Micaela’s Turn on the Helm!

Next Stop, Castle Island and Cleopatra’s Beach…called so because Cleopatra is believed to have taken up residence on the Island and one of her many extravagant gestures was to have galleys of sand shipped from North Africa to create the beach for her lover Anthony to sunbathe on! Most people just get a card.

As the westerly winds gathered momentum again, we set sail across the gulf to our final stop Akbuk LImani, home to the Amberjack fish, with David on the helm and Micaela concentrating on the horizon. It was rather choppy but thankfully there were no signs of seasickness from anyone! We tacked our way up, the guys now having experienced every point of sail possible (much better than a few years ago when they joined us on Corfu and we only sailed for 2 hours in the whole week for lack of wind) until the winds dropped as we entered the bay and this time moored up to the restaurants pontoon!

Akbuk Limani

We had an interesting meal ashore which involved a very long power outage and no candles! Romantic it wasn’t, but we still had lots of fun!

A rather restless night for David and I, we rose at sunrise leaving our guests sleeping like babies, and took a slow stroll through the village.

Peter & Micaela’s last day and night on board, we tacked our way back up to Oren. We had discovered during the week that we had a dying bow thruster battery and whilst I had hoped it would survive until we got back to Oren, sadly it was not to be, so I have to say as the wind increased, and increased and then some, I was not looking forward to the mooring, particularly as it would be a stern to mooring and experience told me that trying to get our boat to move in reverse, turn it around on a sixpence in a narrow channel in high winds was not going to be fun! David seemed to be all very calm, despite the fact that he wasn’t going to get away with it either, he had to do an along side mooring on the fuel berth so we could fill up and have yet another waste pump out, also without the benefit of our normally thrusted bow thruster!

Well Mr Calm and Collected did it perfectly, sadly I can’t say the same, but then going alongside doesn’t entail reversing! Clearly it just wasn’t going to happen, and even the marina guys appreciated how difficult it was, so they let us have one of the few alongside moorings until the morning, tee hee, I was off the hook, happily handing over to Mr Calm & Collected! No one likes a smart arse!  But he did manage that one perfectly as well!

Our last night was spent in the marina restaurant, the guys opting for a Neapolitan pizza, which in Turkey means Margarita… hmmm not the most memorable meal of the trip, or perhaps it was, just not for the right reasons!.

Sadly the 10th September arrived, and we had to say our farewells to our dear friends, Peter & Micaela, as they jumped in the taxi and made their way through the windy mountain roads to Bodrum airport, we understand suffering more motion sickness in that journey than they did on the ocean waves with us!