We have now left Finike Marina, and are heading slowly up the Turkish coast to Fethiye over the month of May. In early June we cross over to Rhodes where we pick up Mark (our son) and Bridget (our daughter-in-law…) who will cruise with us through the Greek islands for some two months or so!
This has been our first winter stop at a marina, and it has been terrific! We have completed an impressive list of jobs – some minor and some not so minor – and managed a full and varied social life.
The liveaboards over the winter came from everywhere, and there was also a strong Aussie and NZealand component this year! We organised all sorts of activities which included endless varieties of keep-fit, weekly movie, quiz, games and topic nights (which I organised – the latter, I mean) a pub night on Fridays and of course the Sunday BBQ… we als
o organised all sorts of excursions to the wonderful historical sites around the area (see pics) and walks on the surrounding mountains which are really beautiful – but the piece de resistance was probably the regular trips to Antalya for shopping followed by a concert, ballet or opera…. The standard of the musicians and artists never failed to amaze, and often included guest musicians from Europe and elsewhere…. And the incredible part of it all is that the cost of the evening’s entertainment was always 10 Turkish lira (approx 7 aussie dollars!!!)If Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, was one of the highlights of our odessey so far, then Cappadocia, in central Turkey, was another equally magnificent discovery.... a natural fairyland..... (see pics)!
Well, we’re now back to cruising and enjoying very balmy weather. Tomorrow we head to yet another picturesque bay in Kekova and then the day after we’re off to Castellorizon to stock up on bacon, pork sausages etc before we head up to Fethiye.
Our plans in a nutshell are to cruise up from Rhodes through the Dodecanese to Patmos, then head south to Thira (Santorini) and then north west to Athens. We hope to be there early to mid July before the meltemi really takes hold. Then we cruise gently through the Corinth, with stopovers to do some land travel, and we hope to spend August gently bobbing somewhere in the Ionian before crossing over to Malta via the heel of Italy and Sicily in early September… not a long cruising season but I hope to catch up with my youngest sis and her family in Malta at that time….
Well, we’re now back to cruising and enjoying very balmy weather. Tomorrow we head to yet another picturesque bay in Kekova and then the day after we’re off to Castellorizon to stock up on bacon, pork sausages etc before we head up to Fethiye.
Our plans in a nutshell are to cruise up from Rhodes through the Dodecanese to Patmos, then head south to Thira (Santorini) and then north west to Athens. We hope to be there early to mid July before the meltemi really takes hold. Then we cruise gently through the Corinth, with stopovers to do some land travel, and we hope to spend August gently bobbing somewhere in the Ionian before crossing over to Malta via the heel of Italy and Sicily in early September… not a long cruising season but I hope to catch up with my youngest sis and her family in Malta at that time….
