Return to Finike for the Winter: Then Malta & Sweden by air

Our trip south has been marked with meeting more wonderful people, cruisers and locals, with too many stories which have to wait for another time. The best part was that the northerlies were now behind us, and we looked forward to sailing south. The reality was that as soon as we reached Bodrum and September, it seemed that the wind tap was switched off, and we had a glorious month in the Bodrum – Datcha – Marmaris area, visiting numerous bays, villages and sites, with some truly spectacular anchorages. We crossed over to the very pretty Greek island of Simi to stock up on bacon, salami and pork products generally, and then also called into Rhodes to stock up on wine for the winter months.

We spend another wonderful fortnight in the Fethiye area, visiting Gocek and many of the inland sites: incredibly beautiful (pictures tell their own stores), ruins, gorges, caves, beaches, and of course the very scenic bays in the very protected large Fethiye-Gocek area. I loved Fethiye and the market on Tuesdays is truly great!

Our slower passage seemed to coincide with that of many boats heading towards their designated winter marinas – at this time of the year there seemed to be not so many charter boats. We now understood why those Europeans who keep their boats in Turkey/Greece choose to cruise in May-June and then again in September-October… it’s great sailing weather without the blustery meltemi which this year seemed to be permanently in gale force mode throughout August!

Towards mid October, the signs for seasonal change were becoming more obvious with more cloud and some occasional rain… time to head back to Finike! We watched the weather more carefully, and made our way south still swimming every day, and enjoying balmy weather and we got to Finike in the last week of October – just in time before the first good winter storm.

We had a very busy two weeks taking down sails, washing them and generally packing all the boat up, clearing everything removable on deck! The good thing about the storm was that we had a chance to check out the mooring lines under stress, so we were happy to leave the boat to go and visit rellies (relatives, to you non Aussies) in Malta and Sweden – and a good thing we did, as they have had some nasty weather systems go through since.

We took the bus to Antalya and then flew to Istanbul for a few days where we stayed with friends we met in Alacati. The best part was that we were very well briefed on how to make the best of our short time there to visit the many wonderfully historical sites. Istanbul is beautifullll… and we took in a ferry down through the Bosphorus every day to get to the old parts of town. It has always been a dream of mine to visit the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi Palace! And whilst some places can be an anticlimax, we felt nothing but awe and history all around us…..

Malta was great fun, and incredibly green after the first rains, which was great, as we usually visited in summer when the island tends to go very barren, especially as everything is in limestone. It was great catching up with family and friends, and we had some lovely surprises along the way like catching up with an old school friend whom I had not seen for some 35years!! The highlight was our rendezvous with Mark and Bridget whom we had not seen for over two years since their wedding before we left Perth. Together with my mum and dad we all rediscovered my parents’ old haunts.

Mum and dad looked very well for their age, with my mum still having her great sense of fun and ‘naughtiness’ as she related stories from her growing up years, dating dad. They are really looking forward to us sailing into Malta next year. The stay was topped when we learnt that my sister’s restaurant (Ta’ Marija) won best restaurant for the 4th consecutive year!!

We are now in Stockholm, visiting Bjorn’s family.

Wow, the forecast was for a cold winter, but really, in all the years we have been chasing white Christmases whilst the kids were growing up, we have never had such a snow storm as we had over the past few days… I recall it was like this on my very first visit and silly me offered to go clear up the path and driveway from snow! Needless to say, I let Bjorn do the work this time round (see photos!!!)

Today as I write this, the sun is out and really dazzling with all the snow around. It’s good to have snow cover as it means that it never gets really dark at night with a permanent ‘lume’ from the pristine snow.

Well that’s enough prattling from us ‘up here’.

A really great Xmas and a terrific New Year to you and yours.

Hello Meltemi: Cruising Turkey going north

We’ve now been 3 months in Turkey and what a journey of discovery this has been.

In a nutshell, for those who find a long email tedious, we sailed up the coast from Finike to Cesme where we caught up with Annika and Jesper AND the meltemi, and started heading (read ‘flying’) south from mid August.

We are now just south of Bodrum, much calmer winds and heading back slowly towards Finike, our first landfall in Turkey and home for the winter to be, by the end of October. I hope to have all the photos up on Picasa as they tell their own story. Website is http://picasaweb.google.com/SV.Mischief

First of all, let me start with our encounter of Turkish people. We have met friendly people everywhere, some more than others. And after our Egypt experience, where every act of ‘kindness’ so often turned out to be simply a claim for ‘baksheesh’, we were very wary of ‘friendliness’.

The Turks, especially those away from the tourist areas, are something else. Nowhere in our trip so far have we met the generosity of spirit, from simply wanting to know the way to somewhere, where people will go so much out of their way to help – including phoning a friend or relative who can speak English to help us out… almost embarrassing at times… There is also that genuine enjoyment of simply talking to you, someone from somewhere else with different experiences, and a carpet seller will invite you to have some ‘chai’ (tea) and a chat, even when you explain that you are not in the market for a carpet! (And no, not even a mention, after we sip our tea accompanied by a pleasant conversation about life in general).

We remember our favourite places by the wonderful people we met there.

Sailing in Turkey is essentially exploring deep bays separated by big headlands, that all seem to have a Greek island at the end of them, forming a wind tunnel between the two. From Finike we sailed up to Kekova Roads and caught up with cruising friends on Circe who gave us some wonderful information about where to go and what to see along the Turkish coast. Kekova has some wonderful anchorages all strewn with sarcophagai and ruins, including an underwater city where land sank after an earthquake some 1500 years ago. It was a rare treat to take the dinghy for a slow drift over old ruins, the occasional amphora and other sunken relics.

We then sailed to the wonderful enclosed harbour and town of Fethiye via Kas and Kalkan. Fethiye bay was the first indication of how popular cruising has become in Turkey…. Sailing boats in all directions!!

A few more anchorages and we were in Marmaris bay – an unbelievable sailing mecca, but also a start of the anchorages where you have to compete with the local gullets, an old local boat design now mainly used for day-tripping tourists - and their sometimes crazy boat handling! We again caught up with Dreamcatcher, as we had on some previous anchorages, and waved them farewell as they left to cruise the Greek islands.

We headed along the coast to a small fjord like anchorage called Bozuk Buku where Bjorn and I celebrated 30 wedded years at a small restaurant ashore – an appropriately beautiful spot for a swim and a visit to the ancient ruins of Loryma on top of the hill overlooking the bay we were in. And the very local fish meal prepared by the fisher family we had was more than sumptuous and suitable for the occasion, with a special fruit dessert for the occasion.

We skipped the whole Bodrum bay area that comes next to save for the return trip, as our primary concern was to make as much headway north before the dreaded meltemi arrived.

We headed to the quaint town of Datca and then on to the ancient harbour of Knidos, sailing past within a couple of miles of a number of Greek islands including Rhodos and Simi. At Knidos, we went ashore to explore the incredible remains of this ancient city with two harbours at each end of the peninsula. Knidos was one of the six cities of the Dorian hexapolis, and the remains show how large and well organised the city was, with two theatres, a number of temples, the agora… the setting and site are quite impressive.

Another overnight stop at Akyarlar, a bay west of Bodrum, we headed to Gumusluk, on the Agean side of the Bodrum peninsula, where we intended to start cruising northwards at a more leisurely pace.

We had a wonderful week here, and then with the right weather window for going north, we headed to Gulluk Korfezi to explore all the coves and bays there over the next 10 days or so. The area is very pretty but somewhat marred by the many fish farms around here which made the water in some of the bays abit murky. We still managed some wonderful anchorages like the one at Asin Limani (limani is the Turkish term for harbour/port) where the remains of the ancient city of Iassos, including the watchtower and the ancient breakwater still stand.

With some strong northerlies forecast, we decided to stop over at an enclosed bay called Talianaki, east of Altinkum. We were disappointed to find that the holiday village ashore was deserted, and the beach visited only by a number of locals, and a stream of tourist engorged gullets during the day. We did spot a small beach concession on one side of the entrance and went to explore this. To our delight, we found that this was a swimming beach for a number of holiday homes tucked away totally out of sight. Walking through the village in search of a mini market for some fresh bread, we met Mine and Gokhan (& son Bora) who startled us by their perfect English… they live in America and were home visiting…

Through them we met – and adopted – the whole family… We would go ashore every day to get away from the strong winds, and spend the afternoon playing scrabble, dominoes or watching the locals play OKEY (a form of gin rummy) or – to Bjorn’s disappointment – discussing politics with Mine’s uncle with Mine and her cousin Aycan translating!!! We had a ball.

We were joined here briefly by our American friends on Interlude (we crossed the Indian Ocean at the same time and shared the ‘job’ of cruising net controllers), and we had a wonderful couple of evenings, which included being treated to a guitar session by Katie and Kurt on their magnificent boat – a 74ft Deerfoot (now that’s cruising in style).

We made it up to Alacati, south of Cesme, for our daughter’s visit. We had a wonderful 3 weeks here, glad to be in a marina with winds clocking 40 knots whilst we watched Annika and Jesper race in the windsurfing world cup. We also managed to go cruising for a few days when the wind relented, travel inland to Cesme, Ismir and down to Kusadasi and the unforgettable Ephesus, and even take a ferry across to the lovely Greek island of Samos for 2 days.

More in our next newsletter when we get to Finike. Love to you all and keep those emails coming.

Up the Turkish coast

We are still making our way north to Alicati to meet Annika and Jesper for the windsurfing championships. Can't wait to see my not-so-little girl again!

And finally the MED!!!

Newsletter 2009/04

Tunaydin dear friends.

I have not been able to find the Turkish equivalent of ‘Hello’ or ‘good day’, so it has to be ‘tunaydin’ (good afternoon)!

We are now in Finike, south west Turkey and ready to depart for our cruise up the coast to Izmir and then back again here for the winter.

Finike is a small town, with a lovely three year old marina really planned for yachties like us, many of whom will be wintering here (some seem to have made it a permanent home!). We will form a small village inside the town. It’s a lovely quaint place, not touristy at all, which is a bonus, as this means that the prices are some 30% cheaper than the better known places around Bodrum and Marmaris.

The weather is also much more benign and mild in winter, or so we are told, some 10 degrees warmer than further up the coast, which is good as this will be our first winter for close to three years.

After our first stop in Egypt, which was Port Ghalib, we went to Hurghada. This town is a real tourist Mecca, and the diving is really big here. No wonder given the wonderful clarity of the Red Sea and the fact that this sea is probably one of the only ones left that has not been over fished! Look at those pics at Dolphin reef – one of our greatest highlights this trip.

We ended up staying close to a month at Hurghada marina, which was so comfy we found it difficult to leave. We also did our Egypt tour from here, and that meant that we could then proceed up to the Suez and to the Med without detours.

We loved Egypt, and the pyramids, temples and sights are something one should do once! Mind you after our 10 day tour which took us to Cairo, Aswan, Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo, Edfu and Luxor, we are quite templed out!

We very adventurously took a two day feluka trip up the Nile from Aswan to Kom Ombo, and this turned out really great and a good rest between museums, tombs and temples….

I have uploaded all the photos onto the Picasa website (now with captions) and you can view them all at leisure at - http://picasaweb.google.com/SV.Mischief

I will also send a second email with the Pirate Alley article I penned for our sailing club– for those of you interested in that particular journey (apologies to those of you at FSC who have already read it).

We picked our weather window carefully and had a good run to Suez and then through the canal to Ismailia through the ‘ditch’…or the “marlboro channel” (the pilots still asked for the traditional ‘gift’, some baksheesh and a box of Marlboro, and you must remember to keep some packets for everyone who tries to get in to the act including the ones who handle the dock ropes!!!). Out of the Canal, we were finally in the Mediterranean and headed across to Cyprus.

Cyprus was a very pleasant surprise. Very clean, quaint, very modern and almost too touristy along the whole coastline with many English people residing here. Understated in a way, but yet it has everything. Lovely mild climate, good clear waters and lovely beaches, ….and mountains where you can actually ski in winter!

If not for the fact that the marina is small, full and could not squeeze anyone in, it would have been a winter stop for us. To be honest, we are feeling somewhat cruised out after the long relentless haul from Thailand. The weather windows are too short and you have to keep moving.

You cannot really leave Phuket before end of December as the trade winds will not have set in yet for the Indian Ocean crossing, then have to be at Aden by end of February and ready to go up the Red Sea in March, or April at the latest or else you run into strong head winds, and it will take at least 6 weeks even pushing it to get through the Red Sea.

Many of our sailing friends have just reached turkey and not even bothering to cruise this summer as they are so tired!!!

Well, Turkey ahead for us, and catching up with Annika and Jesper who will be participating in the international windsurfing championships in Alicati (south of Izmir) this summer, and later with Bridget and Mark on their European campervan tour. We will probably go to Malta in late November for a few weeks, leaving MISCHIEF in Finike, but more news when we get back here.

Red Sea conquered! - Egypt a 'Must'!

Newsletter 2009/03

Hello dear friends

We are finally in Egypt – but not quite!! Let me explain. We are now at Port Ghalib Marina, a very new (two years old) and attractive resort complex with diving schools and a large marina with the first phase completed (which means all around the luxury is a construction site)… and the ‘not quite’ bit refers to the ‘baksheesh’ which we have not yet encountered in this controlled environment but which we know we will get our fill of before we are much further on!

We had a great trip from Aden through to the entrance to the Suez at Bab al Mandeb. The transition from Indian Ocean to Red Sea could not be more dramatic as you leave the wonderfully reliable trade winds of the Indian Ocean and encounter the full frontal – usually a quite blustery 25-35++knots of wind which makes for very fast passage for as long as the southerlies last and a rush to a safe anchorage when the wind is northerly.

We decided to coast hop up the Red Sea through Eritrea, then Sudan and to Egypt. We stopped at numerous anchorages, encountered local fishermen from whom we often bought fish and swam in some of the most pristine waters I have ever seen! I even got to practice my first aid on a fisherman seeking assistance for a really swollen foot (poor guy – but I think he’s still alive!)

We often had to wait out the strong winds and then head off north when there was a weather window with southerlies, and managed to get Shumma Island’s Port Smyth (20m southeast of Massawa)– no port at all but an excellent, beautiful anchorage inside a coral reef. We spent a few days here and the coral was among the best I have ever seen.

We bypassed Massawa due to reports about boats being damaged along the harbour wall where the authorities insisted we had to tie up. From here on, the northerlies started and it was more a case of waiting for weather with either no wind, or else north easterlies which we could still sail on.

The extensive reef area around Massawa has some fantastic anchorages and reefs. We would call into an anchorage such at the scenic Khor Nawarat, when the boats which were anchored there have just left for the next ‘hop’, spend a few days waiting for the next weather window, during which time some dozen yachts would also arrive in dribs and drabs, and then all head off roughly at the same time…. And this goes on up and down the Red Sea, with anchorages experiencing a ‘boa constrictor’ expansion and contraction of number of yachts. I have also been running a Red Sea Cruisers’ Net with close to 50 boats calling in on the twice daily sched. We really got to know so many boats at the various anchorages and some wonderful people from all over!

The old port of Suakin (just south of Port Sudan) is incredible – we put down anchor alongside the island which was the last slave transportation depot. The whole fortification was built out of coral and is all crumbling away (see photos – hopefully will get these and previous ones up soon). We took the local bus into Port Sudan and treated ourselves to icecream and some fresh provisions!!
The coral at Tullia islands, north of Port Sudan, was out of this world! – very vibrant colours ranging from white, yellow, bright green, deep pink, orange and the most incredible range of blues. The fish were more numerous in the Sudanese waters, and we caught our first fish – a 1.2metre barracuda here.

Bjorn and I were so thrilled with our first catch that we immediately invited our fellow sailors to share the fish…. We were all ready, fish cleaned, cut up and on the Barbie (Aussie for barbeque) when silly me got out my fishing bible and found out that barracuda, being a predator fish, can be full of ciguatera – so out came the John West cans and overboard when the freshly bbq’d barracuda!!!

On our way north we managed a stop at the very picturesque marsa (natural harbour usually inside a reef) of Khor Shinab, and then continued across Foul Bay into Egypt. Again waiting for favourable winds or calms paid off as we made it to Dolphin Reef which was certainly the highlight of the year… we spend a wonderful night in absolutely flat waters in this coral reef with the most amazingly clear waters (in 12 metres we could see our chain and anchor all the way) and the next morning, - they came… a large pod of around 70-80 dolphins and we jumped in and swam with them for around two hours!

I will never forget the sight! I put my mask on, looked down, and saw some 30 dolphins swimming up towards me and then around me… we saw them mating, we saw mothers with calves, we had some playful ones come and swim around… it was quite an experience.

We have now been in Port Ghalib for 4 days, and have spent the better part of that time doing urgent repairs (we discovered a leak in our fuel tank in Khor Shinab which was luckily less than a trickle and we managed to get to repair it before it became a major problem)… We also have washed and washed the sand and salt caked really thickly on spreaders, sails and ropes, and are generally resting up and re provisioning after endless anchorages in sometimes very desolate areas. Mischief is finally clean-er again!!!

Well that’s all from us for now… next stops more marinas and anchorages to the entry to the Suez, then a stop over at Ismalia to visit Cairo and take a trip to the pyramids, the Valley of the Kings and Queens, Luxor etc …..

Take care all and keep those wonderful newsy messages coming.

Indian Ocean - done! Pirate Alley - done! Red Sea: here we come!

Newsletter 2009/02

Hello dear friends
We are now about to leave Aden and the Indian Ocean and enter the Red Sea to make our way up to Egypt.

This first major ocean crossing is now well and truly behind us. The first leg from Phuket to Maldives was a dream run with indeed fair winds and following seas; we even managed our maximum miles in 24 hours which is a record of 200 nautical miles in ideal conditions that will be very difficult to repeat. As we came round the Nicobars, in the lee of the islands, we had 15-20 knots on a broad reach and MISCHIEF just took off, surfing at 8-9 knots!!!

The Maldives were very peaceful and provided a good rest between ocean crossings. We were very impressed by the good local organisation on the islands: very clean, no corruption and really helpful locals. They are somewhat protective of the locals and we were not allowed ashore after 10.oopm, but the local community did organise a buffet dinner one night (of course, no alcohol, but they did provide fresh coconut juice and tea.

There are no paved roads, but there was no rubbish and the buildings are of a high standard. They were very proud to show us their local schools, health and family centres which were well equipped and very clean – we were all very impressed!!

The crossing to Oman was shorter but took as long as the first crossing as we ran out of wind to begin with. On the last day we then ran into a sand storm, and then flew in to Salalah, with incredibly poor visibility! We only saw the port properly after three days when the dust storm finally cleared. We could almost build sand castles in our cockpit with the sand that had blown in.

Oman was indeed a good surprise and a great introduction into Arabia.

Salalah was very clean, very friendly and helpful people, but very desert! Shopping for provisions was excellent and the fruit and veg were first class. It is obviously a wealthy place with many modern buildings, and the Frankinsence museum outside town was world class.

I have started to write an article on our crossing across pirate waters to Aden for the Fremantle Sailing Club and will send this to you with my next newsletter.

The approach to Aden is very impressive with high mountains and cliffs all around. Aden itself is a very ramshackle town, abit dingy and dirty but with really friendly locals. You can tell that Yemen is very much a poor neighbour to Oman, but we still have been able to find good quality provisions.

We took a bus trip to the ancient capital of Sana’a for four days and flew back last night. It was certainly worthwhile: This must be one of the most unexpected and incredible experiences of our trip so far.

The old city of Sana’a dates from around the 10C. The hotel building we stayed in, Arabia Felix, was 500 years old, and reminded me of the fortifications back in Malta. The architecture was quite unique and the style of the new buildings continues the local architectural theme which is quite attractive and shows that this must have been quite an important Mecca in its days. From Sana’a we took another tour to the outskirts and the outlying towns, some of which are quite historic. Photos will be on our site as soon as we get to somewhere with decent internet.

We are now preparing for our next leg up the Red Sea. We hope to do day hops to anchorages along the south Yemen coast then through Bab al Mandeb, the entrance to the Red Sea, and cross to the east coast and cruise up the Eritrean and Sudanese coasts to Egypt.

That’s it for now from us. Thanks once again for your wonderful emails and messages which keep us going and also keep us in touch with the rest of the world.

And now - the BIG crossing of the Indian Ocean!

Newsletter 2009/01

Ahoy there
Mischief is on the move again after being held up in Phuket. We fell into the usual trap of 'let's do this while we are here...' and then find that it all takes so much longer than planned. The good thing is that we have now done a good engine service including changing injectors and havng the gearbox/ shaft checked out, so should be all set for the long trip across the Indian Ocean and up the Red Sea.

We check out of marina tomorrow and then cruise round Phuket to Nai Harn Bay waiting for the right winds and teeing up with other cruisers heading west probably mid next week.

ETA Maldives towards end of January, and eta Salaleh, Oman around third week of February.

Wish us well and think positive winds and kind seas....