Now we've come to a halt in Selimiye. If this is not paradise then it must be next door. The bay is totally enclosed by hills (which unusually for this region have not been developed at all yet and would seem to be just as they've been for thousands of years) with a small village at the southern end. Although there are a few restaurants, shops and jetties/moorings at the waterfront, behind this the village is beautifully unspoilt - on our early morning run, within a few hundred metres from the boat we pass women working the vegetable fields, putting their milking cow out (tie-ing up to a tree beside the main road through the village!) with the goats and hens, picking fruit etc - they seemed amused (bemused?) by us jogging (or was that they were amused that Helen was way ahead of me going up the steep hill from the village - it was my first run of the summer!). The men of the village seemed to be in the cafes discussing and planning important strategic, economic and political issues - sensibly having delegated the simpler tasks to the women. (This may not get past the editor). There are some parallels perhaps between a cruising life and that of this slightly remote villages - the important things for us are the essentials of water, provisions, toilet facilities etc. Its curious that even though the shower and toilet here at the restaurant are to say the least basic (this is not an interContinental hotel!) and frequently have no light, the shower pressure and temperature vary dramatically and unpredictably, the water is not safe to drink and the wash basin is in an open courtyard (hang your towel on the tree next to basin!) and has cold water only, I still feel a million dollars when I've had a shower in the morning and sit having a coffee in the shade looking out at this beautiful bay, and the restaurant has just had bread delivered to the boat for us (free). We don't have tv or radio but wifi is almost ubiquitous and so we do get uk papers daily for news of the outside world (generally depressing but we like doing the crossword) and of course emails - essential to allow us to keep in touch and deal with the admin of life. Selimiye is such a beautiful, tranquil spot I think we could easily spend the rest of the summer here (maybe many years although the winters are apparently VERY quiet here. The couple who run the lovely Aurora restaurant where we're parked, go to istanbul in winter - Suzanne says she'd go mad if she stayed here in winter! At another restaurant I asked what they did in winter - hunting, fishing and sitting they said!). However, one cloud on the horizon even in this idyll is that we're running out of porridge oatmeal - so we have to move on! (Oatcakes have been re-stocked thankfully by Roy and Jackie). Friends arrive at dalaman in 2 weeks and we did say we'd be in that area to meet them so we'll continue on eastwards - there are several places we are very keen to visit further east. That's all for now. Best wishes Helen and Iain

Dirsek

Selimiye

We continue (slowly) on our way eastwards visiting some beautiful quiet bays. This is a lovely lovely area with many good anchorages, great sailing winds (perhaps a little strong at times and particularly around the exposed headlands), friendly and kind people (we asked a lady and her daughter in one town where the post office was and were aghast when the lady insisted her daughter go with us (it was a few blocks away) to ensure we found it!) and great history. We've had some great sailing (including a super downwind run with the gennaker - although I accept I should have taken it down earlier!). Great to have Roy and jackie onboard allowing us to hand over the helm and take it easy. We were also particularly grateful to another yachtie who helped us moor up after I'd made a real mess of mooring in a strong cross wind. He jumped in his dinghy when he saw we were having difficulty and rowed across, took our stern line and tied it off for us. We'd seen him at an earlier mooring and formed an unfavourable opinion as they had a large dog onboard (too hot, not able to exercise properly etc). However, he turned out to be one of the nicest people you could ever meet. Sadly, it turns out he and his wife were on their last sailing trip as they've sold their boat and are emigrating to Montreal (from Istanbul) where their daughter lives (after studying at McGill). They had got ready to leave the anchorage but kept having "one last swim" before they left - think they will really miss their sailing and the warm weather of Turkey especially in their first winter in Montreal. [ Sailing Note - mooring stern to is the norm in Med sailing and whilst fairly straightforward coming in to a pontoon or jetty (particularly if there's someone capable onshore to get the windward stern line on as then the boat can be controlled with the engine by taking the weight on that line while getting the other lines on), it can be rather tricky in strong winds in an anchorage when trying to take stern lines ashore to tie off to a rock. Key problem is that there are several jobs that need done very quickly - laying the anchor, reversing/positioning the boat and getting ashore in the dinghy with lines to tie off to a friendly well positioned rock. In a strong wind its often very difficult in our dinghy just to row against the wind and if pulling a mooring line may be impossible with the drag of the line in the water. However, we think we've learned a lot about this recently and have some new ideas on a better technique - mostly from making a real hash of it on a couple of occasions! May tell you how it works out in a future blog!]

Knidos

First stop en route was Knidos - renowned it is said for two things - its statue of Aphrodite (apparently the first naked statue of a woman!) and the mathematician Eudoxos. However, I think its situation at the tip of the Datcha peninsula (and therefore a strategically important position on the main trade routes of the time) and its marvellous natural twin harbours (one open only to the NW and the other on the other side of the peninsula open only to the SE with a canal connecting the two so ships could always enter one or other and leave with a favourable wind) are equally marvellous and must have been a major factor in its prosperity. Now sadly the site lies largely neglected (until recently I believe it was not even fenced off) but on viewing the site its easy to imagine the great city that once stood here.

Bodrum with Roy and Jackie

SAILING WITH ROY AND JACKIE

7TH TO 12TH JUNE BODRUM Bodrum is an extraordinary mixture - old and new, east and west, touristy but historic. St Peter's castle is magnificent and the museum (which we visited on Roy and jackie's first day with us) was a wonderful surprise with relics from some of the oldest shipwrecks found anywhere in the world and a great section on coins from ancient times - interesting to see how even 2,500 years ago inflation was a problem and the attempts of one Roman governor at price controls - not sure the world has advanced as much as we like to think. Its a pity that little remains of the ancient city of Halicarnassus and the famous tomb of Mausolos although I understand many of the stones are incorporated in the Knight's castle. Anyway we had a very enjoyable few days there before setting off for Marmaris/Gocek.

Fire at Bodrum

While we were anchored in the bay a fire started on the hillside immediately on the edge of the town. Fortunately the wind was blowing the fire away from the houses. What was astounding was how quickly and significantly the fire developed. Within minutes the whole hillside was ablaze. The fire service reaction was very impressive - both firemen on the ground with hoses from trucks and a helicopted lifting water from the sea and dropping on the fire - they had it under control within minutes of their arrival. But so lucky the wind was in the right direction. Now we're catching up with boat jobs (measuring for new sail cover, fitting new anchor line, cleaning etc etc), relaxing and preparing for next leg of our journey heading for Marmaris/Gocek on south coast. Take care Helen and Iain

The Library, Ephesus

after the delights of Ephesus and kusadasi, we returned south via Didim and turgutreis to Bodrum. We'd hoped to stop at St Paul's bay but the wind was quite strong again (20 to 22 knots) so the anchorages on this coast would have been uncomfortable and we went to Didim marina in one day - not altogether a bad thing as we had a fantastic sail flying along in the good breeze. Before going into Bodrum we had a night at anchor in a small bay along the coast to the east - beautifully quiet and secluded - at least until the disco started in the next bay. Think Shirley eventually got to sleep about 4am! Why do bars think music has to be so loud? Or is it just that I am getting old? As geoff and shirley were flying home from Bodrum on Friday we headed for Bodrum marina on Thursday afternoon - only to be told they were full! They advise reserving in advance - I did point out i'd emailed them previously but had no reply! Anyway they said we're full. OK I asked if I could reserve for Monday night as we have next visitors arriving very late Monday night. Call on Sunday they said to see if they have a berth available! so we anchored outside the harbour and actually this turned out to be a fantastic setting - under the walls of the Knights castle. Only downside was that it is just across the bay from the world famous (apparently) Halikarnas night club. Think Shirley got to sleep at 4am again! I think we should all have gone to the club but suspect we may not have fitted in (perhaps not even allowed in!).

With Geoff and Shirley Ceteres Street Ephesus

28 MAY to 7 JUNE Well the Temple of Apollo at Didyma was terrific but Ephesus was simply the very best. What a wonderful city this must have been - surely the leading city in the world at that time. for us it was a bit like visiting Pompeii and getting a feel for life in Roman times but Ephesus was even more impressive - such a feeling of the power, wealth and advanced society of Roman times. Walking down Ceteres street to the Celsus library - what a magnificent experience. Great pity to think of the records lost when the library was destroyed. We had a guide for our tour which I think is worthwhile - make sure you get one that speaks good English; our guide spoke perfect English - at least to say "good morning, would you like a guided tour of Ephesus". Otherwise his English was almost unintelligible! (I should add that my Turkish is limited to good morning, please and thank you - despite my "learn one word a day" target.) However, we did pick up bits of information we'd never otherwise have discovered. And we hope to go back - especially as we didn't have time to visit the house where apparently the Virgin Mary (who came here with St john) lived until she died here. Nor were we able to visit the museum which was closed. our dinner in Kusadasi - dinner in a pot We visited Ephesus with Geoff and Shirley who had arrived in Kusadasi on Friday. After we left Didim we'd stopped for a night in St nicolas bay (small beautifully remote, unspoilt bay) next to St paul's bay where he'd reportedly stopped for the night en route to Ephesus to allow his oarsmen to rest (its generally upwind heading north along this coast). Well for us the wind quite often seems uncooperative and indeed during the night it got up quite a bit from the south - directly into the bay. so not the best night's sleep (as the bay was very small and we didn't have much room to swing at anchor) and we left very early next morning for Kusadasi. The route took us between Samos in greece and the Turkish coast - only one mile at the narrowest point! Kusadasi was a much nicer town than we'd expected. It is a tourist town/cruise ship port but the marina has added a very modern high quality shopping/bar/restaurant development and the town has good shops, restaurants etc. Including of course the ubiquitous Irish bar where we managed to see some of the british Lions rugby match! Seems to be a large northern european (particularly British) retired expat population here attracted by the beautiful weather and low cost of living.

The Temple of Apollo, Didyma

Paradise Bay

The mosque at Turgutreis

Squashed

Friday, May 31, 2013 We spent 2 days in Turgutreis (named after an Ottoman naval commander who was killed in the famous siege of Malta in 1565!) getting the boat ready to go sailing. Great cafes and restaurants, lovely pool/showers etc and an excellent fridge engineer who seems to have got our fridge operating much more efficiently. It was running almost continuously and the cooling pipes were getting almost too hot to touch! We've had engineers in Lymington, Brittany, Malta and the yard in Bodrum look at it - the answer has always been simply too much gas or too little gas but still the problem persisted. Lets hope this time its solved. Because of that we stayed a day longer than intended but probably a good thing since we managed to get a few more jobs done and we left feeling the boat was quite organised. Also, Monday when we set off turned out to be an almost perfect sailing day. We'd planned just to have a short sail to a lovely bay only a few miles north (the ancient city of Myndus) but conditions were so good (10 to 12 knots on the beam - perfect!) we just kept sailing and had a wonderful afternoon's sail (only disturbed by having to alter course for a gulet and again to thread our way through the profusion of fish farm cages near the coast). So today, as we're ahead of schedule, and as we're anchored in a lovely little bay, we're relaxing! Off to Didim we hope for tonight so we can visit Didyma (famous for the temple to Apollo (the largest Ionic temple in the world apparently and its oracle) then continuing north towards Kusadasi where Geoff and Shirley are due to arrive Saturday and we plan to visit Ephesus before sailing south again towards Bodrum. Will report again next week on how it goes. Have a good week. All the best Helen and Iain

The new deck

Friday, May 31, 2013 ALMA 20 TO 28 MAY Back on board ALMA and cruising the Carian and Ionian coast of Turkey - a beautiful sailing area with many great anchorages, some top quality marinas, great weather and some wonderful historical sites. These are the lands of Homer, Thales, Herodotus, occupied at various times by amongst others the Persians, Alexander, the Romans, Ottomans. We particularly hope to visit Ephesus, Didyma, Knidos and the castle at Bodrum (ancient Halicarnassus). We arrived in Bodrum and spent 3 days getting the boat ready for the season. The yard had done most of the jobs we wanted done over the winter, and most importantly had finished replacing the sikaflex caulking in the teak decks which now look really smart (and hopefully no more tarry marks on shorts!). But of course they hadn't done all the jobs so we had to push them a little to finish some, we did some ourselves and a few jobs will just have to wait! We were still finishing off jobs (replacing anodes and cleaning/rubbing down the prop as ALMA was in the hoist at the jetty waiting to go in the water!). The launch was a little dramatic as there had been strong SE winds creating quite a swell and so no boats had been launched Thursday or Friday early morning. We were scheduled for 11.00am but due to the delays in getting jobs done it was around 1400 before we were ready to go. Health and Safety were not apparently around on Friday so as soon as the boat was lowered into the water we had to leap from the dockside onto the boat, start the engine and get out of the dock through the swell as quickly as possible. Great relief when we were away from the dock. We intended to motor across the bay to Bodrum marina but as there was a regatta on over the weekend they were full and so we had to motor about 12M along the coast to Turgutreis marina - directly into 20 plus knots of wind! Unfortunately we didn't have any sails rigged as it had been too windy in the boatyard, so the engine had a good test drive and all went well.

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