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