Boat Improvements and Preparing to Depart Turkey : June 2015

June 1-6, 2015

Sailors' gotta eat!  Dinner on the rooftop in Bozburun.( Thanks, Unc!)

You can enlarge any photo by clicking on it.

In the days since I joined Ron aboard Celador in Marmaris, he has been busy coordinating improvements to the boat which necessary to join the ARC+ (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) rally from the Canary Islands via the Cabo Verdes Islands to St Lucia in November. Here's a list of improvements to the vessel which must be done in preparation for the crossing.  

Rigging:

Full inspection and maintenance of rigging, report required.

Replace all halyards and topping lift

Install spare halyard

Mainsail slot guide and furling system cleaning and maintenance.

Install radar reflectors with effective area of 10 nautical miles

Install an LED tricolor navigation light at the masthead

Repair or replace steaming light

General:

Service the four cockpit winches

Replace the manual bilge pump

Install jacklines and deck ring attachments

Replace seals on lazarettes

Install various antenna cables

Electrical:

Replace three house batteries (since the new ones were gel batteries, other system changes were necessary was well).

Check generator charging capability

Install a switch for masthead tricolor (the one that came with the light was Cheap and promptly broke).

Install and test Iridium satellite phone, and antenna

Install and test RedBox wifi trouter and antenna

Install and test the VHF radio receiver

Purchases:

EPIRB (Emergency International Rescue Beacon)

AIS (Ship tracking system)

New Autopilot  (the most popular member of the crew!)

PFD (Life jackets) and harnesses in compliance with ARC requirements

New flares

Electronic flare

Ditch bag

First aid kit

Offshore Life raft

Spare parts, filters , belts for engine, toilets

New fire extinguishers

Much of the list is completed, but several items will be completed later.

I already own a very good PFD, a Mustang harness/PFD combination, but it is not in compliance with new ARC requirements because it lacks a spray hood and crotch strap. The new ones are very 

high tech!
Boat projects in Marmaris had been completed, and we were ready to go on to Greece. Something I had read long ago was nagging half-formed in the back of my mind, so I got online to check how long Americans can stay in Europe. The hazy memory was on-point. Most of Europe (UK and Switzerland being exceptions) has signed onto the Schengen Agreement, which stipulates that Americans and some other nationalities may only stay in the Schengen Area for 90 days out of any 180 day period.

Blue-gray color designates the Schengen Area

 This caused some moments of dismay and frustration. Ron created a spread sheet and we worked through the deadlines and projected the days needed for various legs of the voyage. We think it likely that I'll be able to complete much of the trip as planned, with 4-6 weeks spent outside the Schengen Area sometime in late summer.

The village of Bozburun, Turkey.

Full moon rising over Bozburun

The village of Bozburun

Departing Marmaris, we motored up the coast toward Bozburun, a pretty and friendly village where we can clear customs out of Turkey and sail on to nearby Symi, Greece, to officially enter the EU. On the way, Ron noticed a bit of water on the sole of the salon. A look under the floorboard showed that the bilges were overflowing; water was coming in somewhere at a significant rate. He turned on the electric bilge pump and began hunting down the leak while I took the helm. Ron opened the lazarette in the cockpit, and quickly saw water flowing in through a major split in the engine exhaust water hose. Luckily, the flow stopped when the engine was stopped, and more luckily, the thru-hull for this hose was located above the boat's waterline. He patched the cracked pipe with layers of duct tape, then firmed the patch by taping a stiff leather glove over it and binding it tightly with zip ties. 

The patch worked well; only a few drips of water escaped.

The mend was successful and we made it to Bozburun without further incident. There, Mehmet at Osman's Place cafe telephoned a marine engineer for us. He came and made some measurements, and arrived the next morning with new hose. It was five meters x 75 mil of plastic hose with steel wire reinforcement; a veritable python. With me feeding topside, the engineer in the lazarette, and Ron pulling from the engine compartment, we wrestled the stiff hose into place. Problem solved. The old hose was original to the boat, and turned out to be ready for replacement anyway, though we couldn't tell from looking at it.

Captain Ron had been working pretty steadily for two weeks while I goofed off and stayed out of the way of workmen. We enjoyed a day off in Bozburun, then stocked up the boat with fresh fruits and veggies and a couple of meat items, and pulled out of Bozburn. We motored a couple of miles out and found a delightful deserted cove on Kizil Adasi to anchor in. Here we whiled away a day and a half just reading, swimming and goat-watching.

At anchor at Kizil Adasi

Goats along the water's edge in the early morning

Crystal clear water with 100 foot visibility

From here we motored for 1 1/2 hours around to the cove at Dirsek Bay (Silmiye on the second map from the top), where the tie-up was free but the food was priced to compensate richly for the free dockage. We enjoyed conversation with Brits Hillary and Jeff, who were berthed next to us, delightful people still voyaging in their late 70's.

The  marina and restaurant at Semiliye.

Early each morning she fires up the stove with dried brush...

.... then bakes the most delicious bread the REALLY old fashioned way.

Next day we motored another hour to Söğüt Köyü  where we moored at the Octopus Yacht Club and caught up on the news with a great Wifi connection and an adult beverage.

At the Octopus.

Ron catching up on the Daily Mail after a long spell without wifi!

Next we'll return to Bozburun, to clear out of Turkey and begin our westward cruise, toward the Greek islands of Astipalia and lovely Thera, also known as Santorini. We must be in Athens to pick up Ron's friends Ruth, Penny and Lewis on June 25.

Aloha  !

Med Madness Begins - Ephesus and Pammukale May 2015

 I arrived in Marmaris, Turkey on the May 17 and rested up for a few days, a welcome bit of leisure after such a busy time at home. It's good to see my dear friend Ron again! I have joined him aboard his yacht Celador,  a Beneteau Oceanis Clipper 411, to spend the summer cruising the Mediterranean Sea.  It promises to be a wonderful summer of sailing and exploring.

Captain Ron.  You can enlarge any photo by clicking on it.

He is waiting for riggers, new batteries, and the salon head is overflowing and cannot be drained due to a buildup of urea crystals inside the tank. Urdal came to clear the blockage. There was a lot of cleanup!  Still to be done are the installation of the tricolor mast head light, and various electrical jobs.

While electricians and riggers were swarming over the boat, the best way for me to help was be out of the way. I arranged to take a bus tour to the ancient city of Ephesus and the travertine terraces and ancient city at Pamukkale. This trip, which included the bus, tours, guides, hotel, and five meals, cost only around $100 (250TL). Our bus group consisted of about half Brits and half Russians. 

The best bread anywhere, fresh cheese, hard boiled egg  and fresh veggies. And of course, coffee!

We stopped for a typical Turkish breakfast, then rode on through the Turkish countryside, passing wind-carved rock formations, farm folk hoeing fields of their small holdings, raking hay and cutting grain by hand. We passed fields of winter wheat and oats, plots of okra, eggplant, and tented strawberries, and groves of orange, fig, pomegranate with their vivid red-orange flowers, peaches, and apricots with branches bending low with their fruit.

Pretty and unusual pomegranate flowers.

Ephesus lies three hours up the road, and has been partially restored to reveal a glimpse of the glorious architecture and sophisticated engineering of it's heyday, around 200 AD. We walked from the top of the town, where a small Greek amphitheater was built into the hillside,

The Greek theater

 down a marble paved avenue of government buildings,

Buildings in the government district

past the shopping arcade with it's intricate mosaic floor and (formerly) shaded columned walkway, 

The column-lined street had shops and a shady arcade on both sides.

The entire walkway was tiled like this.

Pillars depicting Hercules and the Numean Lion. These were placed in the middle of the street to restrict traffic entering into the government district to those on foot. Could these be the namesake for the "Pillars of Hercules"- the ancient name for the straits of Gibraltar, which restricts the entire Mediterranean  Sea into one narrow passage????

past the public latrines and public baths, a prominent house of prostitution (socially acceptable in antiquity).

No, not the brothel!  Another official building, adorned with Medusa the Gorgon, to keep politicians honest....

Medusa, fierce with her hair of writhing snakes

Winged Nike, goddess of victory.

The latrines, where the real problem solving was done.

Across the street from that was the magnificent marble library, once the third largest of the ancient world. 

The Library at Ephesus

Amazing statues and friezes!

At the bottom of the hill lies a large coloseum where gladiators fought with wild animals to entertain the populus, which in ancient times was over 250,000 people. 

On the way past the bus I walked by the ancient cemetery, where raised marble sarcophagi of the ancient dead lay in a meadow of blossoming wildflowers. Down a pine-shaded boulevard lay the buses.

The necropolis at Ephesus

Artemis of Ephesus.  These statues are so well preserved because they were
deliberately buried by the priests to protect them fro invaders.

From there we drove into Selcuk town, the site of the remaining column of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Wonders of the Ancient World. Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and of the moon, was also revered as a provider of food and life. From all over the Hellenistic world they came here to worship. Often depicted as a lithe archer, in Ephesus she is depicted as a mother goddess, giver of life, with 24 breasts (or bull testicles, if you prefer), and animal and plant images representing abundance decorate her gown and crown.

 After earthquakes had tumbled the majestic temple and the tide of history and religion shifted from the ancient gods of Olympus to Christianity, the marble blocks and carvings were reused in newer buildings all over the area, and all that remains of the temple is the one massive reconstructed pillar. It is now topped with a cozy stork's nest, where mama stork was nurturing her babies while we watched.

Next we visited a large 14^th Century mosque, built with many stones from the temple. It was interesting to finally see inside a mosque, with the tranquil garden outside for contemplation, and a simple airy interior for prayer. To enter a normal mosque I would be expected to cover my hair, and wear clothing covering my arms and legs, and remove my shoes out of respect, but here they have made a small area for tourists to come as they are, due to the historical significance of the building.

Muslims always pray facing toward Mecca. I shot this picture before I noticed the man there....
otherwise I would not  have photographed him during his prayers.

The pillars are monoliths...cut from one solid piece of stone, take from the ruined Temple of Artemis.

I wandered around the village of Selcuk, a charming place. Wish we could have stayed longer.

Selcuk

At the cafe with Diane and Roger from Bristol.

Our group rendezvoused at a little cafe, where I saw a nest of tiny swallows waiting to be fed.

We drove on for three hours to the town of Denizli. During that time, our Russian tour guide, standing only three feet away from me, using her loudest seagoing hailing voice and pausing only to catch her breath, unleashed a wall of sound for nearly three hours which quite literally gave me an earache. At last we arrived at our Hotel. What a relief!!!   Jimmy Buffet describes it best...!

  (For those not familiar with "Magic Fingers", it was a coin-operated device back in the 60's that made your hotel bed mattress vibrate for relaxation.  Wish I had one now!)

The next day we got up early to be among the first to enter the park at Pamukkale to see the amazing travertine terraces and the ruins of Hieropolis.

This stock photo was taken in winter when the water flow is abundant. During my visit, the flow was restricted.

 The terraces were formed by 17 mineral-rich thermal springs, volcanic-heated water boiling to the surface. It cascades gently down the hill over a linear length of around 3 km and a vertical distance of about 160 m. As the water cools and evaporates, the calcium carbonate deposits form similar to flowstone and stalactites in a cave. The result resembles a blinding white ski slope, or as the Turkish name implies, a "Cotton Castle". It has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In winter when water is more abundant the terraces are tinted turquoise by the shallow pools of pure water, but for our visit, the flow was reduced to one series of terraces, which are the only ones you are allowed to walk on. I took off my shoes and walked down, marveling.

But first we went swimming in the ancient spa pool. The ancients were awed by this unique place, and believed it to be holy. The thermal waters were thought to heal and the city of Hieropolis grew up as a spa city catering to worshipers and visitors seeking the healing baths. The water of the pool we swam in is around body temp, and there are fluted columns and marble slabs tumbled in the bottom of the pool. It was lovely and refreshing, and beautifully landscaped with shady pines and roses in full bloom.

Phil and Cathy , Andrea and Keith...new friends from Liverpool

I explored the ruins of Hieropolis, which once was a major city of over 100,000 inhabitants. The ruins are scattered in rolling fields of amber wheatgrass, and poppies and other wildflowers added sprinkles of color.

 The theater has been reconstructed and is beautiful, adorned with sculptures which have survived the passing of time.

Love me some old stones!

 I visited the museum surrounded by hordes of school children, and returned to my British comrades on the bus.

A sphynx

The ride home took us three hours through mountains with some snow caps of around 2800 meters. Through piney woods and cultivated wheat fields and fruit groves, and rolling planes of grasslands.

 We stopped for a break at a scenic overlook, and at last returned to Marmaris where I bid my new friends, my British tour companions and Turkish guides, a fond farewell!

The Anglo half of the bus.  Love you guys!
(The Russian guide, still shouting, stands in the aisle!)

Many thanks to Sefa and Mehmet, our knowledgeable engaging guides!