Hello friends and family, hope all is well and you are all enjoying the
lovely spring weather. From what we hear, England has had some good
weather to kick start the new growing season. Thankfully it never gets
cold enough to wear long trousers for very long, it's now shorts and
shirts for the remainder of our time here in Finike.

Gay and I have just returned with two friends (Tony and Clair from
Burnham on Crouch) from a week travelling through some of the remote
parts of the country. They are keen bird watchers so were happy to
join our trip to the east to visit a huge delta region of Goksu Milli
park, Silifke. The road has not been completed along the coast to this
area so we spent a good deal of the journey driving along a dirt track
cut into the mountains with no safety barriers, the views were amazing
down to the sea.



Our first day was complicated by strong wind so many birds were not
out of the scrub and in view from the many hides that ring the lakes.
We did see: Marsh Harrier, Ruddy Shelduck, Stork, Pelican, Hoopoe,
Hawks, Oyster catchers, Stilt, Spur winged Plover, Cetti's Warbler,
Woodchat Shrike, Spanish Sparrow, Hooded Crow, Linnet, Rock Bunting
and a strange animal that slunk past as we sat observing Hoopoe from
inside the car/hide that could have been a badger but it was not
really badger territory? We spent about five hours there before
heading for Cappadocia, missing the worst of the snow showers. Look up
the place on Google Earth, its quite spectacular.

We spent four days in Cappadocia in a small village away from the
worst of the tourist traps, staying in a 150yr old stable complex
called 'Killim pansion', also very clean with reasonable food. Our
yachtie friends Tertu and Heiki also turned up by coincidence, ( we
knew them from Tunisia) so we stayed another day to celebrate Heiki's
70th. Lukily a bunch of local Bankers were having a meal at our
pansion and had a couple of good local musicians to play for us all.
It turned into a long night of singing and dancing (and drinking) but
we got to hear some Turkish folk songs played on the traditional Ud, a
six string guitar type intrument but strung like a mandolin in pairs
and tuned half an octave lower per string to give it a unique sound? I
tried to play it but the technique is very different from a regular
guitar. (I cant play one of those either!)

Having avoided the obligatory balloon ride at 200 euro's a head (160
for cash!) we headed off to Konya as Gay wanted to see the Whirling
Dervishes. The free show is on sat night and 3000 locals (98% women)
come for the ceremony. It was too satanical for me and obviously a bit
of a farce but at least we can say weve seen them? We then drove out
to the lake area in the center of Turkey for more bird watching. Sadly
we didnt see many birds and no new species but passed through some
biblical villages as we crawled our way through the hills. Some of the
topography remided us all of france, lots of Poplar trees and tons of
Mistletoe growing down to the ground. Its not of any significance to
the locals so grows without regular harvesting from romantic
europeans. We stayed in a place recommended in Lonley planet at
Egirdir lake. A small settlement that was once populated by the greeks
till kicked out in 1923, part of a deal from Attaturk's new Turkey.
Bizzarely, our swedish friends also arrived about 20 min after us,
having read the same guide book! Our host spoke excellent english so
it was good to understand better how they came to be working at bed
and breakfast having come from the Black Sea part of Turkey. We sat on
our enclosed balcony and drunk the half litre of Rahki I borrowed from
the Kilim Pansion. ( I took it as compensation as the huge dog they
keep as a pet, bit my hand when I tried to stroke it! Good job I was
not a child.)

Our last day was spent driving over the last of the plains and a small
mountain back to Finike. We did just over 2000km and agreed we had
been very fortunate with the weather and the accomodation etc, it all
went well with no problems and lots of laughs.

Many of the winter residents in the marina have now gone west to
explore the Greek Islands and beyond, some of them are heading for the
Pacific and Asia, via the Carribean. We wont see most of them again I
fear....

We hope to leave for a month of cruising localy before coming back to
Finike and then leaving the boat as we return to the UK for the
summer.

Anyway, work to be done.

Love to all, G&G

Asia Minor

The title of this article may sound like a little place near China that got taken over and forgotten about, or would it be a Morris made in India? It could be a black and yellow bird that likes to mimic others but it’s not, it’s (Roman) Turkey.
We have finally arrived at the end of the Adriatic and found Turkey, just where the Romans had left it years ago.

Hold on! What happened to the Greek Islands you enquire? Sorry, I’ll go back and see if I can remember what we have been doing for the last few months or so since we were in Ithaca.....

...... We entered the Gulf of Corinth from the west obviously, the wind nonexistent as usual at 8am. It was a couple of hours due east on the motor before we got the cruising chute up. I decided that if the cat behind us could sail, then so could we? He soon caught us up and passed us, doing about six knots to our four. The last we saw of him was heading for the canal, a long way over the eastern horizon.


A new suspension bridge has been built to improve transport links to the Peloponnese; it has the largest span in the world and can be seen from Mars. One has to call bridge control on the VHF to obtain clearance (no pun intended) before you can sail under the massive structure, small craft can transit the outside edges, large freighters through the middle. As you can see, it disappears over the horizon. Need I ask who paid for it?

We planned to visit Navpactos (38.23N 21.49E) one of the oldest medieval ports in the Med, just past the bridge but the wind was now blowing 25kn straight into the tiny port and the sea state was getting rough making anchoring on the outside a dumb idea. It looked an interesting place too, lots of old castle type buildings set on the hill behind the port. Never mind, Trizonia was ten miles to the east so we had a full on beam reach through the building seas to get there, proper sailing weather for a change! As is often the case, the wind gets stronger the nearer to the port you get. We were running down wind in 30kn, preparing to slip up the channel that separates Trizonia island from the mainland. For once we actually came up into the wind to drop the sails before motoring round the North of the little island and into the almost abandoned port. We decided it was best to anchor in the shallows rather than muscle out way in against the wall, someone would be leaving in the morning so we would be able to go stern too then.


Bizarrely, our Colvic Victor owning friends, Peter and Manuel from Gozo were tied against the end of the pier. They sailed straight from Gozo in three days! It never ceases to amaze us how often we bump into our sailing mates but to meet in this place, well off the beaten track was quite a surprise. Obviously we had to drink a few beers and discuss our travels thus far.

The island seems to be a safe dumping ground for European yachts whose owners did not want to spend money in marinas. At least 75% were empty and many were in a state of disrepair, torn canvas and sun scorched paintwork. One yacht had actually sunk and was blocking the quay, the transom torn off as she settled at 45 deg on the bottom. Her name was ‘Wild Bumble Bee’, about 60 foot long and beyond salvation. I looked on Google Earth and she was afloat when the picture was taken. We stayed a couple of days before heading further east to our next port of call some 20 miles away.

Galaxadia is an obvious favourite with the locals as the dodgey bloke who controls the water and electricity on the hard, only charges 10 Euro’s per night. We elbowed our way in and spent two days washing and ironing. We then moved across the bay to Itea, another of Greece’s’ unfinished marvels. No water or electricity or charge so we were more than happy. A great selection of shops opposite so we could restock the meat supplies etc. The reason for coming here is to visit the ancient site of Delphi from where a great Oracle gave wisdom to many. The archaeological museum here is the best we have seen, well laid out, signs in English and some incredible Roman artefacts found in the region. I would recommend taking the bus up to the site, its impressive.

Leaving Itea, we sailed southeast down to Corinth, another great city ravaged by 2000 years or more of territorial disputes. The ancient Corinthians had a reputation for playing hard, hence the Rugby players obligation to drink lots and have orgies that last for days? We didn’t get to see the old city as the busses were not running. No wild sex parties for us sadly... We had to move the boat from the fishing dock as we seemed to be sitting on the bottom and I was getting concerned that the situation might get worse. The commercial dock was not busy so we went along side the wall and were presently joined by three others, also waiting to make the transit through the canal. One of the yachts was owned by a journalist called Tony Birtley who worked for Al Jaseira in south east Asia. He was sailing with his wife and kids before being sent back to Israel to work there. Type his name into You tube and watch his reports on the suppression of Monks in Rangoon, Burma. Very interesting work!