Turkish Delight – Part 2

Because Turkiye is not part of the EU Schengen countries it is where many of us go to exit Schengen for a while (see my explanation of Schengen in a previous episode www.sailingrukus.com/shore_leave) which means we are now seeing many more Aussie, Kiwi and UK boats. Another piece of European bureaucracy we also deal with is VAT. If you have a foreign flagged boat (ie. not an EU country) then your boat can only remain ‘in use’ in EU waters for 18 months, thereafter you will have to pay VAT (currently 24% in Greece) on the value of the boat! Rather steep but easy to avoid by leaving the EU for 24 hours to a non EU country which in effect ‘resets’ the clock and your 18 months restarts. Because we only sail for 5 – 6 months of the year it takes a few years to rack up 18 months ‘in-use’ but going into Turkiye solves that problem too.

After Bodrum we headed to another favourite anchorage, Orhaniye, at top of the Datca Gulf. We were joined by Vanilla here and had some pleasant meals out together as well as finally installing our brand new trampoline on the front of the boat (the old one was starting to rot and there was a distinct possibility of falling through! It was a three man job – or should that be two men and one woman – and with the kind assistance of Russell (Vanilla) he, Kara and John spent an afternoon stretching, lacing and tightening the new one.

We chilled here for a few days and swimming, playing Rummikub, catching up on a few boat jobs and of course eating. The local Palmiye restaurant and dock was a favourite where we were well looked after by Mehmet, the Maître d who remembered us from last year.

Russ and John needed marine parts and the girls just needed some retail therapy so it was off to Marmaris on the local Dolmus (small bus). We had a great time looking around the waterfront and at some of the nice shops, making a few purchases and enjoying turkish cay (tea – pronounced ‘Chai’) and planning where we would revisit when we brought the boat to this anchorage in a few days time. To get to Marmaris by boat from here is a long journey which we took a couple of days to complete stopping at pretty bays along the way, swimming and enjoying good Turkish food but always a timetable in mind with Kara leaving us here to fly back to Sydney.

Once in Marmaris we contacted our boat upholstery man from last year and arranged to have new ‘chaps’ made for the dinghy. Dinghy chaps are the canvas coverings we fit over the inflatable side pontoons to protect the dinghy from UV damage and scrapes you invariably get from going ashore and tying up to docks. Ours were in a very poor state of repair due to age (13 years) and general use. Seban the upholsterer took measurements a few days later and so our new chaps should be ready for fitting in a few days. (well that was the plan but took a little looonger)

We managed a visit to the fresh food markets and also the bazaar – always enjoyable and interesting. One new discovery I made was hazelnuts straight from the tree. I had to ask the seller what these weird looking flowers were and she opened the flower to show me the nut contained within. These were smallish wild hazelnuts which grow on bushes as opposed to ones you get from a large hazelnut trees in other places. You need to take the husks off and then dry the nuts for a few weeks. Next you roast them and then the tedious job of cracking them out of their hard little shells. No wonder they cost so much already processed!

The Marmaris bazaar is near the port and is a labyrinth of exciting covered walkways extending out from a central area like an octopus. Each ‘arm’ specialises in different wares – leather goods, shoes, plastics, teas and edibles, wedding dresses, genuine fakes and copies of just about any high end brand, fancy clothes , carpets and a hooka!

Kara departed with excess luggage (who doesn’t like shopping at Madame Coco!) and we finally got our dinghy chaps so could move on. We headed to Fethiye where I had a dental appointment to have a filling replaced (their dental work is second to none with state of the art equipment and very reasonable prices).

After spending quite a time here last year we were very lazy and did not do much exploring – just chilling out. We went across the bay in the dinghy to visit a Sunday market – nowhere near the tourist area. The dinghy ride was exciting and then we had a 2 km walk through some beautiful gardens to get to the market. An interesting outing.

Of course a little more retail therapy at Madame Coco’s was the order of the day before we departed.

Although following almost the same route as last year we did manage to find some more interesting and different places. One of these was a small bay called Bozukkale – meaning Broken Castle in Turkish.

The bay has no wifi, electricity or roads in so is fairly remote. There were however lots of goats and sheep.

Back when the castle/citadel was built (probably around 700 BC), the fortress was a navy base designed to prevent enemies from gathering in the large natural harbour formed by the peninsula before or after attacking the nearby island of Rhodes. On a clear day, you can see the Greek islands of Rhodes and Symi from the top of the castle walls. Stretching along the top of the peninsula 334 metres x 36 metres wide it was constructed of huge hand-hewn stone block walls over 2 metres thick and had more than 9 look out towers – only three were still clearly visible. We climbed the hill from the anchorage in the early morning and were able to walk almost the length of the citadel on top of these amazing huge blocks. Not much restoration or preservation has been carried out so imagination is required!

We slowly made our way north along the Turkish coast remarking on how quiet this south western part of Turkiye was, tourist-wise, compared to last year. The extreme heatwave had passed and this ideal cruising area had very pleasant day temperatures in the low 30s and the water a very acceptable 28 degrees.

Too soon it was time to head back to Greece and make our way back to winter storage at Almyra Boat Parking and time to check out from Turkiye – check in to Greece and celebrate a few birthdays!