For some reason we all slept late today. Surprising seeing that we are close to a small village. The “early” shift walked over to the restaurant for a kick start with Turkish coffee. Not everyone’s taste, but it reminds me of Transkei “moer-koffee” when I was a kid. Small cup, sludge at the bottom and a glass of water to wash the grounds out of your mouth. Waiter Carlos had taken a shine to Yana, so produced a spectacular triple decker fruit cocktail for her.

Cheery goodbyes until next time, and we crossed the bay to a cove with spectacularly clear water, ice blue yet warm ~22C. And an unpronounceable name Oglanboguldu. As you would expect, everyone was in the water.

We waited ’til later for the wind to pick up, which it did so we had a good sail northwards to a protected bay with a narrow entrance, Serce Limani.

This time we did not all fall into the water, since there was still a fair breeze. Instead most of us took the dingy ashore and walked to the restaurant at the head of the bay. Same owner as in years past, still full of s**t and looking for a wife. Nevertheless, we had some entertainment and sundowners and a lot of nuts before returning to the boat for our last supper on board (sniff).

We had planned to row to the restaurant for fresh bread, but they were one up on us and pulled alongside with their floating convenience shop. Two loaves of hot Turkish flat bread, can’t beat it.

It was dead calm, so after breakfast we motored off round the headland to Kisil Adasi – a rocky island off the coast near Bozburun. Picked a small inlet with clear deep,water, anchored with a shore line and everyone disembarked with snorkels and flippers to find new treasures. Apart from the regular sea urchins, of which there are plenty, there is another impressive type with extremely long spikes, like 150mm long.

We were visited by another couple of opportunistic boats selling homemade wares, so inevitably the ladies succumbed and bought various bits and pieces. The men just held back, wallets in hand.

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Moving on, there was barely enough wind to sail but we did it anyway. Anton was determined to sail at every opportunity, however since we have moved to the Turkish coast the wind has been very light compared to that experienced in the Greek islands off Rhodes. We arrived at Söğütköy to flag waving and a warm welcome from the staff of Captains Table restaurant. Sabit and Carlos knew me from previous visits and recognised the South African flag from way off. Sabit’s brother Sali used to run the restaurant but now lives in Holland with his Dutch wife and 3 kids. Had previously had such interesting discussions with him about the Turkish government. Unfortunately I missed his arrival back on holiday by a week.

Behind the clearly home-made jetty was a swimming area and chairs, where we parked off so that Jared and Yana could amuse themselves with the paddle boat and big neighbouring dog. Kept them busy for hours while the rest of the crew, who had been starved for internet, took advantage of the free Wi-Fi.

This is an unpretentious little working village, living off boat-building, fishing and some tourism. A few new restaurants and jetty’s have been built although I cannot imagine how they make any money with such an extremely short season and no tour boats (thank god). Nevertheless prices are cheap and everyone is friendly which is why I always stop over when sailing these waters.

The heat was intense so we had to wait until after sun-down before moving to dinner at tables laid on the jetty alongside the boats. Everyone got tarted up in their finest attire (relative term) for an entertains dinner. Carlos made one of his paper roses for Yana which went down well.

Tying up in Symi was a bit slicker than the previous occasion, despite dodging fishermen, ferries and boats from the cruise liner. Did not take long to organise our passports and agent, but the place was steamy, heaving with people – too much for us to cope with. So whilst I stayed on deck, the family got themselves fed (giros) and ice creamed before we beat a hasty exit.

Somewhere mid-ocean on the border between Greece and Turkey my wife decided she really needed a swim. So we stopped with 380m depth below us and the swimmers leapt in to tales of great white sharks, dolphins etc. Needless to say, they stayed really close to the boat!

Arrived at Dirsek, which is a large, deep and unpopulated inlet. Quite a few other boats around, many of which left later in the day. We anchored close to the rocks with a shore line to keep us from moving about (Astrid’s swim job again). Very laid back afternoon with everyone doing their own thing.

An impromptu court of justice ordered miscreants to walk the plank:

In order to burn up the younger crew energy, Astrid & I rowed to the head of the bay where there was a long established restaurant. We were ably assisted by Jared & Yana who practiced their rowing skills, meaning that our journey was a kind of spiral to the destination. The restaurant is old and nicely built from stone, with a concrete jetty since they are only accessible by sea, hence are very self sufficient. They also harvest wild sage and thyme which gets dried, bagged and sold in fairly large quantities.

At sundown we saw a barracuda chasing smaller fish around our boat. Hours later, this did not prevent Astrid from having a late night swim in the dark waters, although Anton, who has swim with sharks many times, refused to join her. Something about feeding time apparently.

Extremely peaceful night, albeit with a bit of music wafting from the shore ’til late. You can guess how we started the day:

With crystal clear water and no wind it was obligatory to start the day with a swim. For some however, starting the day without coffee (no gas) was a problem so we scrounged together our last Lira and the addicts got their fix at the restaurant. We agreed this was one of our best bays and sadly left for Datça to sort out the supplies and gas. The initial breeze gave way to calm sea so it was an engine job most of the way. Perfect for catching up on the Kindles and I managed to avoid the eye-spy by being engrossed in a Deon Meyer book set in Cape Town.

Shortly before Datça we pulled into a pleasant and sheltered bay for lunch and swimming. The shore was lined with beach chairs and some restaurants but otherwise not much. No housing to speak of. After our previous bays, this was not as attractive, but pretty enough.

Headed off to Datça which is on the Turkish mainland and pleasant and less hectic compared to Symi or Marmaris. Did all our business and shopping but the heat was intense. Refreshments at a nearby coffee terrace where fine water mist was sprayed continually in the air. Not sure it helped, but it looked cool. That all done, we headed back to Kargi Koyu bay being the coolest and most tranquil option available. There are actually few bays on this long stretch of mainland and strategically it allows us to hop over to Symi (Greece) tomorrow to do the Greek exit formalities.

For the rest of the afternoon it was all about snorkelling, swimming, managing to break more glasses on deck….. what’s all that about? I think the glass count now stands at 5 – seems to be a clumsy competition!

Great consternation – the cooking gas ran out (second bottle). So decision was made to eat at the restaurant, which was the only place around. Went to speak to the owner, pointing out that I was here about 3 weeks ago. He corrected me – it was four weeks he said, you were a group of seven, they sat at that table and you sat here. I was gobsmacked. So to my ‘boys trip’ sailors – you made an impression!!!!

It was a fun-filled,evening, sitting on the deck overlooking this perfect bay. Much laughter, good food, very noisy we were. Ended with arm wrestling competitions, would you believe. Finally back on board we enjoyed a nightcap or two under a clear sky filled with stars. Perfect. Suffered a bit the next morning because apparently Raki, wine and whisky is not a great combination.

Arm wrestling in action:

This is a pretty place, steeped in history. There were a number of gulets (Turkish wooden sailing vessels – very pretty with lots of woodwork) and swimmers in the bay, most of which were to leave later in the day. We made a perfect approach and tied up alongside the wooden pier; within minutes everyone was in the water off the back of the boat. What a relief. The water was incredibly clear – the Turks are very fussy about that and have tough regulations.

Knidos was an ancient port and town, now in ruins and partially excavated. The massive stone moles defining the two harbour entrances are clearly visible. There are actually two harbours, east and west connected by a sandy isthmus. One is now quite shallow, while the other is large, deep and protected. The ancient city was built by the Greeks from around 400BC and became a wealthy centre for commerce with a population in the tens of thousands. It dwindled until around 700AD. During this time a huge city was built, with temples, theatres, marble paved streets, a water system and of course many buildings. All laid out perfectly in straight lines! Seeing it in ruins now begs the question…. what happened? Apparently successive earthquakes and attacks by pirates eventually led to its demise.

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This is a real sleepy little port. Which is why I was surprised when a policeman wanted to check all our papers yesterday evening, same as on the last ‘boys’ trip except this time we were legal 🤞. A quiet night meant we were all lazy risers this morning. Our anticipation of fresh croissants from the bakery fell far short of expectations as the baker was clearly not very good at his craft. Finally after last minute swims we made a very smooth exit, without anyone asking for payment. Apparently they only come by once a day.

It was a very leisurely sail across to Knidos in Turkey. Not being in a hurry we moved at a snails pace until the wind finally picked up. Extended games of ‘I spy’ kept the kids amused. Really hot today so a breeze welcome. Technically we should not be in Turkey whilst still checked into Greece but will take a chance on that. At least I remembered to take down the Greek flag!

Next stop was the only other village on the island, Nikea. Although already high up, we had a long climb to this pristine village at the highest point of the island. For a small island it reaches 800 metres quickly. Views forever in every direction.

What a happy end to the day. Sundowners on top of the world. Now the long drive down with many, many bends. But we made it back tired and exhilarated.

The last big volcanic activity at Nisyros occurred over 20,000 years ago, but the interior caldera has an active hydrothermal system with continuous rise of hot water and gas from fumaroles. The last violent eruptions occurred in 1873 and 1888.

That said, it’s a fascinating but smelly place – you can smell the sulphur fumes from far off. For that reason we arrived around 5pm when it was slightly cooler and we virtually had the place to ourselves. Unlike UK obsession with safety, this place was the complete opposite. We were told to avoid soft ground and not to touch anything around the fumaroles; the last accident was yesterday. Pretty obvious to some, since the gas comes out with superheated steam. Sometimes there are mud pools at 100 degreesC although not today. Great experience to see it, but not the place to hang around.

Difficult to capture in a picture, the vids below show some of the fumaroles with gas emissions, audibly quite strong.

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