Sherrie's Cruising Blog (Sailing Catamaran Element): Leaving Marmaris, Çiflik Bay, Bozuk Bükü and part of Bodrum a little earlier than expected as our windlass broke

May 3 & 4, 2015

A friend of ours Coni baked us an apple cake as a departure gift. Attached to it was this note:

The fleece clouds may kiss the sky

The rose may kiss the butterfly

The sparkling wine may kiss the glass

and you my friends

!!! Farewell !!!

We met some lovely people during our stay in Marmaris:

Gary, Lisa, Hawna & Quinn (sv End Game)

Colin (sv Hydaway)

Gwen (sv KW)

Ruth & Randall (sv DoraMac) they have sold there boat to pursue building their dream home in Virginia

Jack - who got stuck with the coffee bill the first time the girls and I showed up - poor guy almost had a heart attack

The Marmaris locals are very friendly and once they know you will always make a point of saying hello. We felt at home and will miss it.

May the fourth be with you. We left Marmaris early this morning to start our coastal cruise up to Bodrum before we cross over to Greece. Our first stop is Çiftlik bay approximately 10 - 12 nautical miles along the south west coast of Turkey. It was a lovely warm day out. We didn’t put any sails up as it was such a short sailing day. The bay is beautiful and most of all quiet. There are no night clubs with base cranked until 4:00 AM.

The water is so clear. It looks very inviting however, it is really chilly. This didn’t stop the girls from getting in. There is no way I was going to get into the water short of an emergency.

We went ashore to have a beer and to let the girls play at the beach. The beach is mostly large round agate rocks. Great for skipping. There was also a baby turtle body with a worm inside. Paige also spotted a really cool looking spider with a black body and red back with black dots. I didn’t get the camera quick enough.

Bozuk Bükü is our next bay and is 16 nautical miles away.

last few screws before we put the ceiling back up with velcro

hey look I'm hidden

on our way to Çiftlik Bay

Captain Shaun!

Çiftlik Bay

look mom I look like Paige when she was my age

crystal clear water

cooling off our tootsies

it's not that cold!

sitting on the beach in Çiftlik

May 5 & 6 & 7

We motored from Çiftlik to Bozuk Bükü.

We motored into the beautiful bay to see the citadel up on top of the hill to the left. We tried to anchor in the first bay but were too close to the rocky shore. We decided to try another area down the bay where we could hear goats and mules. Jordan and Paige spotted the three mules. At the end we could see walls and terraces of rocks. It is difficult to explain the beauty.

We dropped the anchor in a shallow bay close to the lovely terraced walls. We were trying to set it in the sand when our windlass (the machine that pulls up the anchor) stopped working to our dismay. We had to rig up a second line around our electric winch to bring up the anchor all the while making sure the boat did not hit the beach or rocks. Finally with the anchor up we headed back to the Alibaba restaurant and bar to dock for the evening and try to problem solve (i.e. pull apart the windlass). Of course this bay is on the RUSTIC side….. no electricity or wifi etc…..

Before the windlass was puled apart for the first of three times we needed a beer. We then went swimming…. well Shaun and Paige went swimming. It was too damn cold for me. I got half of me in before bailing……

While the boys worked on the windlass I took the girls on a hike up to the citadel tower that overlooks the restaurant. This was one of nine towers built in the 10th century BC. The views are amazing It is hard to describe the beauty. While walking up the path we noticed som very large spider webs. They looked like meshy funnels. Crazy. There are also many colourful crickets, grass hoppers and butterflies or moths.

There were two boats of Russians down the dock from us celebrating in true Russian fashion. It was fun to watch. They had three boys playing at the dock.One of them came over and politely asked if he could take the girls for a ride on the peddle boat. Very respectful.

Later on while they were eating dinner the same boy (we found out later his name is George) came to invite the girls for dinner. Their mother came over to explain that they wanted to practice their english. The boys names were George (11), Alex (11), and their friend Tim. So very cute. The boys allowed the girls to play video games after dinner. Jordan had to go to sleep but Paige was invited down the dock to play more video games.

This morning we got up had breakfast and went on the hike again. This time we headed further along the wall. It is difficult to describe the beauty. Seeing how well preserved the large wall bricks still are over 2000 years after they were built is extraordinary.

Jordan is like a mountain goat in her climbing ability. Paige stayed at the boat as she didn’t like the spider webs…… We made it half way when we turned back in need of water. It is so neat to be picking a path along these historic bricks.

We arrived back at the boat. By this time I was finally dirty enough to shower in the RUSTIC shower. Well worth it. I felt like several layers of grime were washed off.

The windlass is not working. My gut is telling me that we are going to be making the 8-10 hour journey to Bodrum (60 nautical miles) to have it replaced.

While this was going on Paige was in the peddle boat as well as snorkelling with only one application of sun screen for the entire day…… she was pretty burnt on her thighs and tops of her hands……

We had dinner at the restaurant in loo of moorage and there we met Lynn and Mack from England. Mack has some knowledge about windlass’ so we invited them over to have a look as a glass of wine. No success again.

on our way to Bozuk Bükü

at Alibaba Restaurant

George from Moscow escorting the girls on the peddle boat

RUSTIC shower that I shared with some spiders......

hike up to the citadel

Jordan playing on top

views from above

May 8 - 11

We decided we would break the trip up in two and stay overnight in Datça and rig up a line to haul up the anchor so we got up at 8:00 AM and got ourselves ready.

When we were in the channel between the Turkish coast and Simi (Greece) we encountered our first pod of Dolphins.

Throughout the morning as we were approaching Datça Shaun was reading that there was no marina available so we made the decision to continue on to Bodrum.

The coast of Turkey is very beautiful. There are caves worn into the sides of the rocks from years and years of water erosion. We saw a functioning lighthouse with a house attached to it.

As we arrived in the Bodrum harbour we saw the exquisite castle to our right. We vowed right then that we would go and see it.

Bodrum is bigger than Marmaris and MORE expensive. The feel was less like family and more businesslike. The marina was crazy expensive as well. We had to pay for water, internet and power. The facilities (shower & toilets) were very nice so we made use of them.

We went for a walk along the water front to find a lovely play and exercise structure. The girls played more on the exercise equipment than on the kids play structure.

To our great surprise I had posted on FaceBook that we were in Bodrum and our friends on sv End Game were going to be in the same area. We took our dinghy over to their boat for the evening. The following day we went to the Bodrum castle. It was fantastic. The following day they had to depart on their own adventures.

We ended up leaving Bodrum on May 11 to head for Kos Greece where we are now.