Friendship – Page 3 – Sailing Azure Seas

Dalyan Delta and Lycian Tombs

Ilyas Kaplan from Sanem Tourizm took us on our very own boat, from Ekcinik Koyu, to the Dalyan Delta. Ilyas dropped us off for a tractor ride up to Caunos, after our walk through the ruins, he collected us and we went on to the town of Dalyan for lunch and a visit to the market.

I am sure Dalyan is a lovely town nine months of the year but in the heat of August, we strolled rather languidly around the ‘market’, which was tourist trap central. We thought it better to spend our time eating mezes in a waterfront cafe. Actas. While watching all the river boats, we considered going to the thermal baths with the other thousands of tourists that were now pouring in from the Lake and even on tours by road or boat from Marmaris, Gocek and Fetiyhe, but the sheer numbers kept us in the restaurant with baklava.

Big Flag, Frosty, wouldn't you say? — Big Flag, Frosty, wouldn’t you say?

From Actas Restaurant, the Lycian Tombs were directly above us. The Lycian Tombs were tombs created high on the cliff with an edifice that looked like a temple, a house or a pigeon hole. Ilyas said the large temple tombs were known to be the tomb of a Prince but it seems all the Lycians were practitioners of ancestor worship. The tombs are amazing, such a romantic setting which set our imaginations racing.

We boarded the river boat once more and headed back down to the Turtle area, where we collected our freshly cooked crab for a return trip snack and then off to the sand bar for a swim.

Turtle feeding station in the morning, selling crab in the afternoon.

From the morning’s almost deserted journey, now there were hundreds of people at the sand bar beach.

Now this story has been in two parts, most people would have gone back to their boat and had a quiet little drink. We all know Blue though, we went to dinner and Blue asked how something was cooked and before you know, he is there offering advice to the chef. They just told him to cook it.

Dalyan Delta and the Mediterranean Loggerhead Turtles, Ancient Caunos

The four of us have been having fun but today took a different twist. We trod the educational path, not once but three times. We are in Ekincik which is a pick up point to go on a local boat for a trip to the Dalyan River. Our guide,Ilyas Kaplan, picks us up early and first takes us to a cave with stalactites.

The most interesting part of this is how far into the cave this little boat can go and I am reminded of the stout boats that Odysseus sailed about in. They sail right onto the beaches with no problem at all.

Our next stop is Iztuzu or Turtle Beach, one of the beaches these Mediterranean Loggerheads (Caretta Caretta) have been coming to for around 95,000 thousand years according to local lore. The turtles have breeding grounds here and also in Zakynthos and on beaches in Libya. The hatchlings have to dig out during the night and not surprisingly some turtles had hatched recently, with the August super moon.

The tourist industry to come to see the turtles and other sites in the Dalyan Delta are massive and growing both by ferry, ship and by road and small boats. Only small local boats are advised to sail through the delta, many of them are cooperatives and create work for local villagers. There are a cadre of boats that feed the turtles fresh crab, so Ilias took us up to his favourite spot and the turtles came in. We had seen smaller turtles on the way just swimming in the water.

We sailed through the labrynth of reed beds and sand bars up to the Ancient city of Caunos (Kaunos).

Like Epheseus, Canous had been a port town but the river silted up so it is now inland. Homer talked about Canous, the Carians and the Lycians; the Dalyan River is the meeting place of those three cultures. We saw temples, theaters and ruins in Caunos.

Canous might have eventually become a ghost town because of malaria.The theater is the most intact building on the site. Like the theater in Kos, it would have held 5,000 people.

Closer to the old harbour there is a temple and the Agora. The Acropolis is at the top of the hill above the theater.

There was more to the day, but it was time for lunch, so we promise more tomorrow.

Today, we want to say Happy Birthday Charlene Bradley. We know you are having a good time.

What did you do on your first day in Marmaris?

Richard and Rene arrived on the ferry from Rhodes and after a coffee on board Mercier, we went looking for the vegetable markets at the Bazaar. Instead Ayjin the Barber saw us and decided the boys needed to be made “younger”. Here are the photos.

Ayjin explains that Blue doesn't need those hairs on his nose. — Ayjin explains that Blue doesn’t need those hairs on his nose.

Dancing distracts the client from the pain of having the wax removed. The music was turned up to max volume, so the screams couldn’t be heard.

The Turkish fire shave gets those pesky hairs from your ear.

a straight edged razor shave and then a mask before the haircut.

How do you feel about going blonde, Blue?

Ayjin leaves Blue and gets James in, look at that wax!

The sequence of events is waxing, threading, fire in the ears, massage, straight edge razor shave,masque, hair cut, trim the eyebrows and all while dancing and doing Michael Jackson impersonations.

Rene's eyebrows next to go. — Rene’s eyebrows next to go. James looks tentative or like cousin Fester, take your pick.

Gentle Leros and in Kalymnos – the meltemi strikes again

We visited the very unusual island of Leros, which was a Mussolini experiment in Art Deco, though he never visited here. We had a wonderful dinner here rack of lamb for the boys and moussaka for Sue and I. The chef came out to see who ordered their lamb cutlets rare and then joined us after dinner. The hospitality in Greece is amazing and Chef Petrino’s moussaka with white aubergine was exquisite.

Discussing lamb with Chef at Petrino's on Leros. — Discussing lamb with Chef at Petrino’s on Leros.

When we were in Tinos, Rosemary and Stephen had to take a ferry to Syros to make their connections home. That was because we were surprised by a meltemi at 5 AM. Mercier had to wait it out for three and half days. Here in Kalymnos, we have had a similar scenario. First we weren’t able to get a berth a Kos marina, then our Finnish friends lay their anchor chain across ours and then the meltemi came in a big way. We are here for the duration. We decided on a tour of the island.

First Stop - Myrties. The taverna had hosted a wedding the night before and the decorations were still there. The beach was stunning. — First Stop – Myrties. The taverna had hosted a wedding the night before and the decorations were still there. The beach was stunning.

Sometimes, I think an island like Kalymnos decides that we have only seen its port, so it orders a meltemi so that we are forced to explore its beauty a bit more.

So on Sunday, we hired a car and off we went around the island. We found lovely villages by the sea at every stop and rich and fertile farmland in the center of the island.

We had a magnificent lunch with Eleni at Dreamcatcher, the food was amazing. It was all prepared by her family and the provenance was all explained. Great to have a swim, beautiful food and continue on our way.

Emporios Beach with a few moorings for yachts

We also visited the fjords of Vathi, which is a small but very dramatic anchorage and marina.

We ended the tour with a visit to a beautiful monastery of Nuns.

Convent — The beautiful Monastery of Agioi Pantos

The Swannos put a ferry plan in place for Monday morning. We decided to go with them have a last coffee and see them off to Kos. Luckily, they made the ferry because we were going early for a coffee but it was a running dash. Bon Voyage Swannos!

Dodecanese sunshine

The weather has been great, sunshine and a breeze during the day and cool sleeping weather at night. Yesterday, after walking from the Chora to town, we relaxed with a swim and later ate our dinner on the same beach.

We had excitement on the dock with a large private ship, with a staff ratio of 38 staff to 18 guests. It looked like Las Vegas at midnight when we were walking back from dinner. [Rene – there was a veritable light show on the water.]

At twilight a beautiful blue yacht sailed in and anchored in Skala harbour for awhile. We much preferred this beauty and we think it may be the Murdochs’ boat.

We were up early this morning to leave our wonderful Patmos and go and explore Leros.

James, Sue and Swanno and I had the spinnaker up quickly. She is a beautiful duck egg blue and it was a perfect day to try her out. Sadly, when Davo was with us the meltemi was a bit fierce going to Mykonos for the spinnaker but we will rectify it next year.

Squadron burgee and beautiful day for a spinnaker run

We stopped for a swim off the boat as we came into Lakki and the water was perfect. We are looking forward to enjoying all the treats Leros has to offer.

We would like to offer our thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of the people killed in Malaysian Airlines flight disaster.

Naxos Soujourn

Naxos Port has a hands on harbour master, Nikos. We knew we could leave Mercier at Naxos and take a ferry over to Santorini. We departed Mykonos on Tuesday with a diminishing meltemi in three and a half hours sailing we were in front of the Portara Gateway from the unfinished Temple of Apollo and sailing into Naxos Town.

We walked up to the Venetian Castle and then wandered through the winding alleys of the medieval quarter called the Bourg. It was before the end of siesta, so you could easily imagine that the pirates had come and taken everyone away. The only residents we saw were some very sleepy cats.

Wednesday evening found us at the Potara Gateway on the islet of Palatia, looking at the sunset with the other tourists, but when the sun went down, they departed. Merro pulled out of his trusty Squadie bag, a bottle of Mercier Champage and we sat on the ruins and toasted absent friends.

Geoff and James at the unfinished Temple of Apollo

On Thursday we toured the island of Naxos in a little rent a car. First north to the sleepy beach village of Apollon, through very windy roads in a verdant landscape of olive groves and fruit trees.

You wouldn’t think Davo was a sentimental bloke, but he gets almost misty eyed at the sight of the gum trees he is seeing on these Greek islands. The dry barren islands of the Cyclades really are a perfect second home for these gum trees.We had a wonderful lunch under the shade trees in the hilltop village of Apeiranthos with cool breezes and wonderful food.

We ended the day without cameras at the beautiful Plaka beach south of Naxos town and had outdoor showers and cocktails at a resort there. Naxos is a beautiful island, maybe we will all get to return.

A Meltemi in Tinos

Friday’s forecast was for a wicked southerly in the Aegean and so we did 40 miles in an attempt to make safe harbour at Tinos by Thursday afternoon.

It was warm and hazy, so after we got settled we spoke to a few taxi drivers and checked our reference books to determine which beach was the nicest.

We selected Stravros Beach imaging a beach with chaise lounges and cocktails. Actually, the beach is in the church yard and was full of families, with small children having a wonderful time. Singing and splashing Grandpa and uncles, swimming or bobbing depending upon ability. What a wonderful church yard. Across the bay is Poseidon’s sanctuary, we could see some ruins in the distance.

When we returned from our swim, we were rinsing off from the stern shower, when the water pump refused to work. Here are four of us, a salty bunch, trying to use the bucket to rinse off, so we could go below to look at the waterpump. The taxi drivers were wide eyed, they were unused to seeing such a sight in the middle of town.

James waving from Mercier, Tinos Town Quay

Friday morning James fixed the water pump with Stephen’s expert advice. There were no fierce winds from the south but it was miserably hot and humid. We went to check in with the port police and on the way back we saw a pelican come dancing into the children’s playground. The little boy’s Mum is telling him to pet the bird for a photograph; the little boy was very hesitant. However, when the Pelican decided to visit Mum, she fled the scene.

Tinos Town Pelican, he wanted the little boy to pet him

We had a nice traditional Greek lunch followed by a traditional Greek nap.

We went to the beautiful Symposion Restaurant for dinner, off the town quay and near a beautiful marble fountain for dinner. We talked about what beautiful Greek Islands we had visited and discussed our plans to visit Syros on Saturday morning. Little did we know that at 5:00 am, we would all be waken by a meltemi and all our plans would change.

Up on the balcony, goodbye dinner for Rosemary and Stephen

With gusts up to 50 knots and spin drift blowing off waves, Mercier is fixed to the quay. Rosemary and Stephen chose the wise course and boarded the ferry to Syros so that they could make their flight home on Monday. All the advice was that Sunday would be too windy even for the large ferries. We wished them Bon Voyage and safe passage, while we sit here in the swells of Tinos harbour. Tomorrow, we might go to church.

Happy Birthday Simon, aka Basil!

Nisos Kithnos

If you haven’t sailed in Greece, you may not have heard of this island not far from Kea. It is barren, seemingly with its largest crop being dry stone walls circling the countryside. As you sail into Loutra, a small but wonderful village with a small town quay. We are wedged between a handsome motor boat, with a Vespa on board and the famous yacht Felipa, sailed by Helmut, Peter, Peter and crew. Just meters from the quay in two directions are beautiful swimming beaches, one with tavernas on the sand.

Fishing from the Tavernas, Loutra, Kithnos

The crew from Yacht Felipa, were all Greek Gods, but currently reside in England and Austria. They were terribly good at having a party, teasing everyone and staying up for the World Cup Soccer into the wee hours. In winter, they are Norse gods because they spend their time skiing. Helmut was very generous in sharing some beautiful Austrian ham, sharing his precious photos of his new granddaughter, obviously a little goddess and conversation with us. We all met for dinner at separate tables at Sofrano Yachting Club, where many songs were sung about Alice.

The Greek Gods of MY Felipa — Rosemary photographing The Greek Gods of SY Felipa- we think their shirts is a reference to England or Germany winning, but we know the winner will be Forza Azzuri.

Wednesday morning found us in a car, going up to Chora, a lovely village. We wandered for an hour on a street running parallel to our parked car but you could never find an exit to the main street. We retraced our steps and came upon a wizened old woman in full black regalia, who gave me quite a lecture because we think I said ‘Kalispera’ too early. When I repeated ‘Yasus’, she gave me a pinch on the cheek and sent us on our way.

We visited Merikha and then wandered up to Driopis, which according to Heikell is like time travelling to the 1950’s. We made our way towards Kolona, the road was amazing and we made it to O. Apokriosis only because Stephen has thousands of miles of Aussie bush bashing under his belt. We could see the sand bar at Kolona.

When Heikell called the island barren,we can confirm its browness, but it is known for its cheeses, honey and figs. What amazed me is all the dry creek ravines are full of wild oleander, which normally would like dry feet but prosper in the creeks, which see so little moisture. Come for the beaches or the food but nothing beats the Greek hospitality.

Zante – Shipwreck Bay, Navagio and the Venetian Fortress at Bohali

We all have our bucket list and one item on ours was to visit Shipwreck Bay, officially Navagio Beach. We were not expecting the right weather to sail to Shipwreck Bay and it is too deep for most yachts to anchor. It has been blowing Norwesters (30 knots) every afternoon, much like a Sydney Southerly Buster and we didn’t want to join the wreck. We tried to book onto a catamaran tour for the morning, but we could never raise the charter company. In the end, we spoke to Yannis and took a car up to the viewing point to get an aerial view of the bay and a tour of Zante Island. We weren’t disappointed with our aerial viewing, we had it on good authority “le water is colder than zee witch’s breast”.

The blue milkiness of the bay is from Limestone ‘pearls’ creating a swirl of aqua water, so the water is more translucent than clear. The colour is certainly one we think of when we think of sailing azure seas.

For future reference, if it was warmer and you wanted a swim, our mate John from Zante suggested we drive to Porto Vromi and take a small boat to nearby Shipwreck Bay. If you are 21-30 take a party boat, but take sunscreen and a hat because it’s a long day.

Heikell says the Shipwreck was a cigarette boat, a smuggler’s boat to bring in tax-free cigarettes, which wrecked while evading the Coast Guard in a storm. John, Greece’s biggest Cat’s fan, says it might have been set-up to glamorise the most beautiful bay in Greece for tourism. It is so stunningly beautiful, it is hard to imagine they needed to improve the story line.

We came back past olive trees, that were almost 200 years old, rustic villages and pine forests. We stopped for coffee at the top of another wonderful bay. The view and colour of the water were remarkably brilliant.

We finished the day at the Venetian Fortress at Bohali. We expected the Fortress/castle to be a small hill-top ruin but it is extensive and both the British and the Nazi’s had taken the Venetian’s work and reused it. We saw evidence of a British football pitch and the Venetian’s garrison prison and many wells. There was a large bastion overlooking Zakthynos Town but from every side of the formidable fortress walls, the views were extensive. It is well worth a trip.

We went for a walk after dinner and said goodbye to our friend, John. He asked us to let the Cats know he was barracking for them. So for John, ‘Go the Cats’.

Celebrating a birthday and watching boats race

What did you do on the weekend?

We had an action packed weekend. The two highlights were celebrating Debbie’s birthday and watching the Godson racing Farr 40’s.

To misquote Ms. Ephron, birthdays aren’t for the faint of heart but friends help us through them. Several of Debbie’s BFFs met for breakfast at a very secret Sydney location, Echo on the Marina in Roseville. Entertainment was provided by Possum Magic and numerous coffees fueled the laughter and giggles around the table.

Lesley, Deb, Gaila and Reenie at Echo on the Marina

Rene and Rachel who came all the way from Queensland

Glad you had a great birthday weekend, Deb. Wishing you many more.

David was racing later in the morning on Voodoo Chile, so several of us went out on the Nand V, to cheer him on. Rene in fact, had son David on Voodoo Chile, brother Bobby on Transfusion and nephew Nathan on Sputnik. We had three teams to cheer on.

Sydney Harbour was full of boats on the Saturday, Ynglings, Etchells, 18’s, lasers and Farr 40’s. The Farr 40 racing was close and there were times the wind was fairly fresh. Here are some of the photos.

Transfusion was the winner of the 10 race regatta, with Voodoo Chile finishing 5th after 2 disappointing races where they finished first, but were later disqualified or withdrew.

Category: Friendship