Chapter One: GERENCE GULF
We were anchored off Teke Kara Dagi Kucukt in Karareis Bay when the wind started gusting in the late evening. Ingrid in her cockpit bed was not overly concerned and managed to sleep on and off in its increasing strength. However, by 3.00am it became impossible to relax any longer as it was blowing quite hard and was interspersed with some heavy gusts. And still it kept building up!
By 4.00am the gusts were well in the 60 knot region and one of them dislodged the strut on the solar panel and made the panel stand at 90° to the deck. As it wasn’t generating any electricity in the dark it did not matter, and as Peter was also awake we folded the other panel down, too. He then went back down for a doze in the saloon.
Ingrid was back lying on her bed when the light on our life buoy started flashing as another gust had caused Cordelia to heel so hard the light thought it was upside down. Ingrid set it straight and had just returned to her bed when a particularly prolonged and ferocious gust in the 70 knot range took hold of Cordelia. Next she heard the beeping of the anchor alarm, followed by Peter shouting “we’re dragging”.
We both sprung into action, started the engine, got the remote for the windlass, untied the wheel, started Navionics, and Peter went forward to take off the snubber and haul up the chain. By now Cordelia had gathered momentum and had dragged 40m towards the nearby islands. Peter weighed anchor while Ingrid kept an eye on the depth sounder which indicated just over 3m of water of which 2m were taken up by Cordelia’s keel.
As there was no moon it was pitch black, and Ingrid could not see where we were and was disoriented, and when Peter came back into the cockpit the depth had shrunk to 2.7m. He took over the wheel while Ingrid looked out over the sprayhood to get a bearing. Peter noticed on Navionics that Cordelia was still going bow first for one of the islands, and now Ingrid had a clear sight of it. We were about 25m away from its rocks and in 2.4m of water with its shore coming closer by the second! There was only one thing to do to avoid hitting it: “reverse, reverse, reverse!” she screamed at Peter over the howling of the wind.
Using all 55HP of the engine and not a moment too soon he steered Cordelia away from the impending doom and headed for open water. It was still dark, and all we could make out was the noise of the 60+ knots of constant wind and the pounding of the waves against Cordelia’s hull. We couldn’t see what was awaiting us outside the anchorage area, so Peter motored us in and out of it. It was so windy that with the engine in neutral, when we went downwind we were still doing 6 knots with only the sprayhood and bimini as propulsion. At every turn Cordelia heeled over hard with water coming over the deck, but we continued back and forth until the first rays of daybreak reached us.
When we saw our anchorage it looked untenable with gnarly waves even in a fetch of under 500m off the shore with big gusts trying to flatten them. We did not fancy our chances of going back and re-anchoring there! Peter kept Cordelia ahull while we pondered our options. She was drifting at 1.8 knots out to the entrance of this inland-like water and was heading downwind for another rock or maybe the fish farm next to it. We made up our minds to head in the direction she wanted to go but to steer her away from danger, and chose a sheltered anchorage on Mavi Koy.
On our journey there the wind lost some of its strength, but the waves were steep, sharp and about 1.5m high with spume and fountains of spray blowing off them. The only creatures who enjoyed these conditions were the dolphins who played around Cordelia, then ventured off to spin and jump in the big waves. When we eventually reached the island Peter didn’t like the looks of it as it seemed very open to the elements, so we carried on to the next island and pulled into Karaada. There the gusts were around 30 knots which felt like sanctuary to us. On the first attempt the anchor would not hold, but on the second it bit in about 5m. Ingrid dived on it later and found plenty of weight on its shovel. We were now safe and sound. It had been a close thing, but we hadn’t panicked and Cordelia had performed admirably.
We cleared up all the things that had fallen out of their places and stowed away our life jackets we had employed on the way down. Breakfast followed and more clearing up on deck, then we recovered with a little rest and Peter went for a swim. He was back on board just before the first day trippers arrived. They were relatively well behaved, kept at a reasonable distance and the volume of their music down.
We sat back in the cockpit with a nice cup of tea, and observed the meltemi blowing outside. After today’s tribulations we were anxious of what might come, and Peter researched other anchorages where we might be able to safely settle down in some peace for a while. None of them looked as good as the current one, so in the end we agreed on staying where we were.
The gulets left us and were replaced by two motorboats who were rather persistent in outstaying their welcome. We had wanted to re-anchor and let out more chain in the afternoon, but they enjoyed themselves so much that they didn’t leave till after we’d had our dinner, and one stayed on overnight. So Peter just let out more chain and left it at that.
The wind behaved itself and we slept well. The meltemi was still blowing outside though, so we agreed on staying another night. During the day we did some admin, edited photos, swam, had a snooze, and watched more motorboats turning up. They were all quiet and prevented the big gulets from coming close, so we didn’t mind them at all. Most of the excursion boats kept the noise down, too, and turned off their music once they’d anchored.
We were fully recovered the next day. As this was a Sunday we expected our anchorage to fill up more than usual, so we found a promising place on Navily to move to. We weighed anchor at 8.45am and left a windy Karaada.
It was blowing a North-Easterly wind in the mid to high 20 knots, so we left a reef in the genoa to pass the islands. Initially we made nearly 5 knots but started to struggle to maintain speed when we passed through the gap of the entrance to this “lake”. When we reached the first fish farm we turned on the engine, which also provided more control to manoeuvre the course we wanted to steer. This was just as well as we spent most of the remaining time dodging more fish farms.
At 10.00am we reached the new anchorage which was unnamed but already featured two excursion boats swinging on anchor. We found a sandy patch in 6m and put 20m of chain out. As soon as Peter had put on the snubber the first of many more to come trip boats turned up. Unfortunately a couple of them took an uncomfortable liking to our Cordelia as they dropped their anchors at close proximity. To add insult to the situation they turned up their music to volume 11, which meant we had to play our own music to drown out their noise, and Ingrid hid below. When she came back on deck the wind had increased and Cordelia had turned. Two boats that had rafted up close to us were now even closer as they hadn’t turned with the wind. We had gone out to 7.3m as the chain had extended to the full scope we’d let out, and we were keen for them to leave. They, however, seemed to be comfortable as Cordelia swung closely across their bows.
And still more boats kept coming! At 4.30pm we still had 15 boats surrounding us, some of them with smoking BBQs on board, others with blaring music or screaming youngsters, or all of it. Ingrid was tempted to dub this beautiful looking but utterly spoilt unnamed anchorage something like “Hellhole” or “Nightmare”, but settled for Peter’s suggestion of “Pleasure Boat Bay”.
We did crosswords while we waited for the noise to subside and the boats to go back to where they’d come from, but it wasn’t till well after dinner before any sense of normality returned. The last one left just before 8.00pm and we took the opportunity to re-anchor in 4m right bang in the middle. Finally, we sat down, relaxed with YouTube and later adjourned to our beds.
We both enjoyed a quiet night and slept well. In the morning we got Cordelia shipshape and weighed anchor at 9.20am. We motored along the coast between the islands to avoid the fish farms, then cut across the bay to Setur Marina Çeşme. We pumped out and filled up our fuel tank and can with diesel, and were attended to by a very friendly nice young English speaking man. After ½ hour we were all sorted and were underway again at 11.30am.
Ingrid was still updating the paperwork below when Peter unfurled the genoa for a pleasant cruise to our destination for the night. We lost the wind before we got to Çolak Burnu, but in true fashion it blew up again when we were ready to drop the hook at 1.30pm. A motorboat had already taken prime location, but we found a patch of sand in 4m we could aim for. The anchor held well in 30+ knots but we were rather close to the shore, so decided to re-anchor once the motorboat had left.
In the meantime we drank tea, ate biscuits, solved (or at least tried to) crossword puzzles and waited, and waited some more. Then we had dinner and waited some more. They showed no sign of packing up, so we went below to watch a YouTube video while we waited. Afterwards Peter poked his head out of the companionway, and they had gone. Hurray!
We dropped everything other than the anchor which had to come up first, Peter steered us towards the middle of the cove and Ingrid looked out for lighter patches in the water. She could only see them when we were right above them with the sun now being low, but managed to make out a spot and let go. It bit nicely and while Peter put out more chain, put on the snubber and snorkelled out to check it she went below to continue the washing up.
A shouted exploitive from outside shattered the peace, and Ingrid ran up into the cockpit to rescue Peter if necessary. Turned out he couldn’t find the anchor in all the seagrass and cursed the motorboat people for staying too long and making it difficult. So Ingrid had to go into the water, but she, too, lost sight of the chain. She asked Peter to reverse to pull it back and out of the grass, and, hey presto, she could follow it all the way to the anchor which had set just outside a patch of seagrass with the shovel dug into it. Ingrid dived down below to check it, and it all looked okay, so she went back onboard for a shower, then finished the washing up.
It was 8.00pm when we had tea in the cockpit with the sun gone down behind the hill around us. The wind which had been blowing up to 30 knots in the afternoon also calmed down, and we were looking forward to a peaceful night.
Chapter Two: ÇANDARLI AND BERGAMA
With the wind forecast to increase in the next few days we decided to head back to the safety at the Foça anchorage. We weighed anchor at 8.15am and were seen off by a pod of dolphins.
The sea was mirror-like and flat as a pancake. There wasn’t a breath of wind and we motored all the way. The dolphins must have called ahead as there was a welcome committee of their bigger cousins around the fish farms. We surmised that they feigned their interest in us when they swam past and were rather more intrigued by what had escaped from the farms. We imagined one sea bass saying to his friends “I’ve had enough of farm live. Let’s get out of here and head for the big town!”, only to be gobbled up by a hungry dolphin lurking outside.
With stories like this the time passed, and Peter also read out a few blogs from fellow sailors to keep us entertained. When we rounded the cape with the lighthouse the wind increased to a Force 4, but it was from the North-East, i.e. on the nose, and soon dwindled to nothing. We crossed the two traffic separation zones without any near encounters, then Peter reeled in the fishing line (not a nibble!), and we made it to Foça. We found a new spot in the familiar anchorage and dropped the hook at 2.30pm in 5m. Next we launched Buddy and loaded him with our rubbish, headed for land and disposed of it, and walked into town for Tuesday market. Fruit and vegetables were procured before we went to the Migros near the fishing harbour.
The next morning we motored over to the Migros at the North Anchorage, got rid of more rubbish and went into the shop for some essentials. Back on Cordelia there was enough time for coffee and biscuits, then we sorted out Buddy and secured him onto the foredeck.
We were ready to leave, but should we have a swim first? With a near 5 hours’ journey ahead we weighed anchor there and then. It was 11.00am. Of course this was also the time for the trip boats to take their punters out to a crowded beach off a barren rock where they could all congregate. And of course we ended up amidst their rush to get there. We did a little tour of honour and let them pass before we followed them out of Foça.
We had no wind, so we motored round the corner and the adjacent islands. It was just after lunchtime when we’d passed them and came into some wind. It was a Westerly Force 4, so we hoisted both sails and turned off the engine. We had a great angle for sailing, and when the wind added another few knots to its strength we made nearly 7 knots and were still comfortable.
At the traffic separation zone we had to make speed adjustments for two big ships, but apart from that we enjoyed a smooth and uneventful ride. We could see the castle of Çandarli from some distance away but it didn’t take too long before we reached its vicinity. We dropped the anchor on the East side near an islet, and it bit well in 6.8m in mud. Peter let out 40m of chain, we cleaned up, had a swim and settled in for the night.
We had a leisurely start, then prepared Buddy and motored ashore at 9.30am. We headed towards the town centre via the main road along the beach. We saw plenty of cafés and beach bars along the way and even came across a windsurfing centre. It was just after 10.00am when we reached the castle. It had been restored and the walls were in very good condition. The entrance was free, so we ventured inside, walked along the ramparts and up to the top of one of its towers. We were rewarded with great views over the harbour and into our bay, but could also imagine the layout and fire places inside. It also featured a big well and three canon, one of them bearing the British insignia of King George III.
Afterwards we treated ourselves to an ice-cream and other goodies from the BIM supermarket, and then Ingrid checked at a gas shop whether they would refill our CampinGaz bottles. A shake of the head and “yasak” (forbidden) was the answer, so no luck there then. While we walked around the town Peter found a “Delüks Şezlong” (deluxe chaise-long) cover at a Migros – just what we had in mind for our cockpit seats! They were reduced in price, and although they weren’t the best replacement for what we’d once bought in B&Q we purchased two as they were definitely in better shape than the B&Q ones were in now. We took them back to Cordelia where we had lunch and a rest / doze.
We were out again the next day. We walked along the coastal road towards the town centre and kept on going along the coast till we reached the end of the spit and the beach resorts on the other side of it. That side was well protected from the prevailing wind and we could hardly feel it. We cut inland and, as if by magic, ended up near the Migros. We couldn’t miss that chance and had to buy an ice-cream, biscuits and drinks.
While we consumed the frozen refreshment on a bench near the taxi station Peter checked on the Internet for information on a dolmuş (minibus) to Bergama. He found their depot on Google, so we walked there to investigate. We noticed a building with buses outside and counters inside. A man tried to be helpful at the ticket machine and soon understood from our blank looks that our language skills were insufficient. He took us to a colleague who explained in perfectly understandable German when the bus would leave the next day, where it would return from at various times and how much it would cost. We decided we would put his information to the test the next day, and in the meantime headed back to Cordelia.
In the afternoon we rigged the windsurfing gear. We opted for the ISonic and the 6.0m2 sail, and Ingrid set off. The wind was gusting in some places and completely lacking in others. In short, it was gnarly and horrible. Ingrid managed a few planing runs despite of it, though this must have been the worst windsurfing spot she’d ever sailed at. She made it back in one piece, cooled off with a swim, and warmed up with tea and biscuits, and we watched other windsurfers go out far into the gulf to find clean wind before we de-rigged.
We were at the dolmuş station just after 9.00am, and were greeted with a handshake by the manager, i.e. the man who shouted the loudest, gesticulated the wildest, whistled like a boiling kettle and showed us which bus to take. We waited till 9.30am for departure and a few more passengers who had been “encouraged” by the manager to take a trip to Bergama. The journey took about ½ hour and came to TL60.00 each for one way. Once there we got a taxi to take us up the ca 250m in height to the entrance of the huge compound that was Pergamon Acropolis.
We walked up and round the top with good views of the town and lake below, then made our way past the Trajan Temple, along a covered passageway and down the steps to the amphitheatre. We were astonished by its steepness and size – 36m in height and room for 10,000 spectators!
We then carried on past the Great Altar to one of our most revered Olympian gods’ sanctuary, Dionysus, and thanked him for his great gift to mankind (wine!).
We continued downhill to the upper and lower gymnasia, agorae, the sanctuaries of Demeter, Athena and Hera, and the house of Atalus with remnants of painted walls and mosaic floors. It took us about 2½ hours to go round the site which we exited through a turnstile a long way further down. We were glad we didn’t have to march back up to retrieve a car or hand back any audio equipment as it would have taken an enormous effort to regain all the height we’d lost.
A little walk from there we found a kiosk with ice-creams and Fanta which we consumed at a park outside our next sight – the Red Basilica. We paid our way in, so we could have a closer look at its red brick walls, white marble statues and round building with a huge cupular.
We had a good hour to spare before our dolmuş would return to Çandarli, so we bought more drinks at the SOK, and we rehydrated at the Zeytin (Olive) Park amidst olive trees and grass.
At 3.00pm we were on the bus home, then bought more drinks at an A101 to quench our thirst on a bench along the main road. Buddy motored us to Cordelia where Ingrid cooled off in the water by hanging on to the bathing ladder. We rewarded ourselves with a nice cup of tea, Peter had a swim, then we had dinner and a relatively early night with the wind gusting up to 44 knots and live music from the beach café.
As the forecast wind had arrived we took a day off, relaxed, watched YouTube videos, did crosswords and had a swim. Later we made a reprovisioning trip into town, then put Buddy in his rightful place and fastened him down. Peter had received a lightning warning within 25 miles of our location, and we wanted to be prepared in case it came our way. The wind had also changed direction from North-East to South-West, and although it was light we weren’t sure whether it was an indicator for something more sinister. We kept an eye out for the weather, but other than the rumble in the distance and a few little drops we came away lightly as it passed us by.
Chapter Three: PROCUREMENTS AND PREDICAMENTS
We weighed anchor at 8.45am by which time it was blowing a North-Easterly Force 4. We unfurled the genoa as soon as we were past the spit 10 minutes or so later. The wind kept building up, but as it was from astern we did not mind and were sailing along quite happily. When we got close to the islands Peter saw a nasty looking windline ahead, so we quickly put two reefs in the genoa. When we got there the wind came from the East and blew 32 knots. We were making over 6 knots at times until we were past the headland and its bottleneck.
There the wind switched to the West Force 3, before it settled at North-East Force 4-5. So once again it ended up on the nose, which meant we had to motor for the rest of the way to Bademli. We arrived at 11.20am and within 10 minutes our anchor was dug in 5m amidst a turquoise patch with sand below.
Cordelia’s underside received some more attention, and Peter was looking after her propeller and rudder when our new Australian neighbours came over and enquired whether we wanted some of the 25kg tuna they’d caught. Need they ask! It fed us for two days and was delicious.
One morning we prepared Buddy, and at 8.45am we motored towards the East island, rounded the corner and turned North. During his research Peter had discovered thermal outlets, then had marked the coordinates on Navionics, and now led us to them.
We found a little man-made pool with bath-warm water in it. It provided enough room for the two of us and could have fitted another two (had there been another two), and was about a meter deep. When Peter put his hand all the way down he felt the full heat of the hot water and recommended not to try this at home.
We sat in it for a while, then cooled off in the sea before we carried on. Along the way we saw where the excursion boats were moored, then we made it to the top of the island where an expensive looking hotel resort was located, headed South over very shallow Caribbean-like water, and finally got back aboard Cordelia.
The anchorage got crowded over the weekend, so we upped anchor at 7.40am on the Sunday. The wind had all died down and the apparent one was on the nose, but the waves hadn’t gotten the memo and were still going strong. We were motoring, but put a sliver of the genoa out with the sheets tight on both sides to stabilise Cordelia.
We did get the chance to motorsail for a little while but soon had to revert to engine alone when the sail started flogging. It didn’t help that every boat that had ever caught a fish was heading home with their catch, and we were right in the middle of their rush hour. In addition, the cargo ships had left their harbours and were heading to their next destination, meeting us on their way there. We slowed down and altered course a couple of times to avoid them all, and made it safely into Yeni Foça marina.
A rib came out to guide us to the fuel and pump-out station at the marina entrance, where a nice man took our lines, provided us with water for our tanks and took care of our waste water. He also helped with the lines when we got off.
Whilst we had been busy the wind had made an appearance, and we could unfurl the genoa and sail for a couple of hours. Alas, it was not to last, as when we changed course to a downwind sail the genoa was flapping in the swell, so we put it away. We motored the last stint through the islands, then found our spot at Foça, and dropped the anchor in about 5m. We made sure it bit, then finally relaxed.
The next few days were filled with shopping for victuals, data for the Internet (cash only at the Turkcell shop) and gas for our cooker. Peter had found an Aygaz store online, so we went in search for it. After having been taken round the houses by Google Maps first, we eventually made it there and Google Translate did a better job at explaining what we wanted, although Peter was still put through by phone to an English speaking man. They wouldn’t accept one of our bottles as an exchange, so we had to pay a deposit for theirs, plus a fee for the gas (2kg). No foreign credit cards could be used to settle the bill, though. Having spent all our cash with Turkcell we trundled off to the ATMs near the fishing boat harbour and procured some coloured paper with numbers and drawings on it. Back at the shop they were happy to receive this as form of payment, and we walked off with our gas bottle. Afterwards we also paid the market a visit for fruit and vegetables and more honey, and got more use out of the acquired cash.
We checked the weather forecast which suggested strong winds coming into Foça, and deliberated over our next destination. The first one South of Mordogan would involve a battle against the wind and waves to reach it, and the second one in a bay near Çeşme would take us seven hours to get there. In the end we decided on going back to Karaada and wait for the conditions to improve.
The night before departure we went to bed in a bit of a breeze which made it difficult to relax and go to sleep. Peter set the anchor alarm, and Ingrid finally dozed off in her bed in the cockpit. When she woke up it had all calmed down, she heard people on land laughing and talking, and something was splashing. It was dark other than the lights from the street which made her realise Cordelia was facing out to sea. Ingrid looked for our catamaran neighbours who seemed to be further away from us and faced a different direction. She thought no more of it with there being no wind and catamarans moving dissimilarly to monohulls, and caught more sleep.
She awoke again when a dog barked, which sent every other canine of the town into a frenzy as they all joined in. They also woke up Peter and he came on deck for a check. He was the one to spot that the catamaran had moved away from us. The wind had picked up again to 30 knots, and when we looked around we saw them further out as they were dragging their anchor.
Next thing we knew they were headed for a Turkish-flagged monohull with a single-handed sailor. It was lucky he had his fenders out as his boat was hit. Lights came on on both decks as the catamaran circled around to try and free the anchor which no doubt had fouled the monohull’s. The catamaran’s crew were an American family of five, so we could understand the commands. We were surprised that there was no screaming and how remarkably quiet the kids stayed. In the end they got away and re-anchored far away at the other side of the anchorage.
It was 1.40am and Peter went back to bed below. Ingrid stayed awake, observed the light of a tender going to a yacht that had arrived after dark, waited for the dogs to finish their conversation, looked at anchor lights and signs of undue movement, and listened to the wind. It was nearly two hours before sleep took her, and when she woke next the wind had gone and Cordelia had turned outwards again.
