Harmonica

36 22N 30 30E 27 May 2002

Dear friends,

It is so sad to leave! We left Cyprus knowing that we were turning back, reversing our course, for the first time since leaving Victoria, BC. Almost every new country has brought surprises - nice ones. On 1 May we set course back for Turkey, but further east than we had been before, where the guides told us to expect "The Real Turkey" which sees less tourism & less contact with the west. We sailed the 56 miles north through a lot of plastic garbage floating in the sea and anchored in the broad bay off Bogsak (we still had a valid Turkish cruising permit). An old woman wearing baggy cotton trousers was walking her cow & goat along the beach behind us and trucks were crawling up the hill of the coastal highway, near walking speed, 1/2 a mile further back. Two awnings showed where there were small restaurants along the beach, and in one there were 2 bodies idly sitting waiting for customers. A large, low hotel at the other end of the bay looked deserted & unsightly but the air was friendly & appealing.

We slept deeply, as always after even a short passage, and walked 2 or 3 km the next morning to the castle which stands prominently on the point. The walls are largely intact. In the bay beneath it there were 2 old boats which seemed to be full of teenage children being shown how to fish! Back through the dusty quarry-site and into town, we bought bread & veg, compared prices at 2 of the restaurants, and decided it would be hard not to eat ashore: Grilled chicken, or fish, salad, beer, coffee with a liqueur for $5 Canadian each with a hug & kiss on the cheek from the waiter for each of us thrown in. It was here we were given what appeared to be pickled mistletoe which is not a word found in our turkish dictionary. Our waiter attempted to explain in his limited english. The one word we understood was "viagra".

Next day we were about to start a longer walk up the mountainside, when a Turkish coast-guard patrol paid a visit. 2 came aboard and drank tea in the cockpit while the third stayed in his dinghy with his large automatic weapon and the big ship stood off. All smiles and friendly with cups of tea accepted, but he said that he would be "very grateful" if we sailed to the nearby port of Tasucu to check in with the harbour master (and he confirmed this with his boss by mobile phone). Slightly annoyed at missing the walk, we raised anchor and reached Tasucu well before lunch. Customs was busy checking out a ferry bound for N Cyprus, Dave filled out a small form for them, and walked to the habour master. He was away for lunch, but we met him crossing the street on the way back and he said we needn't bother to go to his office!

A day in a little tourist port we had not planned to visit, so we took the dolmus (minibus) to Silifke. Dolmus still means "stuffed" and David joined the Turkish men by standing to offer his seat to any female, so he arrived with a stiff neck, and empty tummy having prodded or stepped on the toes of half the other passengers, while Janet was fresh and ready to hit the Roman ruins. Compromise works well and while Janet took pictures of the stork's nest on top of the column in the Temple of Jupiter, David took directions for pide shops. An old man vacated a table for us & we ate excellent pide (Turkish pizza) and drank ayran (thin yoghurt sprinkled with salt). Next was the internet cafe to pick up mail and try to download an update for Airmail software. Silifke was a friendly working town with many remains from Roman, Byzantine & Ottoman times with a fast river carrying melt water to the small delta & the sea. A fresh sea breeze had kicked up before we returned. One other cruising boat at anchor in Tasucu: The 13 m Dutch steel boat Tradewind with Peter & Else aboard. Peter rowed over and chatted. They crossed the Indian Ocean & up the Red sea this winter. We swapped radio schedules and soon made contact with other boats from the same route.

Tasucu was not our choice stop so next morning was back to sleepy Bogsak, and up the mountainside which had been planned the day before. Across the road & behind the village, apart from a party of German tourists photographing plants, we were quickly 100's of years back on the goat paths, through an old farm where we exchanged greetings, and spied a girl on the path ahead who was picking leaves. Seeing us, she hurriedly replaced her head-scarf, then showed us how the leaves were to support wooden ornaments for her fingers which she would use in a dance. On up the track we met flocks of goats being tended, freshly cultivated terraced fields, and finally an unexpected castle teetering on the edge of a rock 1,000 ft above the next valley.

Next stop was Ovacik where there seemed to be a holiday resort built for Turkish residents from inland: Delightful remote spot, but an uninspiring village.

Reached Aydincik middle of the next day where Tradewind was already anchored in the small harbour. While we decided where to moor, a fisherman moved his boat & beckoned us to the stone dock. Quite a party had gathered by the time we had the anchor off the bow & were putting stern lines ashore. There were fishermen and a young, wealthy fellow from Ankara with his Russian fiancee with whom we chatted on the quay over cay (Turkish tea). Uninspiring town to look at, a broad straight street, backed by a high straight hillside, surround by hundreds of long greenhouses growing vegetables, and all filled with ruins which had been fenced off to stop people from using Roman marble for decorating their front porches. The internet cafe, run by 2 delightful retired French language professors from Ankara, was full of school boys playing noisy battle games. Next morning, Jan woke to hear a small fishing boat docking beside her porthole, and a fisherman waved 2 large mackerel at her as soon as her face showed. He repeated the gesture when Dave appeared in the cockpit and did not take any money for them (We gave him Cypriot grapefruit & Canadian pins). Beautiful big fish; he must have hit a shoal on the way in. We walked to the top of the hill and saw a road winding miles off into the hills behind. Just odd goat farms, sparse ruins, broom scrub with cows, goats and wild tortoises. If this was the "Real Turkey" we liked it. We hitched a lift back down the hill on a tractor pulling a load of fertilizer for the greenhouses. Past the high school where all the kids broke from their class to yell "Hello" to us through the fence. A teacher came & introduced herself, and one of the more forward girls invited us in to see their school. We ate pide on the dock, where later 2 elementary school girls came up and adopted us for the afternoon taking us round all the archeological sites. They showed us how to eat part of the wild thistle plant and the small, white, juicy nut of under-ripe almonds and presented us with a bunch of

On to Bozyazi where a big new harbour has been built at the cost of a mountainside which looks close to falling into the quarry from which the stone was taken! Got the bicycles ashore and toured Anamur, Bozyazi and the mountains behind. Well-preserved remains from Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, & Seljuk times. Mamure kalesi with its 39 turrets was the largest and best preserved castle so far. High school students arrived by the bus load early some mornings to practise band, singing, ribbon twirling, and flag flying on the wide cement dock. At weekends it became the place for local townsfolk to picnic; barbeque; fish; bicycle and play soccer. 1 week went & again it was hard to leave. We spent much of the last day delivering photos to people who had let us take pictures of them.

Gazipasa is another new harbour, just 20 miles east of the city of Alanya. Even more scruffy & dusty, Gazipasa had all the signs of fast immigration & new building. Turks undertake their projects head-on when they decide to do them. The roads are dual carriageways, the buildings are all bigger than needed, the builders work fast & hard. This part of the coast had many banana plants growing inside greenhouses and, a little further west, growing on very steep terraces carved out of the hillside.

Next leg was an overnight sail across the Gulf of Antalya away from the "Real Turkey" back to the Lycian Coast of the restaurants, charter boats and tourists. It was, again, hard to leave.

We anchored in Cineviz Liman; visited the site of Olympus, which Cicero described; walked to the flaming Chimaera, which Odysseus saw. The tiny town 2 miles north is known as a backpackers haven. In the bay we have met several boats including many which have come from SE Asia, Australia & New Zealand via the Red Sea. We have spent time with a Canadian family who left Victoria onboard their Cal 38 "Delphis" 6 years ago, and are now returning to get their eldest son into conventional school. Last night 5 boat crews got together for a fire on the beach. The Canadian boys cooked bannock on the end of wooden sticks in the fire. It will be hard to leave tomorrow for Finike.

Best wishes to everyone

David & Janet