Our stay at Didim D-Marin Marina was the perfect start to our year in this wonderful country.
Seamless check in
It all began with great assistance from the marineros, who helped us to dock safely stern-to using a lazy line and stern lines. They also assisted us in leaving the fuel dock in strong winds when we left Didim. As we’re just a crew of two, this kind of assistance is always appreciated.
As I mentioned last week, when we docked, Atilla our agent was waiting for us with a medic ready to come aboard and check our temperatures. At his request, we’d given Atilla all of our information a couple of days earlier so he’d arranged a smooth check in to Turkey. Once the medic had taken our temperatures, we were given the medical all clear and once Atilla had finalised our paperwork we were free to officially enter Turkey! Atilla’s office is very close to the visitor’s berth at the marina. You can email Atilla here for more information.
Fine dining
Yacht Club
That evening, we dined at the Yacht Club in the marina, thanks to Jim our Patron and buddy boating pal.
The setting for the dinner was as opulent as you might expect from a five star restaurant (and hotel) and we sat at an outdoor table by the pool, overlooking some of the yachts as we enjoyed an excellent meal watching the sun setting over the water.
Key F Restaurant
The following evening we were invited to Key-F Restaurant and had another very tasty meal, enjoying the company of good friends (Metin, Beverley, Özlem, Jim and Matt). The tables at this restaurant have more stunning views and the service was wonderful. Here’s their menu!
Our third meal was enjoyed on board A B Sea, after a wonderful hot shower in their very clean and well-kept shower block. As we sat on deck, enjoying a glass of cold white wine, Baz and I began to relax.
We were finally in Turkey and were getting some of our boat issues looked at by the technicians on site. If you’d like to know more about this aspect, do check out Barry’s Blog #146.
General information about D-Marin, Didim
The information on D-Marin’s website says that the Didim marina is “One of the largest luxury marinas in the Eastern Mediterranean, D-Marin Didim is a first-class home base for yachts and super yachts entering the splendid Aegean Sea”. After visiting this extensive marina (it can berth 576 yachts, has a dry dock capacity for 600 boats, can also berth up to 90 super yachts and has a catamaran centre), I’d have to agree. We also found it to be very peaceful, spotless and with excellent security. And for those of us not so much into boatie specs, it also has five bars and restaurants and seven shops (two of which are chandlers). We visited the onsite Migros supermarket before we left, so had plenty of provisions to take us all the way to Kaş.
You can see more of D-Marin in Didim in this week’s video. It is a huge complex and as we were on foot, we couldn’t show you everything, but hopefully share aspects that are of interest to yachties who may be looking at somewhere to moor while in the Didim area.
My fabulous shopping assistant!
Our good friend Beverley offered the use of her car – with herself as chauffer and my exclusive shopping assistant, she took me into Didim town, where I was able to pick up a few necessary clothes. Over winter most of my old clothes had been turned into boat-working items, or had fallen apart due to sun and salt exposure. Plus I’d lost 8Kg in the previous 8 weeks, and I did need a few things that actually fitted. I found them at L C Waikiki, a Turkish chain store that sells very good quality clothes at remarkably low prices (especially if you take into account the rate of the TL to the Aussie Dollar at the moment).
I had an absolute blast with Beverley and am very grateful to her and her husband Metin, for being so generous with their time while we were at Didim. We’re also grateful to their beautiful niece Özlem, who helped to make our time at the marina a very positive experience.
Sailing further south and east
After three nights we said our goodbyes to Didim and headed first to the anchorage at Aspat Koyu. This was a good little anchorage, with only two other yachts at anchor. There is a mix of sand and mud depending on whether you anchor close to the entrance of a small river that flows into the sea, but there is also a fair amount of weed dotted about the anchorage, so we’d advise diving your anchor to ensure it is set for the night.
We slept well and set off early the next morning for a longer sail towards our next anchorage at Bodrum. We weren’t staying at this busy anchorage overnight, just long enough for Baz to take the dinghy to shore, grab a taxi and find the massive chandlers that we’d heard is a veritable mecca for yachties. As much as I love visiting chandlers, I had to stay on board A B Sea because I had another YouTube video to edit and was a day behind due to our sailing schedule.
If you’d like to see the video that accompanies this blog, just click here.
Until next week when we show you what Baz brought back from Bodrum’s boat porn shop, I wish you a very pleasant week, taking action to bring your dreams to life.
