Last week I shared how I absolutely love Kekova Roads. This is the area behind Kekova Island about 4 hours south-east of Kaş. There is a variety of vistas from every anchorage and plenty of interesting places to visit from the little village of Üçağız (the ancient town of Teimiussa) to sunken Lycian ruins and a fort at the top of Kaleköy, which the Lonely Planet describes so well:
“The watery paradise of Kaleköy is one of the western Mediterranean's truly delightful spots, home to the ruins of ancient Simena and an impressive Crusader fortress perched above the hamlet looking out to sea. Within the fortress, the ancient world's tiniest theatre is cut into the rock, and nearby you'll find ruins of several temples and public baths. From the top you can look down upon a field of Lycian tombs, and the old city walls are visible on the outskirts.”
There are so many positives to life at anchor. And also at the marina.
So much so, Baz and I take the time in this week’s video to discuss what we each like and dislike about life at anchor and also life in Kaş marina. There are so many different points that we make, it would take too long to write them all down here so if you’re curious about our differing opinions, I recommend you watch our YouTube video (#142) that is also out today. I will mention a few points that stand out for me.
Anchorage Pros vs Marina Cons
+ On the anchorage pros side, as I said above, there is the opportunity to take our boat-home to innumerable, different surroundings where we can enjoy both the immediate scenery and visit local sites.
+ Another plus is the breeze that keeps A B Sea cool in the summer heat, as we are always anchored at a distance to other boats. - That’s not the case in marinas where any cooling breeze has a harder time making its way through the many moored yachts.
+ Swimming at anchor is simply a matter of taking a step off the back deck into the delicious aqua sea. - In the marina there’s always the potential of stray electrical currents or, dare I say, stray poo (if someone has been very gross and flushed when they shouldn’t – it does happen). - One will kill you. - The other could make you sick.
+ One caveat I would mention about Setur Marina at Kaş is that they have built a swimming platform just beyond the fuel dock, where it is possible to swim in an area cordoned off for that purpose. The water there is a refreshing mix of hot sea water with streams of icy cold fresh water running down from the mountains. Guaranteed to wake anyone up!
Marina Pros vs Anchorage Cons
- If we’re going ashore and I put in a bit of effort to make myself look decent, it irks me that in five minutes of riding in the dinghy, my hair looks like tumbleweed, my clothes end up with sea-salt stains, and my shoes get soaked in sea water so any metal buckles will rust quickly despite a fresh water rinse back on board).
Here’s an example from when we were anchored at Cala Talada in Ibiza in the Spanish Balearics as new liveaboards:
Baz and I decided to go to a beach taverna for a drink so that we could make a note of the wifi password and avail ourselves to free wifi on A B Sea. I put on a nice beach dress and matching flip-flop type sandals. We hopped into our dinghy (far less gracefully than we manage nowadays) and Baz aimed us at the beach. My hairdo remained somewhat intact but when we arrived at the beach, we realised that there was a shelf in the sand and despite tying the dinghy off close to shore, we had to dismount into water that came up to the tops of my thighs. Holding my handbag above my head to keep it dry meant I wasn’t able to hitch my dress up.
We made it to shore and began walking to the taverna. My dress skirt sticking elegantly to my legs was bad enough but there was another issue. One flip of my shoes sent a shower of fine sand up the back of my legs where it stuck to my wet calves. I took off my sandals to walk barefoot, only to receive semi-first degree burns from the blistering hot sand. Sandals back on as the only sane solution, meant that by the time we arrived at the taverna my legs were thickly coated with what felt like half of the beach.
As we stood waiting in line behind a group of perfectly turned out (hotel-staying) designer-wearing nubile young females, I imagined what I must look like next to them. Middle aged female with bad hair-do wearing a wet, crumpled dress above sand encrusted legs. I smiled bitterly at the image. To my surprise we were allowed into this apparently fairly exclusive restaurant-bar and as the waitress led us through the restaurant to the terrace, I quietly noticed that I left a heavy trail of sand in my footsteps.
Parked at our terrace bench seat Baz and I were promptly ignored and after a dry fifteen minutes Baz said, “Okay I’m over waiting to be served. I’ve got the wifi password from that sign over there. Let’s go.” So with as much grace as I could muster, I flip-flopped my way back out of the bar, offloading the rest of the sand as I went.
I got nicely soaked getting back into the dinghy, which I entered with far less aplomb, as the tender was still bobbing in nearly 90cm of water!
I’d give that a resounding - !
- The black water has to be monitored when we’re at anchor because we have a small holding tank which needs pumping out regularly. Enough said on that I think. + In the marina, we simply have to walk to the shower block. + Talking of showers in the marina we can have hot Hollywood showers, 24/7. - By comparison, at anchor we wash in the sea and rinse off on the back deck. But because we have limited water we have to conserve that so showers are only as long as it takes to rinse off the salt.
One last point, and then you’ll have to discover the rest from the video: + Getting off the boat at the marina via the passerelle is a joy as it’s simply a matter of walking onto the pontoon. - Getting on and off the boat at anchor can be tricky especially when there’s a strong wind and swell, because the boat bobs up and down one way, the dinghy bobs up and down another way, I have to get the painter (line) around the cleat and Baz has to keep the dinghy aligned. All fun stuff!
Baz buys bits in Marmaris
Baz went with our buddy Kev in his hire car to Marmaris as they both wanted to visit a chandlers and also a large electrical store there. They were both after a 500 watt small oil radiator heater which would be ideal on the boat to take the chill off over winter. They don’t give off moisture with the heat so no condensation, and even when the thermostat turns off the power, the oil stays warm for a long time, so it’s an economical way of heating the boat. Baz also had a long list of bits and pieces that he hadn’t been able to source previously.
Baz did get some things from the Eastmarine chandlery which he was pleased about, but the electrical store didn’t have the heaters they wanted so the hunt for those was still on. We did source one just recently and I’ll tell you about that another day.
This year’s Q&A
We will be doing another Q&A session around Christmas/New Year, so if you have anything you’d like to know about our life aboard this year do write a comment below.
We’d also love to hear from you about any pros and cons you’ve experienced regarding marine life vs anchorages, and if we have enough feedback on that, we may include it in a future video.
And until next week, I wish you a very pleasant week, taking action to bring your dreams to life.