As I write this blog, I’m getting a real sense of spring in the air. It’s not just that the days are getting warmer (even while the evenings are still quite cool). But lockdown restrictions have changed in Turkey and in the district of Antalya where we are, our weekend curfew has been lifted to only include Sunday. Restaurants have also been allowed to open and when I went into town today to do the weekly vegetable shopping at the Friday markets, I noticed how much more of a buzz there was in town.
Fridays are always busy because people come from neighbouring areas to the markets, but this was different. Along with the usual market shoppers, diners sat chatting over coffee or lunch in the (50% capacity allowed) local eateries, families walked casually through Ataturk square, and the playground in town was now filled with children, boisterously playing as if restrictions had never happened. It was wonderful to see and hear. Kaş is coming back to life. And hopefully the small business owners will begin to recoup their losses.
I’m personally waiting for a good excuse to go out ‘on the town’ and enjoy a meal in a restaurant again.
Yearning for a change of scene
Baz suffers from itchy feet more than I do. Well talking literally, his feet are more likely to be smelly than itchy - hahaha, sorry Baz - but you know what I mean! As a young adult I used to be very restless and couldn’t wait to escape to greener pastures, always feeling an agitated need to move on, yearning for sunnier climes. At this point in my life though, I’m often happy to be where the boat is (which is where Baz is), whether that’s in a marina or at anchor. I like the socialising, being more of a social butterfly than Barry is, who’s admitted in his blog today that he’s become an introvert. Balancing our different personal needs for space / social time / one-on-one time / office time in the confines of A B Sea can be tricky. But I think we’ve found a fairly reasonable working balance.
Of course, Baz’s need for space lately has become quite strong, heightened I think by lockdown restrictions which many are suffering from worldwide. We’ve also had limitations due to boat issues (which you’ll be up to speed with if you’ve read our blogs or watched our YouTube videos regularly). And then we have to juggle our YouTube video making into this mix. Often when the weather’s been perfect for sailing, we’ve been heads down, bums up in the creative department. Or we’ve been raring to go but the wind gods have been out partying like its 1999. Or maybe 2199.
But you know, spring’s just around the corner now. You can almost smell it. And even I have come out of a slightly lethargic winter hibernation personal zone and dare to dream that perhaps this year we’ll get to sail somewhere.
We’re off!
We were both eager to try out another of the Setur marinas which we are allowed to stay at for free as part of our annual marina contract. Thirty days in every other of the nine Setur marinas up and down the coast is a great bonus, and Finike marina is only six hours sail from Kaş.
On Tuesday the 23rd of February, with Windy.com telling us we had a great week of weather, Captain Baz and I cast off the lines and made our way south east to Finike.
The weather was wonderful and as we were travelling east, we had the sun warming us in the early spring morning. The wind was non-existent but that was a good thing because after all of the work we’d done on A B Sea’s engine, Baz wanted to give her a good long run.
And a good run we had. We passed Kekova Island, checked out the outer anchorage, which amazingly had a catamaran and a monohull anchored in there.
The actual anchorage itself looks well protected and the water was the most azure blue. Surrounded by the island's grey rocks and muted green bushes and trees and you’ve got yourself an ideal anchorage if you want seclusion in amongst some of Turkey’s finest scenery.
Along the way we also noted an unfinished marina, and close to Finike, three fish farms.
Of course, the wind picked up to 17 knots as we entered the small Finike marina but we had a great marinero who seemed to be everywhere all at once and was very efficient and helpful. He spoke good English too. Baz aced the reversing to the pontoon part, and I was happy to see a couple we’d met in Kaş earlier, who came to catch our stern lines.
Friendly atmosphere
Finike marina is older and quainter than Kaş marina but the fairways are nice and wide, helping manoeuvring. The thing that struck me about the place, instantly though, was that everyone who saw us said “Hello, how are you, welcome.”! Another bonus of Finike marina is that the electricity, water and black water pump out are free.
We decided that instead of staying for only two nights and returning to Kaş before the weekend lockdown, that we would stay at Finike for the weekend and return to Kaş, via Smugglers Cove (Gökkaya Liman) in Kekova, early the following week.
Join us next week as we bring you more of Finike, the place, the people, the marina. And our sail to Gökkaya Liman and onwards to Kaş marina.
To watch the YouTube episode that dovetails with this blog, just click here.
Until next week, I wish you health and happiness, as you take the actions that bring your dreams to life.
