We had an early start on Wednesday as we upped anchor at Bozukkale for an expected four hour passage to Datça further up the Turkish coast. The wind was good (in both speed and direction) so we unfurled both sails, reefed. In order to shorten the passage time, we cut through Greek waters and for much of the way we were close to Turkey on our starboard side with views of the Greek island of Symi on our port side.
The weather was quite cloudy although the sun tried to peak out from behind the clouds, but it was a bit chilly so I wore my *warm waterproof sailing jacket for much of the journey.
We noticed that the back of the main sail (the leech) was flapping in the wind so I hopped up onto the coach roof and shortened the leech line. This is a thin line that runs from the top of the sail to the foot, along the leech. To tighten it I undid the line, pulled down tightly (which was a tad tricky as the wind put a lot of strain on the sail) and then secured it with a few half hitches. Baz has seen some kind of catch (a leech line cleat) that he wants to put on the sail to make it easier to tighten and loosen the leech line. It’s just another thing on the shopping and to do list!
After three hours we neared the coast of the Datça peninsula and we changed course, heading west towards the bay. This meant the wind was on the nose and so we put the sails away. After just over four hours, we were safely anchored in the south bay at Datça. We put the boat to bed and I began to make lunch as we were both quite hungry, because we hadn’t had any breakfast.
Med Mooring like Mr Bean!
I was chopping up some cucumber, when Baz told me he’d received a call from our friend Ismail who was tied up to the town quay. He’d suggested we join him, as there was no charge to tie up and he’d also help take our lines. We didn’t film that part, and we should have because the two of us attempting to Med moor was a bit like a Mr Bean sketch!
To Med moor, you have to drop your anchor about 40 metres away from the dock and reverse back in a straight line. You tie up to the dock with two stern lines and then bring up the excess anchor chain, so the boat is held firmly in place at three points. Baz and I had only done Med mooring a couple of times when we were coming to Turkey from Spain in 2018, and with the wind blowing into the bay from our starboard side, we found it a bit tricky. Ismail was very patient and on our third attempt, we got in. Phew!
Our position on the quay was sheltered from the worst of the north wind by the tall restaurant buildings behind us. It was great. We walked around to the nothern bay and soon saw how bad it would have been if we’d stayed at anchor. We were glad we’d taken Ismail’s advice. Looking further out to sea but still in the relative shelter of the outer bay, we could see six large freighters anchored for the next three days, riding out the weather.
Baz and I walked around the pretty town that has lots of artistically decorated bars, design running through the paving, and some large impressive white marble carvings. Quite a few places were closed, probably partly due to it being very early in the season, and possibly because of covid restrictions.
We treated ourselves to a donna durum and gave it a thumbs up. There’s also a little shop just off the main street that just sells spit-roasted chickens. We’d tried them when we visited Datça in 2019 and I’d been secretly hankering for another one once I knew we were staying in Datça. So knowing we’d be here for a few days waiting for the wind to settle down, we bought ourselves a couple of chickens, which came complete with two large jacket spuds and big whole roasted onions.
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The Passarelle of Doom gets worse!
Because our rudder is set quite far back on our 1995 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey, it means that we can’t always get as close to the dock as we want to. This happened at Datça where the water shallows considerably closer to the quayside, as there are rocks of varying shapes and sizes, creating variable depth. There is also a small but significant (to us at the time) tide. So much so in fact, that we scraped some of the antifoul paint from the bottom of the rudder when the water level dropped as the tide went out.
Not wanting that to happen again, or do any significant damage to the rudder, we pulled as far off the dock as we could. This meant our passerelle clung onto the edge of the town quay by one wheel! So what was the Passarelle of Doom when we were docked at Kaş town harbour in 2018, was now the Passarelle of Dicey, Nearly Dying!
It was certainly dodgy, but surprisingly even with one wheel secured, we managed to get on and off A B Sea without anyone falling into the drink!
Well that’s it my friends. Another week has flown by. Next week we sail to two more Turkish bays: Akcali and Akbük.
To watch the YouTube episode that dovetails with this blog, just click here.
Until next week though, I wish you health, wealth and courage, as you take the actions to bring your dreams to life.
* As Amazon Associates we earn from qualifying purchases. This Amazon affiliate link is for your convenience. If you choose to use the link and purchase something on Amazon, we get a tiny percentage of commission (at no cost to you).