We spent a few days in Marmaris and were able to mail postcards to our Patrons, bought a few needed items from the chandlers and this visit we went exploring the town.
The long beach front extends for some 5 kilometres along a sandy bay, with many bars and restaurants overlooking the sea. The back streets of the old town with their old stone houses, bougainvillea and pretty painted doors and window frames, reminded me a little of some of the Greek choras that we’ve visited.
There’s an extensive bazaar for every tourist item you could wish for (including Almost Authentic watches!). And we couldn’t visit Marmaris without stopping for the best lamb dona durum that we’ve found in this lively holiday town.
I also enjoyed seeing the artistic touches: bronze statues dotted around – an octopus, a group of people with cameras, a group of children playing and a waterfall with a gorgeous bronze mermaid sitting in the water. Each town we’ve visited in Turkey has its own creative flair that gives each one an individual sense of character.
We wanted to visit the old fort while we were in Marmaris and finding it took us along the lovely backstreets of the old town. After a couple of wrong turns (we followed one sign to the Castle, which turned out to be the Castle Bar), we arrived and the historic old castle. However, it was closed and wasn’t due to open for another ten days! Oh well, that’s on our To Do list next time we’re in Marmaris.
As synchronicity has it, I am typing this tied up to a berth on C pontoon in Marmaris marina on our way back to Kaş! We are here at the Netsel Setur marina for two nights as part of our annual contract, and if we get some free time tomorrow, we’ll go and see if the castle’s open. It should be, it’s the height of tourist summer season. Watch this space!
Getting my Mr Bean head on
Have you seen Mr Bean, the bungling UK comic character played hilariously by Rowen Atkinson? Well, occasionally, I morph into the character and end up unwittingly in a comedy act all on my own. This time it was over a mooring buoy.
As you know, we usually anchor, and when we have opted for a mooring buoy, it’s usually been one provided by a restaurant such as Karacaören, and then Can (John) basically has done everything for me. So for the first time in a couple of years, after we left Marmaris we decided to visit Serce Limani which has mooring buoys that are provided by a restaurant.
Baz was at the helm as he’s great at manoeuvring A B Sea.
I was at the bow with a line attached to the forward starboard cleat and our extending boat hook at the ready. The idea is, I would hook the little ball that’s floating on the top of the water, bring it up (hooking it on the cleat while I) then thread our line through the big heavy buoy line underneath the top floating ball. That is the theory.
Baz got us close to the buoy. I got the boat hook through the little loop and tried to pull it up. It wouldn’t budge. It was almost as if the buoy wasn’t meant to be brought up to deck height. This is where I morph into Mr Bean…
Realising I couldn’t lift the buoy to thread our line through it, I had to release the boat hook. But it was caught up and it didn’t matter how much I tried, it remained stuck. Meanwhile the boat is moving slowly forward and at that speed Baz didn’t have any control. I called to him to reverse! I shouted at him I was losing the hook! He shouted back there was nothing he could do!
If I kept hold of the hook, I’d fall in the water. I had to let it go but I was afraid it would get caught up in the rudder or the prop. So I panicked. Baz told me to just get the second (old) boat hook and we’d try the next mooring buoy that we were drifting towards.
Rinse and repeat.
I was just about to lose the second boat hook when Baz shouted that help was coming. It was the restaurant jetty owner and he was hurtling towards us in his tender. He took our line, fed it through the mooring buoy (at water level height), handed me back the line and I tied it to the cleat on the other side of the boat. Job done.
Then he retrieved our first boat hook from the first buoy. What a legend.
I did debrief on the video, but looking at Baz, I really think he’s just got me down as a bit of a dill. Oh well. It’s a learning curve. We don’t get enough practice for me to be an expert, but each time I learn a little more. I think this particular one wasn’t made to be lifted high to boat deck level, which is why I couldn’t bring it up.
Our two boat hooks have different hook ends. The newer one has a double hook with a little ball on each end and that makes it difficult to retrieve once it is caught up in a line. The older one (which I lost the first time I tried to catch a mooring buoy in Javea, Spain lol), has only one hook and one little ball on the end, making it a tad easier to retrieve.
The design fault in this one is that it has a shiny aluminium handle and the reason I lost it in Spain was because it just slipped through my wet hands. We covered it with gaffa tape which sort of helped. But the best solution all round, is to wear sailing gloves. They give a better grip. Of course, nothing can prevent me losing the boat hook if it is stuck and the boat keeps drifting forward!
Well, thank goodness for restaurant jetty guys!
To watch the YouTube episode that accompanies this blog just click here.
Until next week, I wish you health, wealth and courage, as you take the actions to bring your dreams to life.
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