After spending 8 months in Turkey I've learned that the summer heat likes to linger until late in the year and conversely the winter cold is reluctant to let go its chilly grip.
I'm writing this blog on the 2nd of April 2021 and this morning it's a cool 10C (50F). Apart from that it's a beautiful day. Sunny, cloudless and zero wind which means that once the sun climbs higher in the sky things will start to warm up.
Time ticks by
It's been an odd winter to say the least. The curfew hours and the weekend lock downs played a part in making it unusual in that the weekends seemed to have the best weather to go sailing but we were not allowed to leave the marina.
Another reason why A B Sea couldn't leave the marina was that she didn't have a functioning engine for a few months. The turbo imploding just a month after we arrived at Kaş, the decision to remove the turbo completely, then the decision to install a new turbo, then a complete strip down and rebuild of the engine top end all meant that time ticked by and we were confined to our marina berth.
Then suddenly the curfew and lock down rules were eased, the worst of the winter weather began to ease and we began making plans for an extended trip of a few months exploring the Turkish coast. But before we could leave there were a few more jobs to tick off the list.
Final boat jobs
With all of the major boat jobs done it was time to get stuck into the smaller jobs and some cosmetic bits and pieces.
Inspecting the rigging and sails revealed some broken stitching at the base of the head sail. The stitching repair literally took 3 minutes. However getting the sail down, folded up and manhandled to the upholstery guy then getting the sail back onto the forestay took us a little over an hour. That's how it is with boat jobs.
Another 'small' job I wanted to do was to install some 12/5 volt USB charging outlets at the nav station. There was a particular spot I wanted to put them but when I removed the small wood panel I could see that they couldn't go where I'd planned as there was not enough room between the wooden panel and the fibreglass hull.
I removed the bigger wooden panel next to it and found plenty of room for installation. While I had the panel off I decided that now would be a good time to remove the non-functioning GPS unit and the "useful as a chocolate fireguard" black and white radar screen. It's a job that I'd been wanting to do since we bought A B Sea in 2018.
This is the moment the 'small' job turned into a 'big' job. Removing the offending items now left me with a wooden panel with two gaping holes and that was not a good look. I set off to the local wood working shed in Kaş and got the guy to cut me a new piece of wood. He wasn't busy so the wood got cut to the right size and shape in 15 minutes. Back at the boat the wood next needed 2 coats of 'teak' wood stain. Each coat required a 24 hour drying time.
Three days after I started the job I could finally install the USB outlets. I had the right tools for cutting the round holes but I didn't have a jigsaw to cut the oblong hole for the VHF radio. Luckily our mate Kev had one but he wouldn't be back in the marina until the following day.
Finally with all holes cut to size, various bits inserted into said holes and it was time to do the wiring which took about an hour. With everything connected and the new wood panel in place I flicked the circuit breaker on and everything worked. A boat job win.
In total the 'small' job took 4 days to complete. But I am glad that I did it because the nav station area looks a lot neater now and I have a lot of blank space for installing new electronic gadgets in the future.
Several other small jobs were completed and you can see the results of those in this week's video.
Road trip to Olympos
We'd nearly visited the ancient site of Olympos when we were first in Turkey 2018/2019 but we'd arrived at the entrance very late in the afternoon and decided that we wouldn't be able to fully explore the site before they kicked us out at closing time.
Fast forward to 2021 and we made sure we got there early enough in the day to have a proper look around.
Olympus or Olympos is situated in a river valley in the district of Antalya Province in south western Turkey and it was one of six important cities in ancient Lycia. The exact date of the city's foundation is unknown, however a wall and an inscription on a sarcophagus have been dated to the end of the 4th century BC.
It's an interesting place to explore and like many of the ancient sites throughout Turkey there are plenty of information boards that describe in great detail what you are looking at.
An interesting modern day bohemian culture has grown up around the site and there are numerous pensions, guest houses and restaurants that serve the many summer time visitors. Sadly when we visited it was out of season and the curfews and lock downs had made it impossible for businesses to open their doors. We hope that they get a good summer season this year.
Next week we do actually depart Kaş marina and begin our 2021 sailing summer by heading up the Turkish coast in the direction of Marmaris. Until then stay safe wherever you are.
To watch the video that accompanies this blog click here.