Do you know, every week I begin my blog I say to Baz, “it’s only going to be a short one this week.” And then I generally end up writing between 1400-2000 words! This week, I haven’t said to Baz that it’ll be short, but I am trying to get ahead with editing another video as we have a friend coming to stay for a week and I don’t want to be stuck in the office for two days while they’re here.
So, please forgive me, but,
“it’s only going to be a short one this week.”
Evocative Çiftlik
There’s something about Çiftlik that puts me in mind of Thailand. It’s possibly the landscape and height of the surrounding mountains. We anchored in the large bay rather than tie up at one of several restaurant jetties, and as soon as we could, we hopped in the dinghy and went ashore to have a beer at Azmak restaurant which also sports a tiny ‘supermarket’ at the back. While we were there we enjoyed a small variety of mezes, which were fresh and tasty.
That evening was lovely but by the time morning came there was a substantial swell coming into the bay and it became uncomfortably rolly. We upped anchor at the crack of dawn and headed to our next overnight destination: Karacaören.
Delightful Karacaören
Baz and I both love Karacaören. It is so picturesque. It’s a reasonably sized bay at the end of the peninsula that Fethiye sits behind. The bay is surrounded by those gorgeous light grey stone hills covered with green shrubbery on the peninsula side, and quite well protected from the sea swell by a finger of land and a few tiny islands (one sporting ancient ruins) on the other side.
Can Can’s absolutely charming, rustic family restaurant is situated here and when we arrived, he came out in his dinghy and helped us tie up to one of his mooring balls. He made the process absolutely effortless. As he left, Can said if we whistled, he’d come and collect us that evening so we could eat in the restaurant.
The bay was a tad busier with day tripper boats than when we’d stopped there previously. One was a pirate ship, and looked pretty impressive actually, although we were glad it anchored away from us as the music that wafted over to us was bit loud. All of these tourist boats do leave after a short stay and all have gone by the evening.
That afternoon we snorkelled around the bay and then dressed for dinner. There is a modest variety of food on the menu, as it is prepared by the family with what they have available. The food however, is freshly made, much of it from fish Can’s caught and vegetables they’ve grown in their garden. But there’s something for everyone. All meals come with a mixed meze plate, a shepherd’s salad and a freshly baked loaf of bread.
As a main, we ordered the grouper to share and it was delicious, especially eaten with the homemade lemon and garlic dressing.
While we were eating Can played his violin (or would you call it a fiddle?) and it was great to have our meal accompanied by Turkish folk music.
Polite wasps
As we were eating, we noticed a small wasp approach the fish bones that we’d put on another plate. It ‘sawed’ off a tiny piece of fish and flew away. It returned with a couple of mates. Pretty soon, there were about 7 or 8 small wasps dining on our leftovers. Can did try to take the plate away, but we were happy to leave them eating.
The main reason was because they were so polite; they stuck to the discarded bones and didn’t once try and eat the fish from the plate we were eating from! One did bite off more than it could carry and had to drop it unceremoniously onto the table cloth. The wasps also seemed quite benign and didn’t exude that ‘touch me and I’ll sting you’ vibe that you get with British wasps. So we let them eat their fill.
We had a lovely evening back on board A B Sea, drinking wine as the sun went down and having a couple of chuckles. One was over Baz mentioning that I waffle on too much and should edit ‘that out’, but when I edited this video I chose to leave it in! Do you think I ramble on too much in the videos? Do let us know.
We slept well that night despite a little swell making its way into the bay. There are lines on the shore which we think you could tie back with to alleviate this if the swell makes the bay too rolly.
Final hop to Kaş
We left at 07:00 hrs on a rose-golden sunrise which was a glorious beginning to our final hop to our home for the next 12 months.
The sea had quite a big swell to it pretty much all of the way, which we didn’t remember from our previous passage. We brought out the main to help stabilise the boat. Once we rounded the tip of the mainland at 08:25 hrs, the swell mainly came from behind, so the passage became much more comfy.
Along the way we passed Turtle Beach which we’d walked on when we visited the incredible ruins at Patara. Turtle Beach, as its name suggests, is a place where turtles return annually to lay their eggs, and mothers and their eggs are protected. Here is some of the information on: http://www.lycianturkey.com/patara-beach.htm:
“Part of a national park, it is a key biodiversity area, rich in birdlife and the breeding ground of the endangered loggerhead turtle (caretta caretta). Luckily the beach has been declared off-limits for development because of the turtles, they are nearing extinction and protection of their nesting sites on the Turkish coast is very important. The beach is closed after sunset from May to October to give the turtles peace in which to lay their eggs as it is the second most important turtle nesting beach in Turkey.”
We arrived at the fuel dock at Setur Marina in Kaş at about 12:45 hrs and we pumped out our black water tank, took on diesel and dropped the dinghy (so we could attach the passerelle after mooring stern to in the marina).
Setur’s Professional marineros
After radioing the marina on our arrival, we were met by two marineros in their dinghy and they assisted us to our berth, tied the lazy line on the front cleat and advised Baz to “reverse more please Captain.” One jumped on board (he actually remembered us from the last time when we’d anchored in the bay to the side of the marina), and assisted us – along with our old friend Jens who’s in the next berth - with the stern lines and the passerelle.
I was so happy to be back I did a Snoopy happy dance to the sound of cheers and multi-coloured fireworks exploding above my head. Okay, the effects didn’t actually happen in real life, but I did add them into the video!! Baz also got some great drone shots of the approach to the marina which gives you a good idea of its layout with its wonderfully wide fairways and sheltered location beneath the mountains of the Teke peninsula that also protect nearby Kaş town which was once a Lycian settlement.
(So much for being short, this blog has turned out to be a respectable 1337 words long! Thank you for reading this far!)
If you’d like to see the video that accompanies this blog, just click here.
Until next week when we settle into life at Kaş marina and Baz does some more work on A B Sea, I wish you a very pleasant week, taking action to bring your dreams to life.
Comentarios