Day two of our Mad Dash Back to Kaş began before the sun came up on the last Wednesday of April 2021. We had made a decision to return to our home marina for the three week full lockdown over Ramadan which was rumoured to be possibly extended for up to four or six weeks. Today we were heading to Marmaris bay, which would be a ten hour passage.
It was a calm morning with no wind to speak of and a few clouds. We weighed anchor at 06:25 hrs and headed out of the bay, thankful not to have to wake the captain of another boat which had anchored after us and very close to our anchor. I raised the anchor quickly, Baz manoeuvred like an old pro, sliding past the other yacht with a few metres to spare. And off we went.
We headed over the northern end of the Greek island of Symi which lies very close to the Turkish mainland. Just past its tip, we turned ‘right’ and continued down its eastern side making the most of the right of passage through Greek waters to save a bit of time. Then we would turn ‘left’ and head up to Marmaris.
We weren’t the only boat heading home either that day. We encountered many vessels travelling in both directions, obviously also making a speedy sprint to their own home ports. There was a definite sense of urgency as the full lockdown was to begin on Thursday at 5pm (which we thought at the time it was 7pm) and we had to be in Kaş before then. With only today and the following day, we definitely had to crack on.
A change of plan
Almost three hours into our passage Cap’n Baz came up with an alternative destination. He’d done some fuel calculations and realised that we didn’t have to go all the way to Marmaris, where we’d been headed to refuel. Barry reckoned that we had enough on board to get to Kaş if we overnighted at Bozukkale. That would save us travelling all the way up into Marmaris bay and the actual distance from both Marmaris and Bozukkale to Kaş is exactly the same. So stopping at Bozukkale would save us a bit of time in the long run. We’d still have a 13 hour passage the following day to Kaş, but were relieved that we’d shaved four hours off today’s passage by stopping at Bozukkale.
Ban on booze
We had a chuckle after Baz had chatted to Mike and Elaine on Spicy Lady who were currently in Marmaris and due to head back to Kaş marina. They asked us if we’d heard about the complete ban on alcohol during the full lockdown. We had but we’d decided to finish the alcohol we had on board and then go dry for the remainder of time. You know, give our livers a bit of a rest. Others however were in a bit of a panic and apparently the Migros supermarkets in Marmaris and Kaş had run out of booze.
Lol, I remember the first time there was a lockdown many, many moons ago, toilet paper was the go to item for panic buying. Months into the covid circus and people had learned one thing: You can get by without loo roll in a lockdown (especially with the fabulous douches fitted to all Turkish toilets), but alcohol makes the confined days more bearable. Hahaha!
Wind whips up in Bozukkale
We arrived and anchored in the far end of the bay at Bozukkale, just to the west side of Loryma restaurant. The anchorage seemed okay, but to get a fairly shallow depth so we could let out enough of our 50m chain, we were quite close to shore.
An hour or so later the wind whipped up, putting us on a lee shore with very little room if we dragged anchor. The guys from Loryma shouted over and invited us onto their pontoon (for free). Of course, if we’d known the local wind (which wasn’t mentioned in Windy.com) was going to do that we probably would have gone for the jetty when we first arrived. However, going stern-to was out of the question because we had the dinghy on the davits and so we asked to go on side to.
Safe haven on Loryma restaurant jetty
Another yacht was already heading to the pontoon and we watched as the crew and restaurant staff struggled to bring it (with its shallow draft) to the leeward side of the jetty. As soon as it was secure, the guys and some of the yacht crew rushed over to us.
It was a hairy experience. No-one likes to be pushed in swell onto a jetty. I remembered how two of our fenders had burst when we’d been in a similar situation once in Kaş harbour. Fortunately, the restaurant jetty had lazy lines and we tied one to the forward cleat and one aft and used them to pull us off the pontoon. So with all the fenders on our port side, Baz doing an awesome job at the helm, and me running from fender to cleat to lazy lines, we all got A B Sea tied up securely.
Then a guy from Loryma kindly came up and gave us a glass of Turkish tea each. We had a laugh about how Baz has drunk more tea in Turkey than I’ve ever seen in our time together. And I reminisced about how he used to dunk his biscuits in my tea when he had a hangover, so I’d end up with biscuit sludge in the bottom of my mug.
Life’s too short and the boat’s too small
It also occurred to me that is was probably a good thing we hadn’t turned the cameras on when we urgently upped anchor and moved to the restaurant jetty because we were tired and stressed and snapped at each other. But you know, life’s too short and the boat’s too small to hold a grudge. So you have to let that shit go. Which we did. And treated ourselves to a final pre-lockdown dinner and bottle of wine at Loryma restaurant.
It was delicious (as always) with mixed meze starters, I had lamb chops and Baz had lamb shish, both of which were very juicy and tender. Then the owner brought us out a very delicious traditional Turkish dessert of brown, bubbling baked halva. OMG, what can I say? It had a toasty, caramelised look and smell and an incredible flavour of richly melted sugary, buttery, tahini with crushed nuts. I think I used the word “yummy” three or four times in the video. And that sums it up perfectly.
When we reached Kaş, I learned how to bake this tahini halva dessert (or Fırında Tahin Helvası as it’s known in Turkey).
INGREDIENTS
Fıstıklı (pistachio) halva (or any of the other varieties)
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
45ml Full fat milk (more or less to get desired consistency)
Crushed pistachios to serve
METHOD
Preheat oven to 200C/400F
Use a fork and mash the halva, and then mix in the other ingredients well.
Pour into a shallow ovenproof dish or 4 ramekin dishes and cook for 5-10 minutes until it is bubbling and golden.
Sprinkle crushed nuts on top and serve.
Eat with care as it is extremely hot!!
We returned to A B Sea as the wind dropped, with very satisfied taste buds and full bellies. We’d had a long day, a large bottle of wine and with an early start for a thirteen hour passage the following day, we kissed goodnight and went to bed.
Find out how our final leg back to Kaş pans out next week. We had a couple of worrisome moments!
To watch this YouTube episode, 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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